SOUL BOOM

The actor and producer explores the importance of spirituality.

A decade after the season finale, Wilson is still most recognized for his role as Dwight Schrute on the U.S. version of The Office. However, the founder of the inspirational media company SoulPancake and producer and star of the new travel docuseries The Geography of Bliss has since applied himself to making the world a better place, and he has a great deal to say about the role of spirituality in that endeavor. In answer to those wondering how a comic actor ends up writing a book about spirituality, Wilson lightly traverses territory covered in more depth in his 2015 memoir, The Bassoon King. He recalls a bohemian childhood during which the Baha'i faith of his parents became important to him, and he writes about later mental health and addiction struggles that returned him to his faith and launched a spiritual journey during which he voraciously consumed the teachings of the world's religions. This book would seem to be the literary culmination of this journey, "a book on big spiritual ideas," in which Wilson considers our most difficult challenges and outlines nothing short of a spiritual revolution as a path to healing them. In a chapter titled “Hey, Kids, Let’s Build the Perfect Religion!” the author extracts religion's most essential aspects and leads readers on a participatory journey to do just that. Along the way, Wilson covers numerous heady concepts, including the purpose of life (soul growth), life after death, and God. Outrageous as this becomes, the book remains true to the author's thesis—that the world needs spiritual solutions to many of its ailments—and Wilson walks a razor-sharp line in addressing the most sacred of topics with the airy irreverence one might expect from the former sitcom star.

With sincere enthusiasm and a playful tone, Wilson highlights the vitality of spirituality in our lives.