Take a moment and picture South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama together. There’s a good chance the image that comes to mind is one where they’re both smiling, if not outright laughing. These two stalwart individuals of faith have faced more fear than many humans will ever know, and yet somehow they have arrived at a place where their automatic response is to emit a sound that lightens both heart and mind – laughter.

This, says author Walter G. Moss, is the pure product of applied wisdom. With laughter as his sextant, Walter charts a course to wisdom using examples from clerics and philosophers, historical figures, and international literary giants. In many cases, it was the horrific face of war itself that led writers such as Anton Chekhov and politicians such as Abraham Lincoln to loosen their earth-bound ties, and lighten their outlook – taking them sometimes to the far shores of absurdity.

Profound, yet lighthearted, with an eclectic devotional edge that will keep you off guard, In the Face of Fear emboldens us to shrug off our self-imposed seriousness in favour a light touch. Doing so, could do more to cast light on what’s possible than stumbling around in the dark.

In the Face of Fear is part of the new Manifest Series

Manifest is a series of small books that address the important topics and issues of our time, written by activists, philosophers, seers, and poets. Intended as insight guides for those on journeys of discovery, hope, faith, resilience, and regeneration, they speak truth.