Man is a bridge

El Cabrero is on furlough until the beginning of next week, so the posts lately don't have any links or comments about current events. Regular posts will resume on Monday, August 24.

In the meantime, these have been prepared in advance. The theme is books, specifically the 10 that had the biggest impact on me growing up. What would make it to your list?

Recap: 1. Bible 2. Book of Common Prayer 3. Poe's stories and poems 4. Lord of the Rings 5. Tao Te Ching 6. Karate-Do Kyohan 7. a tie between Freud and Jung, which led me to #8....

Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra. I ran into this one sometime around age 18 and was totally blown away. It left a permanent scar, one of the good kind. I still love Nietzsche, even though I freely admit he was a little bit whacked. From Zarathustra, I've ranged over much of his work again and again over the years.

The part that hit me hardest at the time was the early part of the book, where Zarathustra returns to the world after 10 years on a solitary mountaintop. He gave a great speech about how we shouldn't be content with ourselves as we are now but should strive to give birth to something better.

Sample quote (from memory) "One must have chaos in one's soul to give birth to a dancing star."

I've got that one covered anyhow.



(Note: regular posts will resume August 24.)