Walk in the Spirit #author Everald Compton

Walk in the Spirit: A page turning novel of people who walk with the Man

Drawing on a lifetime of experience, Everald Compton AO and Neill Florence offer a novel grounded in compassion, humility, and the belief that our capacity to do good is not measured by religion or doctrine, but by how we treat one another and contribute to our communities.

Set in contemporary Australiam the novel follows people from different walks of life as they navigate belief, doubt, interfaith friendship, and service — a true reflection of Australia's proud multicultural society. It asks poignant questions about religion beyond fear and punishment, and about how spiritual values can be lived honestly in a modern world for the benefit of our shared culture.

This is not a sermon, not a conventional thriller. It is a calm, generous novel that invites reflection and conversation — particularly for readers questioning institutional religion while still seeking meaning, purpose, and connection.

Walk in the Spirit is a story of our time, shaped by nearlu two hundred years of lived experience, and guided by the enduring conviction that a more compassionate world begins with how we choose to walk with others.

To connect with Everald ....
https://everaldcompton.com/
https://everaldcompton.com/shop/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Oh. It's good morning, Everald Compton. Welcome, Everald, to Yellow Shell for the very first time.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

I look forward to a chat.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Oh, hey, the privilege is all mine, Everald. Everald, you are a remarkable human. You are an author who's written many books, and it's my first time getting to interview you and sharing your latest book with the Yellow Shelf audience. Congratulations. Tell us all about Walk in the Spirit.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Well, it's actually a sequel to another book. I've been an elder of my church, United Church, for nearly 70 years, and uh and I wrote a book called a prior one to this called Walking with the Man, which is a theological book. For people who don't go to church, 90% of the population don't go to church. I used non-church language to tell the story of how they can still follow Jesus, the man, without going to church and without having to believe all the creeds. And that caused a bit of controversy. A couple of uh ministers tried to have me removed from the church as a heretic, which was uh the top. But then a friend of mine in my congregation, Neil Sullivan, who's self-published a few uh novels, and and he um he said to me, Well, you really got to put this into a novel. People aren't gonna read theology, you've got to put this into a novel. So we devised the novel and we called it Walk in the Spirit. And uh it's about six people in the city of Rockhampton in Queensland, where Neil Flores helped me write this book, and that's his hometown, that's where he grew up. Six people who try to find common ground, six people of different religions. Uh one's a uh a fundamentalist Christian, one's a moderate Christian, one's an atheist, uh, one's a Muslim, one's a another one's a Confucian, and there's an LGBTI guy and an aboriginal spiritualist, and they all try to find common ground, get themselves into a fair bit of trouble doing that. Uh, but get to the point where they're saying it doesn't matter what Netanyahu and Trump and the uh Randy and Muller do over there in our local communities, we can all work together, we can all to have a peaceful, happy society. And it's the way they try and create a peaceful, happy society and ignore all the guys starting wars around the world. And that's the general theme of the of the book, and it seems to have hit the mark, you know, fairly well. People are looking for a way in which people of various faiths and other faiths don't have to fight one another.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Yeah. And Everald, what I liked about the book was, yeah, there was a real local focus, like like you said, shutting out what we can't control, whereas focusing on, you know, a local community environment and accepting of those around us.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Well, it it it did, and we tried to get people who were who were very human and and that they're not uh you know lily white people, they're people who've got all sorts of problems in life, and to show that religion is not about holy people, religion is about caring people and sharing people and and and and to create that atmosphere in the community. And uh uh you'll have noticed in the book that I actually make a guest appearance in it where a Roman Catholic bishop tries to burn me at the stake, and that the purpose of that was so that people who read the first book had asked me all sorts of questions about it, and so I used those questions in the heresy trial and was able to try and convey in a way that people could understand what in fact uh having a cornerstone to your life, you know, really means. And what I've found in all the discussions I've had is that it doesn't matter what people's religion is, the famous sermon that Jesus preached called uh you know the the Sermon on the Mount, which is a very practical statement of how you should live, uh then that people of all religions can say, well, look, we don't follow Jesus, but that that that that sermon on the mount is just plain common sense that we can all get around. And that's what the book tries to tries to achieve and try to create the essence of a caring, sharing community in Rockhampton.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, well, well done, Everald. I think people need to get curious about this book. Everald, I want to share a little bit about you, uh, about your career, about you being an author. Um, am I allowed to say that you're over the age of 90 these days?

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah, I'm 94. Yeah, and my and my co-author Neil Florence is 94. We're the only two 94-year-olds in the world who've written a book together. So my publisher tells me.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

