Disclaimer: I am a spiritually inclined person, but being a believer in the Omnipresence doesn’t necessarily mean I am a practitioner of rigorous religious rituals. I believe in the presence of the Almighty, and I love to explore the truths behind human existence through the medium of spirituality. Thus, the word ‘religion’ has nothing to do with my beliefs, works, and practices. All I am interested in is reading, studying, and learning the intricate details of the ‘being’, and this is why I live a life as a seeker, walking on the path of self-discovery to explore and manifest the divinity within.

About my interest in picking this book to read and review:

Dear reader, you may be wondering why I chose to read this book when I prefer to keep myself far away from words like ‘religion’. I picked this book because of some reasons.

Firstly, Tomichan Sir, being a fellow blogger and a senior in our blogging community of Blogchatter, has been a constant supporter and cheerleader in my writing journey. When his book was released, I had a heartfelt wish to read it.

Then, one day, he himself asked me to share my feedback on reading his book with him. I said yes instantly, because the tagline of the book intrigued me to delve deeper.

I really admire the wisdom of Tomichan Sir. As a thinker, he allows his thoughts to stretch their wings. Thus, when a book comes straight from a man who deliberately encourages his readers to pursue critical thinking, reasoning, and questioning, yet keeping the ground rooted in the land of faith and divinity, how could one resist starting the exploration of the sacred through words coming from an educator, veteran blogger, and a wise author?

So, here’s my two cents about the book – The Simplest Guide to Religion: Understanding Humanity’s Search for the Sacred by Tomichan Matheikal.

At first, I would like to mention the core theme of the book’s content – a sacred search for the meaning and purpose of human existence through the lens of spirituality.

Devotion means surrendering to the feet of the Divine, but does it essentially encourage nurturing a blind belief? Having faith in God is a good sign for those who are inclined to spirituality, but does it essentially signal that you are on the right path to fulfil your purpose or calling?

Here comes a deeper quest that begins with a simple question: What is the meaning of this birth as a human?

And this sacred search of every human leads them to the answer that shows them the path to the Divinity within.

Tomichan Sir’s The Simplest Guide to Religion: Understanding Humanity’s Search for the Sacred approaches one of humanity’s oldest and most complex questions. Instead of presenting religion merely as a compilation of ethos, rituals, or various kinds of institutional traditions, the book keeps its readers hooked on the theme of exploring the human impulse behind their sacred existence: our enduring search for meaning, order, transcendence.

While reading, at times, I felt that the book is more about the truths revealed to a seeker himself than about writing the facts and details of a varied array of spiritual topics. And here’s the biggest strength of Tomichan Sir’s book.

Another great strength of this book is its accessibility. To be honest, religion is an enormous subject, encompassing critical subjects like anthropology, philosophy, history, psychology, ancient scriptures, sociology, and, more specifically, the multi-dimensional interpretations of spirituality.

Tomichan Sir attempted to bring the different strands of divinity and spirituality together without making the book feel like an academic textbook. The exploration begins with early human attempts to make sense of an uncertain world and then, gradually, moves through more difficult subjects like animism, ancestor worship, and totemism. Some chapters are devoted to exploring the deeper aspects of rituals, mythology, and sacred texts, wherein the other delves deeper into concepts of God, faith, and authority. The book also consists of themes that explore topics related to orthodoxy, secularisation, and religious fundamentalism.

But here I want to precisely write something that made me happy about choosing this book. While reading, a question often hovered in my head: What makes the seeking, the exploration, and the path of self-discovery essentially meaningful and relevant to the higher purpose of a human? Fortunately, I found a hint of my answer inside this book. Here’s another strength of this book – the book emphasises religion as a human phenomenon.

And I believe here lies the secret behind the success of this book – rather than writing a human manual for the search for the sacred, the author made it read like a personal account of inner revelations.

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Simplest-Guide-Religion-Understanding-Humanitys-ebook/dp/B0H6LSD6GL