Kirkus Reviews and BookLife Reviews are In

Two professional reviews of Religion Unburdened by Belief have now been published.

Kirkus Reviews

A counterintuitive yet compelling case for religious exploration divested from belief systems.

A psychologist offers a unique approach to spiritual fulfillment in this nonfiction work.

The book opens with a counterintuitive premise: The “less we believe, the closer we get to religion.” While doctrines, creeds, and articles of faith are ubiquitous across the world’s largest religions, from the Abrahamic faiths to Buddhism, Pritikin argues that those seeking genuine spiritual fulfillment should learn from mystics rather than strictly adhere to a set of scripted beliefs. “Mystics empty the mind, surrender certainty, and embrace mystery,” he notes, adding that rigid belief systems tend to accomplish the opposite. Building on the research of the American academic James Carse, the author argues that while belief systems may provide explanations and create internal dynamics that reinforce one’s religious identity, they also lead to authoritarian abuses and strife among those who have differing beliefs. In this interdisciplinary work, Pritikin blends his background in psychology (he embraces, for instance, Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems model) with insights from anthropology, history, and biology, including explorations of Paleolithic spirituality, shamanic practices, and contemporary neuroscience. The work’s theoretical underpinnings are balanced by practical discussions about the ways in which disinvesting from religious beliefs can lead to greater spiritual clarity. The author also outlines his belief in the power of meditation and the potential effectiveness of drugs like cannabis, psilocybin, and ayahuasca. The book’s pragmatic advice is supplemented with reflective self-evaluation exams and additional online materials linked in the appendix. While the tome’s theoretical material can be dense, it’s made accessible via Pritikin’s engaging writing style and his ample use of visual elements, such as illustrations, charts, diagrams, and text box sidebars. The grandson of the late bestselling nutritionist Nathan Pritikin, the author places particular emphasis on the connection between spiritual inquiry (not just rote adherence to orthodox beliefs) and overall health and wellness.

A counterintuitive yet compelling case for religious exploration divested from belief systems.

BookLife (Publishers Weekly)

“The less we believe, the closer we get to religion and releasing limiting beliefs,” Pritikin writes early in this searching, ambitious, and practical-minded debut that explores pathways toward accessing and benefitting from profound religious experiences and “genuine encounters with mystery” while remaining free from belief systems shaped by others. Reaching back to prehistoric spiritual practice and into contemporary neuroscience and psychology, Pritikin calls for “open spiritual inquiry” untethered to proscribed beliefs that shape, limit, or corrupt our “capacity to face mystery.” With a spirit of openness, a willingness to question his every assertion, and a principled rejection of dogma, Pritikin presents a highly flexible “systematic framework” for a “critical shamanism” animated by this question: “How can we explore inner experiences while remaining rigorous?”

Pritikin applies that rigor when considering pathways to inner growth, healing, and connection to a “spirit world” that, eschewing “content beliefs,” he resists labeling. “We’ve established that a door exists—or at least that many people perceive that door as existing,” he writes, with customary openness. “But how to walk through it remains vague.” Chief among his methods for accessing it: meditation, cannabis, and psychedelics, but guided by techniques and insights from Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems therapy, or IFS. The latter, presented as a “pragmatic framework for understanding inner experience,” is explored in a hefty early chapter that, Pritikin acknowledges, readers may find demanding.

IFS therapy’s interest in “unblending” and “transforming” various “parts” of the self are foundational to Pritikin’s vision of a personal and democratized religious experience and spirit encounters. With warmth and a wealth of persuasive research, he presents guidance for “exploring altered states for conviction minimization” and other benefits, plus case studies, cautionary tales, tantalizing possibilities, and lengthy hypothetical transcripts of the Self “unblending” its parts. At times, especially in a final chapter that edges between prank and capstone, a preening quality infects Pritikin’s playfulness, which readers may find indulgent. Still, seekers will find much here that invites, inspires, and possibly opens new frontiers.

Takeaway: Inviting, open-minded “field manual” for exploring spiritual experiences.

Comparable Titles: James Carse, Alberto Villoldo.