Into Light and Shadow : A Journey (2013, Paperback)

Synopsis of Into Light and Shadow: A Journey

Steve Forrest had always put himself first; he had built himself an enviable life, but it wasn’t enough. There was one more prize to claim.

Mount Everest is the greatest challenge in high altitude mountaineering, the goal of a lifetime’s preparation. To summit is to conquer. Others see the mountain differently. It is sacred to Sherpas. They call it Chomolungma, Goddess Earth Mother of the World.

It would prove to be the start of a journey, not the end of one; a spiritual journey unique to Steve, one that would utterly reshape his life. The mountain would take everything he had ever worked for but his battered ego. It would leave him alone, empty and exposed, a helpless invalid.

Enter Father Jack, a man whose appearance is as extraordinary as his story, for he is both a Catholic priest and a Zen monk. Here begins Steve’s real journey, a journey of spiritual ecumenism, bringing east and west together.

This novel reincarnates, if you will, Gautama Buddha (although Jack would say otherwise), leading Steve down the path the Buddha took himself thousands of years earlier on his quest for enlightenment. But the path will deviate to Steve’s Christian past and the spirituality of his forebears, as it must. Following close is a demon that in Buddhism has a name. As it once challenged the Buddha, it will now challenge Steve.