Grant Andrews

“Back to Incomplete” started as a blog in early 2010, serving as a space where I could vent my uncertainties about life. I needed to reach my own understandings about spiritual ideas, and the blog offered me a safe space where I could reason through challenging concepts and principles.

I began to notice that working through each concept, while difficult and often draining, seemed to offer me many rewards. I was able to notice the challenges of each concept as they presented in my life, and deal with them in a conscious way. I was able to form connections between all of the spiritual and philosophical crumbs which I had picked up over years of reading and reflection. And I was able to have spiritual dialogue with people in meaningful ways, and share in the journeys of others through mutual exchange of ideas and resources. It occurred to me that “Back to Incomplete” had become a major part of my passion-being and a way for me to evolve, and out of that understanding I decided to write this book.

The ideas I share here are reworkings of many pieces of writing I’ve done over the last few years. Some of them are direct reactions to books which I’ve read or speakers I’ve listened to, where I try to make the philosophies functional in my life if I find them useful: Courage, Happiness, and Service are examples of these. Other pieces are based on ideas which have helped me work through difficult situations and maintain a sense of clarity as I approach them, such as the chapter on When Reality Shatters Ideals and the discussions on Love in Part Two. The chapters range from the intricate and philosophical, the light-hearted and optimistic, to the deeply personal pieces where questions are raised without reaching any final conclusion. This is the nature of spiritual exploration: very often you just don’t know. Sometimes the not-knowing can be frustrating, but I try to maintain a sense of inquisitiveness and exploration in this book which confronts uncertainty with a smile.