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How to be Spiritual Without Being Religious
“Patrick’s writing is so clear and heartfelt that it is hard to believe that he did not write the book for you—whoever you are, and wherever you may be on your journey.”
—Iyanla Vanzant, host Iyanla Fix My Life
Authentic Spirituality Without Religion
According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 37 percent of Americans identify themselves as spiritual but not religious. How to Be Spiritual Without Being Religious is a book for that sizable number of folks who seek a rich and authentic interior life but find formal religious affiliation unappealing. It is a clear and nondogmatic guide for finding one's own path of transformation, for embracing a vision of a "practical faith" that enhances a life of happiness and peace.
Miller's concise approach arises out of what he calls "the spirituality of ordinary life." It is an approach dedicated to exploring the big "Why am I here?" "Who am I?" "What is the best way to be of use."
"A spiritual faith is a more practical way to deal with everyday life than cynicism, toughness, or defensiveness...it daily increases its usefulness and reliability. Spirituality is the way out of misery, the way in to self-knowledge, and the way toward a more fulfilling and effective life." —From the introduction
Praise for The Book of Practical Faith :
"Succinct and salutary . . . D. Patrick Miller's thoughtful treatment of faith clarifies why this is such an important part of the sacred adventure of life." — Frederic Brussat , Spirituality and Practice
"This book offers a gentle, disciplined approach to growth with subtle insight and compassion. Miller names the habitual obstacles that keep us small and opens up a way to greater love, faith, and freedom." — J. Ruth Gendler , author of The Book of Qualities
—Iyanla Vanzant, host Iyanla Fix My Life
Authentic Spirituality Without Religion
According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 37 percent of Americans identify themselves as spiritual but not religious. How to Be Spiritual Without Being Religious is a book for that sizable number of folks who seek a rich and authentic interior life but find formal religious affiliation unappealing. It is a clear and nondogmatic guide for finding one's own path of transformation, for embracing a vision of a "practical faith" that enhances a life of happiness and peace.
Miller's concise approach arises out of what he calls "the spirituality of ordinary life." It is an approach dedicated to exploring the big "Why am I here?" "Who am I?" "What is the best way to be of use."
"A spiritual faith is a more practical way to deal with everyday life than cynicism, toughness, or defensiveness...it daily increases its usefulness and reliability. Spirituality is the way out of misery, the way in to self-knowledge, and the way toward a more fulfilling and effective life." —From the introduction
Praise for The Book of Practical Faith :
"Succinct and salutary . . . D. Patrick Miller's thoughtful treatment of faith clarifies why this is such an important part of the sacred adventure of life." — Frederic Brussat , Spirituality and Practice
"This book offers a gentle, disciplined approach to growth with subtle insight and compassion. Miller names the habitual obstacles that keep us small and opens up a way to greater love, faith, and freedom." — J. Ruth Gendler , author of The Book of Qualities
- GenresSpiritualityNonfiction
144 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2018
44 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
D. Patrick Miller
71 books10 followersD. PATRICK MILLER is the author of nine titles, including UNDERSTANDING A COURSE IN MIRACLES (Random House), and THE WAY OF FORGIVENESS (Fearless). Miller provides professional consultations to other authors working in fiction and nonfiction via Fearless Literary Services (www.fearlessbooks.com)."
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 4, 2019
This is a small tasty snack of a book that you can easily consume in either a couple of hours or chapter by chapter for 5 days of reflections.
The book starts with a look at ridding oneself of guilt, which is certainly a fine place for me to start. I don't believe that I am entirely done with feeling guilty, but there was a nice walk-through to the other side of that, if I so choose to go that direction.
While I read this I was also reading "How God Changes Your Brain" and they are pretty compatible book-mates.
It is a small book and I do not want to give away any of the powerful devices in there to go from lockstep with a traditional view of God to relaxing and finding God on the walk with you, and (S)He is wearing shorts, so you don't have to be anywhere as near as fearful and formal as you formerly thought.
