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Revolutionizing the best-selling genre, this thinking man's parody hijacks the format of daily affirmations but offers a different message: only in paradox, truth; only in darkness, light; only in affliction, affirmation. These "daily afflictions" offer readers inspiration, practical advice, and food for thought, as they navigate the jungle of existential terror that begins anew each day. We follow the fictional Brother Void on a spiritual journey, both profound and hilarious, into self, family, love, career, death-and, ultimately, Enlightenment. We learn to "listen to our inner critic," appreciate "the nurturing power of dysfunctional families," "love the wrong person," "succeed at failure," "embrace our inner corpse," and, finally, withstand the "agony of being connected to everything in the Universe." Part spiritual autobiography, part ironic meditation, this tragicomic guide to life's sublime predicaments will elevate and educate the spirit. The truth will set you free, Brother Void reminds us, but first it will hurt like hell.
| Introduction | p. xv |
| Author Note | p. xix |
| The Book of Daily Afflictions | |
| Life | |
| The interstate of life | p. 5 |
| Living a worthless life | p. 6 |
| Being there then | p. 7 |
| The supermarket of life | p. 8 |
| Living as a work of art | p. 9 |
| Keeping to the dark path | p. 10 |
| Self | |
| Deepening the crisis | p. 13 |
| Listening to your inner critic | p. 14 |
| Selfless selfishness | p. 16 |
| The nausea of language--a guided exercise | p. 17 |
| The uses of obsession | p. 19 |
| Opening up to your inner psychopath | p. 20 |
| Finding sorrow | p. 22 |
| The suburb within | p. 23 |
| Family | |
| Embracing the life forced upon you | p. 27 |
| The nurturing power of dysfunctional families | p. 28 |
| The boot camp of life | p. 29 |
| Living the unlived life | p. 31 |
| The healing power of sick parents | p. 33 |
| Love | |
| The other side of love | p. 37 |
| Passion and companionship | p. 38 |
| Loving the wrong person | p. 39 |
| Fucked by love | p. 40 |
| Seeing things through to total catastrophe | p. 41 |
| Breaking up with yourself | p. 42 |
| Career | |
| Failing at what matters | p. 47 |
| Doing the wrong thing | p. 48 |
| In pursuit of failure | p. 49 |
| The havoc of Saturn's return | p. 50 |
| Succeeding at failure | p. 52 |
| The tragedy of commitment | p. 53 |
| Politics | |
| Visualizing the worst possible world--a guided meditation | p. 57 |
| The inner bigot | p. 58 |
| Compassionate hypocrisy | p. 60 |
| Being in it for yourself | p. 61 |
| Hopelessness can change the world | p. 62 |
| Philosophy | |
| The perils of creating your own reality | p. 65 |
| Faith and irony | p. 66 |
| One step from oblivion | p. 68 |
| Everything happens for a reason | p. 70 |
| Religion | |
| Consulting the silence--a guided exercise | p. 73 |
| The economics of spirituality | p. 74 |
| Reasoning with your inner prophet | p. 75 |
| Skeptical mysticism | p. 76 |
| Diving into the abyss | p. 78 |
| Death | |
| Embracing your inner corpse | p. 81 |
| Learning to die | p. 82 |
| At One with your inner corpse--a guided meditation | p. 84 |
| Living with death | p. 85 |
| Enlightenment | |
| The agony of being connected to everything in the Universe | p. 89 |
| Glossary | p. 91 |
| Guide to Sources | p. 95 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 103 |
| Index | p. 107 |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780393322811
ISBN-10: 0393322815
Audience:
General
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 128
Published: 17th January 2002
Publisher: WW Norton & Co
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 17.8 x 13.0
x 1.0
Weight (kg): 0.18
