The Way of Integrity
| Author | Beck, Martha |
| Published | 2021 |
| Status | read |
| Recommender | Julian P. |
| Rating | 2/5 |
Beck’s references to Dante are tenuous at worst and unspecial at best. It doesn’t ruin the book, but it’s a bit of an unnecessary parallel, fluffy.
Examples of “clients” are overwrought, in the style of many such books. It’s annoying, though. No, nobody still alive takes hundreds of OxyContin pills daily, the minimum dose manufactured is 5mg and a lethal dose for even the tolerant is well under fifty of those. It doesn’t change her points here, but it does distract from the message.
Her core notion of dissonance causing distress is similar to other books I’ve read and incorporated in a positive sense, like Nir Eyal’s “Indistractable”, I don’t find that objectionable.
“All motivation is a desire to escape discomfort. Traction moves you toward goals, distraction moves you away from goals, and triggers prompt actions which are distraction or traction. Consider each action and whether it is moving your toward or away from a goal as you consider whether it is something in which you want to engage.” (Eyal, Indistractable)
Also no different than any of the many notions of cognitive dissonance. One should indeed look for coherency between what you are, what you believe, and what you are doing. That will reduce dissonance for you, but reduction of dissonance is not a singular pursuit, nor absolute. The notion of integrity (reduction of dissonance) hazards becoming a cultural conceit in itself, no different than status or wealth. Integrity might be a helpful concept but I don’t think it’s fully achievable, or even desirable.
“Don’t ever mention the rules” is an excellent way to describe a lot of cultural pretense, I like that. Like secrecy, politeness is technically unnecessary but practically helpful at times. I don’t believe there should never be cultural pretense, but I do believe it’s helpful to recognize what pretense exists, and when that pretense is not of service.
I know she’s not advocating that we all revert to a hedonistic goblin mode, but it’s hard to reconcile her notion of integrity and the possibility of existing in the presence of others. She doesn’t offer a solution either.
This book reads as one person’s life experience passed on to an audience which may or may not relate. I’m not a person escaping religious and sexual repression, and so I don’t feel the same pressures she did, nor the satisfaction of resolution she may. I relate to dissonance, of course.
Ultimately, I think this is 1/3rd of a good book about dissonance stuffed with 2/3rds woo, myopia, and superfluous metaphor. I’m conflicted about rating it, I’d give it a 2.5 if I allowed non integer ratings, but I don’t, so it truncates to a 2.
