Revelation: Connecting with the Sacred in Everyday Life by Russell Brand

Revelation: Connecting with the Sacred in Everyday Life Reviews

• 
  Chrissy

  Russell Brand rambles hilariously in the fantastic way he does. His openness about addiction and self-doubt is refreshing. Adventures with Wim Hof, post-pandemic society and 12 Steps, interspersed with spirituality. But, the eulogy for his beloved cat, Morrissey, was touching, relatable and the icing on the cake.
• 
  Cindy Rollins

  This is going in the 19 for 2021 reading challenge in the outside-my-comfort-zone category.
  
  While I don’t come close to agreeing with Brand, I appreciated hearing his story. Like Jordan Peterson he is a voice of hope in a confused culture.
  
  I loved his storytelling voice and his wonderful vocabulary and his British accent. If you have a loved one with addictions then you would also appreciate this book.
• 
  Samuel

  “There is no end or separation, merely new notes played in the ongoing symphony of existence in which we all play our part.”
• 
  Jolanta

  I love Russell and always will, and this audiobook is definitely worth your audible credit. If it was a physical book, I’d underline it all - it is incredibly spiritual, intelligent and humorous at the same time. I’ll definitely be coming back to it.
  
  My only issue with the book is that I wish he had stayed on the spirituality. He passionately jumps from one topic to another, and there were moments when I lost the thread and forgot what the audiobook is actually about. Like, one moment he examines the spirituality, and the other - the social impact of covid and politics. Not like I wouldn’t agree with him on any of the topics or ideas. I just think that his train of thought could have been structured better.
  
  Nevertheless, very enjoyable, insightful and thought provoking audiobook. Highly recommend!!!
• 
  Rob Dircks

  WTF did I just listen to?
  Wow - I did NOT expect that. I bought this title because I'm somewhat into the spirituality/self-help thing, and I like Russell Brand as a comedian/actor, so I figured this would be an interesting celebrity take on how to get connected to spirit. But it's not that. It's a crazy, hilarious, all-over-the-place roller coaster ride through Brand's life, and addictions, and beliefs, and observations, and more. And I LOVED it. No, it doesn't teach you how to connect with the sacred in everyday life, at least not in a step-by-step way. Rather, through telling the stories of his life, he shows how HE connects, and for me that was more than enough. The whole thing felt like an intimate conversation, with laughs (I rarely laugh at books/audiobooks but this one had me laughing in my car many times), and absolutely genius meandering asides and whispered self-deprecating jokes, and touching moments of compassion, and head-scratching questions that might not have answers, and love. And on top of that, what a great writer - his use of language and imagery was way beyond what I expected.
  
  (Note to potential readers/listeners: in case it's not obvious from the above, if you're looking for any kind of structure, or step-by-step advice, this is not the book for you.)
• 
  Cb

  If I was told that the book mainly deals with addictions, I would not have picked this book.
  But I am not sorry to have stumbled upon this gem.
  To detour and go through the circle of hell of addictions and finally emerge to see the light!
  The book is for mature adults with a certain life baggage.
  If you are stuck in hell, how do you get yourself out?
  
  
  The book is written as an engaging conversation with the author.
  With his unique voice and symphony of words., the guy is absolutely passionate with words.
  I think that if he was not writing, that the words would consummate him.
  The author is honest in relating his journey to the sacred, you truly feel that he is not trying to bull shit you with fancy concepts but he is relating his personal story and his ideas.
  Prepare yourself for a wild ride from one fiery passionate idea to the next...
  
  
  This a cautionary tale like in mythology,
  Only through unbearable pain, just a few can escape the addictions and be reborn from ashes.
  No wonder he burns like the mythical bird the Phoenix.
  But also paradoxically, he explains, there's hope for everyone,
  
  I would relisten to the audiobook just to gorge on the words!
  And I don't even understand and I don't think that I agree on everything that he says!
  (I don't like Carl Jung, among other things)
  I don't think it's a requirement to agree on everything to enjoy the proposed reforms but to see a need for changes to address social issues.
  But if we had a debate on the ideas presented here, he would win: first off because he is passionate about these subject matters and these are parts of a driving force, parts of a unified theory. Secondly, he had theses discussions with knowledgeable and authoritative persons on these subjects and also because he has such a way with words!
  
  Well this is his story
• 
  Anna Bendewald

  I purchased Russell Brand's REVELATION on Audible and listened to it in this fashion: Listen to a chapter, repeat, repeat, and proceed to the next chapter. When I was at the end I started back at the beginning and listened to it all the way through. I know I'll re-listen to it for many years to come even as the changing world he uses as a reference for me (as he acknowledges that references depend on what prism you employ to look through) changes minute by minute.
  
