Love and Rage
The Path of Liberation through Anger
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
In the face of systemic racism and state-sanctioned violence, how can we metabolize our anger into a force for liberation?
White supremacy in the United States has long necessitated that Black rage be suppressed, repressed, or denied, often as a means of survival, a literal matter of life and death. In Love and Rage, Lama Rod Owens, coauthor of Radical Dharma, shows how this unmetabolized anger--and the grief, hurt, and transhistorical trauma beneath it--needs to be explored, respected, and fully embodied to heal from heartbreak and walk the path of liberation. This is not a book about bypassing anger to focus on happiness, or a road map for using spirituality to transform the nature of rage into something else. Instead, it is one that offers a potent vision of anger that acknowledges and honors its power as a vehicle for radical social change and enduring spiritual transformation.
Love and Rage weaves the inimitable wisdom and lived experience of Lama Rod Owens with Buddhist philosophy, practical meditation exercises, mindfulness, tantra, pranayama, ancestor practices, energy work, and classical yoga. The result is a book that serves as both a balm and a blueprint for those seeking justice who can feel overwhelmed with anger--and yet who refuse to relent. It is a necessary text for these times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Owens (Radical Dharma), a Lama in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, presents an essential guide to "facing our anger and welcoming it as a teacher and friend." Owens, "a black, queer, cisgender, and male-identified, fat, mixed-class, Buddhist teacher and minister, yoga teacher, and shit-talking Southerner, among other identities," writes of feeling inspired by the crushing results of the 2016 election. His reaction to Trump's victory sparked a recognition that he could use his anger to "make space" and work through his own sense of woundedness. He invites readers to tread along a similar path by not shying away from feelings of rage and shares a number of anger-inducing anecdotes from his life, among them many moments in which he encountered racism (both subtle and overt). Writing with generosity and understanding toward those that have inspired his anger, Owens demonstrates the "neutral ground" needed for exploring both society-wide and personal pain. His appealing tone and easy-to-follow instructions on meditation, breath work, processing trauma, and visualization make Buddhist principles open to any reader. By showing how to harness the regenerative, disruptive power of empathy, Owens's welcoming work can help readers turn indignation into healing.
