"The notion of an interior "spiritual" kingdom would have been wholly without meaning for the people of Jesus time."
I think that quote gives a h"The notion of an interior "spiritual" kingdom would have been wholly without meaning for the people of Jesus time."
I think that quote gives a hint about this book's approach to the Crucifixion. It is a book for believers and it doesn't mince words. Ken Leech was a contradictory man and mystic. The book itself sometimes simmers with contradiction but the first chapter acts as a sort of warning,: Jesus cross is nothing if not a scandal, a failure, "God lets himself be pushed out of the world on to the cross' -D. Bonhoeffer.
We call the remembrance of his death, of God becoming a looser, weak and a fool, "Good" Friday. Christians are called to be holy fools so they can become wise. The crucifixion is meant to bring about a 'krisis', an upheaval and turbulence beyond the boundaries of rationality to open the soul. We'd like a sanitized version of the cross and a confinement of its meaning. But the path to the cross shows a very different path. Lent begins with the memory of our own mortality as represented by the ashes on Ash Wednesday, bringing up death in a world that tries to hide it. The temptations of Christ while he was alone in the wilderness, material power, spiritual and political power, indicate that the crucifixion was a complete surrender, an utter dismissal of the world's wisdom. And yet, even today...
"The Church is easily seduced by the kingdoms of the world so that it takes on their image, becomes an imperium, a power structure, whose institutional form is shaped by the prevailing secular hierarchical and bureaucratic models and not by the gospel. Power and stability come to matter more than truth. When power is is primary and the Church is seen as an end in itself, the road to some kind of fascism is wide open. "
Kennet Leech goes out of his way to point out that there is a lot that can go wrong even among believers. While emphasizing that a suffering Jesus is not a negotiation but the central tenet of Christian belief, he reminds the reader that suffering and self-sacrifice per se are neither to be sought nor a guarantee of a higher spiritual life and in most cases it simply becomes resentment and bitterness. But when suffering comes as it inevitably will, the cross might open the path to a higher joy and all guilt died with Jesus in the cross.
"At the same time there is no shortage of "spirituality". But we are being offered spirituality as another product in the market. Much of it lacks grief, struggle, rage and passion, those features which are so central (...) to the spirituality of the crucified God. Much contemporary spirituality lacks the imaginative encounter with poverty, pain and dereliction. It is a spirituality which has ceased to struggle and which therefore has ceased to be in Christ. So as our culture spawns numerous privatized spiritualities, thousands die in the cold."
I enjoyed the fact that Ken Leech points out the political and social nature of Jesus's life . The usual quotes that many use to deny the relevance of Jesus mission in politics and separate Jesus from their everyday mischief are John 18:36 where Jesus claims his Kingdom " is not of this world" and Margaret's Tatcher's favorite:"Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's" (Mark:12:13-17). But Jesus was very involved in the context of his time, most prominently with the heavy taxation imposed by Romans and the Temple alike. He ate with sinners and tax collectors, went around with a rabble of fishermen and Zealot sympathizers, he had the authorities worried he might actually succeed to topple them. Moreover, Leech makes it clear the Kingdom is central to te gospel and that being "not of this world" doesn't mean it is somewhere else but very much questioning this world we live in.
"Non-Christians often pay respect to the 'spirit of Jesus' as a spirit of goodwill, tolerance and kindness. This is to ignore a great deal in the accounts that suggests that, far from producing harmony, Jesus produced division, bringing not peace but a sword, setting members of families against one another, and leading to anger and social unrest. Yet we too easily emphasize reconciliation without seeing these other aspects ."
There's no reconciliation possible with the powers of darkness. Ken Leech will retake this theme of reconciliation a bit later to show that Jesus followers are taught not to fight the demons with their own weapons. Violence , revolutionary violence leads to some kind of fascism. To do violence so merely demolishes the demonic structures while the demons transfer to one's own address: fighting demons with their own methods is the best way to become demonic. The author does highlight that the message the the cross is a message of unwavering love. "(...) reconciliation is often used cheaply, glibly and superficially. Yet while the noun and the verb are uncommon in the New Testament, and, apart from Mathew 5:24, occur only in Paul's writings , the theme is a vital one. The dark night is the prelude to the light of the resurrection. The gulf and abyss that the cross exposes in all its horror is not the end; the end is liberation, the breaking down of the division , the overcoming of the gulf"
"Throughout history, the cross stands as a symbol of protest and revolt: protest against all claims, whether by religious or political power, to absolute unquestioning control over human minds and bodies; revolt against all systems and ideologies, all regimes and institutions which continue to push individuals and groups beyond the pale, outside the gate. The cross stands as as symbol of falsehood and demonic nature of all religions which sanctify established injustice, religions of the status quo, which continue to reproduce Calvaries all over the world . The cross is a crisis point for societies which seek to produce men and women who are trained to give unquestioning uncritical obedience to worldly powers and not Christ, a crisis point for all system of violence, systems that are bound to lead to reproduction of Calvaries great and small ; a crisis point for all who despise the weak and small people , and in so doing despise Christ."
