Review of Any Guru Will Do -
by Phil Brown
Canberra Times -
Saturday 7/10/2006
PRIME MINISTER John Howard
once let slip that he thought Four
Weddings and a Funeral was a great
movie. Perhaps it appealed to him
because the weddings were all straight
whereas the funeral was gay.
Many people identified with the character
played by Hugh Grant. I make no apology
for not having committed the character's
name to memory because the character had
problems with commitment himself. At one
point he is described as a serial monogamist.
Phil Brown is a serial monotheist. Any
Guru Will Do is an existential travelogue in
which Brown samples from a range of dishes
on the great religious smorgasbord. His
work makes a welcome change from the
religious earnestness which has come over
the world. These days, even the agnostics are
fanatics.
Spirituality has become such an important
sector of the economy that even angst
includes GST. So it's a pleasure to soak for
a while in the company of a lighter spirit.
Phil Brown is obviously no relation to
Dan. There are no dark corners in his
religious world; the conmen are all transparent,
the conspiracies can all be charged to
your credit card.
This Brown discovers that one thing
shared by all spiritualities is that they are all
humanely funny.
Mind you, his itinerary does not include
either the Scientologists or the Exclusive
Brethren. The first person to find anything
funny about the Exclusive Brethren might
do the world a favour and post it on the net.
Somebody once said that the dictionary
was a book of spells. I think they meant
spellings, although, when you think about it,
words can be a form of magic. The same
wise source also said that, in the search for
meaning, you need more than a dictionary.
History attests that, to find ultimate
meaning, you really need a fair bit of bad
luck. This is because there's no point
looking for answers when you don't have
questions and life's questions generally
come from those occasions when you bump
into the limitations of what has been
unconditionally described as the human
condition.
Spirituality has become
such an Important sector
of the economy
that even
angst includes GST
Nobody takes the leap of faith if they have
any choice in the matter. But love, loss,
sadness, grief, ageing, kids and sundry other
experiences nudge its close to that precipice
from which no bridge extends. Every quest
needs a question.
The one problem with Phil Brown's jolly
quest is that we never get close enough to
him to guess what his underlying questions
or needs might be.
This is one stand-up comic whose work
would be enriched if he just sat down for a
moment. We don't see the tears of the clown
and, as a result, his stories are deprived of
the deeper roots which turn laughter into
comedy. The possible exception is the final
chapter, in which Brown turns to a
futurologist. He doesn't realise that a
futurologist is someone you pay to sort out
the past.
Enjoy this pleasant escapade for what it is.
Brown's episodic search for the bigger
dimensions of existence start with poetry.
He is chastened by the discovery that two of
Australia's most sublime poets, Bruce Dawe
and Les Murray, are ordinary blokes who
live in the burbs. He expected to find them
on some kind of Mt Parnassus.
From poetry Brown moves to Catholicism, where he toys with the idea of joining the priesthood before he has joined
the church. From Catholicism he shifts focus
to the intransigence of an evangelical
colleague. And so it goes.
A health farm which charges a mint and
serves only water. Colonic irrigation. A guru
who wants him to wash his genitals before
entrusting him with his personal mantra.
Phil is interrupted in this ritual purification
by a man who thinks Phil might be
pleasuring himself. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Phil's adventures of the spirit
tend to bring discomfort and embarrassment
more than pleasure.
But they are recounted with a generosity
in which most of the jokes are told against
the author. Brown doesn't really denigrate or
mock anybody other than himself. His
ability to dust himself off after yet another
bad religious experience and keep trying is
remarkable.
Years ago, I found myself in a first-year
tutorial with a young man who'd just
finished Year 12 and still lived at home.
He had more acne than experience.
Naturally, the tutorial turned to religion.
This happened quite often in the days when
education was designed to enrich rather than
impoverish.
"I can tell you," said the young man,
looking up from a copy of MAD magazine.
"I have no time for any religion. I have tried
them all and none of them work."
The chap must have spent his adolescence
changing religion more often than he
changed his socks.
Phil Brown is more patient than that and
more hopeful. He understands as well as
anyone our need for existential entertainment.
Humans are at their best when they play
with ideas rather than allow themselves to be
intimidated, imprisoned or bullied by them.
There is a well-known religious group
called Opus Dei, a Latin phrase meaning
"God's Work". I am sure that God is
hanging out for somebody to start a mob
called God's Play. Phil Brown will be one of
the chosen.
Michael McGirr is the author of Bypass: the
story of a road.
He has only ever tried one
religion. It still mystifies him completely.
Any Guru Will Do
by Phil Brown (Paper B Format)
| ISBN |
|
0702235423 |
| Category |
|
Social & Political Issues |
| Pages |
|
216 |
| Release Date |
|
September 25th, 2006 |
|
