general

This book successfully relates the spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous, and its Twelve Step program, to the other major spiritual traditions of the world. It is related in such a way that the non member of these programs can appreciate the depth and importance of this movement for everyone. Alcoholics Anonymous has been praised by Aldous Huxley, Scott Peck and many other religious thinkers as possibly America's own contribution to the history of western spirituality. Kurtz and Ketcham do a fine job showing the uniqueness of AA's modern insights as well as their kinship to forms of spirituality which pervade the wisdom of many traditions from the early Christian Desert Fathers to the wizened Rebbes of the mystical Hassidim. The Spirituality of Imperfection tells this story with the colorful stories and parables of these various traditions. Some of the tales are wise, some funny and all have the quality of capturing our humaness in a form that is entertaining as well as instructive. These stories comprise a minor theme of our spiritual heritage, which celebrates our humaness and limitation as a source of wisdom, rather than "totalitarian" forms of spirituality which subjugate human experience to an obsession with abstract and antiseptic perfectionism.

from the author of DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF: A PERSONAL APPROACH TO DREAM INTERPRETATION; and DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DREAMS, DAYDREAMS, AND FANTASIES.

I read THE SPIRITUALITY OF IMPERFECTION at the end of 1993, at the suggestion of a friend. I had hesitated to read it because it was "a recovery book" and I expected that designation to limit its benefits. What I found, however, were stories that confirmed that to grow we must be willing to fail and make mistakes. This is what it means to be human. With this book's encouragement, hope, and humor, I embarked on my speaking and writing career, willing to blunder and to learn from others. Since then, I have recommended and bought this book as a gift many times. I list this title in my handouts for nearly all of my self-help classes and in the bibliographies of the books I write.

I am utterly astonished with the positive reviews this book has received. To me, the authors use a lot of words to express very little. The premise of the book, that we are all "imperfect" seems to be a very basic concept - so I kept waiting for the authors to give some positive ideas about how to live out that understanding in a practical way. What I read was a bunch of ying-yang paradoxes leading nowhere. They are very adept at sounding intellectual and use a lot of words rich in spiritual connotation but in the end the material left me with nothing concrete. The authors also have a pretty strong aversion to organized religion although they go out of their way to avoid saying it directly. I found their constant references to the "saints and sages" amusing - many of those wise men were early Christians and Christians today share many of their views - these ideas have been expressed throughout the ages to the present day - they haven't been "lost" until these authors or AA unearthed them. I read this book with a friend - we read a few chapters and then shared our thoughts with one another - we gave up half way through and I was delighted to toss it in the garbage!