The book proceeds touching on all the other aspects of the Crucifixion and the meaning of the cross. The radical message of love to all, including enemies; the importance of seeking salvation not in private but as a community; the utter misguided antisemitism of many Christian believers rooted on the tale of the martyrdom and death of Christ, the dark night of the soul and the final trampling over death....more
Quite a bit darker than the Disneyfied version, it is also a bit disorienting in pace and plot and message…until it’s magic gathers into a whimsical aQuite a bit darker than the Disneyfied version, it is also a bit disorienting in pace and plot and message…until it’s magic gathers into a whimsical and forlorn classic of children’s literature. The gaps let the reader in and the characters don’t ask permission. It’s impossible not to gape at brooding Captain Hook, frown at Peter’s wounded selfishness or ponder what abuse is coming from Tinker Bell’s mouth. Of course there’s flying, a nanny dog, naughty mermaids, underground dwellings and a crocodile with a clock in its belly. Above all, motherly love ties the lost boys like a mystery, desperately wanted or resented. No wonder children eat it up. ...more
It's amazing how fast a book on economics can age in just 20 years. The ideas contained are more or less still very valid but the perspective of time It's amazing how fast a book on economics can age in just 20 years. The ideas contained are more or less still very valid but the perspective of time sends some of the more optimistic conclusions into a tailspin. I think it would be easy for any anti-globalist to point out where the author's predictions went wrong and ignore how much of the core is still very right.
The book starts with a very simple premise, a visit to a coffee shop and the myriad of interactions and steps that lead to ordering a capuccino. As an economist, the chain of events that lead to the coffee become a fascinating mystery. For the barista, he is another impatient client, but in reality we are in the realm of the undercover economist. Fun enough. In this first chapter we are introduced to some concepts that Harford will develop further down the line: scarcity and bargaining power, marginal assets, the influence of artificial constraints on price, immigration, etc... The conclusion of this chapter leads to the idea the economics is a lot more than simply money and finance, it is a tool to understand "power, poverty, growth, and development". Sometimes the difference between life and death for millions is an economic policy.
The next chapter deals with pricing, that most valuable piece of information in a free market. We are back to coffee and the different strategies used by chains al over the world to maximize their revenue and identify the customer that is a bit less concerned about price than the others, from "ethical" coffee to extras to product placement. Then he expands to supermarkets and the smart tricks they use. The stakes start getting higher when the subject involves questioning ideas like first class and coach. Does the company really have scarcity power? Does it need to exaggerate the differences in order to instigate customers to pay more? And the stakes rise even further when we are talking HIV drugs that are too expensive for developing countries. At this point we start to see te author likes to question "common sense" and "social justice" mantras that may not be as compassionate or effective as one thought. I like his definition of an inefficient market, "one where a change could make at least one person better off,and nobody worse off. "
The third chapter deals with the idea of prices as signals, information that reveals the true value of things, whether fair or unfair, efficient or inefficient. The idea of a fair allocation of wealth , and egalitarian view, takes a beating. If someone owns a lot of stuff, may be that's not intrinsically unfair as many seem to argue. It also explains the distorting effect of things like taxes and some regulations. I say some because even the author recognizes the need for a few well placed regulatory rules.
And rules, the rules of traffic for example, is what comes next. The different solutions devised to fix externalities, problems caused by efficient markets. Congestion and pollution among others. The author aims to explain how some people suffer the consequences of heavy traffic, pedestrians for example, or the air quality. He explains different schemes aimed at reducing the cost of these "externalities" by targeting heavy use with heavy prices. He also points out a wealthy free society would eventually finds ways to kerb these issues much better than a poor society where the incentive would be to avoid paying for any consequences to others or to the environment. Pricing should reflect damage. The usual attacks on externality charges come from two camps, the redistributive and the moral high-grounders. The author debunks the usefulness of these approaches. he goes at some length to explain why they are misguided and counterproductive. Finally, he suggests that the government could not always the best method to solve externalities and subsidies might actually be disastrous.
