How Dwight Schrutte learned to trust the universe

“Every thought we think is creating our future.”–Louise Hay 

In my new book, the one that comes out this fall, I tell a story about Rainn Wilson. He’s the actor who played Dwight Schrutte in The Office. He’s also one of my new heroes. His website, Soul Pancake, is inspiring, funny and dedicated to changing the old, worn-out paradigm of doom and gloom.

Rainn is a practicing Baha’i, a deeply spiritual soul, but back when he was a newly-minted, struggling actor living in New York, he temporarily threw his faith overboard. How could any reasonable person be expected to believe there’s a force that wants to interact with us, a force that has our best interests at heart?

Except that attitude didn’t feel right. Like all of us, he longed to be connected to a bigger thing. He embarked on a quest to read all the spiritual texts.

One night while watching a baseball game with his deeply-agnostic poet friend Phil, he shared a story about the Lakota belief in Wakan Tanka, a sacred spirit that exists in all of us.

“Oh yea,” Phil challenged him. “If your Wakan Tanka is so powerful, ask him to let the Yankees win this game.”

At the time, the Yankees were behind by two. It was the bottom of the ninth, two outs, not a likely proposition.

Rainn, ever adventurous and open-minded, said sure and sent up an incantation to Wakan Tanka.

“I kid you not,” says Rainn in his memoir, The Bassoon King. “No sooner did I send up the “chant” then Darryl Strawberry hit a two-run walk-off home run to win the game.”

Pam Grout is the author of 17 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and its equally-scintillating sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.