  As someone in recovery, the way in which Russell connects with the 12 Steps resonates with me, and while I got so much from this book -- and feel perhaps I've gained an IQ point from brushing up against his intellect in this small way -- and I know that continuing on my own path of revelation has been changed by what he points out in REVELATION.
• 
  Brandon

  Brand’s style is pithy, passionate, and poetic, evoking snickers, tears, and contemplation, all the while making a compelling case for finding meaning through a deeper connection with the divine. Perhaps connecting with this sacred “oneness” is the way forward in our disconnected, materialistic, cynical world ... perhaps it is our only hope for salvation.
• 
  Maria Tizon

  Russell Brand is a revelation! He never fails to move me and make me laugh and think and feel. I love listening to his books.
• 
  Latasha

  I loved this book. We need this in e-book or actual book because I need to highlight and make notes! Russell Brand is hilarious. I enjoyed listening to him for 2 days. I would listen to more of his books.
• 
  Craig Thompson

  Russell jumps around from poetic to profane revealing his mental battles with honesty and highlighting what’s wrong with society and how we can fix it with common values and shared beliefs.
  
  There are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments and some truly touching moments from his dealings with down and outs, the homeless and addicts.
  
  I can totally identify with Russell’s struggle with addiction. Growing up in a Christian environment however I defaulted to emotional eating my way to obesity and playing 100s of house of video games per week. Nevertheless whenever I hear people speak about their depression, suicidal ideations and additions it resonates with me on a deep level. People like Russell are role models and proof to me, shining lights, beacons, lighthouses in the dark and cold night that it is okay to struggle and that there is a way through and practices that will help the awakened individual cope. I really enjoyed the section where Russel and Bear went to stay with Wim Hoff. I had no idea of the dark hole that Wim got into after his family’s tragedy and how he literally breathed himself out of it. These men who are now so powerful and looked up to by Hollywood stars, sports stars and broken people like me were once on the very same edge.
  
  My favourite passage from the book I clipped the was from Chapter 10. And if you listen to the audiobook 04:01:10 into the book had me laughing out loud but god it’s so true.
  
  Russell’s view of religion and spirituality is so accessible and real to me it’s something everyone should accept into their life. I love how he draws a line too between the Professor Trewlaney mad divination crystal rubbish and actual thousand year old techniques the likes of Wim Hoff have rediscovered.
  
  It’s easy for people to dismiss Russell Brand I may have done myself - I didn’t like the old Russell. But the new Russell, the Russell reborn is an essential voice in troubled times.
• 
  Sheryl

  ⭐4.5 I love and adore Russell Brand, and think he’s one of the greatest minds of the 21st century. We’re only 21 years in, so I feel like I can get away with that. His writing is very similar to CS Lewis (another of my very favorite authors) though the spiritual trajectory is a bit different.
  
  Even when I don’t agree with what Russell (we're on a first-name basis) is saying, I still love everything he says, because to me it feels like he expends all his effort in seeking truth. In this world filled with elegant lies of every form, how many things can you say that about? He’s like a scruffy, vegan Don Quixote on a quest to find what makes humans whole and connected. (I know that’s over the top. Don’t care. There are too few things I’m unapologetically enthusiastic about— so you can put your cynicism in your pipe and smoke it.)
  
  Were it an option, I'd shave off half a star, because I think it needs a bit of editing. At the very least, it needs chapter titles to accompany the epigraphs. In any case, do spend the audible credit, because he’s both an excellent writer and narrator.
• 
  Sarah Pizzichemi

  I really, really enjoyed this audiobook (read by the author). Russell Brand writes with both eloquence and a rawness that is truly touching. This is part memoir, part philosophical thought during pandemic, part self deprecating romp.
  
  Brand has an intimate sense of his own limitations and acknowledging them that few people I know possess or are willing to openly admit to. The immediacy in his writing opens the doors for so much emotion as a reader/listener. I physically cried twice while listening, and laughed out loud many times, but even more importantly he made me think.
  
  I’ve followed Brand’s career for a long time, was a daily listener of “The Trews” in 2014, and have tuned in to various videos that followed, but this audiobook is a unique look at where Russell Brand is now, (in 2020), during a pandemic, new life as a father, losing his beloved cat to old age complications, and a world in chaos.
• 
  Candace

  If you are looking for a book to point out where you can find and connect with a higher power in everyday life, skip this one. I so badly wanted to love this book. I wanted my mind to be opened to a point of view from someone who is so different from me. I did get some interesting stories and I don't feel like my 5 hours of listening time were wasted. But I would not recommend.
• 
  Karen

  Russell Brand is much smarter than I'd initially thought years ago. His insights are interesting.
  
