I’m so glad to hear that...it always feels a bit odd to recommend books as everyone has such different tastes. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever been recommended something I didn’t like. Well, rarely, anyway 😉😆❤️
I'll be really interested to see what you think of ACoTAR...the rumour that it's marmite definitely holds true. I've started having a non-fiction on the go at the same time as fiction...I'm always slower with the NF and would get antsy to get back to fiction so would abandon the NF part-way. Having one of each keeps my brain happy. :) xo
So interesting on the distinction between religious, romantic silence AND the dropping of self to access the divine. So… I am a creature who resides in both worlds often. I have been holding a similar question as to whether they are complementary or… perhaps even at odds with each other. Some seasons it seems like they are, and one or the other dominates.
But recently… I have really felt that notion to be a false dichotomy. I think that idea (one which I watered myself for years) creates a separation where naturally, there isn’t one. It was a handy construct that allowed me to say - well it’s either this or that, but not both, so you choose.
Since I am a big old Buddhist and all the monks I know are too, I can only say from the lens of this tradition that… the “dropping self” teachings are the ones that are most often misinterpreted, especially in the West it seems, and can result in spiritual bypass, the opposite of compassion. Suzuki Roshi (my zen great grandfather) said “when you become you, zen becomes zen.” So another way of saying no self is whole self… 🤓
I don't believe that the two are separate either -- certainly not mutually exclusive as she seems to think. She writes from the Christian perspective (Catholicism to be precise) and I do think her belief system is a huge influence on her view of silence as a concept. She felt herself to be at odds - -she wanted silence in order to get closer to God AND wanted to write, and realized the two (for her) were often in conflict. As part of her research in writing the book, she spent time in a Zen monastery though her differing beliefs seemed to make it difficult to be objective.
I'm not terribly well-versed in either tradition - tree-hugging, dirt-worshipper that I am -- which puts me at an advantage in some ways because I don't have a particular doctrine to guide me. It's also a disadvantage in other ways, but that's a whole other story! I do believe, though, that creativity comes from 'outside' myself...what I write and paint isn't all down to me...so I view silence as away to connect with that divine source, which makes the spiritual and the romantic one and the same to me.
It was a great book, lots of food for thought. She wrote comparatively of the effects of silence and mental health which I found really interesting....my eldest experienced psychosis a year or so ago and his description of the 'mental silence' that came with that tracked eerily well with how the author experienced extreme silence, which is what prompted her to look into the similarities of the two.
It's fascinating stuff, really....great late-into-the-night, lingering-over-dinner conversation fodder! xo
You have inspired me to start reading it and yes to no doctrines! I’m on zen hiatus currently because it did start to turn into a doctrine which is so not the point for me 🐚
YES! I did read it...though it crept into March as I had to read C of W first. I just got the second one from the library so that's coming up for March as well. They are definitely excellent winter books....I'm cutting it a bit close, but spring is always slow around here anyway! xo
I am a slow slow slow reader. I've actually recently discovered that I'm most certainly dyslexic. It comes out in certain ways. Not so much with mixing up letters, but I do have to read very slowly to not mix things up. I've adapted. Just don't tell me to turn right or left while driving. Haha. Anyway. Our wounds are our gifts. My love for words is more in their music and not so much their length. I love reading your book reviews. It's amazing that you can read this many books in a month. It would take me 6 months to a year to get through one of these books. That Sci-fi with the robots sounds fascinating. I actually read War & Peace a very long time ago. I had to make a viewer window with a piece of paper to keep myself on track. So I could only see one sentence at a time. It took me the good part of a year, or more, but I finished it. I remember Pierre and I remember being fascinated by the growth of the characters. ♡♡♡
I think you'd definitely enjoy Psalm for the Wild-Built, well worth the time investment. That's fascinating about your discovery - I think there's often black-and-white assumptions about neurodiversities when I firmly believe they ALL exist on a spectrum, so dyslexia in one person looks different from dyslexia in another. And then when people have adapted, it muddies the parameters even more...hence why many women aren't diagnosed until later in life..because we're so used to adapting. Pierre is definitely one of my favourite characters in W & P...certainly the only one I'm rooting for at this point! xo
What a romp! I'm loving this - so many fab suggestions, (and I'm never disappointed by your recommendations). My book list just grew exponentially.
