5 comments about Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic.

1. I was unaware of all the controversy about this man, and I wish I still was naiive to it. I love osho's books they have helped me so much ...as a younger person, I didnt know about all the bad stuff, or Rajneeshpuram. This book doesnt go too far into THAT, which is good because his teachings were and still are so strong. Some say that this book left out a bunch of stuff ... maybe for good reason. Osho is to YOU what you want him to be. You dont have to wear marroon or orange clothing and go to retreats to experience Osho. Hes right here! OSHO-NEVER BORN NEVER DIED-ONLY VISITED THIS EARTH FROM 1931-1990. And I believe that Sheela poisoned him, she was the one to go to prison for her wrongdoings not Osho.. But maybe it was the government like he thought when he was in jail for 12 days and deported for no real reason. Regardless, he died at age 59. Left his body. Perhaps it was his time to leave that body and come back later on. I love tis book. I have disregarded all the bad stuff Ive read abou him, and focus only what he taught me (and continues to teach me) through his books and words. I wish I could have met him. Namaste.



2. The only thing incorrect about OSHO is that he could not have lived a hundred years. This book is a delightful and funny look into the early life of a spiritual rebel, even as a child. I see in OSHO the courage it took to ask the questions I never asked for fear of retribution or crusifiction. Reading his autobiography inspired me to "question my answers."
   Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide Magazine, Chico, CA



3. Nice book only half is about is life which is suprising as he seemed to talk and do alot.



4. It is believed that the tribals lead a much better life than us educated, sophisticated, and evolved humans. Osho proves this in his biography. His quest for the ultimate truth, lead him to question not only established cult-typed religions but also ourselves in terms of psychology.
   
   For a moment, if seekers were to be stranded in an island and they knew nothing about religion, sex, luxury, philosophy then what would they do? One thing is sure, that their freedom of choice would not be limited by these norms and beliefs. In other words, they will be free than us living in advanced nations.
   
   Osho has achieved just that while living around dogmatic people like us. With his clarity of thought and analysis he has seeked his answers everywhere. Born as a Jain, he questioned not only his birth religion but also every school of thought, from Zarathustra to Zen.
   
   I loved reading this biography. It challenges people to look at their reactions to similar situations in their lives. What we have taken for granted, Osho has given a thought to it rationally!



5. I love this man. If he were still alive, and if I had a daughter, I would not trust him around her, and I would also not take anything he says too seriously. But that is sort of the point. Follow any teacher or master too closely and you will be disillusioned. This guy tells you where he found his keys to the kingdom, and his stories and message are all you need to find your own key. I really enjoy his books.

5 comments about The Confessions (Penguin Classics).

1. There will never be another Jean-Jacques Rousseau and since he lived in a period without radio and television, he is talking to us through his books. While being hailed as one of the intellectual fathers of modern democracy, Rousseau also has a very interesting personality.
   
   I highly recommend Confessions, many lovely short stories are so vivid that a reader almost feels being there with Rousseau.



2. Prior to the appearance of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 'Confessions,' there existed very few real autobiographies. The few that did exist were like St. Augustine's 'Confessions,' designed to impart a religious or moral lesson instead of to exhibit or try to justify one's life. By the time Rousseau came along, however, people had begun to see themselves as individuals, not members of a society governed based on religious or monarchical precepts. So though writing one's autobiography may be old hat now, this was a revolutionary thing in the 18th century. This autobiography is also special in that Jean-Jacques reveals himself warts and all. He doesn't gloss over faults or embarrassing incidents; he exhibits all of himself, both the good and the bad.
   
   This book was highly recommended by the wonderful History of the Enlightenment professor I had my senior year of college, and I was thrilled to find a copy (for only 50 cents!) about 5 years later. I'd been eager to read it based on the professor's lurid descriptions of it. He told us that, among other things, Rousseau revealed that he liked to be spanked, he described his sex life, and he had a very interesting problem centered in his midsection, manifested in how he had urinary problems that always seemed to crop up whenever he was about to be integrated into society, such as one time when he was going to be given some money by the king to further his writing, but his problem struck, and he excused himself and went out into the hall, where he ended up urinating on the floor, unable to hold himself, and was laughed at by the servant-women. I was kind of disappointed that the book didn't turn out as spicy as my professor had made it out to be, but I still loved every moment of it just the same. My professor's teasers of what the book contains were just the tip of the iceberg. Among many other fascinating stories and tidbits, we also learn about such things as his extreme shyness with women he was attracted to, how he was a late bloomer who didn't lose his virginity till he was in his early twenties, how several of the women he was attracted to and had relationships with were older women (among them his first lover, Mme. de Warens, who was far more than just a lover but also his teacher, his mentor, and his patron), how he was beaten horribly by the man he was apprenticed to in Geneva as a teenager, the real story behind why he gave all 5 of his kids away to foundling hospitals, the increasing persecutions and exiles he endured, how he engaged in self-gratification, and how, as a young man, he had advances made to him by two other men (one of them a priest). Although one wonders how much paranoia might have played into these growing conspiracies against him he laments. While there is ample evidence that a number of his former friends turned against him (to say nothing of how he was thrown out of a lot of places he tried to find refuge in after 'The Social Contract' and 'Émile' were banned), it also seems kind of weird that so many people would form all of these vast far-reaching conspiracies against him out of nowhere. Still, Jean-Jacques comes across as such an interesting likeable person, whom just about anyone can relate to, that this obsession with these alleged conspiracies can be overlooked. One wishes that the book covered his whole life and not just from 1712 to 1765, since he's just such an interesting character!
   
   My translation is the one by J.M. Cohen, which is over 50 years old now, but gets the job done in spite of a few dated spots. The basic story remains the same in spite of some dated phrases and language (e.g., does anyone under the age of 100 still use diminutive words like "authoress" or "patroness" anymore?). I also wish there had been an index, particularly since what with so many people coming and going in Jean-Jacques's life (he knew so many famous and prominent people in Enlightenment Europe!), it can be kind of hard to keep track of just who's whom. Still, minor quibbles aside, he was a truly fascinating person, and this classic work of autobiography and the Enlightenment is not to be missed.



