Descartes ~ Meditations

"It feels as if I have fallen unexpectedly into a deep whirlpool which tumbles me around so that I can neither stand on the bottom nor swim up to the top."

Second Meditation: "The nature of the human mind, and how it is better known than the body"

René Descartes // John Cottingham (Editor and Translator)

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"So today I have expressly rid my mind of all worries and arranged for myself a clear stretch of free time. I am here quite alone, and at last I will devote myself sincerely and without reservation to the general demolition of my opinions."

René Descartes 
John Cottingham (Editor and Translator)

Hegel ~ Phenomenology of Spirit

52. The excellent, however, not only cannot escape the fate of being thus deprived of life and Spirit, of being flayed and then seeing its skin wrapped around a lifeless knowledge and its conceit. 

54. Comprehended in this is the fact that Being is Thought; and this is the source of that insight which usually eludes the usual superficial [begrifflos] talk about the identity of Thought and Being. (p. 33)

59. Argumentation is reflection into the empty 'I', the vanity of its own knowing. (p. 36)

790. When the 'I' is called soul, it is true that it is also represented as a Thing, but as something invisible, intangible, etc., and therefore in fact not as an immediate being and not as what is meant by a Thing. That judgement, taken just as it stands, is non-spiritual or rather is the non-spiritual itself. In its Notion, however, it is in fact the most richly spiritual, and this inner significance of what is not yet apparent is what is expressed in the two other moments to be considered. (p. 481) 

795. The Notion, too, is itself already present on the side of self-consciousness. But as it has come before us thus far, it has to be a particular shape of consciousness like all the other moments. It is, therefore, that aspect of the shape of self-assured Spirit that abides within its Notion and was called the 'beautiful soul'. The 'beautiful soul' is its own knowledge of itself in its pure, transparent unity---the self-consciousness that knows this pure knowledge of pure inwardness as Spirit. It is not only the intuition of the Divine but the Divine's intuition of itself. Since this Notion holds itself firmly opposed to its realization, it is the one-sided shape which we saw vanish into thin air, but also positively externalize itself and move onward. (483) 


807. The self-knowing Spirit knows not only itself but also the negative of itself, or its limit: to know one's limit is to know how to sacrifice oneself. (p. 492) 

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) 
Translated by A. V. Miller 
with Analysis of the Text and Foreword by J. N. Findlay, F.B.A., F.A.A.A.S. 
Oxford University Press 1977 

Belmonte ~ Thursday, 16 August 2018

"My firmest conviction, my superstition if you like, is that it's no use trying to keep out of trouble. It is better to offer yourself boldly for destiny to do its worst. If I can think about a misfortune until it becomes a familiar companion, and if I have enough courage to live it in all its intensity in my imagination, I have beaten it before it happens." (p. 227) 
~ Juan Belmonte.

Killer of Bulls: The Autobiography of a Matador, by Juan Belmonte. Translated from the Spanish by Leslie Charteris, Copyright 1937, Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc.

Dōgen ~ Wednesday, 8 August 2018

Rational Zen: The Mind of Dōgen Zenji

Translated and Presented by Thomas Cleary
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Boston and London 
© 1992 by Thomas Cleary

Universal Book of Eternal Peace 
Selections from Eihei Kōroku

1

The years of a lifetime are a flash of lightning; who clings to objects? They are empty through and through. Even if you care for the nose hung in front of your face, still be careful and value every moment to work on enlightenment. (p. 43) 

4

Supreme enlightenment is not for oneself, not for others, not for fame, not for gain. To nevertheless seek unexcelled enlightenment wholeheartedly and singlemindedly, perservering without regressing, is called "awakening the mind for enlightenment." (p. 44) 

Chandler ~ Tuesday, 26 June 2018

The Lady in the Lake (1943) ~ Raymond Chandler (1888-1959)

First Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Edition, August 1992

Copyright © 1943 by Raymond Chandler
Copyright renewed 1971 by Mrs. Helga Greene

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Originally published, in hardcover, by Alfred A. Knopf, in 1943, and, in paperback, by Vintage Books, in 1976.

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"Her dark hair was parted and fell in loose but not unstudied waves." ~ p. 4

"She had a smooth ivory skin and rather severe eyebrows and large dark eyes that looked as if they might warm up at the right time and in the right place." ~ p. 4

"She put my card beside a pile of freshly typed letterheads. She leaned back and put one arm on the desk and tapped lightly with a small gold pencil." ~ p. 5

"She looked playful and eager, but not quite sure of herself, like a new kitten in a house where they don't care much about kittens." ~ p. 5

"I thanked her and went and sat in a chromium and leather chair that was a lot more comfortable than it looked. Time passed and silence descended on the scene. Nobody came in or went out. ~ p. 5

"The minutes went by on tiptoe, with their fingers to their lips." ~ p. 6

"Ten minutes later the same door opened again and the big shot came out with his hat on and sneered that he was going to get a hair-cut. He started off across the Chinese rug in a swinging athletic stride, made about half the distance to the door and then did a sharp cutback and came over to where I was sitting." ~ p. 6

"He was about six feet two and not much of it soft. His eyes were stone gray with flecks of cold light in them. He filled a large size in smooth gray flannel with a narrow chalk stripe, and filled it elegantly. His manner said he was very tough to get along with." ~ pp. 6-7

"He's a big man with soft silvery hair and a cute little mouth to kiss babies with." ~ p. 7

"He reared back as if I had hung a week-old mackerel under his nose." ~ p. 7

"He reached himself a panatela out of a copper and mahogany box and trimmed it and lit it with a fat copper desk lighter." ~ p. 8

"He took his time about it. It didn't matter about my time." ~ p. 8

Dōgen ~ Moon in a Dewdrop (1985) ~ North Point Press

"Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash, you do not return to birth after death." (p. 70)

Dōgen ~ Moon in a Dewdrop (1985) ~ North Point Press