Book Description
The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.
Customer Reviews:
Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited".......2007-08-22
After reading the commentary attached to the one star rating given by the young man from Texas, I feel compelled to step forward in defense of this very fine book. With only one exception, every point made in that negative review is simply wrong. Just not factually correct. The reviewer identifies himself as a young man (... "to my young mind"), and since all of his other Amazon reviews are of TV episodes on DVD, video games and rock music CDs I take him at his word. Well, I am an "old man," closing in on my sixty-third birthday, and I came to Mr. Casspriano's book after six decades of life experience, the last three of those decades a zealous practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I say this not to "brag," but simply to qualify myself as a reviewer before beginning.
I'll start where the one star reviewer closed his argument, with his statement that the simplest path reduces to two Socratic concepts: "Admit that you don't know anything" and "know yourself."
The first part is nominally true (the exception). Like Zen Buddhism, a central tenet of the simplest path is working to release the false notion we all hold that we know ourselves, other people, the world around us. But identifying and releasing our attachments to our illusions is a life's work, not some brash "I don't know nothin'!" as the young Texan seems to imply. Under normal circumstances, we go about our daily lives with no idea we are deluded about anything, as Maya (the illusion of the phenomenal world around and even inside us) is so convincing that most of us never even think to question its validity. Casspriano did not invent the notion of human beings being trapped in illusion, as this truth was known to the timeless authors of the Hindu Vedas and is central to all schools of Buddhism (not just Zen). But his scientific/spiritual exploration of the mechanism by which Maya ensnares our minds and can, with effort, be overcome is among the best "plain English" explanations of this process I have read. There is no "inscrutable mystery" in the simplest path (a criticism that has been accurately leveled toward Zen Buddhism, as a lot of Eastern thought truly does come off as "inscrutable" when translated into English and/or the metaphors of Western culture). Casspriano lays out in no-nonsense American English exactly what our brains are doing when they create the illusion we mistake for reality, then shows the reader in the same clear terms how to train his or her brain to break free of illusion and taste reality as-it-is. In just 216 pages, that is no mean feat. After thirty years of Zen practice and numerous kensho experiences (of varying depths and intensities), I can say from personal experience that Casspriano is correct. Enlightenment comes as the fruit of a long, incremental process of retraining the mind to touch reality in a new way, and the process described in the simplest path is the same as that followed in Zen practice, especially Rienzi Zen koan study (I'll have more to say about this in a later paragraph). Casspriano's approach and language is very different from traditional Zen (more "scientific," and no sitting meditation is required), which I think would appeal to Americans and other Westerners seeking to experience "awakening" without necessarily committing themselves to a religion like Buddhism, but the internal mental/spiritual process and final destination are the same.
"Know yourself," on the other hand, is not in this book at all, at least not in the way the young reviewer, or Socrates for that matter, uses the phrase. As in Buddhism, Casspriano takes pains to demonstrate that "self" is as much of an illusion as our misapprehension of the phenomenal world, and is a byproduct of exactly the same mind process that creates outer Maya. A core teaching of Buddhism is that our "self," our personality/ego, is nothing more than an aggregation of outside influences that cluster together in our minds like shiny stones gathered into a pile, and which we mistake not only for something "real," but tragically, for our essential selves. Yet this "pile" has nothing really to do with who we are at all. Buddhism teaches "no-self." Belief in the illusion of a unique and independent "self" is our greatest obstacle to enlightenment. Wasting time and energy getting to "know yourself" in the Western sense is foreign to Eastern thought. Casspriano again does a great job of translating the Buddhist concept of "no-self" into Western scientific/spiritual terminology. He shows the process by which our ego/personality aggregate "piles up," as well as how to take the pile down, stone by stone. Enlightenment is what the pile was covering up, and so it naturally appears as soon as the pile is removed - but oh how we cling to our personal pile of stones! "Self" is what we must trade for enlightenment, what must be surrendered, and Casspriano returns to this truth many times in the simplest path. My point is that the one star reviewer's reduction of the simplest path to "know yourself" has no basis at all in the actual book.
As to the book being "gimmicky": Yes, the words "The Simplest Path" recur frequently throughout the book, but not in reference to the book itself (at least that's not how I took it), but rather to the system of understanding the mind and working toward "awakening" Casspriano is describing - and it is a complete system that deserves to be considered as a whole, on its own. At times the repetition does have a feel of "branding" in the commercial sense, so I understand where the reviewer may have taken his impression. But the simplest path, while resonant with Zen Buddhism (and apparently, according to Casspriano, with the Toltec philosophy espoused by Carlos Castaneda, of which I have no personal knowledge, so I'll have to take the author's word for that) is far enough different that it needs its own "name" to set it apart from other schools of similar but not identical thought. The reviewer's criticism is like saying that every use of the term "Zen" in a book called "Zen Buddhism" should be taken as a reference to the book, and not to the larger practice of Zen Buddhism as a spiritual discipline that the book is describing. Casspriano's point in repeatedly linking The Simplest Path, Zen Buddhism and Toltec Shamanism throughout the book, at least as I understood it, is to highlight these three spiritual practices as related reliable paths through a dark forest of illusion, a forest in which many apparent (and more popular) paths, including most (all?) religious beliefs, actively vie to mislead travelers toward deeper ensnarement in the dream, rather than leading them toward "awakening."
