A Book Recommendation
Citta
Veteran
Can I recommend a book to the membership ?
It is called " Ancient Beliefs And Modern Superstitions."
It is by the Sufi writer Martin Lings..
It does not concern Buddhism directly, although Buddhism is certainly referenced positively at various points.
It challenges the idea of social progress..Lings was of the view that we live not in some kind of New Age..but the reverse.
That we are living at a time when the great traditions are in decline..this he sees as natural and not in itself a cause for alarm..that it is part of a great cycle played out across the eons.
He cites artistic and linguistic evidence to demonstrate his central thesis..he is particularly good on language.
He points out for example that Pali, Sanskrit and Classical Arabic call for a huge degree of one pointedness in order to communicate in them..but touch points of subtlety and precision that modern languages cannot come close to...
Whether one ends up sharing his view or not, it is a deeply thought provoking small volume.
Comments
I'm in. I just ordered it...so....I probably won't be able to get in on any talk/discussion about it 'til this week-end.
To be cont.....
The book arrived today ..
... It'll be my holiday/ 3 day week-end read!
Anyone else read it? .....
Count me in, although it might take a little longer than 3 days for me.
I didn't say I would finish it...hahaha...although it does look like a small paperback...
Depends on how underfoot the kids will be. And no...before you put me on blast @Citta...it won't sit on the book shelf without being read ..
..
No rush....
I couldn't rush through it if I tried.....
I admit...this is a tough read for me....AFA vocab and I think sentence structure... I also have no reference/idea/knowledge about most of the footnotes.
Good news...I think based on the first chapter about language...it might be a good thing I can't understand all the words....
... I do understand some of the points...like rise and fall from perfection...and the 'rhythms'.... But I would be lying if I said I didn't feel discouraged and wanted to give up reading it. I think it's going to take reading it a couple of times before I know what parts I agree with...or thoughts being provoked...hahaha.
I first took it out from the public library in my hometown @Vastmind..I took it out about five times..eventually I bought a copy some years later.
Its challenging.