SPIRITUAL LIVING FOR BUSY PEOPLE

De la Torre offers a map for living spiritually in his debut self-help book.

The author writes that his crisis of faith regarding Catholicism led him to a period of soul-searching. But finally, by using a logical way of thinking, honed by his math studies at Arizona State University, he says that he figured out how to live in a spiritual way. In the process, he writes, he had to unlearn Catholic dogma, and he devotes several pages to addressing what he terms “myths,” such as “You must be aloof or mystical” and “You can’t be spiritual and sexual.” Next, de la Torre describes the answer he found: one must live “in awareness of the Divine spark within us,” which will lead to being “aware of the Divine spark in all others.” With this foundation laid, he offers a road map, for which he uses the acronym “MAP IT FIRST, DUDE” (“M” for “Mindfulness,” “A” for “Awareness,” and so on). The explanation of this map forms the bulk of the book and offers a multipronged approach to addressing one’s mental, emotional, energetic, and physical states. Finally, de la Torre offers suggestions for taking one’s inner peace out into the world. The different sections of this book follow the stages of a hero’s quest: the crisis or call, the soul-searching, the discovery of answers, and the return and offering of his wisdom, which, in de la Torre’s case, is woven through with on-trend quantum physics principles. This is ground that has been well-covered by other writers, particularly by physicist and consciousness expert Thomas W. Campbell. Although de la Torre’s stated target audience is “busy people,” the pages that he devotes to free oneself from dogmatic religious precepts suggest a narrower audience that struggles against these same ideas. Such readers may find de la Torres’ myth-busting illuminating. Most others, though, will likely find some of the book’s notions quaint—such as that sex is a natural part of being human.

A guide that treads familiar ground, but it may be helpful to readers seeking alternatives to restrictive religious principles.