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Forum2015 ROOT Challenge - (Read Our Own Tomes)
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1GeneRuyle
Philosophy, my major as an undergraduate, and Theology during my years in seminary followed by my life ever since (as a priest, psychologist, actor, and so on) brought many a thick tome my way -- both of which paved the way for the seven-year program leading to a doctorate in psychology -- landed me in several just as thick and massive (such as Karl Jaspers's monumental and truly ground-breaking Allgemeine Psychopathologie for example). And these, ranging over the forty some years since, have in turn led to others still, especially in the rich, vast fields of the arts, cultural studies, the natural sciences, politics and economics, and even more generally, the literature of the world.
All this, obviously, is far more than any one person's mind can fully embrace. As Jaspers himself well expressed it, "We cannot, it is true, get to know the modes of that which encompasses all things, but we can illuminate them. . . .To turn that which encompasses into an object and to treat it as something we can know is a basic error of our thinking. It is rather that we can touch it with our thought and represent it than that we can make it an object for our knowledge. To represent it in this way does not increase our objective knowledge but teaches us to see the meaning and application of this knowledge within the appropriate limits."
Mark Twain, in The Mysterious Stranger makes a closely related point in his own inimitable fashion. "You see, now, that a man will never drop a link in his chain. He cannot. If he made up his mind to try, that project would itself be an unavoidable link -- a thought bound to occur to him at that precise moment, and made certain by the first act of his babyhood." And it's for just such refreshing takes and sprightly renderings as Twain's (which Jaspers's terminology labeled as 'illuminations'), that I am currently rewarded with many times over in making my way through the three weighty volumes of his incomparable Autobiography. And after that, waiting stoically in its place on the mahogany shelves in my study, the next tome plunged deeply into will commence with Robert Musil's unfinished two-volume classic, Der Mann Ohne Eigenshaften, by taking the German text in my left hand, and laying it right alongside its English translation, The Man Without Qualities, put there by my other.
But don't think for one minute that reading this is "taking me back" into the dim and dusty past of Vienna and collapse of a grand but bygone era of Western civilization, for it isn't that at all; instead, it's a way of "bringing me up" to the present human cultural scene and situation in which I continue to find myself -- and all my fellow countrymen -- trying to make their way in today. See you out there in it!
My thanks to every one whose personal challenge contributes to this overall effort and makes its worthwhile unfolding possible,
Gene
All this, obviously, is far more than any one person's mind can fully embrace. As Jaspers himself well expressed it, "We cannot, it is true, get to know the modes of that which encompasses all things, but we can illuminate them. . . .To turn that which encompasses into an object and to treat it as something we can know is a basic error of our thinking. It is rather that we can touch it with our thought and represent it than that we can make it an object for our knowledge. To represent it in this way does not increase our objective knowledge but teaches us to see the meaning and application of this knowledge within the appropriate limits."
Mark Twain, in The Mysterious Stranger makes a closely related point in his own inimitable fashion. "You see, now, that a man will never drop a link in his chain. He cannot. If he made up his mind to try, that project would itself be an unavoidable link -- a thought bound to occur to him at that precise moment, and made certain by the first act of his babyhood." And it's for just such refreshing takes and sprightly renderings as Twain's (which Jaspers's terminology labeled as 'illuminations'), that I am currently rewarded with many times over in making my way through the three weighty volumes of his incomparable Autobiography. And after that, waiting stoically in its place on the mahogany shelves in my study, the next tome plunged deeply into will commence with Robert Musil's unfinished two-volume classic, Der Mann Ohne Eigenshaften, by taking the German text in my left hand, and laying it right alongside its English translation, The Man Without Qualities, put there by my other.
But don't think for one minute that reading this is "taking me back" into the dim and dusty past of Vienna and collapse of a grand but bygone era of Western civilization, for it isn't that at all; instead, it's a way of "bringing me up" to the present human cultural scene and situation in which I continue to find myself -- and all my fellow countrymen -- trying to make their way in today. See you out there in it!
My thanks to every one whose personal challenge contributes to this overall effort and makes its worthwhile unfolding possible,
Gene
3GeneRuyle
Certainly, Connie. My work schedule (which, though demanding, is also highly gratifying because of the significant involvements it entails) leaves me virtually no time at all for reading outside the scope of my routine fields. As time passes, I thus fall further out of touch and fail to keep abreast of works I wish to continue reading in and learning from. This is particularly the case with specific tomes I've identified and chosen, Twain's autobiography being a current example.
So, in finally returning to LibraryThing after an extended time away (of around a year or more), and coming across this group, I thought it would afford me a fine opportunity of setting some reading goals -- and boosting my incentive to reach them. Letting them be known to others helps them hold me to the tasks I've set myself. This kind of thing has helped me in just this way in times past over the years when it comes to reading books and communicating even moderately with bibliophiles -- who are a breed particularly attuned to the value of reading most anything.
Anyway, that's my reason for being here. If this is somehow not in keeping with the general aim of this group and somehow interferes with its activities, please do let me know this and I will respectfully withdraw.
Cordially,
Gene
So, in finally returning to LibraryThing after an extended time away (of around a year or more), and coming across this group, I thought it would afford me a fine opportunity of setting some reading goals -- and boosting my incentive to reach them. Letting them be known to others helps them hold me to the tasks I've set myself. This kind of thing has helped me in just this way in times past over the years when it comes to reading books and communicating even moderately with bibliophiles -- who are a breed particularly attuned to the value of reading most anything.
Anyway, that's my reason for being here. If this is somehow not in keeping with the general aim of this group and somehow interferes with its activities, please do let me know this and I will respectfully withdraw.
Cordially,
Gene
4connie53
No, please don't withdraw! You are in the right place, Gene. I was just wondering what your goal might be. How many books you want to read for the remainder of the year. There certainly is no general aim. We all have set our own goals and rules. And we cheer for each other to get them to finish their challenge.
Welcome to the group!
(I apologize for any mistakes in my English, Gene. I'm a Dutch woman trying to understand and write in a foreign language)
Welcome to the group!
(I apologize for any mistakes in my English, Gene. I'm a Dutch woman trying to understand and write in a foreign language)
