Category Archives: Book Review

Marcus Aurelius – Meditations

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For years now I’ve seen some of my favourite authors and leaders recommend the reading of Meditations by the stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Some have even gone so far as to say they reread this work every one to two years and advise others would be well served to do the same. Born out of the gnostic tradition, I’ve never found stoicism as a philosophy very interesting or compelling, but some of the writings can be helpful. So I decided it was time to read Aurelius’ famous Meditations.

I searched online for a good recommendation on which translation would be most beneficial and settled on one done by Gregory Hays. The intro gave a good overview of both Marcus Aurelius and the nature of Stoicism to shed some light on what followed: the 12 books of Meditations, or short sayings and aphorisms of the Greek philosopher. 

I was underwhelmed to say the least and found it quite tedious in many parts. It did not seem to me worth the praise I had seen from many. Now, for those familiar with the wisdom literature of the Bible: Ecclesiastes, Job, and specifically the book of Proverbs, which are beautifully written and hit right to the core of the nature of man and the problems he faces, Aurelius’ work can only pale in comparison. Perhaps my expectations had been set too high from the continued praise the work receives, but I can only think those who esteem it highly are unfamiliar with the Biblical counterparts. 

While it may be helpful to some, I can’t recommend this ancient work with any excitement. It did have some highlights, however, and a few of my favourites were:

Book 2:1 – When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own–not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me…

Book 3:6 – If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, honesty, self-control, courage–than a mind satisfied that is has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control–if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservation–it must be an extraordinary thing indeed–and enjoy it to the full…

Book 4:17 – Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you’re alive and able–be good.

Book 6:7 – To move from one unselfish action to another with God in mind. Only there, delight and stillness.

Book 6:33 – It’s normal to feel pain in your hands and feet, if you’re using your feet as feet and your hands as hands. And for a human being to feel stress is normal–if he’s living a normal human life. And if it’s normal, how can it be bad?

Book 7:31 – Wash yourself clean. With simplicity, with humility, with indifference to everything but right and wrong. Care for other human beings. Follow God.

Book 8:59 – People exist for one another. You can instruct or endure them.

Book 11:23 – Socrates used to call popular beliefs “the monsters under the bed”–only useful for frightening children with.

Book 12:13 – The foolishness of people who are surprised by anything that happens. Like travellers amazed at foreign customs.

We must read books of the past to understand the nature of humanity and how we’ve arrived at where we are. So I laud the reading of the ancients and would not consider it a waste of time to read the Meditations, but time would be better spent reading the book of Proverbs, in my opinion. I am happy to have read this classic and benefitted from it, but I will not consider ever having to reread it like some suggest.

2 ⭐️⭐️ out of 5

 

Johnny Cash – Forever Words

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I never make resolutions because they will invariably set me up for disappointment. No one likes to make their own failure inevitable. But I did commit to making 2023 the year of getting back to reading more good books and spending less time reading online. I use to read a lot. I want that aspect of my old life back. So the first book of the year was a short, easy read to start things off: Johnny Cash – Forever Words.

Johnny Cash is an interesting man. Some of his music I love, while some I don’t. He is dichotomous in so many aspects of his music, writing, life, and character, and there is no denying the depth of emotion that certain phrases or songs from him can elicit.

The one constant throughout his life was that God was central to who he was; both in triumph and in failure. He suffered some early family tragedies, and struggled with addiction and relationships almost his entire life. Yet through it all he always came back to the One he loved.

This book is an easy read and gives the admirer of Cash a little glimpse into who he was through a small selection of his unpublished poetry. To be honest some of the selections were not to my liking and seemed somewhat remedial and not what I expected; while others you could almost hear being read in Cash’s growly, weathered voice:

Liquid, tablet, capsule, powder
Fumes and smoke and vapor
The payoff is the same in the end
Liquid, tablet, capsule, powder
Fumes and smoke and vapor
Convenient ways to get the poison in

The hidden gem is this book is the little introduction by John Carter Cash, Johnny’s son. It’s interesting to hear a son reflect upon both his father’s legacy; both the good and bad elements of his life, while also expressing a deep love and affection for the man he called “Dad.”

My favourite lines come from a poem called Does Anybody Out There Love Me?