  As with other recent Russell Brand titles, I found Revelation thought provoking. I found the bit about his very ill cat to be very moving.
  
  I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by the author. Definitely recommend the audio format over print/Kindle.
• 
  Teresa

  Beautiful. I suppose in part I enjoyed this because RB draws upon his luxuriously large and impressively deep well of vocabulary, and damn he manages to be funny and profound as he weaves together the most extraordinarily complex sentences.
  I know that there are people that simply give an eye roll to the mention of his books, but I'm not one of them. Because for all the high falutin' language he is honest, self aware of his persona, and committed to bringing about good through his writing (podcasts too). Addiction and recovery are constant themes in his writing and that is how he keeps his sobriety. The 12 steps are wedged into this book, and not in an awkward way.
  The book deserves a second reading, and I wish it were in print form, for the ease of copying quotes, of which there are many, that call for my further reflection and self assessment.
  In the end, we all die, and hopefully we have had the kind of awareness in life that RB highlights. To leave here without the knowledge of our oneness and compassion for the other lives that share this planet in the way that RB has grown to embody would be sad.
  With humor and enlightened humility, RB never takes himself too seriously and shows that all the insecurities can bubble up in an instant, he just knows how to get past them more deftly now.
• 
  Michael Fedora

  I wasn't going to give this book (audiobook) a score, but... English isn't my first language and majority of Russell's ramblings - because a lot of this book is his ramblings - and as much as enlightening some of those long-winded monologues are, a lot of them, simply, just went over my head. I do love and enjoy, Russell's almost poetic writing style and his delivery, but sometimes this multileveled, multilayered writing gets me lost. Not sometimes, even, most of the time. What changed my mind about giving this book a score, AND a review is the eulogy to his cat Morrissey. I remember when during the first lockdown, here in the UK, he posted about this on his YouTube channel, and I remember I was deeply touched. I'm a 36 year old bloke and even thinking about having to, one day in the future, say goodbye to one of my best furless friends (they're Sphynx cats, hence furless) that for quite few years have kept me sane and helped me through some of my worst times - even thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. So if that eulogy were the only thing I understood, and at some level could personally relate to, I would still give this book at least 4 stars.
• 
  DR

  As entertaining listening A+. Love Brand's brand of witty humor and long florid sentences. As meaningful life philosophy, it's not so great. He is as obsessed as ever (perhaps rightly so) with 12 step recovery philosophy and seem to promote a religious world view which is "I feel, therefore god exists." I'm very happy for him for the direction his life has taken. And I love for how self aware he is about the frequent silliness of modern spirituality, but I'm less convinced about its validity. The book is also the first I've read that tackles the pandemic head on and the spiritual challenges and growth it brought him. It was nice to reflect on that whole thing as I've experienced it in a way I haven't been able to do before.
• 
  Mike

  We see a lot of things the same way, Russell and me, so I appreciated the validation and added a number of new quotes and points of view to my toolset here.
• 
  Angela Mcowan

  I enjoyed this audiobook and kept rewinding because I didn’t want to miss anything. It gave me a lot to think about in terms of spirituality and finding meaning, and his use of language was almost poetic. But a week on from finishing it, I’m finding that it hasn’t stayed with me as strongly as I would have predicted. But definitely worth reading, and I’ll go back to it at some point.
• 
  Scott Charlesworth

  As one who has never taken drugs, let alone been addicted almost to the point of death, I couldn’t easily relate to Russell’s story. But the way in which he weaves language through novel metaphor and poetic alliteration, delivered in a profound, yet authentic oratory style, was a delight to listen to. I preferred the narrative elements over the sometimes rambling philosophical musings, but given that I came to the book as an existing fan of Russell’s sense of humour and perspective on the nature of existence, I grew to appreciate the audiobook the more I listened. The heart string-tugging conclusion failed to have what I imagine to be the desired effect, as I didn’t end in a puddle of tears, however I will admit that it did slightly shift my opinion of cats. I know Russell Brand will likely be too hippy-dippy for some (most), but if you claim to have an open mind, it’s worth giving his ideas some thought.
• 
  Yolanda Fleming

  Loved it. Plan to read more if only for his clever turns of phrase and hilarious quips. His narration is a pip, by the way, yammering on in a thick English accent with splashes of impressions that may take you by surprise. I love that his is an enlightened journey with vulgarity and irreverence still firmly in place.
• 
  Tori Dillan

  I agree with most of the good reviews and the bad ones so solid 3.5. Almost rounded up to 4 stars as I did really enjoy the book but there were some fundamental flaws for me.
  
