HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Gregor von Rezzori, The Snows of Yesteryear: Portraits for an Autobiography, translated from the German by H. F. Broch de Rothermann, with an Introduction by John Banville (New York: New York Review Books, 1989, 2009)  ("Her love for me was stormy.  I do not care to call it passionate, for that would presuppose impulses and initiatives, and one failed to find anything in her being that emanated directly from her.  She lived not according to any immanent motive but by preconceptions.  She loved me as 'the mother' should, according to a fixed concept of what mother and child were supposed to be, a fickle love that depended on the submission with which I conformed to my role as child.  No other torments of childhood were so painful as the intensity of that love, which constantly required me to give something I was unable to grant.  She required more than my goodwill to be a well-mannered child, to grow and to thrive under her care.  I felt I was expected not merely to fulfill the stereotype of the perfectly educated, well-bred son, unconditionally loving his mother, but in addition to provide something lacking in herself.  In her hands, I was both tool and weapon with which to overcome her emptiness--and perhaps also some anticipatory foreboding of her own destiny, whose fated finality she refused to accept."  Id. at 58-59.).

TRYING TO DEEPEN MY YOGA PRACTICE

Mircea Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, 2nd. Ed. (Bollingen Series LVI), translated from the French by Willard R. Trask, and with a new introduction by David Gordon White ( Princeton & Oxford: Princeton U. Press, 1958, 2009) ("We can distinguish at least two orientations, different yet convergent, in this emphatic valuation of the human body and its possibilities: (1) there is the importance accorded to the total experience of life as constituting an integral part of sadhana, and this is the general position of the tantric school; (2) there is, in addition, the will to master the body in order to transmute it into a divine body, and this is especially the position of Hatha Yoga.  Such a mastery must begin modestly, on the basis of an accurate knowledge of the organs and their functions.  For 'How can the Yogis who do not know their body (as) a house of one column (with) nine doors, and (as presided over by) five tutelary divinities, attain perfection (in Yoga)?'  But perfection is always the goal, and, as we shall soon see, it is neither athletic nor hygienic perfection.  Hatha Yoga cannot and must not be confused with gymnastics.  Its appearance is linked with the name of an ascetic, Gorakhnath, founder of the order, Kanphata Yogis.  He is supposed to have lived in the twelfth century, perhaps even earlier.  All that we know about Gorakhnath is distorted by a sectarian mythology and a profuse magical folklore, but facts that may be considered reliable warrant the supposition that he was in close relation with the 'Diamond Vehicle.' . . . Id. at 228.).


Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement: A Stainless Mirror of Jewels: A Commentary on Vairocana's The Union of the Sun and the Moon, translated from Tibetan, edited and annotated by Adriano Clemente with the precious help of the Author; translated from Italian into English by Andrew Lukianowicz, coordinated by Laura Evangelisti (New York: Snow Lion Publication, 2008) (From the backcover: "Yantra Yoga, the Buddhist parallel to Hathayoga of the Hindu tradition, is a system of practice entailing bodily movements, breathing exercises and visualizations.  Originally transmitted by the mahasiddhas of India and Oddiyana, its practice is nowadays found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism in relation to the Anuttaratantras, more generally known under the Tibetan term trulkbor, whose Sanskrit equivalent is yantra."  "The Union of the Sun and the Moon ('Phrul 'khor nyi zla kha sbyor), orally transmitted in Tibet in the eighth century by the great master Padmasambhava to the Tibetan translator and Dzogchen master Vairochana, can be considered the most ancient of all the systems of Yantra and its peculiarity is that it contains also numerous positions which are also found in the classic Yoga tradition."  "Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, one of the great living masters of Dzogchen and Tantra, started transmitting this profound Yoga in the seventies, and at that time wrote this commentary which is based on the oral explanations of some Tibetan yogins and siddhas of the twentieth century.  All Western practitioners will benefit from the extraordinary instructions contained in this volume.".


