Title: The God Experience: Opening Your Door to the Greatest Living Force in the Universe
Author: Perry Smith
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-4259-5759-9
Pages: 198
Genre: Spirituality/religion
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott
Pacific Book Review
Inspirational and intriguing, The God Experience chronicles the life of its author as he happens upon and later actively seeks authentic spiritual knowledge. Perry Smith, a self-described “aspiring jazz musician and teacher of spiritual truth” knew about God as a child. He used to test God by asking for things, and though God never answered his childlike requests, Smith never doubted that God existed. As he matured, he became the victim of bullying but later befriended his enemy. From adolescence, Smith wanted to be a rock musician, swept up in the heavy metal craze and groups like Kiss, Queen and Led Zeppelin. Restless, he experimented with drugs and alcohol. One night his life changed totally after an intense conversation with “a buddy” about God; Smith went home and began to talk to God, calling this moment “special, powerful, enlightening and monumental.” Later he found employment that exactly suited his skills, married a woman with whom he shared many deep interests, gradually gave up all drug use and fathered two children. But all was not easy: his first child had epilepsy, some of his workmates resented him, his caring mother passed on, and his wife began to suffer from depression.
His refuge in times of trouble was the inspiration he had to talk to people about God. He began this activity with late-night online chats, then developed a website and a booklet. When he was unable to distribute the booklets in any great quantity, he finally decided to turn the booklet into a book, The God Experience, incorporating his experiences including the knowledge he’d gained communicating with others about his beliefs.
Smith does not espouse any specific religion. He mentions a large, three-inch-thick blue book with 2000+ pages that he saw on that unforgettable night when he “found God,” and which he subsequently read completely. Quick searches on the Internet will turn up a likely candidate for that book, but Smith does not choose to reveal its name. He offers many simple but sage words about who God is and what He does, always without giving God any other title. His religious statements (all given in italics) echo those of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism. It is his wish, he says, that people who read The God Experience will encounter this higher power as he did, by talking to Him and interacting with Him. Though he disavows being a good writer, his prose is clear and utilitarian and his autobiography provides a lively underpinning to his spiritual philosophy. Readers might wish, though, for some information about Smith so they could contact him to engage in further discussion.
True-life tales linked to perceived truths about religion make The God Experience a short but alluring manual for those on a spiritual quest.
