Crazy Wisdom: A provocative romp through the philosophies of East and West, by Wes Nisker ★★★★★

[mithriltabby]

I decided to reread this one since I was about to lend it to yanfali, and found it held up well since the last time I read it. baronlaw, meorime, sistercoyote, I think you’d enjoy it.

Journalist-turned-Buddhist-meditation-teacher Wes Nisker takes us on a tour of the world of “crazy wisdom”: the province of trickster gods, sacred clowns, holy fools, Taoist sages, Hassidic rabbis, Zen masters, Sufi mystics, existentialists, Dadaists, and the scientists who delve into the scales of space and time where we see the counterintuitive effects of evolution and quantum physics and general relativity. Crazy wisdom is the insight that comes from dropping away the filters of ego and preconceived notions and taking a good hard look at the world in all its banality and splendor... as well as taking the time to laugh at our own silly human pretensions.

The book is both a survey of crazy wisdom traditions from ancient times through modern and a look into its practice. It’s more of a signpost than a how-to manual, with lots of leads one can follow up on if they prove intriguing, liberally salted with quotations from sources ranging from ancient holy books to modern humorists and poets. I find the metaphysical perspective resonates well with my own aversion to dogma and hierarchy.