Radical understanding of ourselves is now possible to our very core--greater insight into whom we really are, where we came from, what our evolution has been, what it has meant, and what it means now and for the future. That quest has been an intellectual one, but it also has been a spiritual one--and answers with spiritual meaning are now possible, even for the atheists, doubters, skeptics, humanists, and freethinkers.

In this study, author Douglas Falknor explores the issue of how religion has evolved along with humanity. A nonbeliever, Falknor seeks to answer a host of age-old questions: Are we born addicted to religion? Why do we have religion? Is there a God? How has religion evolved and created the hardwired spirituality within us?

Falknor goes beyond the God gene and surveys recent thought and reveals original interpretations of what it all means. He traces this spiritual quest for nonbelievers and calls this the "Path of the Doubtful Sojourner." Through this discussion, Falknor seeks to pave the way toward greater spiritual and psychological fulfillment.

As soon as man becomes conscious of his existence, as soon as he was able to reason, he was bound to ask himself the questions: "From whence did I come? And "Whither do I go?" It was very natural that he should wonder how he came to be here on earth and what would become of him after death. He saw his fellow man fall asleep, never to awaken. He saw others killed, life extinguished. It was his efforts to solve these problems that caused primitive man to create beliefs in life after death and in the power of super-human beings. When we look back over the experiences of the race, the history of mankind, we find that man has found three different ways of explaining his activities. In other words, there have been but three conceptions of history, three basic explanations by man of his doings on this planet. It is true that more than three names have been given to these conceptions of history, but they will all fall within the following: First, in order of time, is the Theological Conception of History; Second, is the Idealist Conception of History, and, third, is the Materialist Conception of History.