The Spiritual Tourist: A Personal Odyssey Through the Outer Reaches of Belief

On a pilgrimage to see the Dalai Lama in the foothills of the Himalayas; blissed out in Germany with a beautiful Indian girl, believed to be "the Divine Mother"; witnessing miracles in the ashram of Sai Baba; and searching for the Messiah in the back streets of London- the spiritual tourist is the Candide of the age, on a voyage of inner search and illumination. The spiritual quest- a yearning for a sense of the sacred - has become a leitmotif of 20th- century life as we head for the Millennium. In his vivid, interrogative and highly entertaining book, Mick Brown joins the holy, the lost, the wise and the foolish on the highways and backroads of spiritual tourism. In India he encounters the miracle-working Sai Baba, and discusses reincarnation with the world's most revered spiritual figure, the Dalai Lama. In a tiny backwoods church in Tennessee he examines the "crosses of light" which are held as evidence of Christ's imminent return to earth. Mick brown, a writer of passionate engagement, reports with candor, wit and clarity.