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The two main sections of the book deal with daily living and the
cycles of life. These are then further categorized according to
activities or significant stages of life and an appropriate selection
of ritual, scripture or tradition is examined for its lesson to
us. The authors are not scholars, and their knowledge is sometimes
a bit unfinished but their heart is in the right place, and that
carries them over any rough spots. They make many points of value,
but one of the most important is that modern society has suffered
a terrible loss of tradition. For tradition is derived from the
Latin tradere, 'to hand over', and signifies the accumulated
experience and wisdom that one generation passes over to the next.
I agree with their unspoken contention that the past is not to
be dismissed wholesale, merely because we have new systems of
society in place. The business of being human is still a complex
business and the past has much wisdom to offer where that is concerned.
It is not a book that you can read once and be done with it. It is what
I call a spiral narrative, one of those books which keep expanding in
great conscious loops as your mind expands and reveals fresh facets of
understanding that incorporate your previous levels of awareness instead of negating
them. The book can be used over a lifetime and it will continue to resonate with
you. I particularly like that they do not flinch away from the two great
bugaboos, death and the insane cult of youth, but deal with both subjects without
sentiment or resentment. They quote E. M. Forster's crackling aphorism, "Death destroys
a man, but the idea of death saves him." Koans are not to be found only in
Zen compilations. This is an attitude of maturity towards an inevitable truth that
is sadly lacking in most places of the world. I can assure them however that
India has long ago forgotten any wisdom it had in dealing with the reality of death
- and fear and wail and deny it as much as any other people now. The authors
quote Manu approvingly, without realizing that the living tradition has long ago
moved away from him. Also I fear that the section on martial arts, even though there
is a beautiful photo and description of an aikido session, is rather less than
adequate. The authors are innocent of the history and development of these arts and
repeat whatever gloss is put forth in the normally inadequate books on the subject. It
is a minor flaw, for they are dead on target about the spiritual value of the
martial arts.
There are many good sections in the book and it is perhaps best that the reader
gets to grips with them personally, for each person will definitely get his unique
meaning out of what is in there. The book has some extraordinary photographs illustrating it.
They are a pleasure to contemplate in themselves. On Page 80 for instance, there is one
that looks like a Japanese watercolor, perhaps painted by Musashi. It is also peppered
with apt quotations of which this one by Thomas Carlyle is a good working definition of
Karma Yoga. "Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness."
The spiritually transforming nature of work performed with awareness as against mere
bitterly resented toil is well brought out. "Laborare est orare" [to work is
to pray] said the monks of the Benedictine order and it is something we can all
fruitfully adopt.
The authors have brought out well the poverty in contemporary society of rites of
passage and I fully understand the gloom of the writer who had to confess to his
class that he had no coming of age ceremony. It is something that really retards
the emotional growth of a person. I recall just two months ago, in September 2001,
reading that sociologists have now shifted the age of adulthood in Western society
to 35! People are too busy trying to stay young and doing post adolescence activities,
for that is what is being communicated relentlessly in the media as worthwhile activity.
Delayed emotional maturity even as physical maturity comes earlier is not a good mix
and rites of passage could help in providing some much needed perspective here.
There is a section on naming children which is a personal favorite, as it mounts one of
my hobbyhorses. "A man's life proceeds from his name, in the way that a river proceeds
from its source." They explore various manners in which cultures decide upon names for
children. All of them are good, because the seriousness of intent is what counts, not
the actual system followed. There is also some much needed plain speaking about the
current trend for weekend spiritual quests, the adoption of ancient, usually American
Indian religious practices for a spiritual quick-fix. As the authors correctly see it,
you only end up making a fool of yourself with such an attitude.
The book is therefore unreservedly recommended.
Reviewed by Rohit Arya
- Title: Gifts of the Spirit - Living the Wisdom of the Great Religious Traditions
- Author: Philip Zaleski & Paul Kaufman
- Publisher: HarperCollins
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Living the Wisdom of the Great Religious Traditions
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