I can only conclude our world is in a collective spiritual crisis. What we find in her book is more than the old adage “Believe in yourself.” Rather, each person is purported to be divine-a divinity or “power” that humanity collectively shares with one another that resembles the “Force” in Star Wars or the New Age belief in the “Higher Self.” Observe these quotes from Brown: True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are it requires you to be who you are. True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness.

Building off her previous books on shame, vulnerability, and belonging, Brown adds to her previous definition of true belonging found in her 2010 book, The Gifts of Imperfection. I belong to myself.”īut as Brown works out what it means to belong to oneself, she unveils an ideology of the divine self-an elixir of New Age thought, Eastern mysticism, and pop psychology. The reward is great.” By the end of chapter one, Brown explains that she understands what Angelou means: “Maya belongs to Maya. Brown, research professor at the University of Houston, begins by quoting someone she greatly admires, Maya Angelou: “You are free when you realize you belong no place-no place at all.

On the surface, Braving the Wilderness is a book about belonging to yourself. In a Western, American age where obsession with self reigns, Brené Brown’s latest book, Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone, is apt to find broad reception.

Braving the wilderness brene