Susan Quinn was born and raised in the Jewish faith; for the last 14 years she has also practiced Zen Buddhism.  Susan is a member of the Three Treasures Zen Community in San Diego, CA.  Although she has moved to Central Florida, she continues to work with her teacher, Nicolee Jikyo McMahon Roshi.  She also attends intensive retreats four times per year in California.  As Susan continues her koan practice and her Buddhist training, she is planning to start a Zen meditation group in Poinciana, FL in July 2007; for additional information on this group, you may e-mail her Susan@thedeepestspirituallife.com or call her at 863-393-8197.

Susan also has 30 years of business and training experience. She has owned and operated her own training and consulting businesses for over 25 years. Her specialties are helping organizations and individuals deal with change, managing conflict, and facilitating team building and problem-solving workshops. Her clients include financial institutions, engineering companies, professional organizations, government entities, hospitals, cable firms, high technology, telecommunications and non-profit organizations.  For more information on her consulting and training work, see her company website The Quinn Company.

Since 1997

My own spiritual life was growing deeper and more rewarding each day. I contemplated what my Zen Buddhist practice offered that made my life experiences so profound and satisfying. I finally realized that it was the combination of my personal practice of zazen (meditation practice) and the intimacy I felt with the spiritual community with which I practiced. But I also felt there were people in other religious communities who felt the same way: that the deepest spiritual life comes from the combination of personal and communal practice. I set out to find these people in many different faiths, and they confirmed my beliefs, through their heartfelt stories and experiences.

I know of no other book that takes an interfaith approach, that includes interviewing people from many faith practices as well as my sharing my own stories, to explain not only the importance of combining personal and communal practice, but how to do it.

(1) The large audience it speaks to: disillusioned seekers who have been affiliated with a religion (such as baby boomers) but left because they were not offered guidance in developing a deeper individual practice; individuals who may have loosely been affiliated with a religion or were raised with no religion (such as Gen Xers) and have developed individual spiritual practices of their own without an affiliation with religious community; practitioners who are affiliated with religious tradition and are interested in developing their own personal spirituality; readers who perceive themselves as spiritual but are seeking ways to practice and express their spiritual lives in more meaningful ways; religious leaders who recognize their own need to develop a personal prayer/meditative life to balance the requirements and demands of the communal life; and religious leaders who recognize, as Wade Clark Root says, " . . . that contemporary spirituality movements may be a source of renewal for churches, synagogues, mosques and temples";

(2) the book's direct and sincere style;