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Employing a word first coined by Ms. Kidd in 1970, the authors use the term “Inbetweenness” to mean the interconnectedness of all things physical, universal, and relational. Every religion has attempted to explain this interconnectedness; however, translation of such a fluid concept to actual religious life often falls short due to the complication of rules.
Each of the twenty chapters in this book delivers an essay with a unique and evocative name such as “Handmade Future.” The start of an essay typically presents a metaphor, almost as a riddle, illustrating one aspect of Inbetweenness. Metaphors used are the Golden Gate Bridge, a painting, twining hearts, the wind, a globe, and a dimensional arch. A perceptive reader may see among these metaphors patterns of flow, reaching out, and exchange. For more casual readers, the various terms are defined in the relevant essay. However, all can benefit from understanding what the authors call a symbol, patterns, a path, and resonance. Two different points of view are distinguished by the choice of pronouns used in a particular essay. One author prefers to use the inclusive (but distancing) first-person plural “we” while the other seeks to engage the reader with the second-person “you” when giving the call to agreement or action.
Other well-known, creative thinkers who used essays to teach their philosophies include such luminaries as the American nineteenth-century philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and the mid-twentieth-century spiritual teacher/self-help guru and bestselling author Marianne Williamson. With this book's addition to their body of work, the authors, representing the twenty-first century, have joined in the noteworthy ranks of their predecessors.