FARMINGTON — Susun Terese, known to local residents as “Miss Minikins,” has written a book about spiritual awakening titled “The Shifting Fog.”

Teresa owned The Minikins outlet store on Main Street, a children’s fleece clothing business which closed in 2006. She now manages her cottage industry online, giving her more time to write.

A 1973 graduate of Bates College, Terese has long been interested in human behavior and the larger question of what we are doing here on Earth. Her degree is in psychology. However, she said, “I felt that even the most exciting courses in psychology did not go deep enough into the nature of the human condition. In retrospect, I would love to have studied spirituality, but didn’t really have a clear understanding of what that was.”

“Bates offered a major in religion, but I was not interested in studying about structure and doctrine. Spirituality had not yet emerged as a distinct course of study in most liberal arts colleges in the ’70s,” she explained.

Terese believes that spirituality differs from religion in that organized religion is based on dogma – a set of beliefs, rites and rituals agreed upon by a group of people. Spirituality, on the other hand, is a personal, inner experience of the divine that doesn’t require a belief in anything or rituals.

She strives to explain this difference in “The Shifting Fog.”

The book title comes from the idea that the vast majority of the human race is living in a kind of mental fog. Terese contends that we are so completely wrapped up in our thoughts and feelings, and in the material aspects of the world, that we are unable to access the spiritual dimension inside us.

In 2004, she traveled to Scotland to attend a seminar with Eckhart Tolle, a widely known and respected spiritual teacher, who wrote “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth.” Terese has also influenced by many other spiritual leaders as well as ancient texts like the bible and the Tao Te Ching. In addition, she has gained invaluable insights from her extensive work with Alcoholics Anonymous.

“The Shifting Fog” is written in large print and simple language, and is the second in a series of books titled “We Can Wake Up.” (Book I is a limited edition, currently out of print.) Terese is working on Book III. She has a blog about her book at susunterese.blogspot.com.

Books are available for sale at Twice Sold Tales, Devany Doak and Garret Booksellers, Sandy River Acupuncture and Up Front and Pleasant Gourmet. They may also be purchased online at www.minikins.org, by following the links to “Susun’s Book.”