3. My feelings when reading this unusual autobiography was one of identification with the writer - I suspect that there are behavioural and biological reasons for this, not ones that can be explained by psychology. The effect on me of the feelings Rousseau generated are indeed strange. I have immense sympathy with the man and yet I have a total lack of understanding of how he could give up his five children shortly after their births - and impose that on his partner too! He certainly fails to provide a satisfactory explanation for me. (Unless, of course, there simply weren't any children but he was unable to confess to that!)
   
   I also felt (feelings again!) that at times Rousseau was quite paranoid. Repeatedly the disasters he presaged were less troubling than I had feared. Over and over we come across what he describes as some of his best times of life. He did have a remarkable way of holding on to the light, even when regrets and threats existed, which tended to lighten some of the darkest times.
   
   His love of women was truly extraordinary - perhaps it was generated by his own childhood experience of being propositioned by a man; perhaps not. It was certainly love - if we believe these are true confessions - and not lust, despite what was going on in the French high society he hovered around.
   
   Perhaps the most interesting thing for me is that a very gifted philosopher can be wracked by self doubts and uncertainties.
   
   Other recommendations:
   'Diaries' - Alma Schindler (Mahler-Werfel)
   'Memoirs' - Hector Berlioz
   'Memoirs of a Revolutionist' - Peter Kroptkin
   'Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman' - William Godwin



4. Maybe you read Rousseau in college and your teacher mentioned EMILE. If you were lucky, he or she mentioned this, perhaps the greatest autobiography ever written. I read it when I was in my early twenties; it helped me to understand my feelings of loneliness, helplessness, and alienation. Years later, when I went to work for a large corporation, we had weekly meetings nominally about legal and regulatory issues, but the real "issues" on the participants' minds were the things they were talking about with each other before and after the meetings. I started reading excerpts from this book at our meetings. Everyone wanted to know what I was reading from. This was way before "book groups" became fashionable.
   
   Rousseau was one of the most influential philosophers of the "Enlightenment", but he was also a humanitarian in the sense that he always looked for the good in others. Sometimes he found it. You will feel this when reading this wonderful book. My copy from thirty years ago has my handwritten notes in the back that I have trouble reading now,
   but I know what the notes refer to, still recall the feelings I had when I made those notes, and remember how I wondered if I would ever understand how to live my life, how to relate to friends and family, how to figure out what is going on, most importantly how to deal with feelings. This book will not give you the answers, but it will give you the reassurance that your wonder and bewilderment are normal for thinking, sensitive persons. And that helps a lot. All this from one of the greatest literary artists since Plato.
   
   You will want to read passages to your friends. Just as I did all those years ago. And compared to some celebrated "coming of age" novels, this is
   the "Holy Bible".



5. In his essay "On Rhetoric", Stanley Corngold addresses the rhetorical signs of autobiographical elements, and the use of language to create disruption, confusion, clarity or a sense of authenticity in the text, whether or not it actually is autobiographical or "a fictive chronicle of memory". Written elements of fiction can still function as an authentically constructed memory, and here Corngold makes a distinction between the lie and the fiction; an all important distinction for reading autobiographies like Rousseau's The Confessions. Figurative writing that refers to certain authentic emotions or personal imaginations of the writer, is considered fiction, whereas the conscious addition of a written element that does not belong to the memory or experiences of the author, is a lie.
   Corngold considers the imagination to be superior over fulfillment. However, when a text is confessional in nature, the justification of the own identity and self by showcasing its sincerity and integrity, and thus its contrast to the imagination, is at stake. Corngold states that the rhetoric as Rousseau uses it in his Confessions, promises a truthful description of emotions. Corngold points out that abstractions like emotions and sensations are impossible to accurately describe in words, especially when one considers the possibility of the narrator's own memory deceiving him. He discusses the Rousseau's intent when he wrote his autobiography, and concludes that the question of whether this was a cognitive or confessional intent is problematic but can be analyzed by studying Rousseau's use of rhetoric.
   
   Rousseau focuses mainly on his memories of moods in his autobiography The Confessions. One of the defining personal aspects that guide him in this is a sense of self-loss, and Rousseau seems to attempt to find and present himself by as accurately and truthful as possible describing his past actions and the sensation that caused and were caused by them.
   An air of a self-indulgent narcissitic, yet apologetic and insecure personality surrounds Rousseau's autobiography, but nevertheless it is this underlying sense of this personality that the reader gets from this work that may very well be the most truthful autobiographical element of The Confessions.
   Rousseau makes a distinction between his moods at the time of writing his autobiography and the past emotions he describes in his work, but doesn't openly acknowledge the likely possibility of the present mood influencing the memory of past sensations. However, I do value Rousseau's autobiography as authentic, as the emotions that he describes in his work were indeed descriptive of the sensations he must have felt while writing down his memories. In this regard, I think that the authenticity I perceive in Rousseau's work may not be the authenticity he intended to be perceived by a reader. In my opinion, it is impossible to narrate one's memories and past emotions as they actually were, without any influence of the present perceptions and moods of the narrator, and without taking into account that moods and moments sometimes last only seconds. However, I do agree with Corngold when it comes to prioritizing the imagination over the actual fulfillment and am convinced that Rousseau's imaginations about himself were not lies, but authentic fictions of and about himself.

5 comments about Bill W.: The absorbing and deeply moving life story of Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

1. 
   Wilson was serially unfaithful to his wife Lois. Wilson 's affairs with women caused controversy and concern within AA and it was common knowledge in New York AA circles. His interest in younger women increased with his age, and caused Barry Leach and other friends of Wilson to form a "Founders Watch". People were assigned to keep an eye on Wilson during the socializing that followed AA functions and to separate and steer away those young women who caught Wilson's interest. Wilson, like many in his generation, could be sexist, but he was also "capable of treating the women who worked with him with dignity and respect". In the mid 1950s he began an affair with Helen Wyn, a woman 22 years his junior, "in duration, intensity and scope" this was different from his other affairs. Wilson at one point discussed divorcing Lois to marry Helen. Wilson with determined perseverance was able to overcome the AA trustees objections, and renegotiated his royalty agreements with them in 1963, which allowed him to include Helen Wynn in his estate. He left 10% of his book royalties to Helen and the other 90% to his wife Lois. In 1968 with Wilson's illness making it harder for them to spend time together, Helen bought a house in Ireland.
   
