Böcker av Larry Lentchner

The Reluctant Guru of Alphanbet City is at one and the same time a coming-of-age story of an American guru and a guide to the discovery of spiritual life without pretension. Aziza would appear to be the least likely girl to develop into a transformative leader, but her obsessional nature drives her toward spiritual understanding. This novel spans forty-two years of the guru's family, her conception as an outcome of adolescent rebellion and rape, her precocious early development, and her obsessive spiritual interest while still a teen. Through no actions on her own part, she unintentionally becomes a spiritual personage in Greenwich Village, and her personal writings are thrust into prominence. Fighting it every step of the way, her path eventually leads her to accept the mantle of being a guru. Guru Aziza's writings stand on their own as a means to achieving a religion-free spiritual life while living in a culture that embraces narcissism and irreverence. She instructs us toward experiencing ourselves as an integral part of the universe and avoiding a path that hollows out our selves.

While a novel, Onederland is Lentchner's response and analysis to the terrorism we live with as a result of the conflicts in religious thought, principles and actions throughout the world. It is reminiscent of Mann's Magic Mountain, a century ago, in which Mann utilized a novel to describe a Europe about to fall into what was then the Great War. Subsequent to the unraveling of summer religious violence in New York City, a group of activist religious leaders conceptualize and develop a religious theme park meant to promote mutual understanding and harmony. With finely honed clerical characters interacting and working toward a common cause, important insights into the nature of religion are drawn. Eventually concepts about the evolution of spiritual consciousness are woven into the storyline. Something greater than military solutions are suggested. Onederland is an important book to read if one wants to understand the terror found all too often on the front page. Onederland suggests a long range direction in which the conflicts of spiritual consciousness can be peacefully resolved.