The Miracle Revolution

If you think about it, the opposite of Love isn't really Hate, it's Fear. Complete contraction is the opposite of complete expansion.

In his new book, The Miracle Revolution, Mark Landau overcomes or bypasses Fear, and exemplifies and embodies for us in his writing, a particular kind of Love that current humanity very much needs to see, hear and witness: That of unabashed, unapologetic willingness to share and describe what one deeply and truly wants to exist in one's world. Mr. Landau does this in a quasi-allegorical--even mythological--form. (As a matter of fact, sometimes he reverts to series of extremely short sentences which, when said aloud, begin very surprisingly to resemble the ancient Sumerian texts of Inanna.) And this author does not stop at mere description of things, or even relationships; he consciously writes the very qualities from which he wants humans to live.

If the reader will surrender expectation and think, feel and imagine along with Mr. Landau, s/he could have a very good time on several levels of consciousness, because this book could also be a surprising space-opera graphic novel for young adults (who believe they already know all about sexuality but who completely separate it from spirituality); it could remind older adults--especially ones who came of age in the 1960's--how they felt, what possibilities they imagined, when they first experienced a taste of the Human version of Cosmic Consciousness back when they were young adults; and it could give all readers a surprising point of view concerning the real relationship between sex and power as well--the kind of power that originates in Fear versus the kind of power that originates in Love. This book is also a discussion about "divine" Love embodied in human beings, as opposed to the disembodied kind that too many of us--in both East and West--have for millennia preferred ("God is exclusively outside of us, directing things" or "only very special people like Jesus, Lord Krishna or the Buddha have any direct connection to the divine"). Another way of putting this is that the author's vision reunites our collective Head with our Body--but this time including our Heart, our Sexuality and our Spirituality, all of which have been compartmentalized for the last few millennia, while our Heads developed (and our Head minds love to compartmentalize, don't they).

Some readers will balk at the way Mr. Landau resolves or unites such traditional adversaries as Sex and Spirituality. This book could still be for them, because it will nevertheless percolate through their heads and hearts and perhaps soften both in a more kind and loving manner toward each other. In any case, you don't have to fully agree with the author concerning his vision of human potential, but it's certainly worth thinking and imagining along with him for the duration, in my view, because very few of us take the time to imagine so fully what our Next Positive Step could be as a species--most of us are presently caught up in how angry and unhappy our present dilemmas are, what we're doing wrong, and what other people should be doing to make it better. At the very least, reading The Miracle Revolution will spur a reader to construct his/her own visionary experience of what s/he really wants to see in the world, for all concerned.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of this book as in the end I neither loved it or hated it.

This book is not for everyone, but I can say it has it's place. If you put everything aside the book has some really deep meanings about love, hate, forgiveness, etc. I found it almost a physiological book more then anything. The sex in the book is very very graphic, so know that going into it. As for why I gave it a low rating. This is purely on the writing style, which drove me crazy and made it very hard for me to finish the book. It is written like a manual (part a goes into part b to make part c). If someone asked you to describe how to do something (sex, interact with a human, make toast, etc) and you wrote each step in detail that would be how this book is written. I found this odd as the book has a deeper meaning about love and philosophy, but then the writing is so ridged. Either way, it made me start skimming the pages and forced me to keep putting it down to read something else. I don't know how to tell you if this is for you or not, it's just different.

Not my cup of tea. I read about a quarter of the way through and found I just could not get into it.

The synopsis of this book had me sucked in hook, line and sinker. It sounded like a fresh approach to writing, with lots of things to interest me.

Hoo boy, was I wrong.

I did not find it erotic, mind bending, delightful or even mildly entertaining. The characters are so far off base, it's hard to relate to any one of them, and the plot is just plain stupid.

I started reading it expecting all sorts of good things and quickly became mind-numbingly bored. So I set it aside for a while and then tried again, hoping against hope that things would pick up. Well, things in the story picked up, but they were never described in such a way that I could feel ANY sort of empathy for or interest in the characters or plot.

It just wasn't for me, so I finally gave up about half the way through. Maybe someone else will enjoy it a LOT more than I did. I hope so for the author's sake. Just don't spend a lot of money on this book because you'll feel it was wasted if you do.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I'll choose better next time, I promise.