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A review by maxhasacoolnickname
Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine by Eric Weiner
3.0
I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure that I liked it.
Weiner is a great writer and is well able to articulate thoughts and feelings about himself and religion that most would find uncomfortable to do and to write. And for that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
However, I felt that his explorations of the religions he picked were all dilettante-ish.
Notwithstanding the fact that I don't think you can uncover all there is to know about a religion in a few weeks, he dipped his toe in and then decided he didn't like the temperature of any water. And that is more than fair - after all, it is his choice as to what speaks to his heart in regards to religion, but he still picked very narrow examples of the religions he chose to study. I'm not fully convinced he gave each the chance it deserved.
He studied Buddhism in Nepal (awesome), but from a variety of ex-pats, Brits and Americans (less-authentic). He also only looked at Tibetan Buddhism, he didn't mention any of the other varieties (Zen, Chinese, Indian, Soka Gakkai, Theravada Buddhism..etc.) and I'm also not 100% sure that what he took from those experiences is the full-sum of what Tibetan Buddhism is.
Weiner did the same thing with Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Choose a very specific interpretation of it, and then when he didn't like it, just wrote the entire religion off.
I'm all for doing that from a base theological/philosophical standpoint (i.e. the main philosophical standpoint of the entire religion) - but Weiner didn't do that. He discarded an entire religion from an experience he didn't like.
After reading about his somewhat-Jewish upbringing in New York I'm not sure why he went to Orthodox Kabbalist's for his exploration of Judaism. I think he would have felt more at home with Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism - and I don't mean the "Reform" Jews who only go to Synagogue once a year - there are spiritually, theologically and philosophically active people in those strains of Judaism. I think that Weiner may have felt more at home with that. I think that may have made a less interesting and less exotic read, but a more true one.
I'm not sure why he included Wicca and Shamanism in this book - those chapters both felt like afterthoughts. And I think that the reader can sense, from his writing, his disdain for those practitioners and those religions. From an anthropological standpoint his discussion of Shamanism was woefully lacking.
I suppose I was looking for something more in-depth on each of the religions - or at least more philosophical. I also can't say that I was much able to connect with him as a person. He comes across as a neurotic, slightly annoying, narcissistic writer.
Still - an interesting read - and I'd recommend it to people only for the conversations I'm sure it will spark.
Weiner is a great writer and is well able to articulate thoughts and feelings about himself and religion that most would find uncomfortable to do and to write. And for that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
However, I felt that his explorations of the religions he picked were all dilettante-ish.
Notwithstanding the fact that I don't think you can uncover all there is to know about a religion in a few weeks, he dipped his toe in and then decided he didn't like the temperature of any water. And that is more than fair - after all, it is his choice as to what speaks to his heart in regards to religion, but he still picked very narrow examples of the religions he chose to study. I'm not fully convinced he gave each the chance it deserved.
He studied Buddhism in Nepal (awesome), but from a variety of ex-pats, Brits and Americans (less-authentic). He also only looked at Tibetan Buddhism, he didn't mention any of the other varieties (Zen, Chinese, Indian, Soka Gakkai, Theravada Buddhism..etc.) and I'm also not 100% sure that what he took from those experiences is the full-sum of what Tibetan Buddhism is.
Weiner did the same thing with Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Choose a very specific interpretation of it, and then when he didn't like it, just wrote the entire religion off.
I'm all for doing that from a base theological/philosophical standpoint (i.e. the main philosophical standpoint of the entire religion) - but Weiner didn't do that. He discarded an entire religion from an experience he didn't like.
After reading about his somewhat-Jewish upbringing in New York I'm not sure why he went to Orthodox Kabbalist's for his exploration of Judaism. I think he would have felt more at home with Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism - and I don't mean the "Reform" Jews who only go to Synagogue once a year - there are spiritually, theologically and philosophically active people in those strains of Judaism. I think that Weiner may have felt more at home with that. I think that may have made a less interesting and less exotic read, but a more true one.
I'm not sure why he included Wicca and Shamanism in this book - those chapters both felt like afterthoughts. And I think that the reader can sense, from his writing, his disdain for those practitioners and those religions. From an anthropological standpoint his discussion of Shamanism was woefully lacking.
I suppose I was looking for something more in-depth on each of the religions - or at least more philosophical. I also can't say that I was much able to connect with him as a person. He comes across as a neurotic, slightly annoying, narcissistic writer.
Still - an interesting read - and I'd recommend it to people only for the conversations I'm sure it will spark.