An essay disguised as a novel, full of heavy-handed exposition about the author’s concrete spirituality: hypnotism, psychedelics, Eastern religion, sex, death, eugenics. The way the protagonist often lingered over the breasts of pubescent girls made me squirm. Yet at its heart, brilliance and wisdom.
★★★★☆
Reason is a great tool, but it’ll never make life reasonable. Our brief span is what it is. Get on with it. What concerned the Buddha (assuming he actually existed) was that we live without illusions. There’s nowhere to go but here. There’s no escape. (Stephen Schettini, The Naked Monk: Is Buddhism an Escape?)