This One Wild and Precious Life Our Path Forward in a Fractured World
Reviews
I'm torn. I like the idea that initially prompted her to write this book. Feeling that we're disconnected and that we're moving into the wrong direction with humanity. I get that, but what I don't like is how she comes across all high and mighty and I feel like she's not really accepting other approaches to the problem. I'm very familiar with The Minimalists and Marie Kondo and I'm not saying that their solution is holistic and perfect, but dismissing other approaches with a waive of the hand? Some people might have to start with baby steps. This book obviously took a long time to write and research and I applaud Sarah Wilson for tackling this huge and important issue, even if I'm not agreeing with everything she writes. Read this if you're into improving your own life, health, relationships and environment. There are lots of things to discuss plus this would be a good book for a book club pick. Thanks Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Highlights
[when we avoid calls and human contact through text messages and social media] What are we đoing ing exactly? what we are doing is avoiding the potentially ugly, confronting image in the proverbial mirror that another human always holds up to us when we interact face-to-face or show up emotionally. We're avoiding being vulnerable. We don't like the mirror; exposing our vulnerability is terrifying. But it's precisely this reflection in the other, and in the world, that has always tamed our worst impulses and held us accountable. An offended look on a friend's face makes us recognize our insensitivity. A smile can encourage our commitment to making changes within ourselves. Calling someone back when an issue is in our court, and apologizing or front-footing things, sees us rise to our better selves. That's how we grow and become kinder humans.
And so I think the beautiful and courageous - and richer- question here becomes: what are we lonely from? 10. The magnificent artist Patti Smith wrote, “A newborn cries as the cord is severed, seeming to extinguish memory of the miraculous. Thus we are condemned to stagger rootless upon the earth in search for our fingerprint on the cosmos." Yep, we start out alone. We die alone. And we spend the time in between trying to reconnect to this memory of the miraculous oneness from whence we came. I like this. For me, this memory of the miraculous is a knowingness that life is big and meaningful and precious and that everything is awesomely, unfathomably, satiatingly connected.