Spiritual Serendipity: Cultivating and Celebrating the Art of the Unexpected

According to Eyre (Don't Just Do Something, Sit There!), the ""original definition"" of serendipity is, ""The quality or faculty, through awareness and good fortune, of being able to find something good while seeking something else."" That's simple enough, and so, one would think, is Eyre's definition of spiritual serendipity, ""The same quality, but with the added input and direction of spiritual receptivity and divine guidance."" Nonetheless, Eyre devotes this book to trying to explain spiritual serendipity. He succeeds only in creating a confused, poorly expressed and uninspiring mix of prose, poetry, lists and repetitive definitions. Eyre moves from an academic analysis of Horace Walpole, to a study of the old Persian fable of ""The Three Princes of Serendip,"" to a mini-volume of his own (not good) poems and a collection of stereotypes and word definitions. The fable is the most interesting part of the book, although Eyre feels compelled to instruct his readers to ""try to read it with the same interest and insight with which Walpole read it."" The poor organization and uninspired writing here are bad enough, but Eyre's concern that his readers may not be ""far along"" enough to be ""ready for serendipity,"" and perhaps should ""set it aside"" and ""come back to it in a few years,"" belies a superior attitude that only makes matters worse. (Apr.)