It’s a long and endless journey
When you’re on the lost pathway
Today will not be different
Than a hundred yesterdays

But maybe there’s a new life
Dawning with the morning sun
And I’ll be a better man
For where I’ve been and what I’ve done

There are many other books on Johnny Cash that give much deeper insight into the man. This is not a ‘must read‘ by any stretch, but rather, a taste of who the man was behind those dark and brooding expressions. For good or for ill, maybe we can see just a little of ourselves in the “Man in Black” and the words he wrote in prose and song.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5

The Sira: The Life Of Mohammed

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There is no moderate Muslim and there is no peaceful Islam if the prophet Mohammed is the ‘perfect Muslim’ to be emulated by all his followers. It’s a provocative statement to make in this age of tolerance where we are fed a false narrative on the nature of Islam unmoored from the historical record and the reality of the events around us.

Just as Christians are called to imitate the life of Jesus Christ, so too are Muslims called to imitate the life of their prophet, Mohammed. In order to fully understand Islam, one must have a working knowledge of three different sources: the Koran, the Hadith, and the life of Mohammed as recorded in the Sira. In his book, The Sira: The Life of Mohammed, Dr. Bill Warner gives us a look into the life of the first and “greatest of all Muslims” from the primary sources of his life. When we understand the life of Mohammed, how he lived and all that he did, it is then that we see a true picture of Islam.

Warner’s thesis can be identified early on and he spends the remainder of the book providing details from the life of Mohammed in order to show that Islam is more a political ideology than a religion.

“Islam is primarily a political ideology. No action or statement by Islam can be understood without understanding its origins in the Trilogy. Any analysis, statement, or opinion about Islam is incomplete without a reference to the Trilogy. The Trilogy is the source and basis of all Islamic politics, diplomacy, history, philosophy, religion, and culture.”

Warner further states:

“Islam is defined by the words of Allah in the Koran, and the words and actions of Mohammed, called the Sunna. The Sunna is found in two collections of texts–the Sira (Mohammed’s life) and the Hadith (event’s in Mohammed’s life). The Koran says 91 times that Mohammed’s words and actions are to be considered the divine pattern for humanity…So the Trilogy is the Koran, the Sira, and the Hadith..[This] is the foundation and totality of Islam.”

Throughout it’s history, Islam has been a political force that has advanced by the power of the sword. There has been no missionary movement or caring charity to those outside the faith, only a violent advance of its borders in emulation of their Prophet who advanced his cause politically through the use of force during his 9 years in Medina.

Warner shows through the use of the Koranic text that the Kafir (or unbeliever ie. non-Muslims) can be mocked, beheaded, plotted against, terrorized, cursed, and lied to, all to advance the cause of Islam and bring about the submission of all unbelievers. This is how Mohammed lived and advanced the cause of Islam, and we see this in the Islamic world today as it works to expand its borders. This jihad will not be complete until the entire world is under the submission of Islam.

Mohammed’s success depended on politics, not religion. The Sira, Mohammed’s biography, gives a highly detailed accounting of his rise to power. He preached the religion of Islam for 13 years in Mecca and garnered 150 followers. He was forced to move to Medina and became a politician and warrior. During the last 9 years of his life, he was involved in an event of violence on the average of every 6 weeks. When he died, every Arab was a Muslim. Mohammed succeeded through politics, not religion…Politics was almost a thousand times more effective than religion [in increasing the number of converts to Islam].

Mohammed created a political doctrine of domination covertly cloaked under religious guise. As a preacher of the religious doctrine Mohammed was a failure, but as a commander of a strong political ideology he was a force that controlled the Middle East and much of Europe. Warner writes,

In Mecca, Mohammed demonstrated the initial practice of jihad when Islam was weak: persuasion and conversion. When he moved to Medina, he demonstrated how jihad worked when Islam was strong: using immigration against inhabitants, creating political power by struggling against the host, dominating other religions, using violence, and establishing a government.

It is estimated that in the 1400 year history of Islam, 270 million Africans, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews were the victims of violent Jihad. It does not have a history of tolerance and peace as modern apologists like to portray. To say that Islam is a religion of peace misses the point since the very heart of Islam is political power wielded against the unbelievers and not a peaceful religion trying to bring about good for all people.

To understand Islam, it is absolutely necessary to understand the life of Mohammed. Warner’s book, drawn from primary source texts, goes a long way in painting an accurate picture of the roots of Islam and the modern branches that have grown from it. It is paramount that we understand the life of Mohammed in light of modern Islam that is expanding rapidly into the West. If we want to remain peaceful and free it is necessary to reject Islam as compatible with Western civilization.