What Happens When You Read Great Books?

Life itself can be construed as a journey. But, it is not a typical journey because there is no return from where we are headed. The typical hero story features a going out and a coming in. But our life, if it is an adventure, has no return to its point of origin. Once we travel beyond the veil of tears, there is no return. Unless of course, we came from beyond the veil, which is what Plato thought, in which case it would be a return. Here's a short little blog post on the topic by BV. https://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2019/02/journeys-and-preparations.html

Here is an interesting parallel: The Hero Cycle (roughly): 1. Departure from point of origin in response to a call to adventure. 2. Contention with the unknown, resulting in tranformation of some kind of the individual, often moral. 3. Return to the point of origin to share the acquired wisdom with one's people. The Journey of the Soul (in Platonic philosophy and Christian religion): 1. The fall from Grace 2. Moral purification. 3. Return to the One/God transformed and reconcilled The parallell is clear, I think. Both involve a departure from a point of origin, of order and known territory. Both involve the experience of contention, suffering, adventure, and or purification- i.e. death and rebirth. Lastly, both involve a return to the point of origin in a transformed mode of being. What does the parallel mean? What does it signify? What conclusions can we draw from this? Also, is there a connection between this noted paralle and the following two ideas? 1. The i...

There is another aspect to literature/philosophy that must also be considered. It is the notion that as one matures one becomes an individual self, that one does not simply assimilate the values, ideals, and norms of one's culture and society, but that one  questions these norms and assumptions, and thereby puts aside one's own beliefs and begins to think for oneself, as a person , as an individual , as a unique self . This is what Kierkegaard saw in Socrates. I think he was right. This is what Socrates was trying to do- ' the unexamined life is not worth living' . What did he mean? Socrates meant that, in one sense, truth is universal, not relative or socio-cultural. Cultures evolve, civilizations evolve their own conceptions of 'the good life', but they may not necessarily be true. We may be born and raised in a culture with a particular set of assumptions and values that are not conducive to living the good life. What ought we to do then? According to Socra...

Why does literature exist? What purpose does it serve? What do we gain from telling ourselves stories, and what do we lose from forgetting them? Potential answer: Our stories are external representations of the internal structure of the psyche- its fall, its journey upwards, and its end or union. In other words, our literature is the way it is because it reflects the way we are. How could it be otherwise? Western literature is obssessed with 'the journey'. It is so because it emmenates from our psyches. We cannot but help produce such literature. (What about Eastern literature, is there lack of this 'drama' or 'journey' literature? If so, doesn't this invalidate my claim? Perhaps one response is that philosophy and ideology are powerful things, and can be used to supress quite effectively). "Becoming simple and unified, the soul is "one with" the Good, all thought or awareness of duality having been left behind. Union with the Good is ...

Here are some rough thoughts on my view of the LOTR.  At the heart of the Lord of the Rings is the question of ‘what is  true  or  genuine life? ’ . Though this question is never stated explicitly, it lies at the core of the great drama Tolkien left us. In the Lord of the Rings we are presented with two ways to live, broadly speaking. The first way is the way of Goodness and beauty- it is a way of living according to the standards and ideals of a good and providential order. The forces for good- elves, hobbits, dwarves, and men live this way. The second way is the evil way, not by conformity with what is good and perfect and orderly, but by attempting to conform all else to oneself. That is why the Dark Lord Sauron is evil. His desire is not to live in accordance with Goodness but to bend all of Middle-earth to his will and dominion.  Tolkien makes it very clear that the first way of living- the way of the elves and the hobbits- is the only true and gen...

In the mouth of Gandalf Tolkien writes, "To crooked eyes truth may wear a wry face" (510). Meaning, that to one who cannot appreciate or apprehend the truth, even the truth when presented plainly before him may appear as falsehood. Source: Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings . Harper Collins, 1991.

Temptation is a major theme in LOTR. One of the primary forms of temptation in the book consists of the power of the Ring over certain individuals. There are several examples: 1. Near the beginning, Frodo offers Gandalf the Ring. Gandalf responds, "No!...With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly...Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself" (60). Frodo, overwhelmed by the burden of the Ring, hoped that Gandalf, one far wiser and stronger than him, would take it. But for Gandalf, this offer was clearly a temptation. Gandalf was aware of the great temptation latent in this offer. It reminds me of a saying the Latin theologians had- " Corruptio optimi pessima "- the corruption of the best is the worst. This line was applied to Satan, what made his corruption so horrible was the fact that he was so great. Similarly with Gandalf. Gandalf's corruption...