I want to say a word about koan study in Rienzi Zen and how it relates to the simplest path. Koans are those quirky Zen sayings and stories like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "what was your original face before you (or your parents) were born?" that have no rational answer, and which Zen students turn and turn in their minds like the tumblers of a combination lock until their imprisoned psyches "explode" in a "super-rational" experience of reality beyond the illusion ("irrational" would be the wrong term, as that implies "nonsense"). That "super-rational" vision of reality is called "kensho." I have experienced it myself, more than once in my lifetime. I have come to think of Casspriano's "Key Questions" in the second half of the simplest path, especially the later seven of the ten, as "cultural koans" designed to trigger "collective kensho" for the whole human race at once. Like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", unflinching consideration of the value of human life, of how our beliefs about the future shape the present, of the true origin and destiny of life on Earth, etc., especially as seen through the lens of Casspriano's "Key Question Technique," reveals that none of these questions have rational answers, yet all require our active and immediate response. Successful resolution of these larger riddles that impact everyone will require us all to eventually "explode" into reality, together, in a "super-rational" way. We'll have to break through the illusion and wake up together, as one (which has been the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is a sect, since around 200 BCE). That is the "Planetary Awakening" addressed in this book, and I believe Casspriano's "Key Questions" are a concrete step in that direction. I'm glad I spent my fifteen dollars.
This is my "old man" take on the simplest path, having encountered it after 30 years of Zen Buddhist practice (I'm not veering off my chosen path here, just bowing respectfully in passing toward Casspriano's). From a Buddhist perspective, the simplest path is true Dharma, though I do not get the impression from reading his book that Vincent Casspriano is himself a Buddhist or a follower of any religion. That to my mind makes his book all the more interesting.
True, but gimmicky.......2007-08-09
Casspriano's book is scientifically and philosophically sound as best as my young mind can tell, but I don't recommend this book. Its scattered with numerous pages of advertising about how his "program" works and how it compares to other religions and spiritual movements. Why must this author physically write out "The Simplest Path" in reference to his book every other page, and talk about his second volume? Perhaps because he's not out for pure truth, but for our money.
All this book comes down to after you strip away the nonsense is two things. First, admit that you don't truly know anything. Second, know yourself. Do those two things (they essentially both mean to question EVERYTHING), and you'll have Casspriano's "Planetary Awakening," with 15 bucks still in your pocket. And you'll be following the fundamental truths already said by Socrates.. so do yourself a favor and pick up Plato's "Apology" and read up on the Socratic dialogue on how to live a good life. And don't stop there, because you can't be sure he's right.
And I have 10 bucks that says these other couple of reviews were written by the book publisher. In any case, ignore the hype.
A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15
This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.
Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10
This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.
While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.
If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.
A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13
I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.
I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:
From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":
"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"
Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.
If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."
And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.
One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.
Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.
From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":
"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."
And later in the same chapter:
"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."
For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":
"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."
Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.
The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.
Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.
This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":
"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:
· World oil supplies are running out.
· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.
· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.
· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.
· Time is running out..."
Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.
Now that's a meme worth feeding.
Customer Reviews:
Worth the price.......2007-08-04
the foreword by Henri Nouwen (13 pages long) is worth the price of this wonderful book.
A Book That Challenges Readers To Action And Prayer.......2006-11-17
The English language version of WE DRINK FROM OUR OWN WELLS is now over twenty years old. When it was first released, it did cause quite a bit of stir. Some read it simply because it was by Peruvian priest and theologian Gustavo Gutierrez. This was the time that Gutierrez and other Liberation Theologians were facing investigation by the Vatican. Some, like Leonardo Boff were silenced. Gutierrez' writings were not condemned on the whole, but there were questions regarding some of the particulars of his theological approach. The criticism was based on the seemingly sympathetic stance toward Marxism of some Liberation theologians. At the time Ronald Reagan was in the White House, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of England, the Nuclear Arms race as escalating and it had been only three years since Archbishop Romero and the woman missionaries in El Salvador had been killed for being viewed as religious radicals. Today theologians like Gutierrez are seen as invigorating theology and reminding us of the Gospel's call to serve the poor, birth not that radical, but in the 1980's, this was controversial and many read it for the controversy alone. Others read it out of admiration for Gutierrez' earlier work A THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION. My guess is that whatever the reason, this book, like so many powerful works of faith, touched and hopefully changed the reader.
