I used to be an avid reader throughout high school and college, but then law school happened. Law school pretty much goes like this: buy five or more ten-pound tomes, read them, make an outline of each of these books, memorize it, take an exam that determines your entire grade, repeat. Pleasure reading went out the door, and by the time I had my JD in hand, I was ready for a break from all reading. I’ve finally begun to feel the itch to pick up a good book again, though, and so one of my goals for this year is to read at least twelve books. (I welcome recommendations from the peanut gallery!)
The first book I read was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s a travel memoir about the author’s journey towards healing and self-revelation after a divorce and painful break-up. She travels first to Italy to learn about the pursuit of pleasure, then to an ashram in India to learn about the pursuit of God, and finally to Bali to learn about how to hold these values in balance. I think I am probably the Last Person on Earth to get around to reading her wildly popular bestseller. To be honest, it wasn’t one that I necessarily planned to read this year, but my girlfriend is a huge fan and wanted us to see the movie adaptation on opening night, and I figured I ought to read the book before I saw the film.
I appreciated this book on many levels. The parallels between Gilbert’s life and my own were of course not lost on me, and I am very glad that I ended up reading her book when I did. My experiences over the past year rendered me better able to understand what she described as the “massive lifestyle upheaval” that is divorce and to sympathize with her painful journey towards healing. I found the book a bit too navel-gazy at times (says the girl who’s writing a blog about her life…), but she did have some thought-provoking insights on relaxation (“Americans don’t really know how to do nothing.”), contentment (“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.”), and spirituality (“God dwells within you, as you.”). As somebody who tends to focus on the social gospel, i.e. how to live out my faith in community and through service, I benefited from Gilbert’s recounting of her time in the ashram. It reminded me of the importance of being still and listening for God.
Geek confession: It was a small detail on the very first page that jumped out at me the most. Gilbert explains in the introduction that the book is split into 108 chapters, a number considered auspicious because it is a three-digit multiple of three whose digits add up to nine, also a multiple of three. The number three represents supreme balance (think: Holy Trinity). Hindu or Buddhist japa malas (a meditation tool) typically contain 108 beads, and this is where Gilbert found her inspiration for the structure of her book. However, the number 108 resonated with me for a different, nerdier reason. I am a huge fan of LOST, and any good LOSTie knows that The Numbers add up to 108. Given the spiritual currents running throughout the series, I’m sure that is not a coincidence. And when you think about it, Gilbert’s journey was not unlike the castaways’. She began her travels lost, feeling that there must be more to life. Through found community along the way, she learned to forgive herself/others and ultimately connected with God/The Source. Except LOST had a smoke monster and all sorts of other awesomeness. Man oh man, I miss that show!
This interesting factoid also reminded me of a birthday reminder I received from a mathematician friend of mine that this year I am three cubed. Twenty-seven is three multiplied together three times, and its digits also add up to nine. So I am hopeful that this will be a most auspicious year, indeed!
Operation 27 