The term "New Age," which was always a slippery, hard-to-define notion, has fallen out of favor in the (for lack of a better phrase) spiritual community. And if such a phrase is indeed lacking, it's because the new generation of authors, therapists, thinkers, and laypeople are still in the process of coming up with a framework to replace or at least refine "New Age." Therapist, educator, and author Antoine Chevalier is charting new terrain in the spiritual realm by boldly searching for solid ground on which matters of the spirit and hard science can coexist peacefully, even symbiotically. "Hidden Powers of Creation: How Your Thoughts Shape Your Reality," a tightly written 100-word tome, makes an important contribution to the field by applying a scientific lens to a candid and sometimes personal discussion of consciousness and the mind, Eastern spiritual practices, and the kind of fascinating, inexplicable phenomena lumped into the general category of "parapsychology." The premise of the book is th at we fail to utilize the full range of our mental abilities - that certain aspects or functions of the mind can be honed to improve our well-being and even, miraculously-seeming, affect the physical universe around us. Chevalier is refreshingly honest about his own uncertainty and his investigative approach consists of a careful, measured, scholarly weighing of the evidence. He acknowledges that science is yet to account for many of the things he practices and witnesses, but posits that in time, as research in quantum mechanics and human consciousness advances, the evidence will emerge. Indeed, there is a strong if not conclusive body of evidence already growing. The book's scientific survey is just that-a survey-and could benefit from greater depth and breadth, but it's a solid introduction befitting the work's compact size. But "Hidden Powers of Creation" is not merely an academic tome. Chevalier imbues it with personal accounts of his difficult childhood in France and his early forays into spirituality, such as meditation and fasting, which he credits for empowering him to overcome early hardship. Some of Hidden Powers' most eloquent passages appear when Chevalier recounts these moments of darkness that pushed him toward the light and to finally mature into unity consciousness within. Certain questions are left unanswered, which is sometimes frustrating, but that ambiguity doesn't undermine the biographical narrative or the author's candor. It's a challenge to try to bridge two camps (the scientifically minded and the spiritually minded) and unify multiple genres within one title, but Chevalier's effort is a commendable one that hopefully encourages others to blaze the same trail.