More well-meaning New Age psychopop from the author of Guilt is the Teacher, Love is the Lesson (1990), etc. According to psychologist Borysenko, who tends to gush, her ``soul has burned with the question why''—specifically, why does God allow suffering? The answer is found in this, as she puts it, ``extraordinarily special'' book that offers a ``new and much needed psychology'' of healing—new, that is, if one has never cracked open a self-help book or watched Oprah, Phil, or Sally. Borysenko's basic premise is, in fact, as old as the hills: that suffering is ``an opportunity for soul growth.'' She tries valiantly to situate this idea in world religious thought, but she constantly mangles her sources—for instance, repeatedly misreading John of the Cross's ``dark night of the soul,''which refers to an aridity that comes in advanced stages of contemplation, as equivalent to psychological disorders (in Borysenko's own case, a childhood bout with compulsive-obsessive disorder). On the other hand, Borysenko does know her transpersonal psychology, and the book teems with condensations of the ideas of Larry Dossey, John Bradshaw, Stanislav Grof, et al., as well as innumerable plugs for Borysenko's earlier volumes. Despite minor differences, all these writers broadcast the same idea: that spiritual growth is possible but takes effort, including the overcoming of fear, addiction, and other deep-seated traumas. As for methodology, Borysenko seems fond of women's confessional groups, men's drumming groups, and, above all, past-life therapy (we travel back to medieval Britain, among other locales). She's keen on meditation as well, and offers a watered-down, de-Christian-ized version of centering prayer, and a watered-down, de-Buddhist-ized version of walking meditation. This fire in the soul may warm already converted New Agers, but most others will find it wan comfort indeed.
Pub Date: April 7, 1993
ISBN: 0-446-51466-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1993
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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
© 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
