When True Simplicity Is Gained: Finding Spiritual Clarity in a Complex World

For those who feel overwhelmed and sense that their lives are too complex and the demands on them too great, this book provides a daily moment of grace and escape. For those who have made their lives superficially simple but still lack the anticipated spiritual dimension, this book offers hope. Promoting no complex instructions on how to accomplish the simple life, but offering only insights into how to receive its gifts, the Martys combine photographs that capture the essence of the Shakers, an American religious community founded on simplicity, with thoughtful meditations that reflect on great prayers of the ages. Together they demonstrate that "when true simplicity is gained," the busy and otherwise distracted person will be gifted with new measures of clarity of purpose, directness of vision, serenity of soul, order in agenda - and an experience of God.

Martin Marty is an ordained minister who taught at the University of Chicago for thirty-five years.