A sincere effort and just possibly a dim reflection of profound truths.
Drawing on the professed wisdom of wealth and happiness-now motivators, Samuels tells in this slim volume how to put the universe to work fulfilling clearly expressed personal wants.
Samuels, inspired initially by a Tony Robbins infomercial to quit living with his parents and strike out on the high toad to success, witnesses convincingly about the universe’s largesse once he went from nay-saying pessimist to true believer. Having reaped asked-for rewards for himself, he seeks here in serviceable if sometimes simplistic prose to share the good news about the universe’s unfailing willingness to give us everything we desire if we can just follow a few simple steps. Step one is writing down a list of specific wants; ask not merely for a new car but for a particular make and model, and don’t forget to say what color interior. Next, command the conscious mind to pass along this want list to the subconscious mind. Then wait patiently while the universe, which Samuels defines as everything and everywhere, handles the rest. Throughout, just make sure to maintain a positive attitude; the universe doesn’t like a whiner. No need to wonder how and why it works; without apology, the author doesn’t. After all, Samuels argues, do we need to think about why a light goes on every time we throw the switch? Neither is chanting, meditating or New Age babble required. Samuels dislikes these sorts of things. He does toss around the term karma, but shows limited understanding of this esoteric law. The book, readable in under an hour, is, at bottom, Samuel’s personal distillation of the sagacity of seers who say wealth and happiness is the mind’s to create. Napoleon Hill, Wallace D. Wattles and The Secret author Rhonda Byrne join Robbins and many likeminded others as his teachers. Samuels is to be commended for giving credence to his thesis in at least one regard—writing the book fulfills an item on his want list. The universe has apparently delivered, in a credible if barebones fashion.
A sincere effort and just possibly a dim reflection of profound truths.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615501291
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Michael Okon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2011
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
A moving, heartfelt account of a hospice veteran.
Lessons about life from those preparing to die.
A longtime hospice chaplain, Egan (Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago, 2004) shares what she has learned through the stories of those nearing death. She notices that for every life, there are shared stories of heartbreak, pain, guilt, fear, and regret. “Every one of us will go through things that destroy our inner compass and pull meaning out from under us,” she writes. “Everyone who does not die young will go through some sort of spiritual crisis.” The author is also straightforward in noting that through her experiences with the brokenness of others, and in trying to assist in that brokenness, she has found healing for herself. Several years ago, during a C-section, Egan suffered a bad reaction to the anesthesia, leading to months of psychotic disorders and years of recovery. The experience left her with tremendous emotional pain and latent feelings of shame, regret, and anger. However, with each patient she helped, the author found herself better understanding her own past. Despite her role as a chaplain, Egan notes that she rarely discussed God or religious subjects with her patients. Mainly, when people could talk at all, they discussed their families, “because that is how we talk about God. That is how we talk about the meaning of our lives.” It is through families, Egan began to realize, that “we find meaning, and this is where our purpose becomes clear.” The author’s anecdotes are often thought-provoking combinations of sublime humor and tragic pathos. She is not afraid to point out times where she made mistakes, even downright failures, in the course of her work. However, the nature of her work means “living in the gray,” where right and wrong answers are often hard to identify.
A moving, heartfelt account of a hospice veteran.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59463-481-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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