In the preface to this collection, Philip Zaleski, senior editor of Parabola magazine and co-author of Gifts of the Spirit, defines spirituality as the secret life that animates psychology, philosophy, politics, physics, and "all else that falls within human experience." That is why you will find essays here on subjects as diverse as music, military service, painting, television, housecleaning, hospitals, and walks.

What is the mark of great spiritual writing? For Zaleski, "the great spiritual literature is a result of absorbing, filtering, and refining the wisdom of the past in the light of one's own lived experience." Kathleen Norris, in the introduction, concurs and adds the following qualities: hospitable, individual, ecumenical, paradoxical, and down-to-earth.

Our seven favorites begin with Tracy Cochran's "My True Home Is Brooklyn" where a pint-size Zen master teaches her. In Annie Dillard's "Acts of God" she sees a hospital as "a hole in the universe through which holiness issues in blasts." Bernie Glassman's "My Wife Died Unexpectedly Last March" reveals the essence of the spiritual practice of bearing witness. Mary Gordon's "Still Life" revolves around an aging parent while Pico Iyer's "Why We Travel: A Love Affair with the World" celebrates the urge to explore. Anita Mathias's "The Holy Ground of Kalighat" delineates the meaning of service. And Louise Rafkin's "A Yen for Cleaning" reveals the point of everyday spirituality.