A spiritual journey

Walk in the Spirit is Everald Compton AO’s sixth book and has been written in partnership with a fellow author, Neill Florence, who also happens to be 94 years old.

The book aims to enhance the spirituality of people who don’t go to church but are seeking inspiration on how they can lead a meaningful life.

Walk in the Spirit focuses on the lives of six very different people—one Muslim, one Jewish, one Christian, one Confucian, one Indigenous, and one LGBTIQ+.

“In varying ways and at different times, they choose to adopt Jesus the man as their role model and try to walk with him, each in their own personal way, to help create a better world,” Everald explains.

“We all need to have a cornerstone of faith, but how can we combine the charitable thoughts common to all of our religions or belief systems? How can we do that to create a better society?

“A key chapter in the book is where the Confucian guy invites a dozen people to his house for breakfast—every one of them from a different religion. None Everald Compton of them are office bearers of churches or mosques. They’re just ordinary folks who decide they’re going to get together and look after the lonely people in their community. They all agree that would be a good thing to do, and that if people are lonely, that’s a common goal they can work towards together to address.

“The idea is to open up conversations. We’re all different, but we can all find common ground.”

Everald and Neill were inspired to launch Walk in the Spirit at Uluru as the ‘spiritual capital’ of Australia.

Everald explains, “The book also features an Aboriginal man who, as an orphan, was brought up by Christian mission. But he ultimately believes Christianity is really Western culture being forced on his people, and that their spirituality really developed over 65,000 years.”

After reading Everald’s previous book, Walking with the Man, the Aboriginal man found he shared common ground with Jesus the man.

“In the book, he decides he’s going to walk around Uluru with me, because he believes Uluru is a place where all Australians can find common spirituality,” Everald says.

“We decided walking around Uluru would be a spiritual experience—a bit like the Camino walk that’s popular in Spain. We are hoping to raise $100,000 for Dorcas ACTS, a Uniting Church charity I founded 15 years ago that gives cash grants directly to people in crisis situations.”

Royalties from the book sales will also be donated to Dorcas ACTS.

As National Seniors Australia’s proud founder, Everald hopes members and fellow older Australians will join him on the 11km guided walk around Uluru on 5 October—his 95th birthday.

“I'm not as strong physically as I was at age 90, but I’m going to do the walk,” he says.

“I’m hopeful it might help to start a tradition where lots of Australians will walk around Uluru and ask themselves the question, ‘Why am I here in the world?’”

“Everyone will arrive the day before the walk, and that evening there will be a dinner where one of the Indigenous elders will tell us about Uluru.

“We’re walking early in the morning because Indigenous people believe there’s something very spiritual about the sunrise. Then we will complete the walk in three hours. Then there will be a brunch at 10am where we will celebrate and swap notes about the journey.”

Everald says he hopes 100 people will walk with him around Uluru, although those who cannot make the trip are encouraged to walk the same distance of 11km in their own area at the same time. 

To learn more or to join Everald on his walk around Uluru, visit spiritwalker.org.au.

Click here for a chance to win a signed copy of Walk in the Spirit or to purchase a signed copy, visit everaldcompton.com/shop