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Reviewed by Laurie Gray for Readers' Favorite
"Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine" by Eric Weiner relays the true adventures of a well-read, well–traveled foreign journalist on a personal mission to find his God. Weiner mixes wit with wisdom and the sacred with the profane on an expedition through Sufism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Raёlism, Taoism, Neo-paganism, Shamanism, and the Kabbalah that is all about the journey rather than the destination. Along the way Weiner whirls like a dervish with the Sufis, nearly confesses with the Franciscans, and practically changes gender with the Raёlians. Weiner dubs himself a “gastronomical Jew,” having grown up in a Jewish family that focused more on food and guilt than on religious observance. Likewise, the book focuses on experience over doctrine.
I found the audiobook, read by the author, to have a Bill-Bryson-like appeal as Weiner travels along a trail toward his personal truth. Weiner describes himself as a “confusionist white male” who always seems to be an outsider peering in, hopeful of discovery, yet not entirely willing to exchange his rationalism for any particular brand of faith. Weiner’s honesty offers an opportunity for both vicarious and genuine insights and his humor makes the voyage a pleasant one. I enjoyed sitting with the author in the Inner Nightclub of Everlasting Joy and rummaging through a heap of rubbish like a blind man looking for a lost jewel. It is all about the investigation and the contemplation because life itself is the miracle, and our job is to pay attention. Weiner suggests that the true measure of any ritual is whether it elevates or diminishes its performer, and in the words of William James, “The truth is what works.”
