Love Them Back to LIFE

A sprawling theoretical explanation of the human condition.

In her latest work of nonfiction, author Page (Isis Code, 2013) puts forth a massively complex argument for a theoretical model she calls the LIFE biosystem (“LIFE is an acronym for ‘law inherent to the five elements,’ and bio means life”). According to LIFE, there exists a Master Model that guides both the individual life of every person and the evolution of nature itself. For happiness and health to exist, humans must live in harmony with that universal blueprint. Drawing on a staggering array of sources that range from neuroscience to religious history, Page delves into the details of this model and the manifold facets of its expression. Most central are the feminine and masculine polarities, which she defines as “two great forces, mirrors to each other…the feminine polarity is receptive, while the masculine one is expressive.” Healing the ills of the present day, Page argues, will involve rebuilding our society to better support the feminine polarity and the love that stems from it. While Page includes abundant evidence for her claims, that evidence is often couched in such opaque terms that her reasoning is difficult to follow. One typical passage reads: “The bulk of humanity has lost the ability of a global approach because the phase we have embarked upon requires an ultrafocused point of view in a punctual manner.” The citations throughout are extensive, but they also include Wikipedia and other murkily defined sources. What’s more, the book packs an enormous punch of information without providing much narrative structure to support it, bouncing from nutrition advice to personal memoir to Jungian analysis and back again. There’s a polymath vitality here, and Page’s enthusiasm for her work is obvious, but the overall effect is overwhelming. That said, many of Page’s observations ring with an intuitive wisdom that lurks behind the book’s outward chaos. Few would disagree with her impassioned calls for a more balanced, loving world, and interested readers will find plenty of compelling factoids and starting points for further study.

A vibrant, eclectic sojourn into the meaning of it all, hindered by laborious writing and poor organization.