Piers Moore Ede’s wonderful book, All Kinds of Magic, is one man’s spiritual journey to find some sort of meaning in life beyond the material.
Fed up with his life in the London, the book details his travels to India and Nepal, seeking out the Sadhus (wondering holy men), the whirling dervishes in rural Turkey and the birthplace of Sufi poet Rumi.
Ede also attends some of the largest spiritual festivals in India including the Deepam Festival and finally ends his trip with an exploration of shamanism in South America.
Throughout his travels, Ede struggles with the tension between what he experiences and the rational side of his brain.
I loved the ease of this book, Ede’s writing is beautifully nuanced and he distills the struggles with his own faith and understanding in such a thoughful and courageous manner.
He is always aware of the often contradictory nature of his journey: a Western white man searching for answers in the East.
I found the book a welcome relief from the often shrill and adversarial debates ignited by Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) et al.
The book also opened up a whole world of spiritual ideas for me, like Sufism and the poet Rumi, to further explore.