It seems that Gutierrez' purpose for writing this work is twofold. First, it is a defense of his principals of Liberation theology. Critics claimed Gutierrez' writings were Communism with a Christian slant. Gutierrez never refuted the charge of having Communistic leanings which would have taken away from what he was trying to accomplish. Instead he kept defending the rights of the poor and the call of Christ to serve the most vulnerable and stayed away from a debate which would have just been political. The result is this book. WE DRINK FROM OUR OWN WELLS presents a spiritual basis for Liberation Theology demonstrating that his beliefs are not based on anything other than the message of Jesus Christ. Gutierrez does what few theologians do, or at least do well. He not only presents the theology, he also presents the practical spiritual basis too.
While the book may be an attempt to connect the theories of Liberation Theology and spiritual practice, most readers of WE DRINK FROM OUR OWN WELLS probably discovered what makes the book so powerful. In an age when there is almost a disconnect between a person's spiritual life and all other aspects of life, Gutierrez reminds us that not only that we cannot hear the words of scripture and not be concerned for the poor and oppressed, but that our care and concern for others ought to lead us to prayer and God and our prayer ought to lead u to concern for others. He also reminds us of the importance of a communal aspect of the faith, highlighting for Catholics the centrality of the Eucharist. Gutierrez offers a lived rather than theoretical spirituality that can bring about change. It's also a challenging book for most Western readers and an empowering book for the poor and oppressed. Readers cannot help but see that the poor and marginalized have far more to offer us as far as knowing God is concerned than those of us who may be privileged have to offer them.
Why the controversy?.......2003-11-23
Gutierrez has written about "liberation theology" in layman's language. Not only is the book informative, it is a guide to personal spirituality.
After completing the book, I find it difficult to understand why "liberation theology" has been such a controversial topic within the political and church establishments for the past 30 years. Why had a US government study claimed "liberation theology" a greater threat to Latin America than communism? And why had the authorities in Rome silenced both Gutierrez and Boff for their positions on liberation theology?
We Drink from Our Own Wells is formated into three sections. The first section contains two chapters that define "new" spirituality as practiced among the poor in Latin America.
The second section is comprised of three chapters that focus on scripture; particularly the gospels of the evangelists and the epistles of Paul. Much attention is given to the social gospel of Christ. The concepts of flesh, spirit, and body are extensively discussed, as are the terms "discipleship" and "community".
The five chapters in the final section are summarized in Henri Nouwen's superbly written Forward: "...filled with deeply moving texts written by Christian men and women who have experienced persecution and suffering but have been witnesses to the living and hope-giving God in the midst of their sufferings."
The 202 pages include 33 pages of notes, 4 pages of scripture references (over 200 entries), a 15 page Forward written by Henri Nouwen, and a 5 page Preface by Gutierrez for the 20th Anniversay Edition.
It changes your view of Spirtuality.......1998-06-01
This book applies to everybody who is looking to stregthen his or her spirtuality. It looks at the Latin American version of Christianity which is a good reminder that there are more types of spirtualities than the American ones. It a good read, well written and it draws well on the scripture.
Average customer rating:
- Neither Compelling Not Convincing
- Wonderful, touching story
- Highly recommended
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We Are On Our Own
Miriam Katin
Manufacturer: Drawn and Quarterly
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I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors
ASIN: 1896597203
Release Date: 2006-05-16 |
Book Description
A stunning memoir of a mother and her daughter’s survival in WWII and their subsequent lifelong struggle with faith
In this captivating and elegantly illustrated graphic memoir, Miriam Katin retells the story of her and her mother’s escape on foot from the Nazi invasion of Budapest. With her father off fighting for the Hungarian army and the German troops quickly approaching, Katin and her mother are forced to flee to the countryside after faking their deaths. Leaving behind all of their belongings and loved ones, and
unable to tell anyone of their whereabouts, they disguise themselves as a Russian servant and illegitimate child, while literally staying a few steps ahead of the German soldiers.
We Are on Our Own is a woman’s attempt to rebuild her earliest childhood trauma in order to come to an understanding of her lifelong questioning of faith. Katin’s faith is shaken as she wonders how God could create and tolerate such a wretched world, a world of fear and hiding, bargaining and theft, betrayal and abuse. The complex and horrific experiences on the run are difficult for a child to understand, and as a child, Katin saw them with the simple longing, sadness, and
curiosity she felt when her dog ran away or a stranger made her mother cry. Katin’s ensuing lifelong struggle with faith is depicted throughout the book in beautiful full-color sequences.
We Are on Our Own is the first full-length graphic novel by Katin, at the age of sixty-three.
Customer Reviews:
Neither Compelling Not Convincing.......2007-01-16
Graphic novels are in, and graphic novels about the Holocaust, keying off of Art Spiegelman's MAUS, command our attention both for their subject matter and for the way they present it. Unfortunately, Miriam Katin's WE ARE ON OUR OWN, does not do a good job on either count.
As it happens, shortly before writing this review I spent a couple of hours in a bookshop in New York City that specializes in graphic novels and comic books. I soon realized that most of the graphics in the novels are poor at best. Interestingly, the best ones are done by Europeans who, it seems, are still trained as artists, something that I'm not sure we can say about their American counterparts. Katin's graphics are better than some, but still not especially compelling. They soon lose what visual interest they have.
