false 10 35 18 true 5689241 read 8 true 1557578 currently-reading 9 true 1557577 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60991487 Liann's review of Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
by John O'Donohue

I've heard good things about this book but haven't read it yet. Looking forward to hearing what you think of it. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58380876 Trevor's review of Against Religion (Scribe Short Books)
by Tamas Pataki

As far as Buddhism goes, I like Pema Chodron's books and CDs on Tibetan Buddhism, especiall the CD series "Getting Unstuck". She's a Canadian who is also a Buddhist nun, so she presents it in a way that makes sense to me as a westerner. The way she presents it, though, Buddhism is almost not really even a religion. It's more a way of training the mind to avoid getting stuck in obsessive thought patterns and to be more open and aware.

She probably holds to a Buddhist worldview herself, but she emphasizes the Buddhist practices rather than the Buddhist worldview in her CDs that I have listened to. At one point she says, "even if you don't buy the concept of multiple lifetimes, this one lifetime is enough to see how we can get stuck in the same old patterns."

Sam Harris (and others, I suppose) point out that our beliefs do affect the way we act, and so they do matter. I saw that this is true even in Buddhism, which I had always thought was a sort of innocuous religion with no potential for misuse. Pema Chodron tells the story (actually I think she got it from the Dalai Lama's book The Art of Happiness) of an old Buddhist monk who went to the Dalai Lama asking for permission to begin a particular program of yoga exercises but the Dalai lama told him that no, those exercise were really only appropriate for a much younger person. The old monk seemed to take this well, but then he went off and killed himself, figuring that he would be reborn into a younger body and could then do the exercises that he wanted to do.

I suppose it is easier to see the negative effects of certain beliefs when one is looking at someone else's religion, although I do see the negative consequences of some Christian beliefs as well.

Christianity does heavily use the child-parent metaphor for our relationship with God, but Paul also urges Christians to "grow up in the Lord", and there is also the image of the church as the bride of Christ. At the end of his life Jesus told his disciples that he no longer calls them servants, but friends. And one of the lectionary readings for today or yesterday talked about us being heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, which seems to imply that we are supposed to grow up into our inheritance by becoming more like God--more loving, more compassionate, more patient, more forgiving. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45151474 Saving Darwin: How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution (Hardcover) by Karl Giberson
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45145571 The Beginning of All Things: Science and Religion (Hardcover) by Hans Kung
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42023162 American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans (Paperback) by Eve LaPlante
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42022802 to: Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall (Paperback) by Eve LaPlante
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40022491 to: Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way Of Love (Paperback) by Daniel Homan
bookshelves: currently-reading
So far I am liking this one a lot. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40022344 Believe That I Am Here: The Notebooks of Nicole Gausseron (Hardcover) by Nicole Gausseron
bookshelves: currently-reading
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