I will stop enumerating chapter because what comes next is probably the core of the book spread over many pages. And it deals with the idea of comparative advantage , a concept developed by David Ricardo and an idea that has propelled free trade ever since. I found these chapters particularly poignant now that President Trump of the US has launched a assault on free trade the likes of which have rarely been seen. I am not going to explain the basic premise here but it does make total sense. The main idea is that if everybody does what they are best at, even if they are good at other things as well, we all gain. It's not just a vague idea, it is easily demonstrable mathematically . Unlike other others, I didn't get a sense that there was any free market gloating. The author does not skirt the issues of sweatshops, environmental degradation and immigration. He just tries to make the case that development leads to much better outcomes than protectionism. Specially if that protectionism is interested as in the case of the stagnant and impoverished country Cameroon, where absentist president Paul Biya uses isolation to steal at ease and remain in power fro decades. That part is still a reality today twenty years later. One shudders to think about the millions of Cameroonians condemned to poverty by such policies.
The last part about China, while true in essence, has aged badly. Not because the author was wrong but because subsequent developments in China and a hardening stance towards the outside world has made this country blunder in many aspects, even when its wealth has kept apace. Then again, the beacon of free that was the US is also now teetering on the edge. It's almost quaint that the author put as an example of the deleterious use of tariffs the case of the Florida sugar industry and its damage to American sugar prices, incentives to cocaine trade, flight of candy factories and the fertilizer pollution in the Everglades. I did love the story of the city of Bruges in Belgium loosing its busy trade due to natural cause, the silting of the Zwin river, and ceding to Antwerp. That, i didn't know. ...more
What a wonderful discovery. That in the xIII century someone could write a book on contemplation that leaves modern meditation gurus in the dust. I miWhat a wonderful discovery. That in the xIII century someone could write a book on contemplation that leaves modern meditation gurus in the dust. I might not be called to be a contemplative, seeing how I am more devoted to my own intellectual meandering and reliant on reason but I really appreciated the simplicity of letting God do all the work and relinquishing added characteristics, content, thoughts. It somehow made sense despite every objection I threw at it, it’s too platonic, it perpetuates the soul/body divide that has brought about so much evil, it creates a sort of spiritual elitism� Sure, may be those criticisms are warranted but the anonymous author -wonderfully translated- seems to know in advance and softens the terrain at every turn. He ( I assume it’s a he) praises health, bodily health, and sleep. He embraces freedom and doesn’t prescribe or judge. He foresees the difficulties and turns against cleverness and self-inflicted unworthiness. Really a beautiful text. ...more
Este es sólo el primer tomo de una novela de 1,600 páginas porque recientemente hay un sarpullido editorial de escritores a los que nadie les para lo Este es sólo el primer tomo de una novela de 1,600 páginas porque recientemente hay un sarpullido editorial de escritores a los que nadie les para los pies cuando se ponen a la faena. Las primeras 250 páginas de este mamotreto son espectaculares, es cierto.
El protagonista es un escritor falangista, Fernando Navales, que recluta a artistas e intelectuales exiliados en Paris tras la derrota de la República y la ocupación nazi de Francia. Para ello cuenta con sus publicaciones en varios folletines de propaganda y la connivencia o apoyo de algunos representantes del fascismo. Su objetivo es que renieguen de sus convicciones previas y contribuyan al lucimiento del franquismo en el extranjero. En general se trata de artistas sin medios para escapar, hambrientos, desesperados o en un estadio de su carrera donde las opciones de éxito son limitadas con lo que gracias a unos tragos, putas o amenazas la conversión es relativamente fácil. (Picasso también está en el exilio pero, en contraste con el resto de la colonia, su prestigio y la protección del artista favorito del Nazismo, Arno Breker, le garantizan la protección nazi. )
Quizá la parte más interesante del libro sea el elenco - y descripción- de intelectuales y artistas olvidados por le tiempo, la mayoría probablemente con motivo. Otros no tanto. Destacan Gregorio Marañón y Picasso por supuesto. Pero hay muchos más, Oscar Domínguez, Federico Beltrán Massés, Fabián de Castro, Antoni Clavé, Honorio García Condoy, Pedro Creixams, Pepe Zamora, Pedro Flores, Emilio Grau Sala, Ana de Pombo, María Casares y más. Aunque se trate de un libro de ficción, el autor ha sabido documentarse exhaustivamente. Fernando Navales es un hombre resentido, cínico, con un gusto tradicional y algo sentimental, pero también con una cultura amplia que le permite ser un afilado observador y crítico de arte. El autor nos regala con retratos cáusticos de los infelices y de todos los demás monstruos que pueblan un París en franca podredumbre. Picasso no sale bien parado, con "ojos de garajista", calzones manchados de orines y un sádico disfrute a costa de los desvaríos de Dora Maar y sus grescas con Marie-Thérèse Walter.
