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#3236 - Thursday, July 23, 2008 - Editor: Jerry Katz
Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
In this issue I try to convey the fun and self-consciousness -- and seriousness -- of the book God Is An Atheist, by N. Nosirrah. Wildly different than other books in the nonduality genre, it is as valid as any others when it comes to communicating what these books need to communicate.
-Jerry
God Is An Atheist, by N. Nosirrah is featured.
Nosirrah is a fresh voice upon the nonduality landscape. His website is at http://nosirrahisnot.com, where you may access excerpts from the book as well as lots of other information about this guy.
On his website it is written, "His work is noteworthy in the extraordinary way that his writing reveals meaning within meaning as the cultural, literary, religious and philosophical references, symbols and characters are understood."
I like how he brings together Mickey Mouse, Mother Theresa, the Segway, Ken Wilber, Costco, the Got Milk? commercial, Tommy Lee Jones, and Einstein into a complete work. (At least I think he does. In any case, I know for a fact that there are nondualists at work behind each of those topics, except Ken Wilber and Costco.)
God Is An Atheist may be ordered from the publisher: http://www.sentientpublications.com/catalog/atheist.php
Also you may order from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/God-Atheist-Novella-Those-Have/dp/1591810728/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216910449&sr=1-1 Here is a review of the book, God Is An Atheist that I wrote. I've inserted annotations in italics and between brackets [ ].
Review of "God Is An Atheist" [with notes]
This book is a gavotte of literary styles and daydreams. It compels you to become a partner and leads you to an understanding of God that is beyond belief.
[Gavotte? At the time of writing this
review I had been listening to You're So Vain, by Carly
Simon and discovered the word in the line, "You had one eye
in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte." Listen: http://youtube.com/watch?v=7B7bVD_DkM4&feature=related]
One moment the writing reminds me of the wild-eyed Richard Beymer
caught in the fantastic world knot of "contrived
identity" in his psychological confession, Impostor.
[Imposter was reviewed in the
Highlights here: http://www.nonduality.com/hl3048.htm]
Next moment a sensible philosophical warrior steps up.
That dynamic between the wild-eyed and the sensible, the wearing
of one joker's shoe and one wingtip, drives the story.
[The website http://nosirrahisnot.com takes the book to a freakier place.]
The foam of humor spills over the edges and down the sides.
[I was opening my
sixth can of beer when I wrote that.]
In parts the author is freely catching images:
"I had a dream last night (I think it was a dream in any
case) and in it I was reading the TMZ.com website where there was
an account of Richard Dawkins and the Pope as secret lovers
revealed, with photos of the two grinning in bed with their
morning cappuccino, apparently listening to Puccini."
Then there are stories. One of my favorites is the one about
Eddie Buddha, the cousin of Gautama Buddha. Eddie was never
remembered because he did not leave his wife and kid and renounce
the world. He hung around. He went to delis at night with his
best buddy. The following paragraph I found warm to the touch.
This might reveal something about the writer:
"I wanted a life like Eddie Buddha's that was clear,
straightforward, regular and unfettered by the dogma of belief. I
wanted a life that was compelling, which is an interesting word,
meaning undeniable, gripping, but I wanted it compelled by truth.
Compelling is the force exerted from the future into the past as
organized by our mind. There is nothing compelling other than
what you actually express, nothing before, nothing after."
You'll recognize much of your own foolishness or confabulations,
hopefully with humor and peace. Listen:
"There remains this nagging question about the universe as
it is, which is something like: 'Why?' In the immortal words of
the blues queen Jenn Cleary, 'Why, oh why, can't there be peace
in our world?'
"Why is there suffering? Why old age? Why pain? Why Barry
Manilow? Why is it set up like this? I turned to God for an
answer.
"God would have none of it. He was hustling me towards a
Quick Stop where He was intent on acquiring some Slim Jim Beef
Jerky."
Reading God Is An Atheist might put an end to the
endless chewing on beef jerky and bring the reader face to face
with Eddie Buddha's unfettered life, or God's "none of
it."
This is a work of true madness and mad truth. [Holy jumpin' Bernadette Roberts, there's a sound bite if I ever wrote one.]
~ ~ ~
God Is An Atheist may be ordered from the publisher: http://www.sentientpublications.com/catalog/atheist.php
Also you may order from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/God-Atheist-Novella-Those-Have/dp/1591810728/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216910449&sr=1-1