Cien
Female from USA
About Me:
More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read. -Algernon, The Importance of Being Earnest
More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read. -Algernon, The Importance of Being Earnest
DailyLit Reading:
The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 1 finished
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day finished
Abbe Mouret's Transgression finished
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man finished
Common Sense finished
Daisy Miller finished
The Communist Manifesto finished
Agnes Grey finished
The Picture of Dorian Gray finished
Tao Te Ching finished
The Art of War finished
The Pied Piper of Hamelin finished
The Importance of Being Earnest finished
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer finished
Antigone finished
Alcestis finished
The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 1 finished
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day finished
Abbe Mouret's Transgression finished
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man finished
Common Sense finished
Daisy Miller finished
The Communist Manifesto finished
Agnes Grey finished
The Picture of Dorian Gray finished
Tao Te Ching finished
The Art of War finished
The Pied Piper of Hamelin finished
The Importance of Being Earnest finished
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer finished
Antigone finished
Alcestis finished
Posts and Reviews:
The Art of War - war - posted last year
raymond, you remind me a bit of excess population.Tao Te Ching - Ignorance masked as englightenment - posted last year
I've been looking through it again, and I think you're quite right. It doesn't really sit well with me as far as practical application, but I think you're right about what its intentions are.The Picture of Dorian Gray - Would all of our portraits end like Dorian's? - posted last year
Maybe you're right -- maybe my portrait would end up like his; maybe everybody's would. But here's another question: If he hadn't known about the portrait's special powers, if it had been hidden away from him, would he have become evil? He wouldn't have gotten punishment, and yet at the same time, he would not have known that he could ALWAYS escape punishment. Is it the power of the portrait that made him evil, or is it his knowledge of the power of the portrait?Ideas - a way to send messages? - posted last year
But what if I wanted to make friends with somebody? The only way to do so would be for them to publically post their email address. A lot of people don't like doing that, and for good reason.Tao Te Ching - Ignorance masked as englightenment - posted last year
Awesome. I'd really like to discuss it further and figure out what I think of it.Tao Te Ching - Ignorance masked as englightenment - posted last year
I was reading from two translations simultaneously just to make sure I was getting the right impression, but I still percieved it as promoting ignorance in some areas... such as one area that describes a town full of people who go back to counting with knots as being better off than the next town over. I realize this is symbolic, but it still bothers me...Ideas - a way to send messages? - posted last year
It would be nice if we could send private messages to other posters in the forum. I often want to dig further into something particular somebody said without hijacking threads.Tao Te Ching - Ignorance masked as englightenment - posted last year
Is it just me, or does anybody else find the Tao to be depressing and even frightening? Am I reading it incorrectly, or is it really advocating ignorance as a way to happiness? In some ways, it reminds me of "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck, which (as far as I can tell) was illustrating the point that riches and gain actually bring peril and misery. While this point is sometimes true, I find it frightening to advocate ignorance in place of enlightenment through a constant search for understanding. Complacency and ignorance masked as enlightenment? That is what happens when people must be complacent, for they have nowhere to turn and no way to gain. Complacency is, like The Devil's Dictionary's definition of patience, a minor form of despair.Les Miserables - A Running Record . . . - posted last year
SparkNotes to the rescue. Here's info about the French Revolution:http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/
I don't know if you've ever heard of Sparknotes -- it's basically study guides targeted to high school and college students -- and the way they carry it off is fantastic. They are a genuinely great way to get a basis in quite a few subjects.