   In the 1950s Wilson experimented with LSD in medically supervised experiments with Gerard Heard and Aldous Huxley. With Wilson's invitation his wife Lois, Father Dowling, and Nell Wing also participated in experimentation of this drug. Later Wilson wrote to Carl Jung, praising the results and recommending it as validation of Jung's spiritual experience. (The letter was not in fact sent as Jung had died.)
   
   At a parapsychology meeting in the 1960s, Wilson met Abram Hoffer and learned about the potential mood-stabilizing effects of niacin. Wilson was impressed with experiments indicating that alcoholics who were given niacin had a better sobriety rate, and he began to see niacin "as completing the third leg in the stool, the physical to complement the spiritual and emotional." Wilson also believed that niacin had given him relief from depression, and he promoted the vitamin within the AA community and with the National Institute of Mental Health as a treatment for schizophrenia. However, Wilson created a major furor in AA because he used the AA office and letterhead in his promotion.
   
   For Wilson, spiritualism (communicating with the spirits of the dead) was a life-long interest. One of his letters to his spiritual adviser Father Ed Dowling suggests that while Wilson was working on his book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions he felt that spirits were helping him, in particular a 15th century monk named Boniface.[18] Wilson believed that the living could communicate with the dead and kept a "Spook Room" in his basement, where he along and others would conduct seances with a Ouijiboard, as well as experiment with automatic writing. Despite his conviction that he had evidence for the reality of the spiritual world, Wilson chose not to share this with AA.
   One problem that any Christian will have with Alcoholics Anonymous is the organization's abandoning of the Bible. The Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, is their new Bible. Some members claim to still use the Bible; I sometimes hear a bit of lip service to the Bible like, "Keep the Big Book next to the Good Book," but you won't see a Bible at a meeting, and you won't hear it quoted. Everybody is carrying the Big Book, and all readings come from it, or from a similar book of daily meditations, also written by Bill Wilson and other members of A.A..
   
   In fact, reading aloud from the Bible at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings is usually forbidden. The Bible is considered "outside literature". Reading aloud at meetings from anything but A.A. "Council Approved" (and A.A.-published) literature is forbidden.
   
   In addition, A.A. has essentially abandoned Jesus Christ. The A.A. faithful believe that Bill Wilson is superior to Jesus Christ when it comes to dealing with alcoholism, and you will hear Bill Wilson quoted a hundred times more often than Jesus Christ. (As a matter of fact, I can't really remember the last time I heard Jesus Christ quoted in an A.A. or N.A. meeting...)
   
   The third edition of the A.A. Big Book does not contain the word "Jesus" anywhere, not even once. Bill Wilson raved constantly about "God", but didn't talk about Jesus Christ at all. There is one and only one mention of "Christ" in the entire book, and it is Bill Wilson's statement that before his hallucinatory experience on belladonna, his so-called "spiritual experience," he didn't have much use for Christ:
   
   
   With ministers, and the world's religions, I parted right there. When they talked of a God personal to me, who was love, superhuman strength and direction, I became irritated and my mind snapped shut against such a theory. To Christ I conceded the certainty of a great man, not too closely followed by those who claimed Him. His moral teaching -- most excellent. For myself, I had adopted those parts which seemed convenient and not too difficult; the rest I disregarded.
   The Big Book, 3rd Edition, William G. Wilson, chapter 1, Bill's Story, pages 10-11.
   Apparently, Bill continued to disregard a lot of that stuff even after he "saw the light," or saw "the God of the preachers", because Bill never mentioned Jesus or Christ again, not anywhere in the Big Book, not ever.
   
   The first edition of the Big Book contained one story, "My Wife and I," that contained a line mentioning Jesus Christ:
   
   
   Here were these men who visited me and they, like myself, had tried everything else and although it was plain to be seen none of them were perfect, they were living proof that the sincere attempt to follow the cardinal teaching of Jesus Christ was keeping them sober.
   That story was dropped from the second, third, and fourth editions.
   
   
   The word "God" appears in the first 164 pages of the Big Book (which William G. Wilson either wrote, co-authored, or edited) 106 times,
   the word "Power", as in "Higher Power" or "that Power, which is God" appears 22 times,
   the divine "Him" appears 26 times,
   and the divine "His" is used 15 times,
   but there is no mention of "Jesus Christ", not one single mention.
   Alcoholics Anonymous is not a Christian religion, no matter what some members like to say. It is a religion all right, in spite of the denials of the members who claim that it is only a "spiritual program." Alcoholics Anonymous is a Buchmanite religion. Alcoholics Anonymous is just Frank Buchman's crazy "Oxford Group / Moral Re-Armament" religion, only slightly edited by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert H. Smith.
   Basically, Alcoholics Anonymous believes in and practices the teachings of Dr. Frank Nathan Daniel Buchman, another man who had little use for Jesus Christ, because he preferred his own beliefs and teachings to those of Jesus. Bill Wilson did not invent the theology of A.A. -- he merely copied it from Frank Buchman.
   
   In spite of that fact that Bill Wilson tried to hide the strong connections between Frank Buchman and A.A., Buchman's Oxford Group got three mentions in the third edition of the Big Book, while Christ got only one. (The first two mentions of the Oxford Group are in the Forward to the Second Edition, and the third is on page 218 of the third edition, in the story "He Thought He Could Drink Like A Gentleman".)
   
   For that matter, when you consider the fact that Jesus' first miracle was changing water into wine at a wedding party, there might be a real problem with Jesus being a member of Alcoholics Anonymous... (John 2:1 to 2:11.)
   