  If you LOVE listening to Russel Brands Instagram videos on politics & current world affairs, I think you will enjoy this book. Brand has a way with words that makes me want to write down exactly what he has said and somehow work it into every conversation I have. He has this fantastic ability at bringing a sentence to life through his vast vocabulary, interesting outlook and ability to juxtapose words into a highly articulate and fascinating sentence.
  
  However, there is one thing I dislike about his videos and that is the lack of advice/opinion/hope they leave for the viewer. They are informative, educational, infuriating most of the time but they never end with an answer of what can we ‘the people’ start doing to change all these things that are wrong with our society. Maybe other people already know the answer, but really that is what I am looking for. And again, this book did a great job at highlighting the problems but not such a great job and highlighting many solutions for me.
  
  Sure we all need to go inwards first and love ourselves etc (put far better in the book by Brand) but then what? How do we create big, everlasting change. I don’t expect Brand to have all the answers, but just to reference another book I read recently that did this brilliantly - David Attenborough’s A Life On Our Planet. Boyyyy was that a fantastic book.
  
  Similarly, Attenborough painted a picture through stories of his own life, he moved onto paint an even scarier picture of the destruction we have caused and where we are heading but then, and this is what I feel I am missing from Brand, he went through a whole host of solutions that both I the individual and we the collective can do to be a part of the solution.
  
  I also didn’t love the last chapter, I got so bored of the ramblings about the cat.... but what I found hilarious is I noticed so many other reviewers (good and bad) loved this chapter! So it just goes to show everyone likes something different.
  
  Apart from that chapter I really did love the book.
• 
  AttackGirl

  Have you considered it’s the DNA? Not a search for god outside as you seem to be led every which way the wind turns from the woman in the forest to the freeze diver, searching for purpose even against the 12 step tenements in starting your own man group, perhaps a review of the rules. So, just acknowledge there is no purpose and are driven by DNA addiction whether that be running, swimming, sex, drugs or work or talking…. it’s the DNA so choose a healthy addiction and buy a mirror.
  
  Stop looking elsewhere for answers and following anyone who will lead or your presume they are leading to find even they are without a breathing plan but accept science and instead of saying chop wood carry water, get outside and chop the wood, carry the water and soon nothing of all their lack of substance will help you to find yourself as you find the tv, 5g, any screen or what anyone else says really just does not matter.
  
  Then Russel imagine the million, billions who have all passed before then you can treasure the cup of tea made by a friend.
  
  I’m sorry for your broken heart at the loss of your cat, I too love deeply.
  
  With love
  Atkgrl
  
  
  Russell. I’ve been thinking about a few of the comments in your book about the awareness of the other life forms and I would think by now you would have humbled yourself enough to appreciate the existence of others and your understanding expanded but your hubris is still solid. To take the path of a warrior is the same as the priest, how would you enlighten initiates, to become adept the first is to recognize that you are like the sand of the seas, an ant in the universe, how many universes, have you no concept of your own insignificance, part of growing to become magnificent is understanding you know absolutely nothing. So Would you help someone addicted to screens, attention, talking, flaying about constantly. Perhaps mediate for at least a week 24/7 in the quiet then watch the movie “After Yang”
  
  With patience
  Metta
• 
  Brian Sachetta

  It took me a while to figure out how I felt about this production, overall, as there were some things I really liked about it as well as things I didn’t like so much.
  
  On the positive side, this is a really well-produced Audible original. The sound quality is super good, and Brand puts on what I’d call a poetic performance throughout it. It’s definitely not your standard “book,” and that comes across from the get-go.
  
  In addition, Brand is open and honest about his life, feelings, and outlooks. He says we must connect with the divine in order to prosper in this strange and materialistic world, and he comes back to this theme, sporadically, throughout the work. Moreover, many of his stories and philosophical points are interesting, enlightening, and uplifting.
  
  On the less positive side, however, the performance is a bit of a stream of consciousness. Though a lot of the content is good and captivating, it doesn’t feel cohesive most of the time. I really liked his theme of connecting with the divine, and I wish there were most substance around it or time dedicated to it.
  
  In addition, Brand suggests, several times, that our countries and their systems are broken and irredeemable, and, as such, must be destroyed or uprooted entirely. Politics aside, I didn’t expect to hear such content in this one. I would’ve preferred that it was left out, and I think the production would have been just fine without it.
  
  Thus, overall, I’m somewhere in the middle on this one. I had no idea Brand was such a profound dude (I’ve really only watched some of his comedy movies), and I loved seeing this other side of him. I think it would be super fun to chat or get dinner with him, and I may give some of his other productions a shot, but I can’t help but feel like this one missed the mark just a bit.
  
  -Brian Sachetta
  Author of “Get Out of Your Head”