A detailed, offbeat account of a spiritual leader’s life-changing recommendations.
A debut guide offers tips on surviving in the modern world.
The Introduction of this extensive tome informs readers that “these teachings are written by Steve,” the spiritual leader of the Church of Terra Sanctuaria. It explains that what follows is meant to provide “instructions on how to enlighten your mind and help improve your daily experience of life.” That encompasses everything from eating a vegan diet to knowing how your car works to exercising regularly. There are warnings about the dangers of alcohol (“Alcohol abuse is an extremely large problem for Society”), a stern command to not purchase used goods (as they “reek of external energy”), and a list of movies to watch with eccentric encapsulations (Pulp Fiction is described as a “BDSM music video featuring Uma Karuna Thurman”). Thornier topics include an exploration of the violent nature of Islam, the insistence that both men and women stop all types of shaving, and the claim that homosexuals can be detected by “an enlightened reading of their aura.” The book concludes with an autobiography of Steve that describes personal highs, lows, and a quest for a nice place to live. To say a lot of ground is covered in the over 700 pages would be a gross understatement. If any one lesson can be extracted, though, it would be the importance of awareness. Whether on the subject of meditation, the sources of clothes, or the upbeat dictum to “Enjoy your life, don’t waste it!,” the work regularly asserts that this attribute is something extremely useful to have in one’s life. It is a theme that even readers who might be perturbed by certain viewpoints can glean from a cursory reading. As if this valuable concept were not enough, Steve himself emerges as a subject of great interest. Who is this man who quotes Buffy the Vampire Slayer and advocates withdrawing from society? The autobiographical portion in an appendix is relatively short compared to the rest of the book, but it changes completely the angle with which the reader approaches the contents. It sheds intriguing light not just on one man’s semi-controversial advice, but on where all such counsel might have originated.
A detailed, offbeat account of a spiritual leader’s life-changing recommendations.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5429-7262-8
Page Count: 816
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
An erudite and artful, though frustratingly restrained, look at Old Testament stories.
The Book of Genesis as imagined by a veteran voice of underground comics.
R. Crumb’s pass at the opening chapters of the Bible isn’t nearly the act of heresy the comic artist’s reputation might suggest. In fact, the creator of Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural is fastidiously respectful. Crumb took pains to preserve every word of Genesis—drawing from numerous source texts, but mainly Robert Alter’s translation, The Five Books of Moses (2004)—and he clearly did his homework on the clothing, shelter and landscapes that surrounded Noah, Abraham and Isaac. This dedication to faithful representation makes the book, as Crumb writes in his introduction, a “straight illustration job, with no intention to ridicule or make visual jokes.” But his efforts are in their own way irreverent, and Crumb feels no particular need to deify even the most divine characters. God Himself is not much taller than Adam and Eve, and instead of omnisciently imparting orders and judgment He stands beside them in Eden, speaking to them directly. Jacob wrestles not with an angel, as is so often depicted in paintings, but with a man who looks not much different from himself. The women are uniformly Crumbian, voluptuous Earth goddesses who are both sexualized and strong-willed. (The endnotes offer a close study of the kinds of power women wielded in Genesis.) The downside of fitting all the text in is that many pages are packed tight with small panels, and too rarely—as with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—does Crumb expand his lens and treat signature events dramatically. Even the Flood is fairly restrained, though the exodus of the animals from the Ark is beautifully detailed. The author’s respect for Genesis is admirable, but it may leave readers wishing he had taken a few more chances with his interpretation, as when he draws the serpent in the Garden of Eden as a provocative half-man/half-lizard. On the whole, though, the book is largely a tribute to Crumb’s immense talents as a draftsman and stubborn adherence to the script.
An erudite and artful, though frustratingly restrained, look at Old Testament stories.Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-393-06102-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf