You have probably heard at least something about "Eat, Pray, Love".
Elizabeth Gilbert was 32 years old in 2001 when she decided that she wasn't into her husband anymore and left him. After a difficult divorce and a bad rebound relationship, she decided to "find herself" and travel the world.
First she went to Italy to eat and enjoy life ("Eat"). Then she went to India to find her spirituality ("Pray"). Finally, she went to Bali, Indonesia looking for "balance" of eating and praying (huh?), and fell in love with a Brazilian businessman there ("Love").
In 2006, she wrote a book about her experience called "Eat, Pray, Love", and Oprah fell in love with it. She had Gilbert on her show twice, and heavily promoted the book, leading it to become a best-seller.
In 2010, a movie was made based upon the book, featuring Julia Roberts playing Elizabeth Gilbert.
Here is Elizabeth Gilbert today, at age 47:
This story genre has always irritated me. It generally features a rich (or at least upper-middle-class) white American woman, who despite living an already-privileged life, suddenly feels that she's lacking enlightenment, and embarks on some self-important spiritual journey (usually abroad) to find the life answers she's lacking. And of course, at the end of the story, everything turns out great and her life-changing journey indeed fulfilled what was missing.
Maureen Callahan of the NY Post said it well when she called it "narcissistic New Age reading", and "the worst in Western fetishization of Eastern thought and culture, assured in its answers to existential dilemmas that have confounded intellects greater than hers".
Exactly.
Well, despite finding all of the answers and her supposed soulmale in Indonesia, Gilbert is now getting a divorce:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/01/entert...ate/index.html
I wish I could have bet money on this happening.
Restless people always searching for answers can never have a stable life. There is no "happily ever after" if you are constantly seeking enlightenment and bliss beyond where you currently stand. Usually love established during "soul searching journies" quickly fizzle when the journey is over. I'm surprised it lasted this long.
Another critic of the book pointed out that "Eat, Pray, Love" should have been named, "Eat, Pray, Spend", because the spiritual journey described by Gilbert was only available to those wealthy enough to afford traveling the world for a year. Usually I don't like class-warfare type criticisms like that, but I have to agree. It's off-putting to read about someone's spiritual awakening which was only made possible by a deep bankroll able to fund it. These type of stories are much more powerful when the average reader believes that such an experience is also within their grasp.
In general, I hate pseudo-intellectual white Americans who think they're too good for their own culture, and travel elsewhere to seek what they believe will be life's answers. (To be clear, I think traveling the world is great, but more to see/experience other cultures, rather than replacing your own.)
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Originally Posted by Baron Von Strucker