The book starts with a look at ridding oneself of guilt, which is certainly a fine place for me to start. I don't believe that I am entirely done with feeling guilty, but there was a nice walk-through to the other side of that, if I so choose to go that direction.
While I read this I was also reading "How God Changes Your Brain" and they are pretty compatible book-mates.
It is a small book and I do not want to give away any of the powerful devices in there to go from lockstep with a traditional view of God to relaxing and finding God on the walk with you, and (S)He is wearing shorts, so you don't have to be anywhere as near as fearful and formal as you formerly thought.
February 16, 2019
This review is for the Gentle Men. The men who have been turning America around. The kind of men who have always been there, asking questions underneath the cruel patriarchies, like twin Luke and Leia saying to their Shadow-Father, Darth, “I don’t want to” when he asks too much of them too insistently for too long.
The ones who quietly or bravely defy and rename. Dare to look into their hearts. Choose a path of dreams, empathy, spirit, soul, art and/or love. Who write books and get them published like How to be Spiritual Without Being Religious, How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving, and Loving a Woman in Two Worlds. Like D. Patrick Miller, David Richo and Robert Bly, among many, many more...
Something happened to you and us between the end of World War II, our upbringing in the 1950s, Richard Nixon’s bombing of Hanoi in 1972 and the fall of Saigon in 1975. We changed our lives and changed our minds.
D. Patrick Miller, founder of Fearless Books and Literary Services, lived in Berkeley for 30 years before moving to Marin and Napa. While he was here he had chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a period he called his via negativa, his “dark night of the soul.” Faced with doctors who said it was “all in his head,” he investigated Jungian depth psychology, the esoteric Course in Miracles (Foundation for Inner Peace), mind-body connections, the Enneagram systems and yoga before he was “able to recognize my anger and release it,” among other practices.
Anybody who chooses the name Fearless Books for their publishing endeavor and literary agency has guts, but his studies brought him to astonishingly simple and practical concepts around self-care, ways to “benefit from spiritual disciplines and practices” that have led him into “self-knowledge and a fulfilling life” where he becomes increasingly peaceful and wise with practice, contemplation, and “four steps to living spiritually” that are both simple and profound.
Try these practices on for size:
1 – Releasing Guilt (take responsibility and act without being burdened by flaws, unworthiness, shame and using anger as a way of controlling people)
2 – Gathering Trust (start with cultivating your own personal honor, hope, openness and self-integrity to reach out, forgiving human failures)
3 – Practicing Patience (“balance our hurried sense of self-interest with the timeless knowledge that all will be well.” Humility and surrender to the present moment.) and
4 – Learning Transcendence – (awakening to the “simple truth –We do not know what is going on.”)
Considering the huge falling away from organized religion Americans have experienced in the latter part of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st (37% report they are “spiritual but not religious”), these essential practices are a balm. Miller’s book is in simple prose with personal examples. The opposite of the competitive materialism, depression and cynicism that drag us down.
quotes from D. Patrick Miller, Wyndy Knox Carr notes from his Personal Theology talk “How to Be Spiritual Without Being Religious,” Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, Kensington, CA, 4 November, 2018.
The ones who quietly or bravely defy and rename. Dare to look into their hearts. Choose a path of dreams, empathy, spirit, soul, art and/or love. Who write books and get them published like How to be Spiritual Without Being Religious, How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving, and Loving a Woman in Two Worlds. Like D. Patrick Miller, David Richo and Robert Bly, among many, many more...
Something happened to you and us between the end of World War II, our upbringing in the 1950s, Richard Nixon’s bombing of Hanoi in 1972 and the fall of Saigon in 1975. We changed our lives and changed our minds.
D. Patrick Miller, founder of Fearless Books and Literary Services, lived in Berkeley for 30 years before moving to Marin and Napa. While he was here he had chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a period he called his via negativa, his “dark night of the soul.” Faced with doctors who said it was “all in his head,” he investigated Jungian depth psychology, the esoteric Course in Miracles (Foundation for Inner Peace), mind-body connections, the Enneagram systems and yoga before he was “able to recognize my anger and release it,” among other practices.