En mi opinión el pasaje más intenso se centra alrededor de la sibilina negociación con Gregorio Marañón, por el que Fernando Navales siente una especial repugnancia. Al agente falangista le molesta la equidistancia, el elitismo velado del doctor. No es una persona a la que pueda convencer de los ideales de la Raza con regalos de baja estofa aunque Navales tenga la sartén por el mango. Esta "conversión" de forma pero no de fondo jugará un papel importante hacia el final de este tomo.
De Prada es un escritor elegante, con un vocabulario rico - aunque le guste encajar algunas palabras infrecuentes de rondón. Pero mientras la historia progresa, el contenido de la misma empieza a rebosar de un cierto humos escatológico- los gargajos, zurrapas y costras purulentas se multiplican como parte esencial del argumento. Sin ser esenciales, los amoríos de Navales también empiezan a ocupar mucho espacio sin llegar a revelar nada sobre el personaje más allá de su habilidad para reprimir sus emociones más humanas. El desfile de entrevistas humillantes se repite hasta que uno pierde el interés en el mecanismo. Sobran muchas páginas. El final de esta entrega repunta un poco según se van resolviendo unas tramas endebles pero al lector se le puede perdonar haber agotado la paciencia a la vez que al autor se le agotan los símiles, por buenos que sean.
La orientación política del protagonista es clara y los retratos políticos de otras figuras históricas son fascinantes: Serrano Suñer, el embajador Lequerica, Rolland de Miota, Ruano, Victoria Kent, etc.. Y en todos se afila el desprecio y el resentimiento, el tema principal del libro. Intentar que el lector empatice con un ser corrompido por el odio y calculador como es Navales es una tarea que requiere de una redención que no llega. Eso no es óbice para disfrutar de este libro, de la mirada triste hacia un París doblemente caído, por la ocupación alemana y por la presencia de muchas personas en fuga, judíos, partisanos y exiliados españoles. Para cualquier amante del arte además es una ocasión genial de explorar una parte oculta de la historia.
A book about Zen for real life in (mostly) western society. Starts by dismissing religion, philosophy and politics? as paths to understanding. Also reA book about Zen for real life in (mostly) western society. Starts by dismissing religion, philosophy and politics? as paths to understanding. Also rejects any authority on the matter and his authority to boot. It quickly dispatches most of the mainstream notions of Buddhism like reincarnation, elevated states of consciousness, moral purity or enlightenment. None of that is relevant. Neither are temples, robes, most books on Zen with pleasing covers� We need to focus and appreciate the present reality , that’s all there is and it’s enough. Our lives will change and we’ll be powerful ( even though it’s not clear how our lives will change or what “powerful � means .) i None of those things are relevant. The author was a kid from Ohio with a love for Punk music and Japanese monsters. At least that’s interesting. It emphasizes the practice of zazen and promises that with frequent practice we can finally let go of the self, understand reality and , well, I’m not clear on what the goal is since there are none.
My only concerns are that the author seems to have a very limited understanding of religions in general . He says Buddhism requires the organization to transmit the wisdom but the organization is a cow turd. Well, something similar happens with most religions. In fact, most of the characteristics he adscribes to other religions are also recognized as dead weight . For example most serious Christians don’t see soul and body as separate, granted it’s select minority. Or place too much stake on moral rules per se.