   I am reminded of a contemporary critic of Frank Buchman's Oxford Group, Pastor H. A. Ironside, who criticized Buchmanism by saying that it was not a Christian religion, in spite of Buchman's claims that it was, because everything in Buchmanism would still be possible even if Jesus Christ had never been born. The same thing is true of Alcoholics Anonymous. A.A. would not have to change one word of the official church dogma even if Jesus Christ had never been born. The sacred Twelve Steps of Bill Wilson do not mention Jesus Christ, and do not require Jesus Christ in order to work, and the Twelve Steps don't even require Jesus Christ to have ever existed.
   
   Neither are the Twelve Steps based on any of the teachings of Jesus Christ. (They are based on the teachings of Dr. Frank Buchman.)
   
   Alcoholics Anonymous simply has no need for, and no use for, Jesus Christ. A.A. worships Bill Wilson and Doctor Bob, not Jesus Christ.



2. I've been a "friend" of Bill and Dr. Bob since Christmas 1990, and have read a lot of material, both "conference approved" and other, and this biography of Bill W. ranks among the best, but it definitely gives the impression of being written from Bill's perspective.
   
   Fully half the book is devoted to Bill's childhood and early adulthood, through his marriage to Lois and up to the fateful encounter with Dr. Bob, and so this fleshes out that portion of his life. I was disappointed, however, in that the impact and devastation of Bill's many (and prolonged) drinking binges seemed somewhat minimized with regard to their impact on the lives of Bill and Lois as a young married couple. Perhaps Bill simply had a poor recollection of these episodes, as he was not in great condition to remember these things, and so these are not fully reflected in Thomsen's work.
   
   The latter half of Thomsen's book deals with better known AA history, but as a biography of Bill's life, my impression is this book glosses over the other human frailties of Bill, and so does not present as complete a picture as it could of this remarkable man. I think the reader would be more impressed with Bill's life accomplishments if more of his human "character defects" were revealed in this book.
   
   I strongly suggest also reading Francis Hartigan's "Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson" to help fill in the deficiencies and areas not covered by Robert Thomsen. Hartigan's book better presents Lois Wilson's perspective, and more completely covers topics such as the terrible impact of Bill's binges on his business ventures and marriage, Bill's infidelities, his long periods of depression, Bill's exploration of the potential therapeutic uses of LSD and Niacin for the treatment of alcoholism, and does a better job, in my opinion, painting a more full picture of Bill Wilson.
   
   DD...GTM... RTBB



3. I am a long time member of AA, and knew quite a bit about Bill Wilson prior to reading this book. But I have found out so much more than I expected to from the book, and it is very well written. I can recommend this highly to anyone wanting to know more about the man who founded one of the most important organizations of the 20th Century.
   
   - John T, San Francisco, CA



4. Bill W describes how an extremely motivated, accomplished student, athlete and successful business man, became a hopeless alcoholic, experienced a spiritual miracle, became sober and founded Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill W is well written, with surprisingly detailed insights, into the childhood, psyche, motivations, influences and drives of a fascinating man. The author, Robert Thomsen, obviously performed extensive research, to obtain the extensive biographical information contained in this book. Bill's family history, numerous business successes and failures along with his gradual descent into alcoholism are described along with numerous attempts to control his binge drinking.
   
   The evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12 steps, from the 10 step Oxford Group are chronicled, almost step by step, along with numerous controversies and dilemmas,confronting the founders as they learned how to work effectively with alcoholics and ensure the spread and perpetuation of their movement. The history of failed attempts to obtain corporate sponsorship for Alcoholics Anonymous and the adoption of AA principles including anonymity, self supporting groups and no opinion on outside issues are well described.
   
   Bill W suffered anxiety, panic attacks, depression and appears to have been hypoglycemic. He ultimately learned how to treat his alcoholism, depression and hypoglycemia nutritionally, with results surpassing his initial spiritual efforts. Would Bill W have become an alcoholic, if he had received adequate treatment for hypoglycemia, depression, and anxiety ? Unfortunately, his attempts to incorporate nutritional, medical and scientific advances into Alcoholics Anonymous were rejected by the International Board of Alcoholics Anonymous.
   
   Bill Wilson was living proof that "No matter how far we have fallen, we can use our experience to help others."
   
   Perhaps most importantly, readers will be able to perceive a higher power, at work, while they read this biography of Bill Wilson, which is also a biography of the 12 step self help movement.
   
   Steven Sponaugle
   Research Director, Florida Detox



5. Excellent and insightful look at a complex and fascinating visonary who helped changed the culture of the 20th century.

1 comments about Locke: A Biography.

1. This is a fascinating biography of the great Locke. It is well balanced in details of both the life and movements of Locke, as well as providing some concise discussion on his various works.
   
   I was left the thought as to just how Locke's works may have developed if he, like all in his age, did not have the threat of religious politics breathing down his neck. I tend to believe he would have been a lot closer to Hume if he had both lived in Hume's age and had Hume courage ( and lack of political ambition!)
   
   A great biography that almost demands to be finished in one sitting.

2 comments about Nietzsche.

1. The German version of this book, published in 1894, about 108 years ago, was among the first books written about the books of Nietzsche. The photograph on the cover was taken in May, 1882 and a portion of it (as shown on p. 132) appeared in her book with the caption, "Friedrich Nietzsche, formerly professor and now a wandering fugitive" (p. ix), as Nietzsche had described himself in a letter to the third person in the picture in 1879, "referring to the severance from his ten-year position at the University of Basel." (p. ix). These people are all dead now. When she was 20, Lou wrote a poem "To Sorrow" (pp. xlviii-xlix) which praises it as "the pedestal for our soul's greatness." (p. xlix).

   Lou reported a conversation about the changes in his life in which Nietzsche raised the question, "When everything has taken its course--where does one run to then?" and told her, "In any case, the circle could be more plausible than a standing still." (p. 32). She described his books as the product of "his last period of creativity, Nietzsche arrived at his mystical teaching of the eternal recurrence: the picture of a circle--eternal change in an eternal recurrence--stands like a wondrous symbol and mysterious cypher over the entrance to his work." (p. 33).

