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Grace & Grit: Spirituality & Healing in the Life & Death of Treya Killam Wilber by Ken Wilber
kait_unicorn's review
2.0
If I could rate it 2.5 stars, I would.
This isn't a bad book but it's not great. Wilmer's lack of citations when making medical claims is alarming. There is also a lot of excess that adds nothing to the story of Treya's experience and seems to be little more than ego gratification for Wilber.
His racist framing of medical treatments (legitimate medicine is 'white man's' and 'Western') is also a cause for alarm. Not to mention the talk of detoxing (detoxing what? What toxins specifically?)
However, Treya's journals and letters are a raw and honest account of someone living with what eventually is an incurable disease. The reflections on what it means to live well, on how to work with strong emotions and not get swept up in the misconceptions around cancer, are wonderful and beneficial.
For Wilber's part, he does give an excellent teaching on tonglen practice and how it works.
The book also has a good assessment of the Way illness and sickness are treated in society, as well as how theorising over illness does nothing to help the person with that illness.
I wouldn't recommend this book, but if you do read it ensure your critical thinking skills are ready and alert. There's woo and, like I said, Wilber stating 'facts' without citing references, so it should be taken with a grain of salt.
This isn't a bad book but it's not great. Wilmer's lack of citations when making medical claims is alarming. There is also a lot of excess that adds nothing to the story of Treya's experience and seems to be little more than ego gratification for Wilber.
His racist framing of medical treatments (legitimate medicine is 'white man's' and 'Western') is also a cause for alarm. Not to mention the talk of detoxing (detoxing what? What toxins specifically?)
However, Treya's journals and letters are a raw and honest account of someone living with what eventually is an incurable disease. The reflections on what it means to live well, on how to work with strong emotions and not get swept up in the misconceptions around cancer, are wonderful and beneficial.
For Wilber's part, he does give an excellent teaching on tonglen practice and how it works.
The book also has a good assessment of the Way illness and sickness are treated in society, as well as how theorising over illness does nothing to help the person with that illness.
I wouldn't recommend this book, but if you do read it ensure your critical thinking skills are ready and alert. There's woo and, like I said, Wilber stating 'facts' without citing references, so it should be taken with a grain of salt.
wyvernfriend's review
5.0
When Ken and Treya met it was love at first touch. They just hugged and hugged. A few months later they were married. 10 days after marrying they found out that Treya had breast cancer. This is the story of how they dealt with the cancer, the treatment and Treya's final days. It deals honestly with the pain and the overwhelming work that dealing with cancer can be both for the patient and the caregiver. Ken is a writer and philosopher and this is quite clearly reflected in the book while the two of them try to come to terms with cancer and try to understand why them and why now.
It is a story with deep sadness but the two of them have such a feeling of heartfelt joy in the world and in their lives that it seeps through. Yes sometimes the philosophising can be a bit much, and you would need to know something about Buddhism to get some of what's going on, but still it's an interesting variation on the theme. A book I could only read in small amounts at a time to fully understand what was going on.
It is a story with deep sadness but the two of them have such a feeling of heartfelt joy in the world and in their lives that it seeps through. Yes sometimes the philosophising can be a bit much, and you would need to know something about Buddhism to get some of what's going on, but still it's an interesting variation on the theme. A book I could only read in small amounts at a time to fully understand what was going on.
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