I’m re-writing this review from memory, for the present. Hopefully I’ll find the review I wrote at the time of reading?
But for now, a very simple and slight synopsis: I concur completely, with the author, inasmuch as he contends that whilst a rational contemporary mind may rightly baulk at full on religious belief, or ‘faith’, we have much to learn from the worlds religions. To simply abandon them wholesale is to throw the baby out with the bath water.
But what ought we learn from religion, and how might we keep what’s best whilst discarding what’s worst? Like Marx on Capitalism, non-religious folk like de Botton are often surgically exact in dissecting the ills of religion. But when it comes to what to put in its place?
Like almost all failed Utopian forms of Socialism, which all too often follow the road to Hell, whether paved with good intent or not, that’s also where I feel this book fails.
I have memories that are simultaneously clear and yet woefully dull, of attending Humanist meetings (amongst many other types, from Buddhist to Green, to… whatever), hoping to find a vibrant compelling alternative to the religion(s) I was brought up in.
That’s not to say that the latter are necessarily vibrant or compelling. But, despite (or is that because of?) the vacuum where rational thought might’ve been, these varied forms of Christian faith cohered. Not by dint of truth. More by sleight of mind.
And de Botton is quite good here, on that aspect of how religion has proven useful to humanity. The real rub is how to transfer that irrational utility into rational living. And in that area I’m less than convinced.
The other thing about all of de Botton’s books that I’ve read, is that whilst they’re well enough written, obviously well informed, and bespeak a clear thinking mind – what one hopes for in a professed/professional philosopher – for me they lack a certain zest. Ultimately that means I find them worthy but a trifle dull.
I’m prob’ being too harsh here. But having just finished the humungous and epic three volume Shelby Foote series, The Civil War, the compelling romantic excitement that reading that was, is a marked contrast to de Botton’s cool, calm, possibly slightly neutered style.
Just like the subject he’s addressing, there’s something slightly awry at the heart of this dilemma. Anyway, I’m going to leave it there for now. Until I either unearth my original more detailed review, or (this is less likely!) return to re-read the book.
To summarise: a good and worthy book, about a subject that needs addressing. But, just like most attempts to do what the title suggests – reap the benefits of faith without actually abandoning reason – it kind of doesn’t quite work. So both book and subject remain an unresolved and slightly dis-satisfying conundrum.
It’s maddening that faith in flawed fairy tales should prove more robust and utilitarian as an ‘answer’ to life’s riddles than evidence based reasoning. But that’s the rub. The latter, rather than providing pat answers, or even much solace (de Botton attempts to address this in another work The Consolations of Philosophy), simply leads to more questions.