But mostly I do not understand what loosing the “self� means or what loosing it achieves. Is the final goal to end suffering? That’s neat , not suffering, but then what ? What does it mean to really see reality and how does it connect to feeling powerful? Is it like saying “I have cancer but since I have no self and it is what is, I can panic, cry or ignore it and that’s all fine ? What else can one do anyway? � I imagine for people desperate for inner peace , accepting a shit situation or a horrible disease or death might be a step towards not going mental but other than that, I see no point....more
I admire the attempt and, frankly, trying to synthesize Wittgenstein or Derrida in a five page graphic story deserves a medal of some sort. Alas, the I admire the attempt and, frankly, trying to synthesize Wittgenstein or Derrida in a five page graphic story deserves a medal of some sort. Alas, the drawings are pretty terrible and the text cannot accomplish to be elucidating, funny and breezy all at once. That said, it was interesting to see how Fred Van Lente approached this almost impossible task. I wish I could add two stars for effort and high goals. As someone that absolutely abhors super-hero comics -I find them insanely boring- and prefers more real life graphic novels, this books swing so far in the other direction that much needs to be worked out....more
In the simplest possible terms its the story of two adulteres, one with a somewhat dim husband, the unreliable narrator, and another with a steely, loIn the simplest possible terms its the story of two adulteres, one with a somewhat dim husband, the unreliable narrator, and another with a steely, loving wife. At a deeper level it’s also the revelation that society and the structures that were meant to hold it are crumbling already a decade or so before the IWW.
The narrative is conversational and doesn’t follow a chronological order, Layer by layer new facts and suppositions surface as the narrator, sometimes unsure, sometimes contradictory, plods ahead explaining how he was betrayed by his wife Florence and his friend Edward Ashburn, the “good soldier� of the title. Most of the long winding tale is spent pondering about the nature of the characters involved and the eight year affair the cheated husband failed to notice. Psychologically, I think the characters reactions are unrealistic to a high degree and too convenient for the author when he needs them to perform. I don’t think this novel’s plot would have been a good theatre play.
That doesn’t mean there are no good parts but the insistence on how the adulterous couple could have passed for normal or how passions excuse selfish behaviour wear thin after a while. May be Ford Madox Ford thought this was the best English novel of the twentieth century but clearly there was a lot of century ahead of him.
This is one of H. G. Wells' social novels, one where he already manifests his interest in social issues of his time and mines his own biography for maThis is one of H. G. Wells' social novels, one where he already manifests his interest in social issues of his time and mines his own biography for material. It is also a comic novel, amusing and spirited, even when it touches on some heavy subjects like dull marriage and suicide.
Mr. Polly is a man of 35 1/2 years old and we meet him contemplating the pointlessness of his life while he sits inside his shop in Fishbourne, slowly becoming bankrupt and suicidal. We then are treated to an Edwardian childhood that highlights the problems in England during this period when Germany and the US were slowly rising to overtake the world through education and industry.
He went for some time to a National School, which was run on severely economical lines to keep down the rates by a largely untrained staff, he was set sums to do that he did not understand, and that no one made him understand, he was made to read the catechism and Bible with the utmost industry and an entire disregard of punctuation or significance, and caused to imitate writing copies and drawing copies, and given object lessons upon sealing wax and silk-worms and potato bugs and ginger and iron and such like things, and taught various other subjects his mind refused to entertain, and afterwards, when he was about twelve, he was jerked by his parent to “finish off� in a private school of dingy aspect and still dingier pretensions, where there were no object lessons, and the studies of book-keeping and French were pursued (but never effectually overtaken) under the guidance of an elderly gentleman who wore a nondescript gown and took snuff, wrote copperplate, explained nothing, and used a cane with remarkable dexterity and gusto.
Mr. Polly fails his education and is not very ambitious but he is possesed by the love of words and books. While working at some dead-end jobs, he meets a squad of friends and combines scapes to the lovely English countryside -much vindicated by other authors at this time as a source of strength and beauty after a generation of authors that preferred more urbane settings- with literary readings of Shakespeare and Rabelais.
The book has some funny set pieces. One of them Mr. Pollys' father funeral. It is after his father's death that Mr. polly inherits some money and decides to start searching for his new station in life. He meets some cousins of his and starts visiting them after he learns to ride his bike. In one of his forays, he falls madly in love with a schoolgirl that completely corresponds to his with and chivalric nature but who ends up being immature and mocking him. In a way, as a rebound, he settles for a marriage with his cousin Miriam. He regrets the decision the minute he makes it. In another humorous set-piece , the wedding takes place. There is some description of the kids holding the rice bags with murder in their eyes that made me laugh. Mr. Polly buys a shop and sets on his new miserable life as a shopkeeper.
