God is No Laughing Matter: Observations and Objections on the Spiritual Path

by Julia Cameron

In God Is No Laughing Matter , bestselling author Julia Cameron takes a witty, powerfully honest, and irreverent look at the culture of "spirituality" today and offers insight to enable readers to determine their personal spiritual path. The important thing to remember, she says, is that God is both more humorous and more humane than we've been taught.

With her trademark "sparkling prose" (Publishers Weekly) , anecdotes, and helpful techniques, Cameron's thought-provoking essays paint the spiritual journey in a refreshingly clear light. Addressing the way in which spiritual "experts" have clouded the message, her book shows readers how to improve concentration and how to make conscious choices that heighten their individual autonomy as well as enrich their lives and their communities.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Religion, Writing

299 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2000

About the author

Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than thirty years, with fifteen books (including bestsellers The Artist's Way, Walking In This World and The Right to Write) and countless television, film, and theater scripts to her credit. Writing since the age of 18, Cameron has a long list of screenplay and teleplay credits to her name, including an episode of Miami Vice, and Elvis and the Beauty Queen, which starred Don Johnson. She was a writer on such movies as Taxi Driver, New York, New York, and The Last Waltz. She wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning independent feature film, God's Will, which premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was selected by the London Film Festival, the Munich International Film Festival, and Women in Film Festival, among others. In addition to making film, Cameron has taught film at such diverse places as Chicago Filmmakers, Northwestern University, and Columbia College. Her profound teachings on unlocking creativity and living from the creative center have inspired countless artists to unleash their full potential.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faith-wise, I'm a bit of a hybrid. I was raised Catholic, but had enough curiousity about spiritual matters to read about other religions and their associated beliefs. I've gone to Mass on Sundays, witnessed Advent Christian services, spent weekends at Hare Krsna temples, and discussed the Kabbalah with Jewish friends. My conclusion is that we're all going to the same place in the end, and God is too big for one religion anyway. So live your life as benevolently as you can, and leave the technical arguments to the theologians.

Julia Cameron's "God Is No Laughing Matter" is not out to replace the Bible or even offer a new interpretation of it. She has written a witty, common-sense guide to living a spiritually healthy life. Cameron alludes to religious texts, Eastern gurus, and other crutches employed by those on a faith-based quest, but neither recommends nor dismisses them. She's basically saying what Shakespeare put so perfectly: "To thine own self be true."

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book. Cameron has a rather narrow minded view of spiritually. The questions at the end of each chapter were thought provoking at times but weren't enough to keep me reading.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I have never heard of Julia Cameron before, but it seems that she is quite prolific. I actually chose this book for the heck of it, mainly from the title. God Is No Laughing Matter is filled with errors and mistakes that I don’t know the purpose of. It is possible that the typesetter or the editor was asleep on the job, but I noticed these mistakes. It didn’t detract from my personal appreciation of this book though.

The book is made up of a series of personal devotionals meant to foster a connection with a higher spiritual being. This could be God, Buddha, Odin, or any other being you feel deserves attention and worship. Initially, I wasn’t sure about how I felt about this book, but after a while, I grew to enjoy it.

Each personal devotional has an opening statement before it that gives a little story. The devotional itself contains personal exercises and engaging things to do. Probing questions provide clarity and moments of self-reflection. The book makes good points about spirituality. It is about the journey, not the destination. While the book is focused mainly on Christianity it also accepts that this is not the only way to have deeper experiences.

So in the end, this book grew on me. I could relate to some of Cameron’s experiences in Catholic school and meeting people who think they are better than you for a silly reason.

[Dan Chance · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this at a time when I needed "something". It wasn't always satisfying and even when she wrote something good I wasn't ready. Where was my heart when she wrote: "Maybe we should try treating God more like a suitor and less like an intellectual construct. Maybe we should take the easy-does-it approach and try going for a walk together.... Maybe we should stop trying to'figure out the God idea' and instead just hang out a little."

Her ideas of God are a bit "new worldish" for me though so my rating reflects my opinion of her work's usefulness in the Kingdom. Hope to see you there Julia.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got it from the library; started skimming it; couldn't stand it. Clearly written in one of Cameron's bleak periods, this book did nothing for me except set my teeth on edge.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars Almost liked it.
If there weren't quite so many raving rants against every other version of spirituality and religion than the one the author subscribes to, this could have been not only enjoyable but instructive. As it was, it was a bit like sitting down with the author who'd had just a few too many mood/mind altering substances, who goes on an uninterrupted, unrelieved diatribe about Everyone Else's Spirituality/God and how rubbish it/they/He is.

