Irrelevant to the post overall: Hopefully I can get back to a weekly book post. I can’t promise these will always be serious books. But you can’t always read serious stuff. Every book has been read by me. Some books were provided free. Some were purchased. None have strings attached: if I liked it, I liked it.
Today’s book is The Great Remembering by June Cohen. Currently available in digital format and hardcover, the author was one of the creators of the TED Talks and creator of the podcast Masters of Scale. She has earned multiple Webby honors (for Internet content,) “Podcast of the Year” from Apple several times, and a Peabody. I suppose, for me, the Peabody is an award with a deep legacy and it feels more appropriate to the content here.
Why? Well, for all the irony of being available in e-book formats and digital audio, The Great Remembering is a book about looking to the past for mental health and development. Most of the practices that Cohen explored and experimented with have a heritage that runs into the thousands of years. The ones that are not that ancient are only centuries old. Honestly, the difference here is not significant.
The Great Remembering is written in a friendly style, presenting what Cohen calls “wisdom systems” for various domains in life. These touch on the very intimate in the last chapter and personal growth in the beginning chapters, as well as speaking of community practices in the middle chapters.
There are some caveats for me, as a Christian minister, when considering the content here. Cohen’s beliefs are different from mine and as such, she does not offer an evaluation of the spirituality in any of the practices. While she is cautious about anything pushing itself as a universal truth and certainly insists that personal consent is a necessary part of any spiritual activity, my understanding would point out that some things are inherently right and some are wrong. This right and wrong differential overrides effectiveness: a wrong practice should not be engaged, even if it appears to have a positive effect.
However, every book cannot cover every eventuality. If you are not learning about your own beliefs, then you cannot hold an outsider responsible for not promoting them. I would simply note that I would not add this book to a church library, even though it reflects in general a truth that churches and ministers have been advocating for quite some time: the modern world left behind practices and habits that we need to recover.
Now, for the quick rundown on what is good here in The Great Remembering. First, the approach is thoroughly researched and followed-up with personal experience. Cohen did not just read about Irish sweathouses or the value of festivals, but participated in them. And searched for the remains of them, in the case of physical artifacts. Naturally, of course, there was no visiting an ancient Aztec Festival, but modern-day festivals reflect the parallels.
Second, I personal like the occasional corner drop-in of a referenced book. Cohen (and Authors Equity, the publisher) have not placed footnotes throughout the text to check sources, instead including quick references to other books, including several that are on my list now to read in follow-up. The back of the text includes a selected bibliography and a chapter-by-chapter look at primary sources. If you are wanting to develop a deep research, the starting points are here.
Third, each wisdom system is followed by a “Practical Coda” (Cohen’s term, I do like it) that gives the reader ideas of how to try out each system. These practicals are more than just the “oh, go do it!” type of suggestions, but engagement concepts from beginner to advanced. This includes cautions when exploring the physical limits ideas and guidance for organizers of large group events.
In all, I find this a good read as the world keeps on spinning a bit more crazy every day. The technology we have to be able to do so many other things has cut us adrift from the useful moorings of tradition and community. These are some excellent pathways to recover what carried many of our ancestors through the chaos of their own times.
More info is here
https://www.thegreatremembering.com/
I was sent a copy of this through the Next Big Idea Book Club.