A great proportion of small shopkeepers, for example, are people who have, through the inefficiency that comes from inadequate training and sheer aimlessness, or improvements in machinery or the drift of trade, been thrown out of employment, and who set up in needless shops as a method of eking out the savings upon which they count. They contrive to make sixty or seventy per cent, of their expenditure, the rest is drawn from the shrinking capital. Essentially their lives are failures, not the sharp and tragic failure of the labourer who gets out of work and starves, but a slow, chronic process of consecutive small losses which may end if the individual is exceptionally fortunate in an impoverished death bed before actual bankruptcy or destitution supervenes. Their chances of ascendant means are less in their shops than in any lottery that was ever planned. The secular development of transit and communications has made the organisation of distributing businesses upon large and economical lines, inevitable; except in the chaotic confusions of newly opened countries, the day when a man might earn an independent living by unskilled or practically unskilled retailing has gone for ever. Yet every year sees the melancholy procession towards petty bankruptcy and imprisonment for debt go on, and there is no statesmanship in us to avert it. Every issue of every trade journal has its four or five columns of abridged bankruptcy proceedings, nearly every item in which means the final collapse of another struggling family upon the resources of the community, and continually a fresh supply of superfluous artisans and shop assistants, coming out of employment with savings or ‘help� from relations, of widows with a husband’s insurance money, of the ill-trained sons of parsimonious fathers, replaces the fallen in the ill-equipped, jerry-built shops that everywhere abound�.�
So he concocts and elaborate plan to commit suicide and ends up burning a lot of the shops in Fishbourne including his. However, his plan ends up making him look like a hero. On top of that he gets some insurance money. He gives some to his wife but bolts out of town and starts to wander about the countryside until he stumbles upon a beautiful inn ran by a 'plump" woman, Flo. She offers him a job as a punter and handyman which he accepts immediately. But clouds gather on teh horizon when a sinister figure appears, a drunk and violent man called Uncle Jim. No spoilers, the rest I will leave for the reader to find out.
What I most liked about the novel was its psychological accuracy, the way wells is able to portray a state of mind of the character and express it in pregnant dialogue and great turns of phrase. His description of the sense of futility in Mr. Pollys life is dead on. His phrasing is not easy but it is well crafted, convincing. He plays often with Mr. Polly lack of education and badly digested literary readings . He often mispronounces and invents words to comic effect. ...more
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.� � Howard Thu“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.� � Howard Thurman
The best part of the book are the short introductions to every chapter. The body of the books is a relevant list of mystics but not in chronological order. Instead, the book is divided in sections according to the predominant type of mysticism that the author adscribes to each mystic : Lovers, poets, saints, heretics ... Obviously there is a lot of overlap. He does give a brief introduction to each mystic and refers to further reading. In that sense, this book is a good starter to find your way around the corpus of christian mystic literature and look further on your own.
I found the brief bios a bit repetitive and with little meat. Very few made me jump and say "Oh, I need to check this out" or "This guy/gal seems like something I could relate to". Of course the author cannot go in depth on each mystic but I'd have appreciated more salient biographical notes or anecdotes. It is interesting that mystics, for example, emphasize that God is love or that silence is a requirement to contemplation . But once you've stablished that, I don't think it is necessary to add these ideas on every chapter unless they are the most defining characteristic of a particular mystic. I have read, St John the Evangelist, St Paul, St Augustine , St John of the Cross (awesome) , St Teresa of Avila, St Therese of Lisieux and C.S. Lewis (all mentioned in the book) and I find , for example, that Teresa of Avila is a much more grounded individual than Lisieux who sounds downright psychopathic and arrested in her mental development, frankly.
I hardly think that the author could express a dislike like I do here. But to expand on the two saints : St Teresa wrote her experiences because she was ordered to do so, she much preferred focusing on rolling up her sleeves, skirting the Inquisition and do her daily work and fulfill her mission, visions be damned one could say -of course not but you know what I mean. Therese of Lisieux's childlike approach could be seen as a virtue by some, not me. The difference between them is stark but you wouldn't know it from the biographical note in this book. Yes, he gets to the gist of it but not distinctly enough. And I'm afraid that spreads throughout a large number of the bios, no differentiation in a book that claims that they were all very different.