Nor does the story redeem the uninteresting graphics. As it also happens, this novel is not about the Holocaust, but about the experiences of Katin and her mother, Hungarian Jews who, in 1944, purchased false identity papers and went on the run, staying in Hungary and finding shelter with two or three Hungarian peasant families. In the meantime, Katin's father was fighting with the Hungarian Army. I don't want to minimize the experiences of any refugee when I say that Katin and her mother were singularly fortunate - though occasionally suspected to be Jews, they were never turned in by their hosts; they survived the war and, at war's end, were reunited with Katin's father. They went on to stay in Hungary until 1956, when they left in the aftermath of the Hungarian Uprising.
The title reflects Katin's loss of faith in God, a loss that grew out of Katin's experiences, but the story she presents is simply not compelling. Elie Wiesel survived the concentration camps, the only one in his family to do so, yet he has made his peace with God, and he is hardly the only Holocaust survivor to do that. For far less powerful reasons, Katin wants to share with us her loss of faith, though she could as easily have found the hand of God in her and her parents' survival.
Were it not for the current demand for graphic novels and for Katin's attempt to connect her story with the Holocaust - a connection that barely exists - I'm not sure this book would ever have been published. If you must read a graphic novel that is compelling and is truly about the Holocaust, read MAUS.
Wonderful, touching story.......2006-10-18
This is a wonderful, touching book. It is a harrowing story of a young women's struggle to survive the Holocaust and save her toddler daughter. The story takes place in Hungary in the last year of the war. A resourceful and courageous woman, the mother manages to hide as a servant woman. She is both willing and able to do whatever it takes to stay alive. The latter part of the book is devoted to her husband's search for her and his daughter. This search is eventually successful and the family builds a happy life after the war.
The book moved me to tears because it touches the raw pain and desperation both of the mother and of the bewildered child. Unlike many other Holocaust books, this one focuses not so much on the cruelty of the Nazis and their Hungarian helpers, but on the many kind people who took risks to help the two survive or just showed them kindness when it was most needed.
One of the central themes of the book is the young child's struggle to understand God in the context of the losses she suffers. Throughout her life, the protagonist yearned to believe in a God that she felt did not exist. It's an interesting theme and is handled in a nuanced manner.
This is a graphic novel, in cartoon strip format. I did not fall in love with the images. They lack the graphic power of "Maus." Spiegleman made the cartoon medium work for him, forever changing it. Katin's images seemed to me to be less interesting and challenging. They are carefully drawn and capture the mood, but what made the book work for me was the dialog, and that could have been captured as a narrative as well.
This book may not, in my opinion, be appropriate for the younger student because of sexual content. There are two situations of forced sex, and while they are not graphically depicted, the themes are rather adult. There is also discussion of an abortion. The older highschool student should be able to contextualize the material appropriately.
Highly recommended.......2006-08-13
"We Are On Our Own" is a gripping memoir of a mother's struggle to survive in Hungary during WW ll. Miram Katin recalls her early childhood in this beautifully illustrated graphic novel. It is a moving tale about the horrors of war and a mother's determination to save her child at any cost.
I've just read it, and together with Alison Bechdel's "Fun Home: a Family Tracicomic" it's the best book I've read in a long time. Buy it now.
Book Description
Systematically reveals the lost links between religion, science, destiny, and free will.
Customer Reviews:
Not what I expected...but What a Great Book!.......2002-02-03
I bought this book with the thought this would explore Christianity and Astrology. It doesn't.
But I spent the money so I read it. Mr. Armstrong approaches astrology, or should I say sidereal astrology, in this book in a rather interesting manner. He begins by giving a long and drawn out background on himself and where he is coming from that you get caught up in his tale. Then he introduces vedic astrology in a manner not so complex and as foriegn as the average western astrologer might think it is.
I came away with a greater respect for sidereal astrology, not seeing it as so much of a competitor of tropical astrology but as a companion. Scratch that...as a foundation for where we have came from and where we are today.
Profoundly life changing.......2001-07-02
Beryle Chambers (aka Bhavani Devi) - Poet - Vancouver Canada says: This is a fascinating book that describes a lovingly interactive cosmology in which the Divine acts through special agents existing on a higher level to influence and assist the spiritual evolution of all souls on this plane. Karma then becomes a learning tool rather than a punishment and new ways of perceiving and responding to our personal "life blueprint" are taught. I found the section about how one's Vedic birth chart predicts body type and characteristics particularly interesting.
The book is extremely accessible. While clearly an expert in his field, the author was never pretentious or boring. In fact, he was able to convey all information in a conversational, kind and humorous tone. Additionally, his metaphysical poetry was amazing. As a poet myself, I appreciated and was inspired by the beauty and power in the poems that opened each chapter.
I'll be giving this book to my most beloved friends.
