As promised, here is what I thought of Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries.
As always, Noah Levine has a voice the people of my generation, even just the current generations, can listen to. He breaks things down, speaks my language, but don't take that as me saying he dumbs things down because he does not. There is heart and wisdom behind his words. When you read this book you understand this is a guy who is speaking from experience, not just saying hey, this works because I said so.
In the first section he goes through Sid's life (and of course I mean Siddhartha Gautama) before he becomes enlightened. He refers to him as Sid for the "purposes of sacrilege and brevity" how can you go wrong with that? He tells Sid's story and as you read you feel like you are getting a pretty good feel for the guy. Then BOOM, he goes all Against the Stream on everybody.
After he explains how The Buddha became Buddha, he takes you out to dinner, on a meet the parents style date, with the basic concepts of Buddhism. You get to spend time with each of The Four Noble Truths. Then he takes you for a walk down the Eightfold Path. Then he pulls you aside and says, "Dude, don't let the hindrances stop you," and tells you exactly what may lay in your path.
When the dinner date is done he takes you to boot camp. In boot camp he relays each aspect of the revolution to you and explains why it is not only necessary, but important. Many of the things said in this section of the book hit home. I didn't really have a good grasp on Equanimity until I read through this section.
One of my favorite quotes in the book comes from the forgiveness section: "We must not confuse letting go of past injuries with feeling an obligation to let the injurers back into our life. The freedom of forgiveness often includes a firm boundary and loving distance from those who have harmed us." If you remember my issue with the in-laws and forgiveness then you get why this stands out so much for me.
He also goes on to say this: "At a recent meditation class, a student said that she felt her forgiveness was a gift that some people hadn't earned. This is a common feeling among many of us who have felt injured by others. Yet does our lack of forgiveness really punish them, or does it just make our hearts hard and our lives unpleasant? Is forgiveness a gift to others or oneself?"
I know I have felt that way many, many times. The Angry Girl in me was of the firm belief that if you hurt me then I will hold that hurt inside and never let you, or me, forget it. It wasn't helpful. It made it to where I had a radio-flyer wagon full of hurt and hate that I had to tug with me everywhere. Hurt and hate are heavy fuckers, let me tell you. They weigh you down and wear you out until you are ready to pull that wagon up a huge hill and push them down it.
He closes the section on forgiveness with a reminder of the quote he opens it with.
"we need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour---unceasingly." --Hennry Nouwen
This is true, though you think you may have forgiven your brother for setting Skipper's hair on fire, one day you may be sitting there thinking, "Ugh, what was his problem? What did Skipper ever do to him, that bastard, " and realize you haven't quite gotten over it. All you can do is continue to say, I forgive you, I forgive you. Most importantly, you need to always forgive yourself.
In the section about death he says, "Our denial of death is a denial of life. Until we acknowledge death as certain, we will be tentative in all that we do, thus not fully showing up for or participating in the work at hand." In my early twenties I was diagnosed with cancer. You would think that would make me be all about living life, instead it terrified me. I would even actively avoid going outdoors (I had stage three melanoma). It took me a long time to let that fear go and it sometimes still sneaks up on me, but you should never ever let it dictate your life. Want to go skydiving but you're afraid you will be the poor bastard that falls to their death? Do it anyway. Look at it like this, how bad ass would you seem when people had to say, "Oh they jumped out of a plane and died," right? Besides, death is the one certainty of life, everybody dies.
After you graduate from boot camp he hands you a field guide. In the guide, he addresses the issues you will find on the path while living in modern day society. He touches on community, sex, money, and freedom from addiction. It is important to mention that he does't mean just substance addiction. Addiction to craving and finding stability in an ever changing world is the root problem of suffering.
Finally, before clapping you on the shoulder and sending you on your way with a thumbs up, Noah hands you The Revolutionary Manifesto. In it he tells us to defy the lies, serve the truth, beware of teachers, and question everything. He explains the very core of his message. Read it with a highlighter, you're probably going to need it. I did.
"Holy shit, what about meditation?" you ask, don't worry there is an appendix with detailed instructions on how to achieve each of the meditations he touches on in the book. You can also go to Against the Stream and follow the guided meditations posted there.
All in all, Noah has once again shown us why he is such an important member of the community. He spreads his message with compassion, humor, and humility. You get to see that even those farther along on the path have doubts and issues to deal with. We learn from each other, daily, that is what community is all about.
Honestly, I can't wait to get his next book.
Angry Girl
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