The Great Failure: A Bartender, a Monk, & My Unlikely Path to Truth

Goldberg, Natalie

ISBN 10: 1591790735 ISBN 13: 9781591790730

Publisher: Sounds True, 2004

Synopsis

"Teaching by example, Natalie Goldberg has written a brave and turbulent memoir that is by turns luminous and gritty. A riveting read."―Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way

"Bravo to Natalie. She shows us how to open the heart, and face into betrayal with courage instead of running from it. She shows us how to transform fear and blame into wisdom and compassion." ―Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart

"The Great Failure is a boundless embrace, leaving nothing out. I wanted to learn the truth, to become whole. If I could touch the dark nature in someone else, I could know it in myself."

So begins Natalie Goldberg in this candid exploration of her life. Here, Goldberg makes sense of primary relationships between father and daughter, teacher and student, and exemplifies the accomplishment available when creating daily writing practices―the popular technique she launched in her bestselling Writing Down the Bones.

Natalie Goldberg has inspired millions to write in order to develop an intimate relationship with their minds, and a greater understanding of the world in which they live. Now, The Great Failure touches our hearts, and shows us the wellspring of wisdom available when we bravely confront the truths about ourselves, and the events of our lives.

Audiobook read by the author. Program concludes with an exclusive Sounds True interview.

About this title

About the Author:

Natalie Goldberg
Natalie Goldberg is a poet, teacher, writer, and painter. A student of Zen Buddhism for 24 years, she trained intensively with Katagiri Roshi for 12 years, and is ordained in the Order of Interbeing with Thich Nhat Hanh. Natalie Goldberg teaches writing workshops nationally based on the methods presented in Writing Down the Bones. Her other books include Wild Mind; Long Quiet Highway; Banana Rose; and Living Color.

From Publishers Weekly:

"Of course, we are drawn to teachers that unconsciously mirror our own psychology," writes Goldberg in a memoir about her wrestling match with her particular devil. In Writing Down the Bones, she coupled writing with the insights of Zen Buddhism, showing writers how to use a stream of consciousness approach to move through blocks and understand their true experience. Here, however, as Goldberg explores the link between her elegant Zen master, Katagiri Roshi, and the gritty, charming bartender father who sexually violated her, she inadvertently demonstrates this approach's shortcoming. Years after his death, Goldberg learned that Katagiri, the teacher who taught her so much (and the subject of Long Quiet Highway), carried on affairs with female students. Goldberg was shattered; she'd wanted to believe he was an immaculate refuge. Liberation through disillusionment is a universal and durable theme, yet as Goldberg muses and tells stories—splicing in a long Zen tale for a little extra-dimensional oomph—her account closes rather than opens up. In spite of her fluid writing and honesty, the work feels insular and self-cherishing, like personal notes rather than a compelling narrative for the rest of us. Many readers will conclude that this is a not-so-great failure after all, or perhaps a heartache that hasn't really healed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sounds True
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1591790735
• ISBN 13: 9781591790730
• Binding: Audio CD