There's a few gems in there. I quite enjoyed the chapters on Depression and Disappointment. Ha! Isn't there an irony in there somewhere - the books on being depressed and disappointed were the best!! Some chapters purporting to be about quite intriguing spiritual topics ended up being rants about these Others Cameron holds in such low regard.

I probably would have found Cameron much more enjoyable if she wasn't quite so convinced of not only her opinion (and that's all it was, folks - opinion, don't expect any research or even further thinking here) but her own enduring attraction, at one point telling us (in parenthesis) that she is actually very good in bed. I was okay with her telling us she looked like Rita Hayworth in Gilda (hey, we all enjoy a little celebrity comparison) but that was just a bridge too far for me, it seemed beyond unnecessarily distracting and stacked up in the "I'm just better, in every possible way, you better believe it baby!" column.

I had more respect and regard for Ms Cameron before I read this book, although I did enjoy those two chapters and got some value from them.

[Donna M Rudiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book at a time in my life when I was returning to God, as I knew Him to be when I was an adolescent. I was struggling with health issues, a broken promise of marriage and empty-nest syndrome. God has always been able to get my resistant attention by allowing multiple crisis's to overwhelm my sense of self-sufficiency. The format of the book enabled me to read small chapters at a time and meditate on the thought-provoking aspects of each one. Julia writes in a way that encourages me to think outside of my limitations and embrace other perspectives that ultimately launch me into the healing and restoration I have been avoiding. A worthy read for anyone wanting to revisit their relationship with God, and re-create it to accommodate the ever changing circumstances of their life.

[Jeremy Garber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist's Way, has provided guidance and inspiration for thousands of people with her practical advice. This book seems less like a thought-out program and more like a book of her diary entries she decided to publish after her success. Cameron wants to encourage people in their own spiritual path, but her entries read more like an embrace of all the bits of religion she wants to accommodate and snarky refusal of the bits that might challenge her. This book might be good for people who are trying to figure out their authentic spirituality, but it has the late 20th century ring of colonialism and "all religions are the same." Which they aren't. Not to say that some are better or worse, but to pick and choose with what matches your upper-class white values isn't universalism. It's just narcissism.

[Shari Ring Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice

I love Julia Cameron’s spiritual perspective, I feel a kindredness with her on that level. I am also an “Artists Way” student, believing we are all creative hearts and souls, creating our very lives. This book was great to read a few chapters at a time; Julia Cameron writes her thoughts and perspectives on different paradigms. I got nit picky for awhile, noting that some of her views seemed to contradict the view of a former chapter. Then I remembered I learned long ago that there is not one formula to living life, and what is appropriate or perfect for one situation is totally wrong for a similar situation. Take what you need and leave the rest—I found a lot of spiritual freedom in reading this book.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Somehow, it is more politically correct to engage in the closed-system shared narcissism of a therapist-client relationship than the more open system of a [12-Step] group” (p. 183). This is one of many questionable hasty and sweeping generalizations that plague this odd collection of musings about religion, spirituality, and spiritual malpractice. The holier-than-Thou tone would suggest that the author has been gossiping with God itself about how to get humans to straighten up and fly right. The pot shots at certain celebrity gurus, whom she likens to “snake-oil” salespeople, seem particularly catty, even vindictive. Many of the exercises following each essay are helpful, however, which are worth slogging through the rest of the book.

Favorite Essays:
“Prayer”
“Faith”
“Believing”
“The Sound Track”
“Restlessness”
“Service”
“Acceptance”
“Depression”

[Jodie Toresdahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are someone who does morning pages and hates them some days like me, this could be a good companion. I've kept this with my journal for the past 5 or 6 months. On mornings I just don't feel like getting those longhand pages done, I read an entry and let it spark something. There are a series of reflections followed by a short exercise, most often a list of 5 questions to get you thinking on the page. Some are great, others are okay. As in The Artist's Way, Cameron leaves who God is open to the reader. Probably 3.5 stars, but rounded down to 3.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that suggests spirituality is more common than we think and that there are no higher levels for the serious. In fact if you want to read someone who believes God has a sense of humor and he likes us better when we do to then I recommend this book to you.