Challenges current Western astrological approaches.......2001-05-21
God The Astrologer: Soul, Karma And Reincarnation reveals the interconnections between various disciplines and areas of knowledge with respect to the art and science of astrology. Author Jeffrey Armstrong challenges current Western astrological approaches in favor of ancient Vedic astrology, reinforcing the links between religion, science, destiny, and free will. God The Astrologer is a reader friendly, informative, and highly recommended addition to the growing body of astrological literature and inquiry offering students of astrology and metaphysics a superb perspective on modern science and a great cultural tradition of enormous antiquity.
Amy.A. - E.B.Lane Public Relations & Media.......2001-04-02
Incredible! I've read it twice so far - I couldn't put the book down!
A rare and brilliant perception of life and astrology........2001-03-28
Finally! A book that lays down the foundations of Vedic astrology! Jeffrey Armstrong has poured forth a fountain of extensive knowledge, bridging history, philosophy, medicine, science and religion-pulling together the threads of life's most timeless questions, until the resulting cultural tapestry becomes a clear picture of astrology as it was originally intended to be seen. Without this rich history and detailed account of it's relationship to the Vedic perception of the soul, life purpose, and karma, it is no wonder that astrology in the West has often been met with disappointment or misinterpretation. Truly, "God the Astrologer" is a delightful string of pearls, delivering one delicious insight after another... if you have any interest in astrology (or even just the mechanics of life itself!), please treat yourself to this well written treasure...
Book Description
A rousing polemic in defense of the written word by the New York Times bestselling author of Losing the Race and the widely acclaimed history of language The Power of Babel.
Critically acclaimed linguist John McWhorter has devoted his career to exploring the evolution of language. He has often argued that language change is inevitable and in general culturally neutral-languages change rapidly even in indigenous cultures where traditions perpetuate; and among modernized peoples, culture endures despite linguistic shifts. But in his provocative new book, Doing Our Own Thing, McWhorter draws the line when it comes to how cultural change is turning the English language upside down in America today, and how public English is being overwhelmed by street English, with serious consequences for our writing, our music, and our society.
McWhorter explores the triumph of casual over formal speech-particularly since the dawn of 1960s counterculture-and its effect on Americans' ability to write, read, critique, argue, and imagine. In the face of this growing rift between written English and spoken English, the intricate vocabularies and syntactic roadmaps of our language appear to be slipping away, eroding our intellectual and artistic capacities. He argues that "our increasing alienation from 'written language' signals a gutting of our intellectual powers, our self-regard as a nation, and thus our very substance as a people."
Timely, thought-provoking, and compellingly written, Doing Our Own Thing is sure to stoke many debates about the fate of our threatened intellectual culture, and the destiny of our democracy.
Customer Reviews:
Thought-provoking and perhaps convincing, though with some weak points.......2007-07-05
John McWhorter has long had a double identity. As a professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, he's written on the evolution of languages over time (THE POWER OF BABEL) and on English dialectology (WORD ON THE STREET). But he's also a cultural commentator, until recently directing his attention to the issues facing African-Americans (LOSING THE RACE and AUTHENTICALLY BLACK). In DOING OUR OWN THING: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care he combines his two interests. McWhorter claims that there's indeed a real problem with the English that we hear today in the media and from our politics, and the English we read in popular literature.
McWhorter, like all reputable linguists, will readily state that all languages are essentially equal in that they serve the basic needs of their bodies of speakers. His argument is not that English is going downhill in a way that is reducing people to unintelligent brutes who can't get their message across. No, McWhorter believes that the decline of oratorical skills and literary flair is simply depriving English-speaking culture of some beauty that people could enjoy. He pairs letters from grade-school dropouts of the 1800s with newspaper articles by professional journalists of today to show that, yes, in days of yore people used to appreciate the skill they could display in writing elegant prose, and everyone was capable of giving it a go. He puts the Gettysburg Address next to what a professional speechwriter prepared for President Bush to show that nowadays our politicians provide uninspiring and half-hearted explanations of their motivations and goals. English in the public sphere, McWhorter claims, is lame.
McWhorter has no problem with people on the street talking like they are wont to. He notes that the civil engineer of a century ago who wrote a lovely letter to his sweetheart likely used much coarser language on the job with his construction men. But there should be a place for linguistic virtuosity. Great literature, which is the very exploitation of a language's possibilities, is today rarely encountered in the mainstream media. Poetry is replaced by the Spoken Word, where there's little elegance or artfullness in the construction, just rants against the Man. Indeed, McWhorter traces much of the downhill trend to the 1960s, when the rebellion against authorities tragically entailed a rejection of fine arts, which was mistakenly seen as elitist.
McWhorter extends the argument to music, feeling that popular music today concentrates on rhythm at the expense of other parameters of music. Compare a rap song to a fine jazz tune from half a century ago: once upon a time popular music was rich. This extension is reasonable, but the musical portion of the book is so slim that it seems an after-thought; would that he have fleshed it out a bit. I'm also not sure I buy McWhorter's assertion that English-speaking cultures are the only ones neglecting linguistic virtuosity. Sure, there are cultures out there where speaking eloquently still elicits wonder, but things like poetry are dead in lots of places. Just as the average Dane if he knows who Pia Tafdrup or Ole Sarvig are, or the average Japanese young person if he'd prefer to put down his manga and enjoy some Kawabata instead. The trend may have started in the United States, fount of much international popular culture, but all developed societies are going post-literary.