Swami Sivananda Radha, Hatha Yoga: The Hidden Language: Symbols, Secrets and Metaphors (20th Anniversary Edition), with an Foreword by Swami Lalitananda, and a Preface by B. K. S. Iyengar (Kootenay, BC, & Spokane, WA: Timeless Books, 1987, 2006).

NIETZSCHE

Krzysztof Michalski, The Flame of Eternity: An Interpretation of Nietzsche's Thought, translated from the Polish by Benjamin Paloff (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2007, 2012) "In Zarathustra Nietzsche says that the will to power is 'the scalding scourge of the hardest among the hardhearted,' that it is the dark flame of living pyres,' that it is the earthquake that breaks and breaks open everything worm-eaten and hollow; [. . .] the lightning-like question mark beside premature answers.' In short, that it characterizes life as an effort at change that knows no insurmountable opposition, at change that cannot be encompassed by any rational schema, in any design (from here to there)--at change that disrupts all continuity, any linkage between what has come before and what might come after, that tears each moment of life from the context of other moments, and thus also from the context of time as a succession of instants, as the difference between 'yesterday' and 'today.' " "Life as flame, the moment consumed by fire, disconnected from what was or will be. In this sense: eternity." "Life, the will to power, which overcomes everything that the succession of instants gradually accumulates around me, the continuity of time, making me this, and not that . . . --the effort that place me on the plane to eternity." "'This infinitely small moment,' Nietzsche write, 'is the higher reality and truth, a glimmer on the eternal river.'" Id. at 120.).

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagan, American Nietzsche: A History of An Icon and His Ideas (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2012) ("In the opening years of the twentieth century, a growing number of American political radicals, literary critics, academic philosophers, theologians, and journalists took an interest in the German philosopher who in recent years had been taking Europe by storm. With curiosity and confusion, fascination and frustration, they sought to make sense of a thinker who one writer in 1900 described as 'the most radical philosopher of the century, and one of the most picturesquely eccentric figures in all literature.' Interest in Nietzsche grew so rapidly that by the 1910s observers could, without hyperbole, refer to the American 'Nietzsche vogue.' But as fascination with Nietzsche escalated, so too did the apparent incongruity of it all. Commentators puzzled over what they perceived to be the incommensurability between Nietzsche's aristocratic radicalism and the democratic culture in which it found a home. Observers then could not help but wonder: What is the philosophy of an anti-Christian, antidemocratic madman doing in a culture like ours? Why Nietzsche? Why in America? Id. at 21-22. "This book examines what American readers were drawn to in this philosophy and its author, and what, in turn, they drew from them. It analyzes the dynamic history of how Nietzsche's antifoundationalism (the denial of universal truth), together with his sustained critiques of Christan morality, Enlightenment rationality, and democracy, has compelled many American to question their religious ideals, moral certainties, and democratic principles. . . ." Id. at 22. Also, see Alexander Star, "The Overman," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 1/15/2012.).

BEING AWARE OF, AND LOOKING DEEPLY AT, THE OBJECT

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2006) ("To practice meditation is to look deeply in order to see into the essence of things.  With insight and understanding we realize liberation, peace, and joy.  Our anger, anxiety, and fear are the ropes that bind us to suffering.  If we want to be liberated from them, we need to observe their nature, which is ignorance, the lack of clear understanding.  When we misunderstand a friend, we may become angry with him, and because of that, we may suffer.  But when we look deeply into what has happened, we can end the misunderstanding.  When we understand the other person and his situation, our suffering will disappear and peace and joy will arise.  The first step is awareness of the object, and the second step is looking deeply at the object to shed light on it.  Therefore, mindfulness means awareness and it also means looking deeply."  Id. at 9.  "Practicing Buddhist meditation is not a way of avoiding society or family life. The correct practice of mindfulness can help us bring peace, joy, and release both to ourselves and to our family and friends as well.  Those who practice mindful living will inevitably transform themselves and their way of life.  They will live a more simple life and will have more time to enjoy themselves, their friends, and their natural environment.  They will have more time to offer joy to others and to alleviate their suffering.  And when the time comes, they will die in peace.  They will know that to die is to begin anew or just to continue with another form of life.  When we live our life this way, every day is a Happy Birthday, a Happy Continuation Day."  Id, a 123.).