[Alice B. Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book you don’t want to read straight through. It is a wonderful piece of work that I turn to over and over again. One of my favorite authors.

[Andrea Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julia Cameron is one of my role models! She inspires me with her life and her work. This book has me contemplating how I see God and how I see the universe I live in and in turn how that creates the life that I have.

A good example of the author giving the reader something to think about is: "The idea that if things are not going precisely as we would choose we are doing something wrong is one that most of come to all too easily." p.251.

One of my favourite passages in this book sums up all that this book is trying to share with us:
Drop The Rock
I want to be closer to God,
"I'll give up everything, you don't need to prod."
I gave up sex and drinking and smoking,
I also gave up all my joking.
And God began to disappear
Saying, "You're no fun, I'm out of here."p.272.

I am going to do all of the exercise that are contained in here as I did the Artist's Way in the past. I have done some already finding them helpful and insightful. There is so much more to this book than meets the eye.

[Jackie Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Let God work on you instead of you working on God" (25).

"a spiritual companion, someone who helped me to find my own spiritual path and stay on it" (60).

Higher companions are "believing mirrors." They reflect back to us an image of our highest potential (61).

"Cherishing is an act of willful rebellion against the frenzied tempo of the times. (211).

"Our restlessness, irritability, and depression may be telling us to stop accepting the unacceptable and see what else is out there. Sometimes comparison shopping is a good Spiritual idea." (228)

Another favorite chapter (I liked the one in which an activity was to create an ancestry altar) Dope-Dealer God pp 230-232.

"God loves to doodle and experiment and actually likes peppy and willful things" p. 272

[Tiare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the way this is written, in short little chapters with exercises at the end of each chapter to help you work through the idea she presents. I think this quote from the book sums it up well, "Maybe we should stop trying to “figure out the God idea” and instead just hang out a little." She advocates not taking ourselves and God so seriously. Talk to God as if he were a friend. Sometimes we need to just say, “Let’s go for a drive, God”. I like her grounded approach to spirituality.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title pokes fun at the seriousness (and lack of joy and humor) that people sometimes adopt in the name of God and spirituality. I believe God loves it all. This book was direct and I found it quite enjoyable. In this book, my own thoughts are very succinctly put into words I could not express before.

[Lynn Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this easy read. Cameron is very clever, iconoclastic, irreverent, and fun-loving in her balanced approach to spirituality. She's been there, done that and it shows. This is a great read for anyone who is trying to find the "right" way. She'll support you in finding your own best way.

[Liaken · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books is what I would call very enjoyable recreational spiritual reading. At first, I found the book to be unfocused and rambling. But, then I started to realize how much I was gaining from not having to "apply" myself to the reading. This was a wonderful read--I savored it. And then--I ordered it. Yep. I'm adding this one to my personal library.

[R.S. Kellogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. It could be read on a chapter-a-week basis, with a little assignment at the end of each chapter to experiment with connecting to the world and to the divine in fun and creative ways. This was my first exposure to Julia Cameron, and after reading it I immediately put several of her books on hold at the library.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep reading this, and other books by Julia Cameron, over and over again, when I can use a reevaluation of basic beliefs. If Cameron writes it, I'll read it, even study it, and keep it in my permanent library, among other spiritual writers.

[Karen]

"By savoring the delights of this earth, we connect to the divinity that flows through it and through us. Sight leads to insight. Hearing leads to being here. Touching puts us in touch. Scent bring us to our senses." (p. 9)

[Zachary Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit, this book was rather humorous. And while I may not fully agree with some of the things said, I have to admit, there is a lot this fine woman brings to the table. It's something for Catholic, or even other Christians to think about. Some things may shock you, but in a good way.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

A down to earth view of spiritually for the most part.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh, it was alright

[Hella]

"Oneerbiedige" beschouwingen over God, om via schrijven en zelfinzicht tot een eerlijker en persoonlijker geloof te komen. Ook heel fijn als je godsdienstige afkomst je hindert bij het schrijven.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky light spirituality from a friend of Bill's.

[Neeti · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nyet for moi

[Autumn Kovach · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I didn't get as much out of this book as I hoped, I think it was due to the fact that I had done Julia's in-depth study: The Artist Way. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in her studies but doesn't want to go that deep. She has great writing prompts that help one assess their past, their desires, their spirituality and their relationship with God. It might be a book I would keep around to revisit.