For two successive days this weekend, I wandered around Kinokuniya determined and a little anxious to make a purchase; not just any purchase, of course, but a “something” that will restore some semblance of balance between the forces of light and darkness, wisdom and ignorance. A tall order, and no doubt a reflection of recent decisions, of choices passed over or badly taken. I left the store with only Marley & Me, a gift for my brother and his Labrador, and the realisation that good books have a time of their own, and come before us only when they wish to be found.
Someone Said
To be at someone’s mercy is dialectical damage
— Gillian Rose-
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2 Comments
Yes.
I don’t know if it’s quite the same idea, but somewhere Emerson says something to the effect that “you” will read every book you are meant to read. Depending on how I’m doing with regard to the fact of my mortality in comparison to my love of reading, I find that either comforting or depressing.
Thanks for the comment, John. It seems that was my first (?) Emersonian thought – and I didn’t even know it! Perhaps it’s time to enter his world; Cavell has also been on my “To read” list for the longest time.
I read one of my past journal entries and found a similar thought:
“Books chose their moment of disclosure, and pace of unravelling; even then, it is never a full disclosure, all at once, instantly. We ourselves need to open ourselves to them”.
I’m sure the “mortality / reading” nexus has been explored by the tradition. I wonder if its solution stands as guardian at the door of Comprehension and Wisdom, a pre-condition for the possibility of?