   This book does not have an index, and the notes on pages 160-8 merely clarify a few things, such as the date of the letter from Nietzsche to Lou at the beginning of Part III Nietzsche's "System" on page 91 which Lou used without the final comment, "be what you must be." The possibilities might not be considered so great. "In that regard, if the sickliness of man is, so to speak, his normal condition or his specific human nature itself, and if the concepts of falling ill and of development are seen as almost identical, then we will naturally encounter again the already mentioned decadence at the culmination of a long cultural development." (p. 102). The ascetic ideal "is also a third kind of decadence which threatens to make the described illness incurable and threatens the possibility of recovery. And that form of decadence is embodied in a false interpretation of the world, an incorrect perception of life encouraged by that suffering and illness. . . . every kind of intellectualism extols thinking at the expense of life and supports the ideal of `truth' at the expense of a heightened sensation of living." (p. 103). "In respect to Nietzsche's own psychic problem, it is of less interest to determine correctly the historicity of master morality and slave morality than it is to ascertain the fact that in man's evolution he has carried these contrasts, these antitheses, within himself and that he is the consequent sufferer of this conflict of instincts, embodying double valuations." (p. 113). Ultimately, "Nietzsche's thought of the Dionysian orgy as the means for release of the emotions" (p. 127) are considered "the necessary conditions for the creative act out of which one shapes the luminous and godly." (p. 127). Nietzsche and Schopenhauer are tied to "the deeply pessimistic nature of the Greeks because their innermost life, as revealed through the orgiastic, was one of darkness, pain, and chaos." (p. 127). Art is the answer, here. "The highest or the most religious art is the tragic because within it the artist delivers beauty from the terrifying." (p. 128). Modern society can hardly be comprehended without accepting that much of what is popular is produced in the attempt to satisfy that desire for art.




2. To scholars and admirers of Nietzsche, Lou Andreas-Salome has always been seen as his Irene Adler, the intellectual equal who got way or was driven away, depending on one's point of view. Although their affair lasted for only a few months, it left an indelible mark on both, for it came at a turning point in Nietzsche's life where he would leave the realtively safe nests of academia and the Wagners for a peripatetic life in the Eupopean Alps.

   Over the years we have heard from almost everyone who was anyone in Nietzsche's life, except Lou Salome. This makes the published reprint of her 1894 even more important for those involved in Nietzsche studies. To say that Salome brings a unique perspective to her work is a bit of an understatement, but those who simply expect this to be memoir of the man she knew will be, I think, somewhat joyfully disappointed. Instead she has written what well may be the first attempt to view the persona behind the works. After giving us an excellent analysis of Nietzsche's philosophy, she comes to the conclusion that perhaps Nietzsche's madness was the inevitable result of his philosophy. Was this, as Nietzsche's sister said, merely a fantasy of female revenge? Then simply compare the last page of her book with the events of Nietzche's last days in Turin, events which she cannot have known. Hers is a provactive and illuminating look at Nietzsche, made more powerful by the fact that she was first to the gate and that the strength of her book is the analysis, not the memories.

   As with any book on Nietzsche that comes to us in a foreign language, translation is most important if we are to have not only a working understanding, but also a deeper understanding than we would ordinarily expect. That the translator should be the late Siegfried Mandel is only to the reader's advantage. His translation is crisp and clear. His excellent introduction makes it all the more clear to me that this man is, or should be at least considered, one of the formost Nietzschean scholars of his time. (For further reference, see his excellent "Nietzsche and the Jews.")

   This is a book every serious student of Nietzsche should have in his or her library and a book that may contribute to a new vision of the tortured harbinger of the overman.

5 comments about Views from the Real World: Early Talks Moscow Essentuki Tiflis Berlin London Paris NY Chicago as Recollecte (Arkana).

1. "Views from the Real World" is a collection of early talks produced by G.I. Gurdjieff himself during the early 1920s. Since this book is not organized in a right order but composed of different subjects, it is nevertheless one of the gems and most insightful read.
   
   This book is little over 280 pages, and consisted of roughly 40 subjects. I personally felt these talks were essential and well worth reading and be put into practice. This inspiring book, along with In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching, is well worth read and re-read. When reading this book with one perspective, you will find re-reading it with new perspective and discover a new shock of insight.
   
   Highly recommended.



2. This book is an authentic collection of talks given by Gurdjieff. Being an unorganized collection on a number of different subjects, it should be read after "In Search of the Miraculous" by Ouspensky. Together, the two books give much insight into the real teachings of Gurdjieff and how his method should be practiced. These authentic accounts are all the more important now that there are many purported Forth Way groups that significantly deviate from what the Forth Way really is.
   
   Some talks in this book also serve as a good source of shocks. They remind us of how mechanical we are, how difficult to wake up and how easy it is to fall back to sleep again while dreaming that we are awake. They should be read every once in a while for that purpose.
   
   In short, an excellent reading for any Forth Way student.



3. Essential Reading for those interested in Gurdjieff as he actually is, rather than through Ouspensky's or Maurice Nichol's
   eyes; most of Gurdjieff's oeuvre would be largely incomprensible to a new reader- Beelzebubs Tales, The Herald of Coming Good, Life is Real only then, when I am- whereas this book is clear and presents
   G's extraordinarily different viewpoint on Man and Reality in a direct Q & A format



4. This book is a transliteration of G. speaking to an audience and answering their various questions. Moving, succinct, and of course, different from his other books.



5. There is no doubt that "In Search of the Miraculous" by Ouspensky is presenting Gurdjieff's ideas very much like they were delivered mainly in Russia in 1915-1918. However, the talks in "Views from the Real World" have for me even a more authentic tone, although the presentation is not systematic.

   Many of the talks in the "Views" are delivered in du Prieuré, Paris or New York in 1922-1924 and only one after his accident in 1924 (1930 in New York). The book has also over 30 pages of the article called "Glimpses of Truth" that Ouspensky was listening to when he was first introduced to Gurdjieff and the aphorisms that decorated the Study House in du Prieuré.