That said, I was intrigued by a few of his listings. Kenneth Leach for example. Or Bernard Lonergan. Or Donahue's "Ana Caram". Or Howard Thurman -definitely I need to read this man. But also ancient texts like Pseudo-Dyonisios or The Cloud of Unknowing. These are all going on my reading pile.
I did learn some things.
1) Mystics are not all saints and all saints are not mystics. Mysticism is about connectedness with God's love, sainthood is about virtue. Obviously there's a strong overlap but not necessarily in all aspects. Some mystics had misoginy, slaves, alcoholism, promoted causes we would see today as ill-informed and were very much victims of their own time prejudices. Saints tried for an ever more perfect obedience to God's laws.
2) Women and men mystic parity seems unquestionable. It is fascinating to observe the number of women that even in the Middle Ages were able to be regarded as "worthy" of God's attention by the Church itself or by society at large.
3) Being a mystic does take many shapes, not just visions and stigmata. In fact, those miraculous phenomena are the least important aspects of mysticism and generally suspect even by the mystics themselves. In most cases, visions were regarded as a temptation by the devil if they were not properly vouchsafed. A mystic can express her/his calling and communion with the divine in an infinite amount of forms, poetry, abandonment of material desires, joy, daily everyday routine, working with the poor and destitute (especially working for the poor and destitute) etc.. Visions and miracles are NOT the hallmark of a mystic.
4) Some schools of thought imply we can all be mystics in the sense that we have the potential to channel the divine.
5) Even though the book focuses on Christian mysticism, some mystics aim at a certain universalism. Some of them feel that other traditions are part of the same impulse, even with methods and discipline that could be used with great profit. Many mystics embraced Eastern traditions completely. Others joined movements for social justice and advocated leaving the ivory towers of academia. Total detachment is not the goal of Christian mystics, many of them return to the material everyday world after deprivation and ecstasy but with a completely changed perspective. Christianity offers the love of God as reward....more
Again, what is the point of wasting time reading a 460 page book -about 200 of them just filler- just to find out there’s no real ending, no conclusioAgain, what is the point of wasting time reading a 460 page book -about 200 of them just filler- just to find out there’s no real ending, no conclusion, just one ghostly event after another, some of them narrated as hearsay, in a haunted decaying mansion inhabited by a decaying family. It’s missing a note at the beginning: so sorry the writer really doesn’t really know how to end this mystery in a clever or interesting way, may be save yourself for a proper novel. If you want to read this while in a derelict dark house to spook yourself into a frenzy of apprehension, go ahead and read it or just use any old ghost story you have handy because this one lacks any special merits beyond, here’s a ghost , it does mischief, it even bites!
The Ayres family lives in a crumbling pile called Hundreds along with a young maid. There’s an old matriarch pinning for the bygone gentler days, a young war hero with scars and a no-nonsense daughter The family is driven slowly mad by a catalogue of incidents , some pretty upsetting . A doctor becomes a regular visitor and falls for the daughter, both are older adults and seem frustratingly unable to say what they mean at every turn. Their love affair is protracted and clumsy. That’s it. The dialogue flows well enough and the descriptions are mostly weather related or post-war England cliches. If this sounds interesting, the characters take pains to make it dull with their tea drinking ,bed-ridden demeanour and disinterest in leaving the house. You kind of want the ghost to eat them all and have a developer build a council flat....more
La mejor manera de descubrir el genio de este libro es leer las críticas que le dan una estrella (o menos si pudieran,dicen algunos). Parece ser que esLa mejor manera de descubrir el genio de este libro es leer las críticas que le dan una estrella (o menos si pudieran,dicen algunos). Parece ser que es lectura obligada en algunos institutos. Grave error de los institutos que a todos los alumnos les obligan a leer libros cuando claramente habrá estudiantes que prefieran plantar huertos o arreglar tostadoras. Luego pasa lo que pasa. Este es un libro para lectores con algo de pasión por la literatura, no demasiada tampoco, es muy asequible. Pero si te obligan a leerlo y eres incapaz de entender el contexto porque lo ves todo a través del filtro de la justicia social, racial o de género -porque es lo fácil, o si necesitas un sobresalto cada dos minutos para mantener la atención o quieres personajes lúcidos, brillantes, pues no , no es para tí Kimberly.