I am a graduate student of linguistics because I love the diversity of human speech. I am fascinated by the rainbow of languages on Earth, and how within each there is a lively array of registers. But in English, as well as various other languages I speak, things are getting awfully monochromatic and the spice is gone. With DOING OUR OWN THING McWhorter might not be able to stop this massive trend, but it's admirable that he notices there's a problem, and the book is sure to be thought-provoking for the lovers of language, literature, and fine music among us.
A Quest for Complexity.......2005-10-28
Through tracing the simplification of American speech and music over the last century (in some cases, longer), McWhorter demonstrates the loss of complexity, and with it, a love for the English (American) language. Showing his own ambivalence about, or possibly seduction by, this simplification, McWhorter shows how this continued degradation is stripping our public discourse of the very richness and precision we most need in these complex times, though he doesn't hammer this point home. (Note: This book makes much more sense if one realizes that good writing is thought on paper.) McWhorter subtly implies, though never states, that the American public's desire for the 'real,' the 'honest' and the simple, is, perhaps, a mistake.
Very well written (with a few editing mistakes!), I give it 4 stars, as it doesn't provide any ideas for changing the situation. Having said that, I am making efforts to improve my own writing and speaking as a result of this book.
Keeping It Unreal.......2005-07-15
The subtitle of McWhorter's book suggests that we ought to care about the degradation of language and music. Unfortunately, the book remains uneven because he never makes clear why we should care, or whether we can or ought to do anything about it.
McWhorter has no trouble marshalling the evidence. Particularly in the Twenties and the Sixties one could perceive a cultural shift that favored the spoken word over the written -- the casual and spontaneous over the thoughtful and reflective. Many examples are given to illustrate the growing informality in print, TV, and even presidential addresses. There is so much proof, in fact, that McWhorter repeats himself and digresses into personal anecdotes whose relevance is sometimes questionable.
After each example I found myself asking: So is this good or bad? Sometimes he appears to welcome the informality, sometimes to mourn it. Can we do anything about it? The failure to answer these questions may be indecision on McWhorter's part. Or it may reflect the belief that this cultural shift is like an impersonal force of nature which we can neither create nor control, a belief for which I have little sympathy.
McWhorter uses the phrase "artificially crafted," as though any work governed by formal rules or guiding principles is artificial. It follows that stripping away these rules and principles is, to use the slang phrase, "keeping it real." It is not surprising that McWhorter likes rap but dislikes poetry. Rap presumes to be the voice of the street, of the struggles of the downtrodden black man -- of "what's real." Let's leave aside the fact that many of rap's creators and admirers are not downtrodden but well-off, well-educated, and often white. Even calling rap "music" is a stretch. Rap strips music down to rhythm. A rapper talks, usually shouts, in obvious and arbitrary rhymes over the monotonous thump of a computer-generated rhythm, accompanied by a melody or guitar lick stolen from someone else's song (a sample). There is nothing original or musical about it. Most rap expresses only two emotions: anger and lust. This is because it is aimed at teenagers, whose hormones are pumping with anger and lust, and because it is created by people who are teenagers or at least possessive of teenage mentalities.
The attempt to align oneself with what is common, and therefore more "real," is an old habit in cultural history. I too enjoy an occasional Big Mac. But I never confuse it with a healthy meal, let alone gourmet cuisine. Perhaps McWhorter defends rap because it is a guilty pleasure, because he wants to appear hip, or because, as an employee of Berkeley, he must affirm the school's countercultural agenda. Poetry bores McWhorter in part because he considers it the remnant of a snobbish age we are better off leaving behind. There is no bad grammar, he suggests, because the rules of grammar are relative and artificial. And yet the alternative, i.e. "doing our own thing," is itself relative. It is a substitute for consensus, in this case consensus about what constitutes good language and music. This move away from accepted standards and toward individual choice is a move from the permanent to the relative. Does McWhorter favor this move toward cultural relativism?
For my part, I welcome the formal expression of our thoughts and feelings, just as I welcome defense of enduring values and cultural norms. I am reminded of Burke's phrase "the wardrobe of a moral imagination." The most interesting and significant cultural contributions, whether in poetry, music, painting, and so on, are those which reveal real thought, effort, and justification and at least some familiarity with the traditions and methods of those fields. The alternative to form is formlessness. Only within the framework of standards can we maintain any kind of equilibrium. The transmission of these standards helps keep a civilization together. Is it possible that uncertainty and drift are the result of the loss of these standards?
The book is unfortunate because McWhorter has a powerful mind that is crowded with thoughts. I agree with some of what he says -- and he always has something interesting to say. But his thesis remains muddled. Is there something worth conserving? Lacking any affirmation of norms, his arguments lead to a helpless and hopeless cultural relativism in which one thing is as good as another, and in which freedom and change are out of our hands. McWhorter is not "keeping it real." He is keeping it mindless and soulless. And that is a peculiar position for a professor to take.
