Inspirational Stories for Spiritual Youth

The first story in the collection, entitled "The Enlightened Path," depicts one boy's willingness to obey his spiritual master and help a boy in need.. JEROME is an orphan who had been raised by his uncle Reul, a mountain man, in a cave on Sacred Mountain. Spending most of his time amidst the spiritualized terrain of the mountain, Jerome is particularly in tune with the spirit world and regularly follows "The Enlightened Path" to his master, a native American named Meoma. One day Jerome decides to take a journey to the summit of the mountain in order to gather crystals and medicinal herbs to trade for supplies. While there he cleanses himself and is visited by Meoma, who asks him to help a troubled boy named Daniel who works at the trading post. The next day, Jerome decends to the post and finds Daniel. He introduces himself and invites Daniel to stay with him on the mountain. That night he leads Daniel through a similar cleansing ritual after Daniel confesses to Jerome that he had been raised by an alcoholic and is fallen prey to similar substance abuse. Jerome shows Daniel a better way to live and changes his life. Meoma visits again, and Jerome introduces Daniel to him. Meoma encourages them on their "Vision quest." A hawk carries a message of hope for Daniel. Another story, "An Angelic Journey," portrays a young cancer patient's pre-death journey into heaven. An angel names Angelica visits ANDREA in her hospital bed and invites her to leave her body and follow her into a journey to the unknown. As they travel beyond death across a purifying river into paradise, Andrea realizes that she no longer needs to fear death. The next day, when her spirit leaves her body for good, Andrea passes without fear into the afterlife, which was in God's time.