RAYMOND ARON

Raymond Aron, Clausewitz, Philosopher of War translated from the French by Christine Booker and Norman Stone (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1985).


Raymond Aron, The Dawn of Universal History: Selected Essays From a Witness to the Twentieth Century, translated from the French by Barbara Bray, edited by Yair Reiner, with and Introduction by Tony Judt (New York: Basic Books, 2002) (From the bookjacket: "Aron examines the spread of nationalism in Europe through two world wars and the subsequent disintegration of its empires. In charting the rise of the opposite ideological extremes of Fascism and Marxism and their respective descents into brutal totalitarianism, he concludes that those two political ideologies were essentially secular religions, taking the traditional place of religion as the 'opiate of the masses.' Aron explores America's role as an 'imperial republic' uneasily coming to terms with its emerging role as the world's sole superpower. He also presents French imperialism in Algeria and Indochina as a cautionary tale, both for its economic and political liabilities to the imperial power itself and its immoral treatment of the subjugated peoples. Finally, in a magisterial conclusion that synthesizes his ideas and universalizes the historical processes of the twentieth century, Aron ask the question, Has history become truly global and universal for all nations and peoples?").

Raymond Aron, History, Truth, Liberty: Selected Writings of Raymond Aron, edited by Franciszek Draus, with a Memoir by Edward Shils (Chicago & London: U. of Chicago Press, 1985).

MARGARET FULLER

John Matteson, The Lives of Margaret Fuller: A Biography (New York & London: W. W. North, 2012) (From the bookjacket: "Margaret Fuller (1910-1850) was perhaps the most talented--and the most provocative woman of her generation. . . . " "At a time when higher education was denied to almost all women, Fuller answered her father's challenge to become arguably the most learned person, male or female, in America. Brilliant and brash, idealistic and adventurous, she rose to prominence as the leasing woman in the transcendentalist movement." Also see Mary Beth Norton, "Woman of the World," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 1/22/2012.).

THINKING ABOUT NONHUMAN ANIMALS IS THINKING (PERHAPS BETTER) ABOUT HUMAN ANIMALS

Jenny Diski, What I Don't Know About Animals, (New Haven & London: Yale U. Press, 2011).

Raimond Gaita, The Philosopher's Dog: Friendship with Animals (New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2005).

Diana Reiss, The Dolphin in the Mirror: Exploring Dolphin Minds and Saving Dolphins Lives (Boston & New York Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011).

Kathy Rudy, Loving Animals: Toward a New Animal Advocacy (Minneapolis & London: U. of Minnesota Press, 2011).

Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 1990) ("Where do we start to resolve the dichotomy of the civilized and the wild?" "Do you really believe you are an animal? We are now taught this in school. It is a wonderful piece of information: I have been enjoying it all my life and I come back to it over and over again, as something to investigate and test. I grew up on a small farm with cows and chickens, and with a second-growth forest right at the back fence, so I had the good fortune of seeing the human and animal as in the same realm. But many people who have been hearing this since childhood have not absorbed the implications of it, perhaps feel remote from the nonhuman world, are not sure they are animals. They would like to feel they might be something better than animals. That's understandable: other animals might feel they are something different than 'just animals' too. But we must contemplate the shared ground of our common biological being before emphasizing the differences." Id. at 16-17. "There is a verse chanted by Zen Buddhists called the 'Four Great Vows.' The first line goes: 'Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them.' Shujo muben seigando. It's a bit daunting to announce this intention--aloud--to the universe daily. This vow stalked me for several years and finally pounced: I realize that I had vowed to let the sentient beings save me. In a similar way, the percept against taking life, against causing harm, doesn't stop in the negative,. it is urging us to give life, to undo harm." "Those who attain some ultimate understanding of these things are called 'Buddhas,' which means 'awakened ones.' The world is connected to the English verb 'to bud'." Id. at 194-195.).


Kari Weil, Thinking Animals: Why Animal Studies Now? (New York: Columbia U. Press, 2012).