Tempted to give it one star........2005-07-04
This book makes the most grievous error a book can make: it's boring. The title sounded intriguing, but the book is a real snooze. I skipped page after page looking for something of interest to read. Alas, I found nothing. Talk about disappointment. I was hoping for a scathing analysis of the degradation of language in contemporary discourse and music. What I got was...well, I'm not sure but it put me to sleep within 5 minutes. I don't want to read in-depth analyses of speeches from 1856 or whatever. Maybe there's another book out there that discusses the devaluation of language in pop culture in a compelling way. This one ain't...I mean, isn't, it.
Intelligent look on a contraversal subject .......2004-12-26
John McWhorter's "Doing our own thing" examines the decline of formal English in 20th century America, in the same vein as George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language". McWhorter argues that the anti-authoritarian attutide, prevalent to the North American (youth) culture, is responsible for erroding the art of formal English in writing and speech.
In supporting this thesis, McWhorter presented plenty of examples from literature and mass media alike. In my opinion, this is an excellent book on trends in American English, and McWhorter's comments are both insightful and humourous, particularly his footnotes.
Despite the richness in evidence, they are merely circumstancial. Nowhere in his book did McWhorter directly discuss the "anti-authoritarian" movement which was central to his argument. He did, however, admit this shortcoming in various occasions. Most of these examples, in his words, are "symtoms" to a bigger phenomenon. By that, he also implied that Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Britney Spears were products, not causes, of said movement.
On two points I would disagree with McWhorter. First is on his discussion on performing operas in translation, of which he is a strong advocate. McWhorter did contradict himself when he rediculed the French language edition of Seinfeld, confirming my belief, that the issue is simply a matter of opinion.
The other point is McWhorter's criticism of students preparing for the SAT. Quite clearly, if given the means, McWhorter would propose a more rigorous school curriculum for the English language. The point which he (delibrately) missed, is that students who memorise such "SAT" words usually have little understanding on the nuances behind the words, something which McWhorter strived for throughout the book.
Going back to the theme, McWhorter emphasised, that the problem goes much deeper than poor grammar, and he proved the point by writing the entire book with "poor" grammar. Formally written English is higly processed and demands conscious participation from both the writer and the audience. The thinking process stopped with the gradual substituion of spoken English. The people are effectively reduced to a bunch of automatons, effectively throwing their liberty away, an ironic consequence of the counter-culture revolution.
Although McWhorter's opinions are somewhat contraversial, and I do not agree with every one of them wholeheartedly, "Doing our own thing" does make me question the way I perceive the English language, and become conscious of my own thought process.
Postscripts:
1) In response to Mr. Stephen G. Esrati, who commented on the meaning of the word "artful", which Mr. McWhorter generously sprinkled throughout. Indeed, the word "artful" is indicative of one's mental faculty, in a sense of cunning and deceit. This, however, is but one particular aspect of the definition. The context used in McWhorter's book is far from the sinister interpretation provided in Mr. Esrati's review.
2) A lot of people think McWhorter is a sellout for his views on racial issues. I think otherwise. The Chinese identity in America, though emerges much later than the Blacks, is no longer built upon head tax, piggy tails, and laundry stores. Yet we still preserve the core of our culture. Along the same argument, the Black identity needs not be built upon slavery, violence, and poverty. McWhorter urges others not to yield to social pressures and break free from the invisible boundage, a struggle that is universal and transparent.
Customer Reviews:
A Must-Read For Anyone Who Cares About This Planet.......2007-08-20
This book is both fantastic and worrisome in its import. Painstakingly documented, it sounds a warning call that must be heeded. As well-read as I consider myself to be, I was surprised at how much I didn't know about the extent to which we've ALREADY messed up this Earth, biologically. Knowing how seriously we've messed up other species, one wonders to what extent the lessons also pertain to us. That is: it makes you realize that a lot of what we see going on today might have been the results of the seeds we've been sowing. Very thought-proviking.
Too Much Information!.......2007-06-24
Reading this book is like reading a scientific paper...boring! I think the idea of collaborating and telling a story could be a good idea, but this one doesn't work and is a real snooze-fest. There was too many incidents cited (yes, we get it, DDT is bad)that it took too long to get to the conclusions. It also didn't help that the type was fairly small and difficult to read.
This would be a good book if you wanted to write a term paper and needed a source for your topic and bibliography.
An excellent "Things that make you go Hmmm...." book.......2007-05-02
While this is nearly 10 years old it shows that people had been connecting the dots (and vigorously denying) synthetic hormones (and other chemicals that mimic the effects of hormones) in the environment for more then 60 years. Now in 2007 this book is still a good read, if a little outdated. Currently the science has evolved FAR past "what if" to "what now?" When Native Innuit populations show traces of Teflon and flame-retardant chemicals in their blood and breast milk, one truly understands that the diaper this planet wears is forever and mommy isn't going to come change it any time soon.
