Some Terrific Short Stories, Part 2

     Last week I was discussing Ted Chiang's terrific collection of short stories, entitled Stories of Your Life and Others.  It's a worthy read.

     I'd like to mention two other stories in this collection which I particularly enjoyed.  One was "Hell is the Absence of God," which takes the idea that God truly decides on whether to send your soul to Heaven or Hell depending on how devoted you are to Him, although Hell isn't such a horrible place.  It's just a place without God.  The story follows Neil, who just lost his wife in a horrible accident caused by a heavenly angel visiting Earth.  During these angelic visits, people can experience miraculous healing, or they can be injured or killed by earthquakes or other side-effects caused by these visits.  Neil is angry at God for killing his wife, who went to Heaven, and is afraid he will never be able to forgive God enough to love Him and be able to rejoin his wife in Heaven.  The story examines the problem of suffering, of the injustice of life, and the depths of love and loss.  Terrific.

     The second story I enjoyed immensely is "Liking What You See:  A Documentary."  It provides the text of an imagined documentary about a university voting on whether to require all students to undergo a minor surgical procedure in the brain, which induces calliagnosia.  This is a condition which renders the person unable to appreciate beauty in another person's face.  Some of the persons "interviewed" say that this condition then enables people to see beyond the surface and learn to appreciate others' gifts such as intelligence, humor, open-heartedness, and so on.  Others were against this measure because they believe it impedes the maturity one must develop in order to see beauty, but look past it.  While calliagnosia is currently in the realm of science fiction, it is an interesting concept.  Funny thing was, when I finished this story, I opened up a fashion magazine and was confronted with all these images of beauty.  It was interesting to note my own reaction.  Also terrific.

    

Some Terrific Short Stories

     I don't know if you had the chance to see the movie Arrival, but if you haven't, run and do so.  Yes, run.

      But that isn't what this entry is about.

     It's about the short story upon which the movie was based, written by Ted Chiang.  Where can I find this story? you ask.  Let me tell you.  It's in a terrific collection of short stories entitled Stories of Your Life and Others.  Ted Chiang is clearly a gifted writer, who is not afraid to take an idea and examine all its logical ramifications.  It makes for some interesting reading.

     "Stories of Your Life" is the basis for the movie Arrival.  You know how you like the first thing you read or see, and then find yourself comparing the second thing to the first?  Well, I saw the movie first and then read the story and found myself comparing the two.  In this case, I liked the movie better because of its political and social commentary, but the story is great in its own way.  What I really appreciate about Chiang's writing is his emphasis on the human element, not just the plot or scientific details.  That part was carried over into the movie, which gave it its strength in my opinion.

     Do yourself a favor and get this book.  It's a great read.

Happy Independence Day!

May we be free of fear.

May we be free of suffering.

May we be free of want.

May we be free of exclusivity.

May we be free of closed-mindedness.

May we be free of hostility

And embrace peace, tolerance, and justice

For all in this world.

Happy Independence Day.

(illustration courtesy of pixabay.com)

Waxing into the Sacred Feminine

     With the summer solstice past, we now enter the time when the nights gradually get longer and longer until the time of the winter solstice.  In ancient cultures, this is the time when the sacred feminine, as represented by the night and the moon, increases in strength.  Let us welcome that sacred feminine -- her receptivity, her nurturing, her profound wisdom -- into our lives.

(illustration courtesy of pixabay.com)

A Mind-Expanding Book, Part 2

     Last week I was extolling the wonders of Edward Slingerland's book Trying Not to Try: The Ancient Art of Effortlessness and the Surprising Power of Spontaneity.  Here are some quotes that might give you a taste:

I've argued in this book that the phenomena of wu-wei [effortlessness, flow, spontaneity] and de [the charismatic power that comes from being in that state] are central to human flourishing and cooperation.  The only reason we need to be told that is that recent Western thought has been so obsessed with disembodied rationality that embodied spontaneity -- along with the unique tensions it presents -- has fallen off the radar.  Thinking of moral perfection as a matter of following rules or calculating utility certainly simplifies things.  Reason carefully, throw in a bit of willpower, and you're done.  The problem is that this model is deeply wrong.  It's psychologically unworkable, given what we know about the way the human body-mind operates.  Moreover, it completely fails to reflect how we actually experience our lives.

. . . .

[Scientists] are coming to recognize that the sort of knowledge that we rely on most heavily is hot, emotionally grounded "knowing how" rather than cold, dispassionate "knowing that."  We're made for doing, not thinking.  This has significant implications for everything from how we educate people to how we conduct public debates, make public policy decisions, and think about our personal relationships.

. . . .

Our modern conception of human excellence is too often impoverished, cold, and bloodless.  Success does not always come from thinking more rigorously or striving harder.  In a world increasingly dominated by cram schools, treadmills (literal or otherwise), 24/7 connectivity, and punishing amounts of stress, seeing the world in terms of the power and grace of spontaneity can help us to make better sense of our work, our goals, and our relationships.

This is an important book.  Get it.

 

 

A Mind-Expanding Book

     Every once in a while comes a book which puts everything into a new perspective.  Edward Slingerland's Trying Not to Try: The Ancient Art of Effortlessness and the Surprising Power of Spontaneity is just that book, at least for me. 

     Dr. Slingerland, professor of Asian studies at the University of British Columbia, walks the fine line between presenting the potentially dry philosophical history of Asian thought and irreverent humor.  I believe he widely succeeds.

     Slingerland discusses how we can achieve that feeling of flow -- the feeling that things are effortless, without too much thought, that results in bliss and satisfaction.  He then details how the ancient Chinese philosophers sought to achieve that effortlessness -- either by training the self through strict adherence to the Way as in Confucianism, by throwing off societal expectations and following the natural self as in Taoism, by reorganizing society along rational lines as the Mohists advocated, or to escape the domination of the conscious mind by listening to the qi as Zhuangzi taught. 

     In addition to explaining these lines of thought, Slingerland brings in relevant findings from the field of cognitive science and neurology, and peppers it with pithy stories from the ancients.

     This book helped explain why I've long been drawn to the simplicity of Taoism and had trouble with the five-this and eight-that of Confucianism and its relative, Buddhism (not to criticize -- it's just how my brain works, I guess).  Put into practice, this book is potentially life-changing.  Run, do not walk, and get this book.

A Wonderful Book, Part 2

     Last week I was describing the scope of Thich Nhat Hanh's book For a Future to be Possible.  While he details the five mindfulness trainings as ethics codes of the highest ideals but realizes that we are human.  Here are a couple of quotes:

The direction of the Five Mindfulness Trainings is the direction of beauty, goodness, and truth.  To transform our collective consciousness into beauty, goodness, and truth, we move in that direction, as we would go in the direction of the sun.  We cannot climb onto the sun, and we don't need to.  To move in that direction is good enough.

And . . .

The situation of the world today is so violent and confused that for a future to be possible, not only individuals, but even nations need to take the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

     A highly recommended book.