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Most of the time, I feel as if my birth into this hellish place means I lost the lottery along with the other 7 billion people I'm stuck here with.
You bring to mind a line from "Man of LaMancha." Aldonza asks and answers: "You know what the worst crime of all is? Being born. For that you get punished your whole life."
You bring to mind a line from "Man of LaMancha." Aldonza asks and answers: "You know what the worst crime of all is? Being born. For that you get punished your whole life."
I once read a quote that went something like this: "Life is a sort of death sentence with an indefinite reprieve."
I once read a quote that went something like this: "Life is a sort of death sentence with an indefinite reprieve."
Or there is always Woody Allen's observation in "Annie Hall":
Quote:
I feel that life is divided up into the horrible and the miserable. Those are the two categories, you know. The horrible would be like, um, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, cripples. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And, you know, the miserable is everyone else. So when you go through life, you should be thankful that you're miserable, because you're very lucky to be miserable.
If so, what books would you recommend? I'm an agnostic and have been for most of my life, but I want to educate myself on the great works of philosophy...but I have no idea where to start at?
As others have stated, I don't feel like there is a void, but I do love reading works that make me think.
First off, I highly recommend "Doubt: A History" by Jennifer Michael Hecht to anyone who is thinking about the place of religious doubt, unbelief, skepticism and the like in human history. It was a revelation,a comfort, and an encouragement to see that it isn't only religion that has deep roots in humanity. Skepticism and religious doubt has an equally long and interesting history and place in the world, and isn't some new fad, or some individual reaction. The act of questioning, or doubting, of looking to reason for answers is its own long, varied, and beautiful tradition.
I also like the works of Robert Ingersoll, "The Great Agnostc". It was mind blowing to me to find out that America has a long tradition of enthusiastic freethinkers, skeptics, atheists, and agnostics. Our history as a nation is not all about God, guns, and capitalism, as is so often portrayed. Ingersoll was a celebrity who drew huge crowds for his orations on reason, against the evils of religion, and on the virtues and utility of the agnostic point of view. What he wrote and said still rings very true today.
Only void was a big chunk of free time on Sunday morning, which was filled rapidly with skiing, riding motorcycles, sleeping in, boating and waterskiing, foolin' around and generally a more satisfying use of the day.
Only void was a big chunk of free time on Sunday morning, which was filled rapidly with skiing, riding motorcycles, sleeping in, boating and waterskiing, foolin' around and generally a more satisfying use of the day.
^ This. I was thinking the more voids, the better.
But if void means an absence of connecting to other people, I do that with my family, friends, coworkers, the internet (city-data, video games) and neighbors in that order.
If void means an absence of connecting to oneself, I do that through reading and writing. For fictional books, what I am looking for are the author's values through the characters. I cannot enjoy a book where the author's values are different from mine. For nonfiction, I look for books that can give a clearer explanation of what I know right now. Many times, if not most of the time, author's help change my thinking.
So filling the void does not mean pour books into it. It means having a purpose for doing what I am doing and then having a method.
Last edited by elyn02; 10-07-2018 at 07:59 AM..
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and generally a more satisfying use of the day.
