Review: “Love and Rage”

We review “Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger” by Lama Rod Owens.

Andrea Miller31 August 2020

Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger

By Lama Rod Owens
North Atlantic Books 2020; 256 pp., $17.95 (paper)

“Anger is full of wisdom,” writes Lama Rod Owens, “and with the appropriate practice, anger can actually transform into wisdom, and that wisdom is deeply liberating.” Part lived experience of a queer black man, part teaching, part call to action, Owens’s Love and Rage explores the anger that comes from hundreds of years of systemic oppression—and what it means to hold that anger in love. Owens’s voice is relevant, honest, and powerful; his work explores personal and collective trauma, and also offers a path to healing by recognizing skillful ways to work with emotion, and thus take appropriate action. He writes, “My expression of blackness is a recognition that we are all indoctrinated into systems of dominance and oppression, yet it is up to people to do the work of undoing their role in maintaining dominance. Moreover, my expression of blackness is a demand that this work be done.”

Andrea Miller

Andrea Miller

Andrea Miller is the deputy editor of Lion’s Roar magazine. She’s the author of Awakening My Heart: Essays, Articles, and Interviews on the Buddhist Life, as well as the picture book The Day the Buddha Woke Up.