Sam KeenRecensioni

A theological examination of wonder.

This set of essays explore is the problems of remaining human in the 20th century.

> HYMNES À UN DIEU INCONNU, de Sam Keen (éd. Flammarion Ltd (Canada)). — « Le voyage spirituel est une démarche solitaire commune à tous, il commence au sein de la communauté, nous conduit dans le désert de la solitude et nous ramène au point de départ. C’est un va-et-vient. Si le rythme est rompu, nous souffrons tôt au tard de l’écart qui nous sépare de nous-même ou des autres », dixit Sam Keen dans ce remarquable ouvrage. Ce voyage auquel nous convie l’auteur a pour point de départ notre propre autobiographie. Il nous invite à nous remémorer les nombreux moments de notre vie, à la fois simples et porteurs de vérité, où une force spirituelle s’est manifestée. Sam Keen éclaire nos pas sur cette piste inconnue. « Se nettoyer » sur le chemin est une épreuve de chaque instant, où la vigilance et la rigueur orientent irréversiblement la conscience. Hymne à un dieu inconnu nous met en garde contre les pièges que constituent les gourous et les prêcheurs contemporains. Sam Keen fut de nombreuses années rédacteur à la célèbre revue Américaine Psychology Today et enseigna à la non moins célèbre université de Princeton. (Albert SARALLIER)
—Clés, (13), Spécial printemps 1997, (p. 90)

FIVE STARS for the Illustrations!

The writing strayed off the expected connections between sightings of birds, spiritual experiences and nature.

By telling his own story and examining his life experience in mythic and spiritual terms, Sam Keen return autobiography to the realm of theology and philosophy. This is the book that inspired readers to tell their own stories, chart their own spiritual journeys and reclaim the sacred adventure of their own lives.

While it does have some beautiful passages about birds, there are also philosophical ramblings, and other stories that detract from the subject.

Werkboek om een persoonlijke mythologie te schrijven voor meer zelfinzicht.

This book of personal essays is very much written in the diction of the late 1960s but should not be dismissed or taken lightly because of that. Keen was searching for a faith or philosophy grounded in his experience that would also offer holistic integration (see?) of his life and connection to others. His insights, such as that we cannot live in the present moment without remembering our past and hoping for our future, are sharp and true.

this is the first book i've read on masculinity. i was surprised by how much of it i really identified with, not only with how i feel but how i grew up. not sure what that's about exactly. but i really appreciated his approach to masculinity and his thinking on creating a masculinity for a new era. some of this stuff felt a bit dated (it was released in '91) and i kept wondering what he would say now. but overall i really enjoyed this book. i think there were some comments in it that were a bit flippant and offensive, but when read in context didn't seem that bad. i just wished he would have chosen his words more carefully sometimes. again, though, i enjoyed the book.

Wow what a read. Im actually going through it for the second time.
Must read for all MEN no matter at which level you are at. it is an amazing compilation of ideas and fundamental masculinity - to the deepest core of your psyche stuff you won't find anywhere else.
Sam did a great job portraying the history of evolution of manhood, analyzing tribal initiation and other psychological aspects of Man - woman relationship. As well as what happens when Men fail to achieve virility and remain mommas boys.
for many reasons I have not gone through my initiation into manhood, this book is helping me as we speak now to expand my horizons and look down into my own psyche to extract some answers. and I did. The best thing(so far) I got out of it is realization of importance of separation from the mother.
I have not seen my mother in 10 years, but I only now have realized, I was still connected to her and it is stopping me from becoming a man that I wish to be. to quote sam keen - when a man can say a sincere no to a woman, only then he can say a sincere yes. a man must separate from women and be comfortable without them first, before he can be truly transparent and fully engaged in a relationship with her and not the other way around.
Also another thing I learned. is for any man to be fullfilled in life he must first decide where he is going and then decide who he is going with.
most of the time it is the other way around what these guys do. and its never good for any relationship.
if you havent read this book. you're missing out on a lot.

Mythic and spiritual way to look at oneself.

"By the art of fantasy and imagination, story and image, these authors map the way personal stories deepen into transpersonal mythic journeys" David L. Miller

As an object, this is a beautiful book. Sized to fit comfortably in the hand, it has an elegant dust jacket; it’s printed on thick, serious stock, meant to last; and best of all, it’s illustrated throughout with lush watercolors by Mary Woodin.

Unfortunately, and contrary to what the cover led me to expect, this is not a book about birds. It’s a book about how one man took his self - his anxious masculinity, his spiritual confusion, his fear of death, his absurdly overinflated sense of purpose - into the field and offloaded all those feelings on to some birds he saw....

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Keen offers his take on naturalistic spirituality in a series of short essays, many of which center on the author’s experiences as a birdwatcher. More than a few of these present what sounds like a romanticized version of his childhood, as, for instance, when he describes his first sighting of an Indigo Bunting (at the age of 10) as effortlessly slipping “into a state of grace in which I felt honored by a magical being...”. Some of the personal revelations also seem unnecessarily confessional.

In one essay he makes the somewhat bizarre assertion that his DNA has been around since the Big Bang (p 53), indicating a decided lack of familiarity with astrophysics and genetics. He subsequently states he does not understand much about the Big Bang (p 80), which, unfortunately, does not prevent him from indulging in loopy speculation about it.

The theme of the book, experiencing the sacred through rapport with the natural world, is appealing, but the author fails to convey the essence of such experiences and his thinking is often muddled and confused. Despite these problems, the ideas he tries (somewhat ineptly) to explore are worth the attention of those interested in naturalism. Personally, I found myself in strong agreement with some of his arguments and enjoyed the book despite its flaws. My favorite among his essays concerns a flock of wild turkeys that congregated around his house one year, “Dwelling Among Familiars.”

Mary Woodin’s lovely watercolor illustrations compensate to a certain extent for the shortcomings of the text. The book itself is beautifully designed, as Chronicle books tend to be.
measure up.

Sounds amazing he started at 60yrs old- must be pretty flexible.

btw.One of my friends, Wendy in Sydney is the director of this Aerial arts school....check them out....
http://www.artbabes.com.au/Welcome.html

meaning & elements: philosphical

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