{"id":1545,"date":"2015-05-26T20:24:02","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T00:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/?p=1545"},"modified":"2015-05-26T20:24:02","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T00:24:02","slug":"interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html","title":{"rendered":"Interfaith Spirituality: Interview with Author Tom Ziemann"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>His name is Tom Ziemann (pronounced \u201cZee \u2013 Man\u201d).  I\u2019m not exactly sure when we met. I do know, however, how we met. It was on Facebook. When? Maybe a couple of years ago, but that\u2019s about all I can say.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/SteveMcSwain.com\/shop\/\" target=\"_blank\">Interfaith Spirituality<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>When I think of all the people I\u2019ve met \u2013 amazing people \u2013 on what my mother-in-law calls \u201cthe Facebook,\u201d I am grateful. Many of them, like Tom Ziemann, were raised, as I was raised, Christian. Today, however, many of them are still Christian but they have embraced, as I have embraced, an openness to interfaith spirituality.<\/p>\n<p>As I write this, I do not yet know where author Tom Ziemann might be with regard to his faith positions. I&#8217;ll learn, as you will learn, during the interview. What I do know is that he embraces an interfaith spirituality, as many do today.  This is hardly surprising to those of you who follow my blogs and are familiar with <a href=\"http:\/\/SteveMcSwain.com\/shop\" target=\"_blank\">Interfaith Spirituality Pendants<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am more Christian today than I have ever been. I am more deeply committed to Christ than at any other time in my life. Yet, I am increasingly aware there has only ever been one spiritual truth, experienced and expressed in a variety of different ways, idioms, cultures, and contexts.<\/p>\n<p>I suspect I will find the same to be true of Tom Ziemann.<\/p>\n<p>What I do know is that I have made many friends from literally around the world via Facebook. While many of them I would not likely recognize if I met them on the street, I am richer as a person for having crossed paths with them on this brief journey through life.<\/p>\n<p>I suspect I&#8217;m going to feel the same about Tom Ziemann during the interview. <\/p>\n<p>Unquestionably, Tom Ziemann is one of those for whom I am grateful to God our paths crossed. No mistake in any of that. I stopped questioning a long time ago \u2013 at least I think I have \u2013 whether the persons we meet, and the varied ways in which we meet them, is part of a divine destiny. I&#8217;m not saying it is. I&#8217;m admitting instead that I do not know. I just don\u2019t question it anymore.<\/p>\n<p>But do I enjoy it?<br \/>\nYou bet I do.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Ziemann is a self-described layman. He\u2019s a terrific author. He is a mature person in interfaith spirituality and he possesses a depth of spirituality many self-described clergy persons never seem to either appreciate or possess.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s friendly, too. I am guessing this will come across in the interview just as he does on Facebook. Finally, he is a very talented, gifted artist as well. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tomziemann.com\/photos.html\" target=\"_blank\">Go here and you&#8217;ll see what I&#8217;m talking about.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s this book he wrote that has captured my attention.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_1546\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1546\" style=\"width: 202px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2015\/05\/Unknown.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/352\/2015\/05\/Unknown-202x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Interfaith Spirituality\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1546\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1546\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Interfaith Spirituality<\/figcaption><\/figure><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00PJEEQHU\/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb\" target=\"_blank\">The Department of Zenitation: A Layman\u2019s Guide to Making Spirituality Work in Real Life.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s terrific. Full of insight and spiritual guidance. It\u2019s interfaith in nature, drawing from the many wells of spiritual insight found among the world\u2019s great faith traditions.<\/p>\n<h3>Interfaith Spirituality: It Works in Real Life<\/h3>\n<p>I am so impressed by him and by this book and I highly recommend it. I have this feeling you\u2019ll be purchasing his book and visiting his website just as soon as you hear him speak and respond to my questions in this brief interview. Check him out. Check out his book. Visit his website. Observe his artistic skill. And, enjoy going deeper in your own spiritual walk.<\/p>\n<p>There are 160+ interfaith spirituality devotions inside this book. I regularly read one or more at the start of a new day. I find great inspiration in the things Ziemann shares. I think you will, too.