Anybody who chooses the name Fearless Books for their publishing endeavor and literary agency has guts, but his studies brought him to astonishingly simple and practical concepts around self-care, ways to “benefit from spiritual disciplines and practices” that have led him into “self-knowledge and a fulfilling life” where he becomes increasingly peaceful and wise with practice, contemplation, and “four steps to living spiritually” that are both simple and profound.
Try these practices on for size:
1 – Releasing Guilt (take responsibility and act without being burdened by flaws, unworthiness, shame and using anger as a way of controlling people)
2 – Gathering Trust (start with cultivating your own personal honor, hope, openness and self-integrity to reach out, forgiving human failures)
3 – Practicing Patience (“balance our hurried sense of self-interest with the timeless knowledge that all will be well.” Humility and surrender to the present moment.) and
4 – Learning Transcendence – (awakening to the “simple truth –We do not know what is going on.”)
Considering the huge falling away from organized religion Americans have experienced in the latter part of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st (37% report they are “spiritual but not religious”), these essential practices are a balm. Miller’s book is in simple prose with personal examples. The opposite of the competitive materialism, depression and cynicism that drag us down.
quotes from D. Patrick Miller, Wyndy Knox Carr notes from his Personal Theology talk “How to Be Spiritual Without Being Religious,” Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, Kensington, CA, 4 November, 2018.
July 11, 2025
A quick read I enjoyed though it’s somewhat simplistic. There’s a few ideas mentioned, such as depression stemming from a lack of spiritual purpose in life, which Dr Miller treats as self evident and doesn’t go into further depth on.
Most of what’s instructed in this book I’ve already been doing for years, and I’d imagine anyone else on their spiritual journey would be doing the same. I feel this is most useful for someone starting from square one. Someone who’s wracked with impatience, worry, guilt and a lack of conscious reflection.
If you already go about life in a mindful manner, release your worries over things we can’t control, trust what’s real & good in this world then honestly How to be Spiritual Without Being Religious won’t offer you much in the way of growth. That being said it takes one afternoon to read and we’ve all spent many an afternoon on activities far less productive than reading.
Most of what’s instructed in this book I’ve already been doing for years, and I’d imagine anyone else on their spiritual journey would be doing the same. I feel this is most useful for someone starting from square one. Someone who’s wracked with impatience, worry, guilt and a lack of conscious reflection.
If you already go about life in a mindful manner, release your worries over things we can’t control, trust what’s real & good in this world then honestly How to be Spiritual Without Being Religious won’t offer you much in the way of growth. That being said it takes one afternoon to read and we’ve all spent many an afternoon on activities far less productive than reading.
September 24, 2022
I went back and forth on this one between four stars and five.
The introduction introduces the original title of the book - The Book of Practical Faith - which I think is a more apt title. While the book DOES talk about being spiritual and gives a very moving and short way to live a spiritual life, it does not specifically work towards the not being religious part.
It was a fabulous little book with so many nuggets of wisdom that I will need to buy it rather than just check out a copy from my library. I just think it has the wrong title.
The introduction introduces the original title of the book - The Book of Practical Faith - which I think is a more apt title. While the book DOES talk about being spiritual and gives a very moving and short way to live a spiritual life, it does not specifically work towards the not being religious part.
It was a fabulous little book with so many nuggets of wisdom that I will need to buy it rather than just check out a copy from my library. I just think it has the wrong title.
June 26, 2019
A wonderful Reminder of how to live.
December 3, 2019
An analytical examination of what the spiritual journey entails: a journey of transformation rooted in faith. Religion relies on dogma, institutionalized teachings.
April 13, 2021
Good book
It’s an okay book not as extreme as Sam Harris Waking Up but still talks about other ways to be Spiritual
It’s an okay book not as extreme as Sam Harris Waking Up but still talks about other ways to be Spiritual
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews