A guide for making sense of life--from action (good except when it's not) to thinking (depressing) to youth (a treasure). This book offers a guide to human nature and human experience--a reference book for making sense of life. In thirty-eight short, interconnected essays, Shimon Edelman considers the parameters of the human condition, addressing them in alphabetical order, from action (good except when it's not) to love (only makes sense to the lovers) to thinking (should not be so depressing) to youth (a treasure). In a style that is by turns personal and philosophical, at once…mehr
A guide for making sense of life--from action (good except when it's not) to thinking (depressing) to youth (a treasure).
This book offers a guide to human nature and human experience--a reference book for making sense of life. In thirty-eight short, interconnected essays, Shimon Edelman considers the parameters of the human condition, addressing them in alphabetical order, from action (good except when it's not) to love (only makes sense to the lovers) to thinking (should not be so depressing) to youth (a treasure). In a style that is by turns personal and philosophical, at once informative and entertaining, Edelman offers a series of illuminating takes on the most important aspects of living in the world.
Preface xiii Executive Summary: A Rhyming Lore of the Human Condition xvii 1 Action 1 The native hue of resolution. The pale cast of thought. And lose the name of action. 2 Ambition 5 Pelf and place. A small goat. 3 Anxiety 9 Possession. What you know you don’t know can hurt you. What—me worry? Yes. 4 Beauty 13 The imminence of a revelation. Evolutionary bait and switch. Between the world and a grain of sand. The pathos of things. The seven sad senses of beauty. 5 Children (The Raising of) 19 Be good. Plan B. Other ways to be. 6 Complexity 23 The dark forest. A spotlight shines on an enigma. Back in the forest. 7 Consciousness 29 The Tempest in a teapot. The insubstantial pageant. We are such stuff as dreams are made on. The splendor and the misery. 8 Death 35 The tragic sense of life. The Switch. Still The Switch. Only in silence the word. 9 Empathy 41 To em or not to em. Us and Them. From ordinary household objects. 10 Emptiness 45 Einstein meets the Buddha. Enter Borges. 11 Evolution 49 The mountains and the monsoon. A universal history of iniquity. Definitely maybe. 12 Existence 55 A bit of Talmudic existentialism. I think, therefore I ache. The mindfulness ruse. 13 Fear 59 Where the wild things are. True grit. We have seen the enemy. 14 Free Will 63 Complications. Misapprehension. Chance. Necessity. Implications. 15 Happiness 69 Machineries of joy and sorrow. Happiness fast and slow. The dark side of happiness. 16 Home 73 No home. No homeland. No rest. No end. 17 Language 79 The tentacles of intent. The Ring of Fire. Gaming the Game. Big Two-Hearted River. 18 Love 87 What a lovely way to burn. Che cosa e amor. Tuqburni. 19 Mathematics 93 Unreasonable effectiveness. Ineffectiveness of reason. But time and chance happeneth to them all. 20 Memory 99 The waters of Naihe. Some work of noble note. Across the universe. The Time Warp again. All memory and fate. 21 Morality 105 Silentio Dei. On the genealogy of morals. Human, all too human. Away from Omelas. 22 Old Age 113 Comfortably numb. Catabasis. Cassandra’s golden years. Volver. 23 Parents (The Liberation from) 119 Be good. Be you. Be back. 24 Perception 123 Use your illusion. Umwelten. How things really are. 25 Politics 129 The tools of the trade. A shining city on the hill. Into the catacombs. News from Nowhere. 26 Power 137 The great chains of being. The invisible hand. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. 27 Poverty 141 Cui bono? Double double jeopardy. UBI bene? 28 Regret 145 Nothing, really? The ledger. Fools and heroes. 29 Religion 149 A rose by any other name. Hanging onto the tiger’s tail. The heart of a heartless world. Pride and prejudice. 30 Science 155 Truth to power. The two towers. Power-proofing science. 31 Stupidity 159 Human, all too human. An eclipse of common sense. The wages of folly. Worse than a fool. The stupidity of crowds. The unholy trinity. 32 Suffering 165 Mindsets. Varieties. Mechanisms. Options. 33 Technology 171 Comfortably numb. The fiery sword. Cura te ipsum. 34 Thinking 175 Transitional. Treacherous. Transgressional. 35 Time 181 The sandstorm. Faster, slower, true. The tyranny of now. The arrow of time. 36 Truth 185 A melancholy pearl. Ministries of information. Into the well. 37 War 189 A room with a view. After Babel. Blowing in the wind. 38 Youth 195 Another difficult dilemma. Silver spoon or not. Choice and chance. Janus introversus. Afterword 201 Just dropped in (to see what condition my condition was in) Acknowledgments 203 Notes 205 References 271 Index 311
