A company whose aim is provide a broad range of spirituality to the community is bringing the author of the best selling ?Conversations with God? books to speak at the Fairmont Southampton.

Spirit Quest, a spiritual group recently formed by locals Ruth Ann Outerbridge and Sarah White is bringing in author Neale Donald Walsch to the Island to speak on October 8.

?We wanted to bring in the speaker because he is a phenomenal guy. He has written 12 books and was on the best-seller list for two-and-a-half years.

?His books were translated into 27 languages,? Mrs. Outerbridge said.

His message will be open to everyone in Bermuda, she said, to people of all religions: ?Even people with no faith at all. He sees God from a different angle.?

His idea of God is not one of a punishing God, she said, but more of ?user-friendly and all inclusive God?, Mrs. Outerbridge said.

The history of Mr. Walsch?s books dates back to 1992 when, following a period of deep despair, the author woke up one February night and wrote a letter to God.

?What does it take to make life work?? he angrily wrote on his yellow legal pad.

What happened next became the basis for his first book.

He said he heard a ?soft, kind, warm and loving? voice and began to write down the answers he was given, like dictation.

?(He) found himself engaged in a two-way, on-paper dialogue. He continued this first conversation for hours, and had many more in the weeks that followed, always awakening in the middle of the night and being drawn back to his legal pad.

?Neale?s handwritten notes would later become the best selling books,? Mrs. Outerbridge said.

Mr. Walsch said this dialogue is published without significant alteration or editing in his books.

Spirit Quest?s Sarah White was introduced to the series by her daughter Lesley.

?In the book I was reading what I had always believed to be true,? Mrs. White said.

?It is about the possibility of a new way of understanding God ? a step-by-step process of freeing humans from limited perceptions of God... This is not spiritual anarchy, if anything, it makes us more responsible on a personal level. This is not doctrinal, but experiential.

?However, some people want, or need and feel comforted, by rules and doctrines they encounter in religions. That?s wonderful. By all means stay with that. All people?s religious beliefs are good. This is not a better way, it?s another way.?

Spirit Quest hopes to feature six personal growth and spiritual speakers a year.

Included in their upcoming line-up are: Wayne Dyer (There?s a spiritual solution to every problem), Deepak Chopra (The seven spiritual laws of success), Carolyn Myss (Anatomy of the Spirit), Debbie Ford (Dark side of the light chasers), Melody Beattie (Co-dependant no more), Joan Borysenko (Minding the body minding the mind) and Don Miguel Ruiz (The four agreements).

There are 300 tickets available for Mr. Walsch?s lecture at a cost of $75. Tickets may be purchased from Spirit Quest at 541-2640.

The two small workshops at The Harmony Club are already sold out.

?The messages in his books can be reduced to this,? Ms Outerbridge said: ?We are all one. There is enough. Be the grandest vision you ever had about who you are.?