If you ask my favorite book, I’m likely to say either Stranger in a Strange Land or The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, both by Robert A. Heinlein and both absolutely genius books. While both books deal with the same philosophical outlook, they approach it in different ways. Where The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is Heinlein’s political manifesto, Stranger in a Strange Land is a mind-blowing expedition into the taboo subject of religion.
Point to the shortest direction around the universe. It doesn’t matter where you point, it’s the shortest… and your pointing back at yourself
-Valentine Michael Smith
Stranger in a Strange Land
When I tell people that this is my favorite book, they are likely to ask: "What’s it about". Anyone who has read Heinlein will understand that his writing style makes a question of this scope hard to answer, however at the simplest level Stranger in a Strange Land is about a man who was born on Mars.
Because Heinlein is normally associated with Science Fiction, and because of the reference to Mars
and Martians
, Stranger in a Strange Land is often though of as Science Fiction. It is not a work of stereotypical Science Fiction. Because it injects magical elements into an otherwise plausible reality, it is really a work of Magical Realism.
The major themes of this masterpiece are life after death, the power of the mind, the nature of mankind, and the responsibility of self awareness. It depicts a supreme ideal of the human existence that is possible if we accept the divine within ourselves. In the 1960′s, the book was absorbed into the free-love movement and got a reputation for contributing to the delinquency of the counterculture.
With God all things are possible, if I may borrow – except the one Impossible. God cannot escape Himself, He cannot abdicate His own total responsibility- He forever must remain submissive to His own will; Islam remains – He cannot pass the Buck. It is His – Mine…Yours
- Dr. "Stinky" Mahmoud
Stranger in a Strange Land
I stipulate that Stranger in a Strange Land depicts a "do as thou will" lifestyle, however it is misguided to read it as a "damn the consequences" manifesto. At the core of the work is a Libertarian approach to spirituality and a carefully thought out theory of the proper societal roles for politics and religion.
The 21st Century has scene an explosion of spiritual philosophies, nations around the world are likely to face new religious practices as technology, pharmacology, and philosophy continue to advance. In Stranger in a Strange Land Heinlein suggests that there is only one Truth, and while it is beautifully simple,there are many ways to express it. In the case of the Man from Mars, he the truth thus… Thou art God!