Preface xiii Executive Summary: A Rhyming Lore of the Human Condition xvii 1 Action 1 The native hue of resolution. The pale cast of thought. And lose the name of action. 2 Ambition 5 Pelf and place. A small goat. 3 Anxiety 9 Possession. What you know you don’t know can hurt you. What—me worry? Yes. 4 Beauty 13 The imminence of a revelation. Evolutionary bait and switch. Between the world and a grain of sand. The pathos of things. The seven sad senses of beauty. 5 Children (The Raising of) 19 Be good. Plan B. Other ways to be. 6 Complexity 23 The dark forest. A spotlight shines on an enigma. Back in the forest. 7 Consciousness 29 The Tempest in a teapot. The insubstantial pageant. We are such stuff as dreams are made on. The splendor and the misery. 8 Death 35 The tragic sense of life. The Switch. Still The Switch. Only in silence the word. 9 Empathy 41 To em or not to em. Us and Them. From ordinary household objects. 10 Emptiness 45 Einstein meets the Buddha. Enter Borges. 11 Evolution 49 The mountains and the monsoon. A universal history of iniquity. Definitely maybe. 12 Existence 55 A bit of Talmudic existentialism. I think, therefore I ache. The mindfulness ruse. 13 Fear 59 Where the wild things are. True grit. We have seen the enemy. 14 Free Will 63 Complications. Misapprehension. Chance. Necessity. Implications. 15 Happiness 69 Machineries of joy and sorrow. Happiness fast and slow. The dark side of happiness. 16 Home 73 No home. No homeland. No rest. No end. 17 Language 79 The tentacles of intent. The Ring of Fire. Gaming the Game. Big Two-Hearted River. 18 Love 87 What a lovely way to burn. Che cosa e amor. Tuqburni. 19 Mathematics 93 Unreasonable effectiveness. Ineffectiveness of reason. But time and chance happeneth to them all. 20 Memory 99 The waters of Naihe. Some work of noble note. Across the universe. The Time Warp again. All memory and fate. 21 Morality 105 Silentio Dei. On the genealogy of morals. Human, all too human. Away from Omelas. 22 Old Age 113 Comfortably numb. Catabasis. Cassandra’s golden years. Volver. 23 Parents (The Liberation from) 119 Be good. Be you. Be back. 24 Perception 123 Use your illusion. Umwelten. How things really are. 25 Politics 129 The tools of the trade. A shining city on the hill. Into the catacombs. News from Nowhere. 26 Power 137 The great chains of being. The invisible hand. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. 27 Poverty 141 Cui bono? Double double jeopardy. UBI bene? 28 Regret 145 Nothing, really? The ledger. Fools and heroes. 29 Religion 149 A rose by any other name. Hanging onto the tiger’s tail. The heart of a heartless world. Pride and prejudice. 30 Science 155 Truth to power. The two towers. Power-proofing science. 31 Stupidity 159 Human, all too human. An eclipse of common sense. The wages of folly. Worse than a fool. The stupidity of crowds. The unholy trinity. 32 Suffering 165 Mindsets. Varieties. Mechanisms. Options. 33 Technology 171 Comfortably numb. The fiery sword. Cura te ipsum. 34 Thinking 175 Transitional. Treacherous. Transgressional. 35 Time 181 The sandstorm. Faster, slower, true. The tyranny of now. The arrow of time. 36 Truth 185 A melancholy pearl. Ministries of information. Into the well. 37 War 189 A room with a view. After Babel. Blowing in the wind. 38 Youth 195 Another difficult dilemma. Silver spoon or not. Choice and chance. Janus introversus. Afterword 201 Just dropped in (to see what condition my condition was in) Acknowledgments 203 Notes 205 References 271 Index 311
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