Monday, April 16, 2007
Quoting Christine
The amazing Christine has just finished reading A History of God, and in true Christine form she is now going back through it and typing up the parts that are especially interesting to her. That means that I can get the Cliffs Notes version without having to actually read the book.. (I'm on page 13 and have been on page 13 for two weeks now.)
OK OK, I will read the book..eventually. I want to finish The Bell Jar first, and then if I haven't spiraled into a state of utter despair and hopelessness, I hope to read another David Sedaris book. If anything, that will jerk me out of any kind of Bell Jarish melancholy. Also, I want to read a Nick Hornby book soon. Rich thinks they're amazing. OH! and there are several Allende books on my list AND I'm dying to reread Jane Eyre. (such. a. nerd.)
Whatever.
The whole point of this blog is NOT to share my reading list but to share some excellent quotes from A History of God that Christine shared with me. (Did I mention she's amazing?) Enjoy these and feel free to respond to them if you want.
'Human beings are aware that something is wrong with their condition; they feel at odds with themselves and others, out of touch with their inner nature and disoriented. Conflict and a lack of simplicity seem to characterize our existence. Yet we are constantly seeking to unite the multiplicity of phenomena and reduce them to some ordered whole. When we glance at a person, we do not see a leg, an arm, another arm, and a head, but automatically organize these elements into an integrated human being. This drive for unity is fundamental to the way our minds work and must, Plotinus believed, also reflect the essence of things in general. To find the underlying truth of reality, the soul must refashion itself, undergo a period of purification (katharsis) and engage in contemplation (theoria), as Plato had advised. It will have to look beyond the cosmos, beyond the sensible world and even beyond the limitations of the intellect to see into the heart of reality. This will not be an ascent to a reality outside ourselves, however, but a descent into the deepest recesses of the mind. It is, so to speak, a climb inward.' (101-102)
and (the one she likes)
'It seems that when human beings contemplate the absolute, they have very similar ideas and experiences.' (104)
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2 comments:
mmm rereading Jane Ayre....have you ever read 'The Ayre Affair' by Jasper Fforde? I think you'd like the whole series...very amusing and very literate :)
You've got quite a lot of books in your list. You better get to reading. I read History of God a few years back. I remember it to be very interesting in the concepts it presents, but very dry and hard to wade through. It's a good book but not a real page turner. When you get Christine's Reader's Digest version, be sure to pass it on. Or better yet, we can all discus; we don't need no stinkin' salon.
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