Author to give crash course in world religions

Young Chang

Steven Sadleir has read the Bible cover to cover three times. He has

also read the Torah, the Koran, some of the sutras, the Ramayana, the

Talmud, the Mishnah, the Bhagavad Gita, Buddhist writings, the Dead Sea

Scrolls, other major religious texts and, literally, thousands of books

on religion.

Sadleir has joined a Druid order, apprenticed under several gurus

living in India, studied under Daoist masters in Asia, worshiped in the

jungles of Borneo, researched Native American religions, attended

churches, synagogues, mosques and cult meetings and meditated for eight

hours a day, then 12 and then 23.

He said the lesson he has learned through his lifelong religious

journey is that God is everywhere -- that he has not denied him.

The Laguna Beach resident, who was born and raised in Newport Beach,

recently had a book published titled “Looking for God.” On Thursday, he

will present “A Crash Course in Religions of the World” at the Newport

Beach Central Library. The talk will include histories and practices of

world religions.

For Sadleir, God is his creator and the one who enables him to

breathe.

“God was always just God,” he said. “I never really gave any one

religion or sect ownership of God. . . . To me, God is bigger than any

religion.”

Sadleir’s book gives a practical overview of 12 Eastern religions,

three Western and Middle Eastern religions, 15 early “spiritual paths,”

such as Zoroastrianism and witchcraft, 13 different strains of

contemporary spiritual teachings and an overview of Eastern masters and

their movements.

“Too often, religion is what fragments people,” he said. “My hope and

my objective was to try and bring people together. You’ll see more that

unifies.”

The founder of the Self Awareness Institute in Laguna Beach, Sadleir

frequently speaks at retreats and conferences. By day, he works as an

investment banker.

“I think it’s interesting that somebody who works as an investment

banker has sought to understand a world of spiritual teaching since

childhood,” said Melissa Adams, communications coordinator for the

library. “We don’t typically have people who focus on religion, [but]

this is a broad, unbiased view on religions of the world.”

By night, the 42-year-old, who does not own a television, reads books

on religion.

For Sadleir, adopting the theologies of one religion does not mean

knowing God or receiving blessings exclusively through those doctrines.

Sadleir began his spiritual quest as a little boy. He remembers times

when he would sit alone and meditate.

“I didn’t know what it was at the time, but I started searching on my

own,” he said.

He went from church to church, climbed mountains to meditate there and

sought refuge in nature. When he was 16, Sadleir remembers getting a

“calling” while at the Sierra Nevada Mountains. From then, he began to

search intensely for answers to such questions as “who am I?” and “who is

God?”

“God reveals himself in moments of silence,” he said.

When asked why he does what he does, Sadleir said, with a shrug of the

shoulders, “I just love God. This is an act of love. I believe God asked

me to do this.”

FYI

WHAT: “A Crash Course in Religions of the World,” with Steven Sadleir

WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday

WHERE: Newport Beach Central Library, 1000 Avocado Ave., Newport Beach

COST: Free

CALL: (949) 717-3801