BOOK REVIEW:

Create Your Personal
Sacred Text

by
Bobbi L. Parish

Publisher: Broadway Books

Reviewed by Satia   

The subtitle of this book, Develop & Create Your Spiritual Life, is the clue at to what awaits you within its covers.

Unlike most books on keeping a spiritual journal, this particular book goes above and beyond. For one, there is no one spiritual belief system which is supported or promoted. Most books on spiritual journaling have a dogma they are encouraging the reader to follow. This book can be used by anyone of any denomination, from traditional to new age to secular. Another aspect of this book is the resources it includes: lists of books, websites, magazines, even musical resources are sprinkled throughout the text.

And that is just the beginning. Bobbi Parish offers various suggestions on how to keep a spiritual journal -- from your basic journaling with occasional entries, to keeping a scrapbook, to creative writing -- including composing personal prayers, poems, and drawings. She even suggests ways to create a spiritual keepsake for future generations. And this is where the idea of creating your own personal sacred text goes above and beyond the usual. 

Unlike many other books on how to keep a spiritual journal, Parish encourages the reader to remove even the need for other sacred literature and embrace the possibility of creating a personal sacred text, not just a compilation of the best of what you have read, but ideas and suggestions on how you can access the Divine for yourself and find your own truth. A truth which you can use to strengthen your spiritual life and also to share with others. She offers suggestions on how you can create a group in which the members can explore creating their sacred texts together

Until I read this book, it had never occurred to me that I could write my own sacred text. I had never heard of a spiritual journal until I became a Christian, and when I drifted away from that faith system, I didn’t think that I could keep a spiritual journal. Yes, there were times when in my journaling I discussed or described my spiritual journey but I didn’t think about taking any other sacred text and using it in my spiritual growth as I had done with the Bible when I was a Christian. More than that, it had never occurred to me that there were times when God did indeed speak with me directly and that these moments of personal enlightenment were my own sacred text. 

Through Bobbi L. Parish I came to a new realization that, just as my spirituality was no longer confined to the Old and New Testaments, my spiritual journal did not have to be limited either.

Click here to order 
this book. 

About the Book's Author

Bobbi L. Parish is currently a marriage and family therapist. A member of many professional organizations, including the American Counseling Association, she lives in Gresham, Oregon.