   A sample of what I mean by 'even a more authentic tone' is the way Gurdjieff explains in a talk called "Now I am sitting here..." the process of self-remembering, the technique used to access the state of consciousness, which he defines as 'self-consciousness', in which we are more awake than in our normal 'waking state'.

   He explains first how we can differenciate between sensations and feelings giving examples of sensations of the body, like warmth, posture and eating and the feelings resulting from memory of his mother and other similar feelings.

   On p. 239 he says:

   "For primary exercises in self-remembering the participation of all three centers is necessary, and we began to speak of the difference between feelings and sensations because it is necessary to have simultaneously both feeling and sensation.

   We can come to this exercise only with the participation of thought. The first thing is thought.... At the beginning all three need to be evoked aritificially.... I repeat: artificial things are necessary only in the beginning."

5 comments about Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography.

1. Bethge was Bonhoeffer's closest friend and colleague.He devoted his life to bringing Bonhoeffer to the world's attention. This expanded volume, in remarkable ways, weaves together Bonhoeffer's life and his theological insights. In this 100th anniversary of the birth of this 39 year old martyr, this long book deserves careful reading, even my those who have read Bethge's somewhat shorter version published a number of years ago.



2. Upon starting this book I knew very little about Bonhoeffer; I had read some of Ethics and I knew of his murder by the Gestapo. Thus, there was something new on every page for me, and despite the book's length it never seemed oppressive in detail. In fact if the author can be faulted for one thing it is his lack of information about Bonhoeffer's courtship and engagement; which is discussed almost as an aside. On every other point though, the author did a wonderful job. His explanations of Bonhoeffer's theology are clear and understandable. Considering that much of what Bonhoeffer took for granted, theologically speaking, is alien to the American intellectual tradition that is a great accomplishment. The book is also a welcome antidote to the conception of 1930's and 1940's Germany as synonymous with Hitler and National Socialism. For even under the totalitarian state there were still men like Bonhoeffer who stood up against the regime



3. An outstanding, detailed and gripping story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christian fortitude. Eberhard Bethge's exquisitely detailed knowledge and references about Bonhoeffer's life, from beginning to end is a wonderful tribute to Bonhoeffer. The reader asks the question what possessed Bonhoeffer to pursue the dream of a restive German society with Christianity abounding. Unless one has lived under a dictatorship perhaps this makes one restless. This book provides clear and concise answers.



4. About 20 years ago, I read an older translation of this biography. Then, as now, a reader cannot help but be impressed by the thorough and meticulous scholarship that went into its preparation. Because of its size and scope (900+ pages), it may be somewhat daunting to new readers who may be just now encountering Bonhoeffer. However, given the nature of his literary output (Bonheoffer was still a young man when he died, and many of his ideas exist only in limited or underdeveloped forms), this in-depth look at the man and his motivations by the individual who probably knew him best is essential to an informed understanding of his work. For Bonhoeffer admirers, it doesn't get any better than this.



5. Eberhard Bethge was Dietrich Bonhoeffer's closest friend and the lifelong editor and interpreter of his life and writings. For the first time we now have the completely unabridged biography in a revised and updated English translation. This is not only a classic of twentieth century biography; it also addresses key issues not only of German and European history, World War II, and the Holocaust but also, through Bonhoeffer's theology, the church and modernity. It sharply poses the question of authentic Christian life. A big book and a challenging read!

5 comments about Confessions of a Philosopher: A Personal Journey Through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper (Modern Library Paperbacks).

1. Confessions of a Philosopher is more of an introduction to philosophy than an autobiography. I thought that the book was very clearly written and presented what often comes across as dry subject matter in a way that made it interesting and enjoyable to read. Magee covers most of the great Western philosophers (as the cover says, "from Plato to Popper") but pays particular attention to Kant, Schopenhauer, Popper and those philosophers who inspired the twentieth-century focus on analytic philosophy (notably Wittgenstein and Russell). Magee appears to feel strongly that the logical positivists and later analytic philosophers took philosophy down a fruitless, damaging detour and he devotes three chapters to refuting logical positivism and linguistic analysis.
   
   I do not recall how I heard about Confessions of a Philosopher since I was not familiar with Magee before reading this book. I generally do not read autobiographies, especially not those that are nearly 500 pages long and involve a person whom I have never heard of, but I am happy that I took the time to read this one. The front of the book includes a note stating that "[this book] is about ideas: the autobiographical element is medium, not message." I certainly got that feeling while reading the book, although I thought that the autobiographical aspects generally added to the presentation and tended to make the ideas more interesting (such as when Magee's personal conversations with Popper and Russell were included in the sections discussing their philosophical ideas).
   
   I have always been interested in understanding philosophical ideas but I have generally found reading philosophy to be rather dense and boring. This is one of the only books that I have found (along with some Nietzsche, Camus and Dostoevsky) which discusses philosophical ideas while actually being enjoyable to read. Magee is an excellent writer who clearly presents ideas and I definitely plan to check out some of his other works (especially his books on Popper and Schopenhauer). I would highly recommend this book to those interested in a broad introduction to philosophy.



2. A very readable and easy way for an introduction to a many sided and complex subject, absolutely fascinating and enjoyable.



3. Having read Magee's outstanding book on Popper, I got interested in this "biography"...which I knew was some kind of introduction...I have found his confessions to be very interesting and if you want to say so..they apply in some aspects, mainly in what he says about his midlife crisis, not just to himself, but to a lot of us. Regarding the "introductory" part of the book..the chapters on Kant, Popper, Russell and Schopenhauer are very good indeed, and some of the explanations that he brings forward are very much to the point and very clarifying. This is due to the fact that Mr. Magee is a very good writer and I would add, very honest. The way he puts his ideas in writing are very easy to follow and to digest. Get this book if you are really interested in Philosophy...