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy the interview. Then, get your copy of his interfaith spirituality book: <em>The Department of Zenitation: A Layman&#8217;s Guide to Making Spirituality Work in Real Life<\/em><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Interview with Author Tom Ziemann on 2015-05-26\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/128894797?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>His name is Tom Ziemann (pronounced \u201cZee \u2013 Man\u201d). I\u2019m not exactly sure when we met. I do know, however, how we met. It was on Facebook. When? Maybe a couple of years ago, but that\u2019s about all I can say. Interfaith Spirituality When I think of all the people I\u2019ve met \u2013 amazing people&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[2101,2096,1278,2102,2100,2094,2098,2099,2097,2095],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interfaith","category-spirituality","tag-captured-my-attention","tag-deeply-committed-to-christ","tag-facebook","tag-full-of-insight-and-spiritual-guidance","tag-gifted-artist","tag-interfaith-spirituality","tag-self-described-layman","tag-talented","tag-terrific-author","tag-tom-ziemann"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interfaith Spirituality: Interview with Author Tom Ziemann<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Interfaith Spirituality - Here&#039;s my recent interview with Author Tom Ziemann, a self-described layman whose terrific book on interfaith spirituality is...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interfaith Spirituality: Interview with Author Tom Ziemann\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interfaith Spirituality - Here&#039;s my recent interview with Author Tom Ziemann, a self-described layman whose terrific book on interfaith spirituality is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Your Best Life Now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-27T00:24:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2015\/05\/Unknown-202x300.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"smcswain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Interfaith Spirituality: Interview with Author Tom Ziemann","description":"Interfaith Spirituality - Here's my recent interview with Author Tom Ziemann, a self-described layman whose terrific book on interfaith spirituality is...","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Interfaith Spirituality: Interview with Author Tom Ziemann","og_description":"Interfaith Spirituality - Here's my recent interview with Author Tom Ziemann, a self-described layman whose terrific book on interfaith spirituality is...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html","og_site_name":"Your Best Life Now","article_published_time":"2015-05-27T00:24:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2015\/05\/Unknown-202x300.jpeg"}],"author":"smcswain","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html","name":"Interfaith Spirituality: Interview with Author Tom Ziemann","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2015\/05\/Unknown-202x300.jpeg","datePublished":"2015-05-27T00:24:02+00:00","dateModified":"2015-05-27T00:24:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#\/schema\/person\/a79b0cba765879c3d1711d801e7b5018"},"description":"Interfaith Spirituality - Here's my recent interview with Author Tom Ziemann, a self-described layman whose terrific book on interfaith spirituality is...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2015\/05\/Unknown-202x300.jpeg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2015\/05\/Unknown-202x300.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2015\/05\/interfaith-spirituality-interview-with-author-tom-ziemann.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Interfaith Spirituality: Interview with Author Tom Ziemann"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/","name":"Your Best Life Now","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#\/schema\/person\/a79b0cba765879c3d1711d801e7b5018","name":"smcswain","description":"I'm an Author... Leadership Coach... Counsel to Non-Profits, Faith-based Organizations and Congregations... Adjunct Professor of Communication at the University of Kentucky... Spiritual Teacher... Inspirational and Motivational Speaker. But not always in this order. On the university campus, I teach students the Art of Communication. In my public talks, however, I teach leaders the Art of Leading; I teach everyone the Art of Living...so that... when you come to the end... and, you will come to the end... You're able to look back on life feeling... Fulfilled... Accomplished... Content, Peaceful, and Happy, too... Knowing your brief but important journey has made this world a more... Conscious... Compassionate, and... Charitable place. What could possibly be more important than this?","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.stevemcswain.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/author\/smcswain"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1545"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1548,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}