El lenguaje de Baroja es directo, sin muchas frases subordinadas y sin ampulosidades. Es un purgante contra tanta farfolla literaria que se encuentra uno hoy y en la época de Baroja - no miro a nadie :Dolores Redondo, Zafón, etc..
No es un libro de aventuras ni de romance. El argumento de la historia , si se le puede llamar así, es casi inexistente, como la vida misma. Un personaje descontento divagando por una España chusca y atrancada. La vida de un “precursor �, alguien que prefiere , o no puede hacer otra cosa que examinar el mundo a través de la ciencia y la filosofía. Es un camino de superación y sufrimiento, opuesto al de la mayoría que se deja llevar por el vigoroso “árbol de la vida� . Pero con poca materia, vidas entrecruzadas , alguna tragedia y las varias divagaciones filosóficas de un aprendiz de medicina, Baroja hila un relato directo, cortante.
No es un libro políticamente correcto. Refleja teorías y tendencias de su tiempo. Reflejo de la exploración, del proceso del protagonista. El que Baroja fuera antisemita , misógino o creyera en el cariz superior de ciertos pueblos se lo toma el mismo Baroja con cierta sorna. Y eso si creemos que el autor se identifica con sus personajes. Descartar un libro como este por incluir esos temas es completamente miope. La mayor lacra que ve el escritor va mucho más allá de los temas que nos parecen ofensivos hoy en día. Hay una amargura ante el patriotismo gregario y la falta de solidaridad egoísta. La generación del 98 tenía ante sí un país desecado y miserable. La misma naturaleza humana, fuente de toda desdicha está sometida a examen. El protagonista del libro se asemeja entonces es un hombre inquieto tratando de navegar ese mundo, no un activista o un iluminado que comulga con las supuestas bondades de la ética de instituto. ...more
Una novela histórico-ficticia ambientada en el mundillo literario y canalla ya en la antesala de la Guerra Civil Española. Los cafés, teatros, tertuliUna novela histórico-ficticia ambientada en el mundillo literario y canalla ya en la antesala de la Guerra Civil Española. Los cafés, teatros, tertulias y calles de Madrid a principios del siglo XX son el escenario principal y casi permanente. Poblados por una multitud de escritores, putas y artistas, la mayoría viviendo en penuria. Aparecen muchos nombres famosos como Pío Baroja o Ramón Gómez de la Serna pero el elenco incluye a muchísimos otros, demasiados, menos conocidos pero también parte del efervescente y famélico.
El argumento es simple y consiste en el enfrentamiento de dos aspirantes a escritor arrastrados por la política hacia una enemistad que acaba siendo militante y física. Fernando Navales es un personaje ficticio, oportunista y cínico, sin una ideología propia o adquirida más allá del medro y la vaga noción de ser un escritor sin obra. Apreciador del verdadero talento y despectivo con cualquier devoción estética o política, acaba casi por casualidad asociado con José Antonio Primo de Rivera y la Falange. Su antagonista es Pedro Luis Gálvez, basado en un escritor real pero muy guarnecido de detalles añadidos en esta obra. Al contrario que Navales, Gálvez se presenta como leal, consistente en sus creencias izquierdistas y con verdadero talento poético, si bien la desesperación le obliga a buscarse la vida sin miramientos. Hay varios personajes femeninos y centrales pero el autor se suele ceñir a sus descripciones físicas y potencial erótico sin mucho más ahondamiento. En muchos casos , el barroquismo de muchas descripciones no camufla la superficialidad, lo que acentúa la falta de empatía y la sensación de que los nombres son un mero decorado donde colgar caricaturas agudas pero redundantes.
El estilo redime a esta novela de ser un mero ejercicio erudito o una sarta de escenas repulsivas porque el autor domina el ritmo y el lenguaje con maestría. Aún así, lo poco gusta, pero lo mucho y repetido aburre. Y es que Prada no escatima embadurnar cada página de gargajos, meadas, puses y demás fluidos corporales que a menudo saturan la trama con entusiasmo de coprófilo. Sobran muchas páginas en este libro, que no es corto, porque no avanzan la trama ni añaden mucho a los temas de fondo, la gloria literaria, la supervivencia como escritor o artista, la atmósfera pre-bélica que acaba consumiendo el país, la crueldad como norma, la ideología como producto de la circunstancia, etc..
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