4. This is a fantastic book that I literally cannot put down. Bryan Magee is an Oxford and Yale educated philosopher/politician/British television personality who recounts his philosophical development throughout the whole of his life. The book deals with his formal education in college as well as his never ending search for meaning once his academic training is over. The book does not present philosophy from a historical or chronological perspective but from the first person process of actually encountering them. Magee makes it clear from the very first chapter that he actually HAD philosophical problems as a child...fundamental questions he thought about that served as the impetus for his education in philosophy. He spends several chapters criticizing the atmosphere he encountered during his many years as a student at Oxford. Oxford at the time, was the bastion of linguistic philosophy. Magee never could accept the view the the way we utilize language was the primary subject matter of philosophy, and he spends a good deal of time in the book demolishing this tradition. It is clear that Magee's chief philosophical influences are Kant, Schopenhauer and Popper. He gives considerable time to discussing the ideas of each and includes chapters on his personal relationships with Popper and Bertrand Russell. He ventures into more personal aspects of his life and his mid life crisis. In doing so, he not only recounts personal thoughts and experiences but gives overviews of numerous philosophers in doing so. The book is very clearly written and is very enjoyable to read. It is a book written by a man who has spent a life time in the study of philosophy and it clearly shows how ver, VERY well read Mr. Magee is. When he writes, you know that the knows what he is talking about. I think anyone who enjoys this book will be motivated to begin reading the classics of philosophy immediately.



5. I simply could not get over the horribly plentiful, useless detail about the author's life. The actual "blood and guts" philosophy is little and scarce. I expected an honest discussion of one's philosophical journey, but be prepared to loose interest fast rummaging through trite repetition of events of the author's life who considers himself hopelessly self important. Don't waste your time or money

5 comments about Sanctifying the World: The Augustinian Life and Mind of Christopher Dawson.

1. This book came as a complete surprise, and I have to admit that when it arrived as a Father's Day present, I found that the publishing house sent it by mistake. When notified by my wife, they told her to keep it...free.
   
   I don't know if this book will Sanctify the World, but I know it confirmed me in the work that I have been engaged in during the past four years---trying to help bridge the chasm that exists within my little section of the vineyard.
   
   I felt the Holy Spirit speaking through this book from the outset and I commend Bradley for his evenhanded treatment of an enigmatic man whom 95 out of 100 Catholics alive today have probably never even heard of. I have not met a priest, sister, or layman in the past week (20 or so queried) that recognized the name. This first taste of Christopher Dawson has moved me to greatly desire to read more.
   
   By today's standard of success/failure, Dawson's life seems a dismal failure, and yet isn't that the way of the prophets and saints?
   
   He speaks to humanity in 2008 and seems to have known all along what this "end state" of western culture would look like. Like Aldous Huxley's extended vision in The Brave New World Revisted, Christopher Dawson predicted a de-humanized, overorganized world that would be arrayed against the Eternal City of God, Incarnate in the Catholic Church. They arrive at this conclusion from different persectives (humanist vs. Christian humanist) but as G.K. Chesterton would say, that is a sure indication that they are both glimpsing at the Christocentic truth, the center of all that is.



2. As the title of Professor Birzer's book suggests, this biography chronicles more of Christopher Dawson's spiritual life than his social life--Dawson was a shy man anyway. No doubt Birzer does devote significant pages to Dawson's external life (the first two chapters deal especially with the early material influences on Dawson--factors such as Dawson's birthplace and family, his travels and his associations with such people as Frank Sheed, Victor Branford and the LePlay House and the Order group), but Birzer cites Dawson's social life only to transition the discussion to Dawson's intellectual development. Emphasizing Dawson's intellectual life over his social life is probably a wise approach anyway, since Birzer is not trying to reintroduce Dawson as an historical figure for antiquarian interests but as an intellectual still resonant in our own time.
   
   The most interesting part of Professor Birzer's book is his explanation of Dawson's Christian humanist view of history. According to Birzer, Dawson believed that God's "Divine economy of grace"--that is, God's universal plan for man's Salvation--accommodates not only every individual but also every culture. Thus, the West is not the exclusive cradle of Christianity but an inclusive source, as it contains elements of other cultures, too. Birzer insists that this view is Augustinian, and the evidence is convincing, especially when we read Dawson's many misgivings with Thomism's "eurocentric" views.
   
   Professor Birzer's book should make a significant contribution to Dawson's revival in the 21st century. It presents a judicious reading of this underestimated historian and should be a required companion to Dawson's works.



3. Forgotten by some and unknown to others, Christopher Dawson's extraordinary mind comes to life in Birzer's thorough and insightful book. Dawson was a writer and thinker for writers and thinkers and (somewhat unexpectedly) also for artists. In an age of propaganda, Dawson proclaimed the truths that the ideologues chose to ignore, suppress and in many cases destroy.
   
   Keenly aware of the horrors of totalitarian government, yet also aware of the dangers of "totalitarian" free-markets, Dawson recognized the reality that humanity thrives not as a manipulatable mass or a disinterested collection of free agents, but as a culture. In Europe this culture had Christian roots that grew out of the ashes of the Roman empire. That culture developed over the course of centuries. Dawson realized that though it took many generations to mature, culture could only be sustained by a people willing to live up to it's ideals and truths. And it could be destroyed in an instant by those seeking only the "new" and who somehow considered its past as of little consequence.
   
   Dawson took up the challenge of trying to sustain and nurture Christian culture at one of its darkest hours. Like Chesterton, Dawson's insight and understanding is pertinent now more than ever. His influence can clearly be seen in the works of Eliot but more recently in the works of Pope John Paul II. For artists in particular, Dawson reminds that the power of poetry, paint and music does not aimlessly spew from the fountain of individual whim, but blossoms from the rich soil of works, and indeed the very lives, of those whose world we inherit.
   
   Bradley Birzer has done a great service by resurrecting the story and the ideas of Christopher Dawson. Highly recommended to historians, theologians, philosophers and artists alike.



4. The wonderful writings of Christopher Dawson are virtually forgotten now.
   "Sanctifying the World" brings them to life once again, a resurrection of a keen mind and thoughts that modernists should read.



