Rainn Wilson, author of Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution
Rainn Wilson is probably best known for playing Dwight Schrute on the hit comedy The Office.
Dwight repeatedly tried to advance from assistant to regional manager to assistant regional manager at the fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin. But Wilson’s quest is more spiritual.
His latest book is called “Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.” He also hosts a podcast on spirituality and will be speaking about his book at an event hosted by Changing Hands Bookstore on Tuesday at the Mesa Arts Center.
Shaw previously spoke with Wilson about his book and his own spiritual journey. He started with something he covered early on in the book. He talked about how the word spirituality means different things to different people and what he thinks about the fact that people think about this. Words and concepts are expressed in many different ways.
conversation
Rainn Wilson: I’m talking about creating a spiritual revolution with a “soul boom.” But what does that mean? Because for some it means ghosts and Ouija boards, for others it means crystals and incense. And for some, that means church on Sunday. So what I’m talking about is something like the Oxford Dictionary definition, which is that spirituality is concerned only with the non-physical aspects of being human. So what does that mean? It is emotion, heart, soul, transcendence, and all aspects of human experience that emerge beyond the material of the mirror.
So, is this mentioned in Buddha or the Bible? Yes, that’s what it feels like. It is also deeper, broader, and more substantial than what is covered in these books. But we also need to separate spirituality from religion. Because although the two concepts are related, they are different. Rather, religion is a container of spirituality with specific practices, rituals, and belief systems regarding the non-physical aspects of being human.
Mark Brody: In this book, you write about your childhood and its religious and spiritual components. And I write about how, as I got a little older, I moved away from that. And you, as a young adult, discovered it again. I’m curious about how your personal background with spirituality, and perhaps religion as well, has helped shape your views on spirituality, especially now as an adult.
Wilson: Well, I talk about this quite a bit in my book and in my new podcast, Soulboom, but this is a mental health crisis that I went through in my 20s. I grew up in the Baha’i faith, which is a very beautiful religion. However, in my twenties, I moved away from the Baha’i faith and anything related to religion and spirituality. A few years later, I found myself at a real crossroads, struggling with anxiety and depression, loneliness and alienation, and addiction.
This led me to research into world religions and spiritual beliefs. Because back in the ’90s when all this was happening, there wasn’t a lot of psychology around mental health issues. So I didn’t know where else to turn. So I started reading the Buddha, I started reading the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible. And I began to learn and look for some kind of meaning. So, at that point I found a spiritual path that ultimately led me back to my faith, the Baha’i faith. But that’s not what really matters. Importantly, spirituality has brought meaning, purpose, focus, truth and light to my life, and it has brought balance to my life. And I just want to share that with people. But part of it is also a spirituality that can be harnessed for social change.
Brody: How much of that is about being kind to each other, being thoughtful human beings, respecting people with differences, and living as if we were not the only people on this planet.
Wilson: Well, that’s great. I think it’s deeper than that. So we need to think about the fact that we are running a system that is so corrupt that it is so far removed from our original human values. So we need to go a little deeper than just occasionally legislating some kind of migration or change to existing systems. But we really need to rethink the system itself.
Brody: To what extent do you believe that your spiritual journey, and eventually coming up with your own ideas about it, helped you get out of some of the difficulties you were dealing with earlier in life?
Wilson: Yes, I take all the credit for my spiritual journey. It gave me so much faith and meaning. Well, think of me as an actor. That’s why I’m a comedy actor. I play weird characters like Dwight from “The Office.” And for a long time, I was really perplexed by the fact that here I am, playing this annoying newspaper salesman Dwight, but I’m interested in spirituality, and having a conversation with Oprah about spiritual ideas… I’m interested in what’s happening?
There seems to be some kind of disconnect between, well, wait a minute, between art and prayer and being an artist, being a storyteller, trying to create something beautiful and interesting. I really realized that there was no difference. It’s true, it’s funny, and it makes the world a better place. It is service to others and a divine impulse. I know, it’s just a silly sitcom, but it’s a silly sitcom that has brought people a lot of peace and quiet and even joy. And I had to be a part of it. Is there any other act more spiritual than that?
Brody: As you say, it’s an interesting observation that even attending a boring sitcom, even though it’s watched by millions of people, can be part of some kind of spiritual journey. . I’m wondering, did you think that way at the time, or did you only think so after looking back at the facts?
Wilson: It actually happened in the middle of “The Office.” Because I was struggling with that while I was on “The Office.” And I remember talking to Ed Helms. I was talking to him about Soul Pancakes. This is a spiritually oriented company that I founded with the purpose of reinvigorating life’s biggest and deepest questions. And he said, spirituality and art, aren’t they mutually exclusive? So I thought about it, and that’s when I really dug into that idea, because maybe they are, they’re making television, isn’t that a little different from spiritual? Because I thought there wasn’t.
But then I dug a little deeper and really put them together and found quotes from the Bahá’í faith of transcendental art-making that support this idea. And now, certainly a lot of television isn’t art, and, you know, it exists primarily to sell, you know, Triscuits, and Marshmallows, and Carl’s Jr., but there’s art. I found a connection with this and that and that helped me. So I took it up as a concrete way to enrich my life by living along spiritual lines.
Brody: When you talk to people about your experiences and what you have written and thought about spirituality, what questions do they ask you? How do they get into spirituality, get started themselves, What ideas and advice would you give me on how I can start my own journey?
Wilson: Well, that’s a difficult question. Because we have thrown out our spiritual baby with the religious bathwater. So many people have difficulty with God and with organized religion. They don’t know where to start other than meditation. And I think meditation is a great gateway to spiritual practice. It’s not just contemplation, it’s deeper than that. And if you can add prayer to that meditation practice and make it tangible in some way, even if it’s just a prayer of gratitude, like being thankful that the universe is so beautiful. That’s a great place to start.
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