by Morgan D. Rosenberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 12, 2011
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Combine Zen Buddhism-plus-self with Ayn Rand’s Objectivism-plus-emotions to get one person’s path to daily enlightenment.
Rosenberg aims to provide a practical guide to daily living by combining the best features of his two favorite philosophies, “with the psychology of self-esteem being the glue that binds the two philosophies together.” He asserts that the selfless and compassionate aspects of Zen Buddhism conflict with rationality, reason and a modern lifestyle. His Dark Buddhism replaces these aspects with a strong sense of self and healthy self-esteem. Objectivism, Rosenberg says, requires a person to switch off emotion and replace it with pure reason, but he argues that people need to listen to their feelings. Rosenberg employs his version of Buddhism’s Eightfold Path in pursuit of Objectivism’s virtue of self-interest—what is best and healthiest for him now and in the future. Against Objectivism’s impracticality, he offers advice based on his success in applying Dark Buddhism, but Rosenberg stops short of proselytizing. He contrasts his approach to living with that of Ted, his evidently fictional coworker; while Rosenberg seeks an enlightened view and understanding of the world, Ted chooses to live comfortably, albeit unaware. Rosenberg doesn’t judge Ted (or others like him) for his choice; he simply points out the superiority of Dark Buddhism over unconscious living. Unfortunately, there are more examples of how not to live than of how to live consciously, and the pages given to describing Zen Buddhism far outnumber those given to Objectivism. The choice of “dark” is also unfortunate, as there is nothing particularly dark about Dark Buddhism. Rosenberg adopted the term from Star Wars; the dark side of that series’ Force as practiced by the self-interested Sith “seemed closer to what I was synthesizing” than the Force used by the selfless Jedi. One appendix provides further instruction on meditation (a key practice of Dark Buddhism), and another supplies a bibliography and recommendations for further reading. The middle appendix, “Reality and Enlightenment: From West to East,” seems incomplete and adds little to the subject of Dark Buddhism. Dark Buddhism thoughtfully melds selected aspects of Zen Buddhism and Objectivism into a practical philosophy of conscious living; even if this doesn’t work for you, it may shed some light onto your pursuit of happiness.
Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463625795
Page Count: 222
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Albert Camus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1955
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
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by Stephen Batchelor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 2020
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
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