Poznam Sympatycznego Boga (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Hachette Book Group, 2011, 349 pp., $26.99 ISBN 978-0-53947-0Man Seeks GodEric Weiner“Have you found your God yet?” This is the question that started the wonderfully written non-fiction book, Man Seeks God. The author Eric Weiner had to go to the hospital from severe pain in the abdomen then a nurse came to him and asked those six words that caused Eric Weiner to think and rethink all he had known about religion and his God in this in real time book. Eric Weiner is someone most of us can relate to, a technology loving, coffee drinking man with a wife, and young child, who has questioned the religion he grew up on throughout the book. He traveled to many places seeking his “God”. He looks at a select few religions such as Sufism, Buddhism, Franciscans, Raëlism, Taoism, Wicca, Shamanism, and Kabbalah. Eric Weiner concludes that every religion has their unique ways and styles from worshiping aliens to putting a little magic in your life. No matter what you choose to believe not, is your choice, its all good. I recommend this book to anyone who asks questions like “Where do we go when we die?” and “Is there really a God?” and to anyone that can read with an open mind, and take in and process all the information that is given in this book in a non-judgemental way. It has made me think about my own beliefs and spirituality and look at religion differently. I now want to try different religions and you might think the same after you read this. This book of finding yourself then finding your God, will open your mind to new perspectives of the world and possibly yourself. Having journeyed with Eric Weiner as he pursued the Geography of Bliss, I knew my travel companion for Man Seeks God was a slightly surlier and more cynical fellow quester though Mr. Weiner never embraced his religion of origin while I did inhale only to exhale in my late teens. Mr. Weiner and I both recognize the weakness of our "spiritual but not religious" stance's being a bit too convenient and the fallacy of that liberal lie that all religions are equally true and good. Eric Weiner's first stop is Sufism which calls us to fall in love with God, to submit to God out of love rather than fear. The next stop is Buddhism with its pragmatic, non-Godly orientation to religion. Who are you "off-cushion" when not in a contented state of meditation? Is there really an experienced difference between non-attachment and detachment? Buddhism seems to be that pause between thought and action. If you are in touch with the pause and can linger in the pause and make good use of the pause, then you may be a Buddhist. The Franciscan monastic tradition invites us to be joyous minstrels of God à la St Teresa of Avila's "God save us from sullen Saints!" I was raised Catholic and appreciate the Franciscan view that motivation does matter but we cannot always wait for the spirit to move us since the spirit tends to only motivate us to do what we wanted to do already. Sometimes, you've got to roll up your sleeves and get to good work motivated or not. I detoured from Eric Weiner's journey as he sought comic relief in Raelism and rejoined the trip when it landed in Taoism where we both appreciated the emphasis on experience, action, results, mystery, caring more about less, and God as a direction and a slower velocity. The Wiccan critique of Christian prayers of petition suggesting that God desired our radical dependency resonated with me. Are we not grown up's charged with incarnating God's will in the world rather than pleading with God to give us what we want? Shamanism's invitation to experience God as an animal spirit within was one I let pass me by. When Eric Weiner asked his Kabbalah teacher: "Well, what if it is all, you know, just rubbish?" her serene reply mimicked William James': "Truth is what works." Does this spiritual practice result in your being a better person ~ more loving, patient, generous, kind? The Ignatians would ask if the spiritual practice facilitated the movement of love. Good questions. Finally, Eric Weiner challenges us to distinguish between good and bad religion as we already distinguish between good and bad science and good and bad food. It is not all the same. "What do you believe" loses rank to "What do you do?" Did Eric Weiner find God? I am not sure but it was a worthwhile journey in the right direction.
What do You think about Poznam Sympatycznego Boga (2011)?
A bit self-indulgent, but an enjoyable read. Still not convinced by any religion.
—samanthacwhite
It was ok but did not change my life like some books can if you know what I mean.
—Claire
