It's a seemingly crazy question. From priests to prisoners, nearly everyone thinks they're morally better than average. Why change our minds? Why admit the truth about ourselves?
In his conversational, fun-to-read, and delightfully self-effacing style, Brant Hansen shows us why we should fight our drive to be self-righteous: it's breathtakingly freeing. What's more, just admitting that we're profoundly biased toward ourselves and want desperately to preserve our "rightness" at all costs even helps us think better, make better decisions, be better listeners, and improve our relationships with God and others.
Hansen draws from biblical insight and the work of everyone from esteemed social psychologists to comedians to make his point: the sooner we get over ourselves, give up the "I'm good" internal dialogue, and admit the truth, the sooner we can live a more lighthearted, fruitful, fun-loving life.
This book is about the freedom of childlike humility.
After all, as Hansen writes, the humble life is truly your best one.
My rating: 5 stars
Content warnings: G. One use of "bastards."
Content warnings: G. One use of "bastards."
Thoughts: If only it were as easy to put this stuff into practice as it is to just read about it.
It's a rare book that can be so stark and honest about who we are as human beings, but still be so easy to read and even enjoyable. It's not a "feel good" book, by any means, but you also don't walk away feeling depressed and hopeless. But Brant is able to do that so well.
Through stories, illustrations, and some Muppets examples, Brant is able to hold a mirror up to humanity as a whole, and show who we really are underneath everything. And through scripture, he illustrates why Jesus is such good news for all of us who are willing to recognize and admit to our shortcomings. It's in equal parts convicting and encouraging, and realizing and remembering the truths pointed to can be helpful in all aspects of life. But especially in relating to others as well.
It's definitely going to be a reread for me. But that's not really a surprise.
It's a rare book that can be so stark and honest about who we are as human beings, but still be so easy to read and even enjoyable. It's not a "feel good" book, by any means, but you also don't walk away feeling depressed and hopeless. But Brant is able to do that so well.
Through stories, illustrations, and some Muppets examples, Brant is able to hold a mirror up to humanity as a whole, and show who we really are underneath everything. And through scripture, he illustrates why Jesus is such good news for all of us who are willing to recognize and admit to our shortcomings. It's in equal parts convicting and encouraging, and realizing and remembering the truths pointed to can be helpful in all aspects of life. But especially in relating to others as well.
It's definitely going to be a reread for me. But that's not really a surprise.
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