It rarely happens I’ve trouble with a book and only continue to read because of a review. That is unfortunately exactly what happened with Enough!. Let me start by saying you shouldn’t stop reading just now. I am not saying that Enough! is not worth reading or badly written, but the *way* it was written might not appeal to everyone.
According to the press release “Enough! is a groundbreaking, paradigm changing non-fiction book that reveals a simple key to happiness and abundance: changing our orientation to just one word”. I am not sure I would call it ground-breaking, but I can see why they used paradigm-changing. Because that is indeed what the author is trying to do.
Scarcity-myth
The book Enough! is about scarcity, the myth of scarcity. Author Laurie McCammon starts her book saying that a very specific message was downloaded into her brain and that she felt the urge to share it. Enter the ‘Never Enough Story’, which is, and I quote, “a self-fulfilling prophecy that has kept humanity locked in perpetual cycles of suffering for over 5000 years. The belief in lack has obscured our ability to perceive the more ancient and enduring enough pattern present throughout the entire cosmos that provides a flow of divine inspiration and heart wisdom, vast stores of creativity and self-empowerment.”
In other words: we are living a lie on this earth and once we realize that, things will change and we will all have enough. Not necessarily all exactly the same things, she isn’t advertising hardcore socialism, but every person and animal on this earth will have exactly enough of what he/she needs as a unique human being. And by doing so might realize you are great just the way you are.
Nature balances
In order to change we need to start living from a perspective of abundance and turn our heads to what nature can teach us. In nature the dynamics are different, in nature everything is linked and nature will always keep its system balanced. Our dog-eat-dog world won’t be able to give us that. It is our world that makes us sick, our society that makes sure we are feeling inadequate and our way cultural beliefs that have resulted in poor countries, poor people and those who think they need more, more and even more.
Besides blaming cultural thoughts that rich means happy, McCammon also states there are mathematical flaws in the global monetary system and those have become visible overtime, seeing whole countries and regions of the world in economic ruin. The global banking crisis, corporate bailouts and home foreclosures are a good example. People who play by the rules are forced to work harder and receive less and this will become worse if we don’t do anything about it. A global paradigm shift is necessary into way how we perceive both debt and ourselves.
Author and activist Laurie McCammon. She also leads a women’s movement and will soon release another book with Enough! in the title hoping to urge women to take charge.
Pamphlet
And I think that is where my issues started. It is clearly Enough! isn’t a self-help book. Not in the strictest sense of the world. It is a help-the-world-book…and not. You won’t find any exercises for both, either. I think that regardless of how much I agree with her, the feeling I continuously had and what was distracting me from a serious message, was that it all felt like one giant political pamphlet. And when reading (and reviewing) a book, that is not the feeling I should get.
While the author is clearly a good researcher, supporting her claims and thoughts with quantum physics, history, statistics and indigenous stories, I kept thinking: I have heard this before. Not to mention the fact that at one point I clearly had enough of the word enough. I had the feeling I was reading the manifesto of a movement. Now, I think that the irony of it all is, that his has to do with my own ‘cultural download’; coming from a country with a multiple party-system and where social liberalism or socialism isn’t a dirty word for most. I studied both journalism and contemporary history and discussions like these were very common, even when I was still a student. So, many of the statements made in this book aren’t new to me and I hear them every election through left and green politicians in a very similar way. It became very hard to separate that from what I was supposed to learn from this book. (It could very well be that others won’t have this aha-erlebnis and will truly read something new, I can’t say.)
Feminine leadership
On top of that, feminine leadership got a very important role. As a woman I can hardly be against that, right? But Enough!, while focusing very much on changing the world and our culture, is clearly written for women. Something that was not clear from the blurb. Why exclude men? They are dealing with the same issues. There were a few comments in the book declaring nurturing is a feminine quality. That the ‘extinction of nurturers’ in our current society is ‘harming the status of women’. Say what now? While I understands she wants to convey the point that women can be *and* nurturing *and* have a career and thus be enough in every situation- something many women still doubt – this again excludes 50% of the population. And is imho not leading to all people feeling they can be who they are. I know for a fact not all women are nurturers and many men would wish to be seen like that for a change.
I think that about sums up the annoyance I had and why I thought on many an occasion: what am I actually reading here? When I later found out McCammon is an activist that light bulb went on. It is the reason why this book is not for everyone. That is not to say – again – Enough! has no important message. Because it does. So if you’re still with me, here it is:
1.People should liberate themselves, follow their hearts. You can do and/and. Or/or is part of that belief in scarcity. Know that you are deserving and always enough.
2. As part of earth’s population we should do everything in our power to focus on environmentalism, community currency and the sharing economy. Stop austerity, stop self-interest so that we ALL can have it all.
The Enough! message that was ‘downloaded’ into Laurie’s brain.
Financial threat
To sum it up in one sentence: be enough, believe there is enough in a world of Not Enoughers, as the book states. It will create a more peaceful world, starting with ourselves, in which we no longer see weaker people (the elderly, the ill, refugees) like a financial threat. Or see ourselves as weak and victimized.
But – and it’s pointed out -this will be extremely difficult. Even though there are already people and, communities trying to change the world, it is not human nature (anymore) to focus on more than what we perceive as our own issues. To shake the old paradigm and let people believe that everyone can have everything he needs, a huge shift is necessary. In a society where peace is made by bombs and your credit score is a rate of succes, this won’t be easy. But the author has tried to write down everything we should take into account.
Conclusion
This book feels, on the one hand, like a guidance system on how to think and on the other like a waving finger, trying to create awareness in the world. That’s the manifesto part for me. Interesting if you want to do something with this, not easy reading material if you were just looking to work on yourself.
If you want a self-help book or a way to support any clients, don’t buy this. If you want to be inspired on the topic of global change and start with yourself: do. Enough! is written from the heart, so much is clear. In that way, it can be enough for you.
| Author or artist | Publisher | Publication |
|---|---|---|
| Laurie McCammon | Conari Press | April 2016 |
