A couple of weeks ago I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Ohhhh...my 8th grade reading teacher Mr. Parker (yes, I took remedial reading and am proud of it) would be so proud of the way I can now devour a great book!
Anyway, back to the book. What a great book this is. I loved it. (Thanks Ash.)
Eat, Pray, Love is a memoir of self-discovery, spiritual insight, and a search for finding the balance between pleasure and faith. The book follows Elizabeth through a year abroad. Following a heartbreaking divorce and a bout with depression, Elizabeth finds herself in Italy for the pursuit of pleasure. Is there a better place on earth for the pursuit of pleasure??? You know food, wine, beauty, shopping, food, wine, etc, etc. After 3 months in Italy she travels to India to find her faith in an Ashram where she begins her day at 3:30 in the morning with prayer and song. Following her time in India, she ends her year of travel in Bali. Beautiful Bali. I have never been to Bali, but it has long been on my list of "things to do." The book actually gives a great history of Bali and the culture there. Her trip to Indonesia was about the pursuit of balance...the balance between pleasure and devotion.
One of my favorite passages comes near the end of the book, during her stay in Bali...
"...people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon in, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passedis like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainment."
Anyway, back to the book. What a great book this is. I loved it. (Thanks Ash.)
Eat, Pray, Love is a memoir of self-discovery, spiritual insight, and a search for finding the balance between pleasure and faith. The book follows Elizabeth through a year abroad. Following a heartbreaking divorce and a bout with depression, Elizabeth finds herself in Italy for the pursuit of pleasure. Is there a better place on earth for the pursuit of pleasure??? You know food, wine, beauty, shopping, food, wine, etc, etc. After 3 months in Italy she travels to India to find her faith in an Ashram where she begins her day at 3:30 in the morning with prayer and song. Following her time in India, she ends her year of travel in Bali. Beautiful Bali. I have never been to Bali, but it has long been on my list of "things to do." The book actually gives a great history of Bali and the culture there. Her trip to Indonesia was about the pursuit of balance...the balance between pleasure and devotion.
One of my favorite passages comes near the end of the book, during her stay in Bali...
"...people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon in, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passedis like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainment."
1 comment:
This book looks so good. I am pushing for my book club to pick it up in October. Thanks for the summary-
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