The Best Spiritual Writing 2000 (Best American Spiritual Writing)
This third installment in Philip Zaleski'sThe Best Spiritual  Writingseries continues to live up to its admirers' expectations. What makes spiritual  writing stand up and deliver is not exotic epiphanies in reclusive settings or  the recounting of ecstatic communions. The real litmus test is how the narrator  can take a flesh-and-bones life story and craft it into something that has  spiritual meaning for the collective. "For myself I trust the path through the  daily muck much more than the route that goes around it or above it or passes  through it like an angel gliding transparently through a solid door," explains  Thomas Moore in his Introduction (which, incidentally, warrants inclusion inThe Best Spiritual Writingaward in and of itself).Year after year, this series becomes more solid and trustworthy--like a  spiritual teacher who always has something age-old to offer in contemporary  language. Ann Hood goes in "Search of Miracles" to heal her father of cancer and  discovers the true meaning of miracles. In sparse, clean writing Natalie  Goldberg tells the story of traveling to Japan to pay homage to her deceased Zen  teacher. Jacques Lusseyran speaks from a blind man's perspective, helping us to  see the light within instead of always relying on the light beyond. Other  contributors include Linda Hogan, John Updike, Annie Dillard, Bill McKibben, and  Mary Gordon.--Gail Hudson