ARA Review by MPeck of In It Together

[MPeck]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, In It Together.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

I did not know what to expect before reading this book, having read few (if any) philosophical books, and was intrigued as to whether there would be a religious angle to it. Although religion was mentioned, it was in no way judgmental or preaching to the reader, and in fact was quite the opposite-open and accepting of all. This was a good starting point for me to like it, as coming from a non-judgmental platform, it made me feel that the messages the author is trying to convey is coming from a position of genuine desire to help people, rather than to tell them what they should be doing based on his own beliefs.

As the book progresses, it outlines a number of ways to change the way we look at our lives. Some, you could say, should be obvious, yet it is doubtful many would practice it in their everyday lives. Others could make you take a step back and think why haven't I realized that before? Why have we put ourselves on this treadmill to attain an un-ending number of goals which essentially deprives us of our own inner peace? The book causes self-reflection, both on the way we view our own lives but also how we view others. It does give the reader pause for thought based on sensible ideologies, and certainly challenged me to put some more effort into mindful practices which are easy to let slip.

I did find some terms which I was not familiar with, and were not explained in the book, which may be more well known to those versed in philosophy. And although I agreed with most of what was said, I did find myself disagreeing with a couple points, such as the concept of there being no evil. I understand his reasoning of why he said this to accept things as they are, but I think this would be hard for others to accept who had perhaps been affected by trauma, based on perceived evil actions. For these reasons I give the book a 4 out of 5 rating, as I enjoyed it and found it informative, with some slight disagreement on the content based on my own viewpoint (which others may not agree with)

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