Customer Reviews

Televisionary Oracle

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was getting ready for my stop in the NYC subway which meant closing the Televisionary Oracle and putting it back in my bag. Before I did this however, I impulsively kissed the book's cover, causing the woman sitting next to me to say, "Must be a good book." I said "You know when you read something you've been waiting SO long to hear?" She bravely jotted down the name of the book and I nightly continue to bathe in its satisfying, delirious, sacred waters. "I laughed, I cried, it's better than Cats." Thank you Rob, you crazy, beautiful man (and honorary woman), for having the courage and chutzpah and foresight to write this sexy romance, spiritual treatise and instruction book for live living.

Read this book. Pace yourself; It's like very rich fudge, or an amazing amazon adventure. I feel like writing Rob and requesting an "I survived the Televisionary Oracle" t-shirt. Then perhaps the perfect passing beauty and truth fan will reverently, respectfully kiss ME underground.

Goddess Bless all B&T fans past, present and beyond.

If you yearn for a spiritual connection to the universe, but find Zen meditation deathly-dull, check out Breszney's version of enlightenment. He believes that holiness can -- and should -- be sexy and fun. If you like your Goddess to be smart and deep but also silly and irreverent, Breszney might just speak to you. If you feel hostility toward things that violate your expectations, then this isn't the book for you.

I loved this book. While entertaining me, it taught me multitudes of lessons that I am still trying to assimilate. One of these lessons is that I must kill the apocalypse by loving it. I am in awe of this concept. While internalizing this dogma, I have learned that the alchemical process of taking in the bad stuff and melting it down to its purest, non-harmful form is truly a means to reach enlightenment. Everything that is perceived as negative has its uses and the energy therein must be harnessed to move forward. This book will change your life. Use it in everyday life, even if it's just to keep the kitchen table from tottering around, and you will notice a difference in your life.

I am surprised to see the "Horror" genre attached to Rob's joyous, chunky, sexually affirmative novel of the future. The only horrifying thing about it is that it ends. A retelling of the Rapunzel myth, a direct and pungent insight into the life of a rockstar, and a weirdly beautiful exhortation to action, The Televisionary Oracle took me on a wild ride inside Rob's head, through his heart, and out through his sole(s). What impressed me most in this Tom Robbins-like romp were its deep philosophical underpinnings. Rob seems to be telling us -- amid mind- and gender-bending antics, sexual romps, and fairytale interludes -- that beauty and truth as just as compelling as nihilism and death. Nice idea for a new millennium.

Robert Anton Wilson talks about how what we really need on this planet are six billion different religions: six billion names for God. Likewise, I think every author should have the right to his or her own unique genre. Stephen King and Philip Roth and Jack Kerouac and Rob Brezsny shouldn't all be forced to share the title of "novelist."

It's true that "The Televisionary Oracle" has storylines that resemble the kind of plots found in what are typically called "novels." But the book is really more of a memoir, or rather a double memoir narrated by a hero and heroine who take turns unveiling their improbable yet engaging life stories.

The book is also stuffed with a host of other genres: oracles that manage to be both dead serious and wryly wacky; lucid dreams that purport to cast spells on world political leaders; spiritually correct porn; philosophical treatises that are utterly lunatic and crisply logical; and prophecies allegedly delivered by a descendant of Nostradamus' cook. It counsels the reader on how to avoid being victimized by the genocide of the imagination, offers an enthusiastic endorsement of St. Paul's creed, "I die daily," and outlines techniques by which you can "kill the apocalypse." There's even a covert guidebook called "A Feminist Man's Guide to Picking Up Women."

The book definitely isn't for everyone. There's not a single murder, violent act, rape, crashed car, attempted suicide, outbreak of drug abuse, terminal illness, arson, or crime. That alone will make it taboo to more than half the population. But I'm insane enough to think that beauty, truth, justice, liberation, pleasure, and demented acts of benevolent trouble can be interesting, which is why I loved "The Televisionary Oracle."

That's the message Rob wrote in my copy, and I was delighted to see it. The book is fulfilling on so many levels, and I am going to have to read it at least 5 more times before I will feel I have the full impact. Yet reading it is not a chore, but a delight. Small doses suited me best, as each section left me with something new to think about. It also left me smiling. I am telling everyone I know! Special note to fans of Robert Anton Wilson: this is your sorta thing!

This book will change your life; you know, if you're into that sort of thing. Rob is a true visionary of our time. He has single-handedly (or perhaps with divine intervention) offered the Dead Sea scrolls of the 21st century. True spirituality and the path to enlightenment come from our funny bone not that somber dark place we have all been so brainwashed into accepting.
This essential exercise manual for the dying parts of your gray matter is written in a stylish vernacular that seems to effortlessly roll off the eyeballs...
Now, is God a woman? Can God be a woman? You'll have to read the book to find out...

Ok. I read this book a while ago and have intended to write a review ever since. First, I think trying to judge this book as a novel is like trying to hold water using a ladle full of holes. From a narrow technical perspective, yes, this book qualifies as a "novel," in that it follows the life and happenings of some fictional, groovy-to-earth demi-goddess named Rapunzel - but it is simultaneously an autobiography, a metaphysical treatise, and 400+ pages of perpetually palpitating poetry(and fully lubricated with the richest, most mellifluous cosmic spunk). Seriously, what sense is there in evaluating a book as a novel when it is equal parts autobiography? This book does not abide modestly in any one genre; it is a linguistic maelstrom that strobes and flickers within a system of genres with no clear locus save Spirit itself.

The extent to which this book(and Free Will Astrology - sign up for the free weekly email! Now!) has altered my perception of reality cannot go understated. Rob Brezsny is a man traversing the furthest frontiers of human nature. If you are capable of regarding this book as an experiment with what it means to be a human being, then you may be able to appreciate it. I am serious when I say that Tel.Or. could be a textbook for students of consciousness studies.

It also helps to dig poetry. On the level of language, this book transcends so many linguistic dimensions that I am unwilling to say any more on the subject.

Appreciating this book is also greatly abetted by an appreciation of spiritual experiences. Brezsny is unquestionably an immensely spiritual man, and this pours into his writing like twenty-three Biblical floods. The whole notion of the author/reader dichotomy is thoroughgoingly minced.

This was an amazing book. I laughed, I cried. I died. It was sweet. This book inspired change in my life, made me smile, made me cry. It was spellbinding and fascinating all the way through - I was glued to each chapter.

I liked what Robert Anton Wilson said:

"A book so wierd it just might drive you stark raving sane."

Try it!

This should be required reading for anyone who believes there is more out there than meets the eye. For anyone who is a seeker of truth and beauty. For anyone looking to increase their intelligence. For anyone looking for a mind-blowing experience. For all you enlightenment and illumination seekers out there.

But most of all - this should be required reading for everyone who doesn't meet the above criteria. Those are the people who most need to read this book.