5. Bradley Birzer's Sanctifying the World provides an authoritative and comprehensive appreciation of Christopher Dawson's achievement. Meticulous researched, painstakingly documented, and gracefully written, Birzer's assessment of Dawson's life and work deserves a wide readership. The book's thorough bibliography alone makes an invaluable contribution to any serious effort to grasp Dawson's place in historical scholarship in the twentieth century. Historians seeking to understand the contours of Christian thought in the ideological wasteland of the twentieth century owe a debt of gratitude to Birzer for his labors. Scholars in particular concerned with the ongoing debate over the historical and normative relationship between Christianity and culture cannot afford to ignore this volume.

5 comments about My Past and Thoughts.

1. There is no question that it is good to have this edition of Alexander Herzen's autobiography, "My Past and Thoughts," though it is considerably abridged. The work is deservedly praised as one of the great autobiographies of the West. Well written and colorful, it acquaints us with the mind and spirit of one of the most important political figures of the nineteenth century. Herzen, darling of radicals and nemesis of conservatives (wrongly, I believe), is a seminal thinker and activist of his time.
   Herzen, a Russian by birth but an internationalist in spirit, knew most of the radicals of the era, Bakunin, Mazzini, Garibaldi, Louis Blanc. Yet he was in a way not one of them. He was too hardheaded and too reasonable--he knew what worked and what didn't. Raised in autocratic Russia, he had experienced prison, exile--and fame as a writer.
   This edition has been abridged by Dwight MacDonald, unfortunately leaving out some crucial parts, for example his relations with his wife, Natalie, and other more domestic issues. However, the original appeared in five volumes, and something had to be excised to make this edition manageable. Those who wish to read the complete autobiography should look up the Knopf four-volume edition of 1968. Nonetheless, this edition will do for most of us. It's a gem.
   
   Philip Brantingham
   Chicago, IL



2. One finds oneself drawn to Herzen. He comes off as urbane, generous, strong, empathetic to those suffering under the Tsar (and all tyrannies), dedicated to the cause of bringing freedom to his homeland and a wonderful writer. He seems to have known, or at least bumped into, all the luminaries of the Russia and the Europe of his time.
   
   This abridgement by Dwight McDonald, dating I believe from 1968, is of its time. The editor tells us that he excised those portions of the narrative dealing with Herzen's marriage, his wife's affair with a close friend of Herzen's, the loss of his mother and son in the sinking of a passenger boat and the death of his wife shortly thereafter. I wish that material had been included. I suppose an abridgement done in 2007 might include only those portions and nothing else, as we have less high seriousness and more interest in scandal and tragedy. In any case, I would have loved to read Herzen on these more personal topics.
   
   I should add that it may be my spotty background in 19th Century European history but I was lost any number of times as I read. Herzen is telling us about contemporary men, events, controversies and schools of thought. There are numerous footnotes identifying the people he refers to but I needed more--no doubt the references would have been understood by any educated reader at the time but that was then.
   
   That said, I'm glad I made the effort and I wish I could have met him.



3. In the years before Lenin and the harsh, bleak application of socialist thought to autocracy there existed a group of philosophers who believed in the beauty of the commune and its cooperation with a Republican government. Britain had Robert Owen and his factory town, the French had Fourier (the phalanstery) and Proudhon among others, and the Russians had Herzen. Here existed a time where the leading academics saw folly in violent revolution, and Herzen was by no means a demogogue willing to mobilize the Russian peasants in a siege of Moscow like a simple Pugachev or a Decembrist.

   This perhaps explains Herzen's stern dislike of Marx and Engels, for he saw too much of the Robespierre in them and their ideas.

   Herzen believed in democracy almost in a modern American sense. Indeed, much of the work is laced with arguments in disfavor to the flowering of socialism in Europe, citing particularly the cruelty of the police in France during 1848: "The Latin world does not like freedom, it only likes to sue for it." Certainly the tendencies of the Germans were no more progressive either. Instead at one point in the text the author suggests that those who "can put off from himself the old Adam of Europe and be born again a new Jonathan had better take the first steamer to some place in Wisconsin or Kansas."

   The selections and abridgement of the text emphasize Herzen's basic belief about reform: revolution is gradual. One has to breed engrained stupidity out of the ruling class and make laws that better everyone, like the English and Americans. Laws make a better society, not people: "The Englishman's liberty is more in his institutions than in himself or his conscience. His freedom is the 'common law.'"

   The text covers the demise of Herzen, culminating in his rejection on his deathbed by the new revolutionary ("terrorist") camps in Russia, headed ideologically by Chernyshevsky and best seen in the widespread incendiary and murderous practices of Sergei Nechaev. These are all topics of the years after Herzen's death, the tragic history of the latter half of the nineteenth century and the prelude to the pall of 1917.




4. Herzen is one of the many authors whom Americans never are exposed to and rightfully should be. He was a great thinker; he writes lucidly (although tending toward personal speculation.... you've got to remember-- he was living at a similar time to Tolstoy who does the same thing....) and CAN BE surprisingly contemporary for someone so long dead....

   It's understandable why Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Solzenitzen (sp?) are much more widely read than he is: they are better novellists and never got cursed by the fact that they were socialists (such a dirty word in the US!) BUT, Herzen is definately someone whom anyone trying to pawn themselves off as a psuedo-intellectual should read.

   One problem with this book: some of his best stuff is obviously just not in here (as it is his memoirs....) His philosophy is brilliant; some of his letters to his son are as moving as any I can think of (excepting perhaps Rilke's to the young poet...)

   His memoirs are a definate must-read.... for whomever is reading this review.... Just buy the book!




5. A worthwile read for anyone with an interest in 19th century history - or Russian thought. Herzen's narrative begins with Napoleon's retreat from Moscow and winds on through Nichlos II's reign to the larger events of Napoleon the III's Europe. At times a witty and fascinating account of both Russia and Europe during a crucial era, Herzen occasionally drifts off into somewhat tedious personal speculation.