In a common sense style, risque at times, Doak Mansfield speaks rugged honesty, offering up ideas about concerns that fill our lives. Purposefully embracing irreverence and the notion of relativity, this work considers the contemporary cultural predicament and examines possibilities for a thoughtful spiritual life without dogmatism, magic, denial, or delusion.

Skeptical but not sardonic, this work is unpretentious, relevant, and positive. An Irreverent Guide is not esoteric speculation, scientific abstraction, or long-distant pontification. It is authentic field notes on the life of the spirit in the lived human comedy-tragedy. Without academic or orthodox pretense, New Age sentimentality, or cynical mean-spirited slashing, and in a conversational style, the author talks and walks with the reader in a journey of analysis, considering and re-considering the givens and possibilities for a creative confidence that embraces wonderment, appreciation , and affirmation.