“Eat, Pray, Love″ by Elizabeth Gilbert

This is one of the most enjoyable and uplifting books I have read in a long time.

Autobiographical but reading like a novel, it tells the story of the author’s internal and external journey in search of spiritual enrichment and meaning after a difficult divorce and disillusionment with her life in corporate America.

She first travels to Italy, where she enrolls in a language school, not because of any need for a knowledge of Italian but in order to immerse herself in the beauty of the language and the passion of the country and its people. The ‘eat’ part of the title comes from her appreciation of the Italians’ love of good food and understanding that preparing meals and eating them in good company feeds the soul as well as the stomach. Reading this section of the book made me want to visit Italy again very soon.

After a number of months of la dolce vita, the author takes on a very different lifestyle at a meditation ashram in India. Although not named in the book, it is clear that she spent her time at Ganeshpuri, the centre of Siddha Yoga meditation under the female guru, Gurumayi. Here she spends much of the time on her knees, not praying but scrubbing floors – but, just as the young protégé in The Karate Kid, she comes to realize that such mundane activities can be an important form of self-development and meditation. She also develops her mind through chanting, a fundamental part of Siddha Yoga practice.

The last section of the book is set in Bali, where Elizabeth seeks and ultimately finds a village medicine man she met on a previous visit. His life could not be more different from the one she left behind in the US, yet she finds that they have a strong spiritual connection. His pronouncements on life and love are couched in language which seems both strange and funny, but it is clear that this simple man has insights which are deep and relevant to people from all cultures.

In Bali, the author also finds romantic love where she least expects it, and the book ends in a very heartwarming way as she finds completeness in her life, perhaps for the first time.

All this might sound rather sentimental and slushy, but the style of writing is very witty and humorous and I laughed out loud several times while reading it. It was also thought-provoking, and I found it hard to put down.

Highly recommended.

If you’ve read it, your comments would be appreciated.

Until next time,

Warmly,
Chris

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