I’m so glad to hear that...it always feels a bit odd to recommend books as everyone has such different tastes. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever been recommended something I didn’t like. Well, rarely, anyway 😉😆❤️
Dang I am going to have to start ACoTaR but i am slogging through a nonfiction at the moment and it shouldn’t be a difficult read and yet it is.
I'll be really interested to see what you think of ACoTAR...the rumour that it's marmite definitely holds true. I've started having a non-fiction on the go at the same time as fiction...I'm always slower with the NF and would get antsy to get back to fiction so would abandon the NF part-way. Having one of each keeps my brain happy. :) xo
I might have to do that, but the last time I did, I read a series of K-pop novellas and neglected the nonfiction!
Haha!! Yes, well, the addictive nature of fiction is definitely a factor...😆❤️
So interesting on the distinction between religious, romantic silence AND the dropping of self to access the divine. So… I am a creature who resides in both worlds often. I have been holding a similar question as to whether they are complementary or… perhaps even at odds with each other. Some seasons it seems like they are, and one or the other dominates.
But recently… I have really felt that notion to be a false dichotomy. I think that idea (one which I watered myself for years) creates a separation where naturally, there isn’t one. It was a handy construct that allowed me to say - well it’s either this or that, but not both, so you choose.
Since I am a big old Buddhist and all the monks I know are too, I can only say from the lens of this tradition that… the “dropping self” teachings are the ones that are most often misinterpreted, especially in the West it seems, and can result in spiritual bypass, the opposite of compassion. Suzuki Roshi (my zen great grandfather) said “when you become you, zen becomes zen.” So another way of saying no self is whole self… 🤓
I don't believe that the two are separate either -- certainly not mutually exclusive as she seems to think. She writes from the Christian perspective (Catholicism to be precise) and I do think her belief system is a huge influence on her view of silence as a concept. She felt herself to be at odds - -she wanted silence in order to get closer to God AND wanted to write, and realized the two (for her) were often in conflict. As part of her research in writing the book, she spent time in a Zen monastery though her differing beliefs seemed to make it difficult to be objective.
I'm not terribly well-versed in either tradition - tree-hugging, dirt-worshipper that I am -- which puts me at an advantage in some ways because I don't have a particular doctrine to guide me. It's also a disadvantage in other ways, but that's a whole other story! I do believe, though, that creativity comes from 'outside' myself...what I write and paint isn't all down to me...so I view silence as away to connect with that divine source, which makes the spiritual and the romantic one and the same to me.
It was a great book, lots of food for thought. She wrote comparatively of the effects of silence and mental health which I found really interesting....my eldest experienced psychosis a year or so ago and his description of the 'mental silence' that came with that tracked eerily well with how the author experienced extreme silence, which is what prompted her to look into the similarities of the two.
It's fascinating stuff, really....great late-into-the-night, lingering-over-dinner conversation fodder! xo
You have inspired me to start reading it and yes to no doctrines! I’m on zen hiatus currently because it did start to turn into a doctrine which is so not the point for me 🐚
Good recs! Did you read The Bear and the Nightingale too? I see it in your stack. I loved that trilogy, to be read in winter.
YES! I did read it...though it crept into March as I had to read C of W first. I just got the second one from the library so that's coming up for March as well. They are definitely excellent winter books....I'm cutting it a bit close, but spring is always slow around here anyway! xo
I am a slow slow slow reader. I've actually recently discovered that I'm most certainly dyslexic. It comes out in certain ways. Not so much with mixing up letters, but I do have to read very slowly to not mix things up. I've adapted. Just don't tell me to turn right or left while driving. Haha. Anyway. Our wounds are our gifts. My love for words is more in their music and not so much their length. I love reading your book reviews. It's amazing that you can read this many books in a month. It would take me 6 months to a year to get through one of these books. That Sci-fi with the robots sounds fascinating. I actually read War & Peace a very long time ago. I had to make a viewer window with a piece of paper to keep myself on track. So I could only see one sentence at a time. It took me the good part of a year, or more, but I finished it. I remember Pierre and I remember being fascinated by the growth of the characters. ♡♡♡
I think you'd definitely enjoy Psalm for the Wild-Built, well worth the time investment. That's fascinating about your discovery - I think there's often black-and-white assumptions about neurodiversities when I firmly believe they ALL exist on a spectrum, so dyslexia in one person looks different from dyslexia in another. And then when people have adapted, it muddies the parameters even more...hence why many women aren't diagnosed until later in life..because we're so used to adapting. Pierre is definitely one of my favourite characters in W & P...certainly the only one I'm rooting for at this point! xo