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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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The upgrade to the Mac, as I feared, has left a lot of old things behind. Namely my writing, comparing the version of my blog (notes, local to the PC) with the version that was backed up and I find for some reason I'm a few pages short.
To be expected, I guess.
Anyways, Mill does not need my recommendation (damn, I had 5 pages of notes on him!! Where did they go?). Almost 200 years later and everything he says is still valid. This should be taught in schools.
His insights, into the role and responsibility of the individual vs society has never rung truer. And his defence of individual liberty only goes so far - an individual can say or do as he wishes, but he is accountable for these sayings.
I could go on. I did, several pages of notes, but you've been saved by my migrating to a laptop and by a thumb drive that very clearly did not back everything up.
Anyways, his reputation as being one of the most intelligent men ever was well confirmed. Well worth the read.
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I've been searching for this book for over 20 years. And - finally, because of course I'd find it here:
I mean, I've listened to enough of his lectures, and read it online, but - like any try Bibliophile, wanted a hard copy. Now for an older, un-edited edition.
On that note I found this as well - at a thrift shop, and - while an easy read, it covers a lot of topics I find of interest from a variety of perspectives:
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Now I read it, I had to, having requested a copy.
It was better than I expected, which was not much. That is not to say that it was good, standard New Age Theosophical type stuff, with lines like: "Through quantum physics and our advanced technology, it has been discovered that the heart is the true brain of the body.", that explain nothing and presume upon the reader to have an understanding of quantum physics and advanced technology that clearly the author doesn't.
This is the thing, I've long been at the point where if I met the Buddha on the road I'd have to kill him, and this, it's presumptive, that he's found the meaning of life (maybe?), that his experience is worth the sharing (perhaps?), that he can explain better or in a more accessible fashion what all the world's teachers have taught since the beginning of time.
In this I disagree. The truth, given it's variable nature, is best explained through sutras, koans, parables, his nonsensical fables and illustrations explain very little, what would be more informative is a collection of parables, gospels, stories, poems, all culled from the great religions of the world and that work towards illustrating the common point.
In any event, he wrote it, got it published, so he's doing something right, and I am a poor disciple. But it's read and when I see them next I will say how wonderful it is and congratulate him on his own personal interpretation. Now on to my own projects...
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This took far too long to read.
It's autobiographical, the author simply swaps out the lead character for himself, returning to Mexico after a long hiatus, with a new wife, afraid of confronting old people, situations, trying to put right a past that can't be put right or in any sort of order.
He's an alcoholic, forever struggling against the temptation of another drink, and - for a book containing relatively little action, it's a masterpiece of the interior life of the chaotic and suffering artist.
Now - a masterpiece is true, and his prose is magnificent, the directions his mind takes - unravelling memory, experience, sleep, the perpetually neurotic over analyzing of the minutiae of life, the failure to take both remedial and obvious steps, well, I get it. I get it too well. And so it's uncomfortable, we've a great deal in common, if only I possessed a teaspoon of his talent, and so it took forever to read and now, now, finally it's done.
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Found this via Reddit - and am quite enjoying it. Nothing I didn't "Know" - or speculate, but I'm not even 100 pages in.
You can find it online here: https://archive.org/details/itzhak-bentov-stalking-the-wild-pendulum-on-the-mechanics-of-consciousness
The writing style reminds me of Guy Murchie's "The Seven Mysteries of Life", or "Godel, Escher & Bach", by Hofstadter, which were books that I also greatly enjoyed once upon a time. And any number of others which seek to reconcile science and spirituality. But I'll come back to this...
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Note, having finished it it was fine. Not Terrific, but I've long been informed of these various theories through various other channels. But he has a way of wrapping it all up. In the vein of "Dancing Wu-Li Masters" or various other books from the 70's that attempt to reconcile science and spirituality.