Still, the pro-industry flunkies will cry and cry. "You'll ruin the economy!" they shout from the rooftops. Well my favorite part of this book so far is the allegory: "A robber sticks his gun in your ribs and says 'your money or your life' what do you choose? It doesn't matter if you're an investment banker, a soccer-mom or a homeless person, the choice is ALWAYS that no amount of money is worth your life; you can make more money later as long as you're still alive..."
4 stars instead of 5 for being 10 years old and not up with the more current research, but certainly a good place to start if you are interested in the subject.
the problems with artificial hormones.......2006-11-15
In their book "Our Stolen Future," Colborn and his coauthors paint a devastating portrait of all the woes that can arise when chemicals that act like hormones are released into nature; animals become impotent, suffer other endocrine disruptions, get cancer, or give birth to offspring with birth defects. The devastation they describe is not much different from the devastation described in "Silent Spring," and give reason to reconsider how we treat the environment. Sometimes it would be better not to do something until we are sure that it is safe, rather than to do something until we are sure that it is not safe.
I was slightly surprised that the book goes into great depth about the havoc that artificial hormones can wreak when they are released into nature, but doesn't contemplate whether artificial hormones may have a downside when prescribed as medicines. Perhaps this will be the subject of another book.
What, me worry? .......2006-06-21
Stolen future? What future? This excellent book documents the threat posed to human reproduction and fetal development by the synthetic chemicals first created in the '30s. Read this along with Christopher Bryson's "The Fluoride Deception," and you will agree with me: we are f***ed. But then, throw in a little eschatology from the Maya, the Buddhists, the Hopis, Edgar Cayce, Sir Isaac Newton, and the Book of Revelations (among others) and perhaps you will conclude with me: it really doesn't matter anyway. Why? Because we were already f***ed --- long before we started filling out bodies with toxic waste disguised as food and drink.
Dear Reader, if you pooh-pooh the notion that we have about 2,380 days left before the Big Finale (as of this writing), then take the message of this book to heart --- before it's too late.
Product Description
The Joy of Creation, God's Relation To Creation, Our Relation To Creation, Our Relation To God Through Creation, Our Relation To Others Through Creation, Belief And Behavior
Product Description
This booklet provides a deep and insightful spiritual research into and a true diagnosis of the basic causes of the malady, humanity is suffering from and it also provides the unfailing remedy therefor.,
this booklet will be equally inspiring, uplifting and illuminating for the environmentalist, the nature loves and the spiritual seeker. it gives glimpse into the deepest recesses of the seer soul of a multi splendorous Mystic Guide
par excellenceof our age, who heard sermons in the stones and celestial songs of harmony, unity and love in the Himalayan wilderness- in its brooks and streams, its flora ad fauna, its icy winds and in the heart of the simple folks and could concretely exprience his oneness with all creation ; Vasudevah Sarvam Iti.
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- Timeless alternatives to the blare of popular culture
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Freedom to Play: We Made Our Own Fun (SCFC)
Manufacturer: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0889204063 |
Book Description
“When we were children we made our own fun” is a frequent comment from those who were children in pre-television times. But what games, activities and amusements did children enjoy prior to the mid-1950s?
Recollections of older Canadians, selections from writings by Canadian authors and letters written to the children's pages of agricultural publications indicate that for most children play was then, as now, an essential part of childhood. Through play, youngsters developed the physical, mental and emotional skills that helped them cope with life and taught them to get along with other children.
In both rural and urban settings, children were generally free to explore their environment. They were sent outdoors to play by both parents and teachers. Their games were generally self-organized and physically active, with domestic animals acting as important companions and playmates. Children frequently made their own toys and equipment, and, since playing rather than winning was important, most children were included in games. Special days, holidays and organizations for children and youth provided welcome breaks from daily routines. Their lives were busy, but there was always time for play, always time for fun.
Norah Lewis has provided an entertaining view of the toys, games and activities in Canada and pre-confederate Newfoundland from approximately 1900 through 1955. Her book will be of interest to historians, educators and sociologists, as well as anyone who lived through, or wants to know more about,those early years in Canada, and the games children used to play.
Customer Reviews:
Timeless alternatives to the blare of popular culture.......2003-02-07
Examining the period of 1900 through 1955, Freedom To Play: We Made Our Own Fun presents the fond childhood memories of a variety of Canadians, and who learned to entertain themselves with improvised toys and games. From simple sports to crafting one's own radio to going sledding or on a school picnic, these enjoyable pastimes both preserve wonderful memories of the past and offer timeless alternatives to the blare of popular culture entertainment today. Compiled and edited by educator Norah L. Lewis (a member of the Canadian Childhood History Project), Freedom To Play is an original, scholarly, and highly recommended contribution to Canadian History reference collections and Canadian Popular Culture Studies reading lists.
Books:
- The Sun Also Rises
- The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion
- The Wind in the Willows
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- We're All Doing Time: A Guide to Getting Free
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