gimley reviewed Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment by Jed McKenna
Review of 'Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I gotta give Jed this: He's convinced me to read Thoreau (which--obscure trivia alert--is accented on the first syllable) and Melville.
There's a lot to like about this book, but also a lot to find annoying. Like life, I guess. I don't mind a little annoyance now and then. Others may find different things to like and be annoyed by but in my review you get to hear mine.
Books are just books and will only give you what they're capable of. They're one size fits all and I'm an odd size. I want him to say things differently but he has to say them his way. He doesn't seem to know there are other ways. Or doesn't care to know. Or knows and doesn't care to say. He likes to confront where I'm more likely to try and reach out. I'm more confronting than most, actually, and maybe that's …
I gotta give Jed this: He's convinced me to read Thoreau (which--obscure trivia alert--is accented on the first syllable) and Melville.
There's a lot to like about this book, but also a lot to find annoying. Like life, I guess. I don't mind a little annoyance now and then. Others may find different things to like and be annoyed by but in my review you get to hear mine.
Books are just books and will only give you what they're capable of. They're one size fits all and I'm an odd size. I want him to say things differently but he has to say them his way. He doesn't seem to know there are other ways. Or doesn't care to know. Or knows and doesn't care to say. He likes to confront where I'm more likely to try and reach out. I'm more confronting than most, actually, and maybe that's my takeaway lesson--that I need to become less so, and seeing how he comes off shows me its limitations.
I always want to go for the subtlety. I want to negate him as he negates others, and I think he's OK with that. He already knows that Julie will be negating him (though Julie hasn't gotten there yet.)
So I'll just say this: He is quick to explode the comfort of the nicey-nice, but though he quotes DeSade in one of his books, he seems to miss the comfort of humiliation, or self-hate, or confrontation. He will have followers among those who always wanted to kill the Buddha, not to transcend the associated limitations, but for the comfort of the sadism. Or the thrill of the rebellion.
Also, wheelchair man's depressed friend whom he hangs out to dry may not have the right kind of depression. And maybe it doesn't matter in the scheme of things, and maybe wheelchair man gets to hear what HE needed to hear, but I feel bad for her.
That's OK. Feeling bad is just feeling bad, but a review of a book is just a review of a book.