But yeah, tell us a bit about you. I was reading, you've got a fabulous website. I was reading about your previous, many of your previous books, your work, your timelines, your career, and your passionate work. Tell us what do you want us to know about you?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Well, um, first of all, I'm very impressed that you took the time to have a look at my books. There's not many people do that. I'll have to buy you whiskey one day that you know to thank you for that. Well, look, I I I was born and in the bush in Queensland in a little town called Lindville up in Brisbane River Valley. My dad was a laborer, and we I was born in the depression years and the war years, and didn't know a normal world until I was about 15. But my mother always said to me that you you put in the world for a purpose and you've got to find out what that was. Now she was she was a very fundamentalist Christian, but the one thing she said that I really fastened on to you know was this this fact that we've all got a place in our life. And Mark Twain says that in one of his books, where he says the two most important days in your life are A, the one where you're born, and B the one where you stop in your tracks and say, Why am I here? Yeah, and so I I keep asking that question in my life, why am I here? So I started off, uh I couldn't go to university, my family were too poor, and besides that, only very few people out of my class of 30 at high school, only three got invited to a university. There's only one in Queensland, and then so the rest of us had to work at night to get our places. I started off as a bank clerk and then a and an accountant and uh uh I I finally was appointed by the Presbyterian Church of Queensland, of which I was one of their youngest elders, to raise the money and build St. Andrew's Hospital on Wickham Terrace in Brisbane. I was only 24 years old. It was a miracle that I got the job and I decided to make, and the hospital there now is much, much bigger than I did, but I raised the money for the first two sections. And when I drive past, I say, well, that was a great experience, and that kicked me off to do other things around the world. So I went around the world for about 40 years raising money for special projects, universities, schools, museums, art galleries, uh uh uh age persons facilities, you know, you name it, and I enjoyed that uh that that very much. And then uh uh all of a sudden the the blokes who worked for me, the guys and women who worked for me in my fundraising company, said to me, Everyone, when I was in my 60s, they said to me, Everyone, you're looking a bit old. Uh uh we want to buy you out. Now, I knew if I said no, they'd go down the road and start up in opposition. Not that they were nasty, but they wanted to run the show. And so I thought, well, uh I I'll I'll I'll bail out at 63, but I'm not gonna retire. And so I just mentioned that I wanted to, around the place, I wanted to get involved in a few companies, and offers came. Uh, one started to to be the founder of National Seniors Australia, the largest seniors organization uh in Australia. Uh I I uh got involved as chairman of the Inland Railway, and that's had a bit of publicity in the last couple of weeks where I had to save it from being uh stopped. But I got involved in things that I found interesting and challenging. For instance, one of my fundraising jobs in the United Kingdom was to restore the church where Florence Nightingale's buried, and the tower was about to fall on Florence's grave, and I had to turn up and save Florence's grave. But I met a lot of wonderful people who were inspired by this woman who was quite an aggressive lady, I might add, but nevertheless, she pioneered the nursing profession against great opposition. So I had wonderful experiences like that, saving Florence from getting covered over. And so uh then in my uh old age I decided I better start writing books, and mainly because I believe that one of the ways to ward off dementia is to have an active brain. Now, reading doesn't make your brain active, and watching you know, mini-series you know doesn't uh help your brain. You've got to have some output, you've got to have a hobby where your brain's gotta work. So at age 80 I thought, well, I'll start writing books, and I've now written seven of them, and and uh and I've enjoyed it because you've got to sit there and use your brain, and I find it exciting, and it's a wonderful uh uh experience uh to finish your book and the publisher's poem. You got it in your hand and you say, I did it, you know, and it gives you So in my old age I I do that. I'm still involved in chairing a few companies and things. Uh but when when I wake up every morning, I'm quite uh you know, delighted. You know, I'm delighted that I did wake up and I say, Well, I've woken up and it's 94. I better get out there and do something. Yeah. So what's the point of waking up and then sitting and saying, Paul, little me will somebody look after me? So I'm gonna die making a speech one day, somewhere do quite a lot of I'm gonna die on the platform one day, you know, and and uh and and and but I've had a uh a good life and a lot of wonderful people who helped me, you know, uh along the way. So I've enjoyed the made I've made a lot of mistakes, but I hope I made up for them in one way or another. But I've enjoyed I've enjoyed the journey.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Wow, Everald, like I'm so lucky that you took the time to talk to me, to share with the audience about your latest book, but also your journey, because it is incredible. Um, and your attitude and the fact that you're writing and continually sharing, you know, what you know and what you've learned and inspiring others. Thank you so much for joining us. Everald, you have a really great website that I'm gonna put in the show notes here for anyone who's watching or listening, they can go and find out more about you and your journey and your previous books. Um I'm I'm assuming you're not slowing down, Everald. Like any more books? You're welcome to come back and talk to me on Yellow Shelf.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Well, I'm in the middle of writing the next one, which is about Lucinda, the boat on which the Australian Constitution was written in 1891 on the Hawksry River, and which they finally sank down the mouth of the Brisbane River without anyone noting that this was the boat where the Australian Constitution was written by Griffith and Barton. So I'm writing a book about the story of Lucinda and what happened on the boat and how Australia was found. I get after all the people who sank her down the mouth of the river. And so that's my next one, Lucinda. So we'll talk about that when it's weird.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

I am gonna lock you in. I'm gonna talk to your PR and your publisher, and we're gonna lock you in back to Yellow Shelf. So keep writing, Everald. It has been a delight to chat to you today. Thank you so much for your time.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

And the privilege to talk to you, Joanna. You keep doing your good job of getting people to read good books. It's important. The world keeps reading good books and not mini series and things. So you're doing a great job, and thanks for having me along.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

It is my pleasure, Everald. Have a wonderful day.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

You too.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Cheers.