Reflecting on Life, Literature & Reading the Great Books (Patreon)

Dear Book Club Readers ---

Today, in celebration of another trip around the sun, I wanted to share some reflections on life and reading great literature with you.

This discussion also gives us a chance to consolidate some of the insights gleaned from Tolstoy as we now prepare to breach Dostoyevsky.

Topics include: reading one's heritage, the power of rereading, unconscious understanding, divine love, seeking meaning, and much more.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 my two-part birthday ritual
• 3:20 our Dostoyevsky lecture series
• 4:20 on wrapping up War and Peace
• 5:00 appreciating Irish Literature
• 5:50 Hemingway’s short stories
• 6:30 reading Dickens in serial form
• 8:21 on living the great books
• 10:00 why is rereading so important?
• 14:00 wrestling with Shakespeare
• 16:00 literature as support system
• 17:00 how does Tolstoy comfort us?
• 20:00 two most important things in life
• 21:00 on improving our health
• 22:00 advice to my younger self
• 23:00 on improving our input
• 25:00 where insights can be found
• 27:00 changing from year to year
• 28:00 athletic activity & mental health
• 32:00 writers as walking companions
• 33:00 motion, metaphor & music
• 35:52 knowledge, love & literature
• 37:00 the magic of birdwatching
• 38:20 knowing ourselves more truly
• 41:30 when literature defamiliarises
• 43:13 riffing on enduring truths
• 44:45 how meaning emerges
• 46:45 Tolstoy’s agon with Shakespeare
• 52:00 how many stories are there?
• 54:25 where does mythology come from?
• 57:00 seeking guidance & light
• 1:00:00 the rising & setting of the sun
• 1:03:00 what if art doesn’t reflect?
• 1:05:30 on apprehending otherness
• 1:07:00 different kinds of prayer
• 1:08:30 reflection, light & insight
• 1:10:00 how poetry refreshes life
• 1:12:30 can we search for meaning?
• 1:15:00 novels as parallax machines
• 1:17:00 how literature enriches life
• 1:19:40 going on circular journeys
• 1:22:00 building our own character
• 1:24:00 rebirth in the present moment
• 1:25:00 the difficulty of divine love
• 1:26:00 literature at its most powerful

Questions for You:

1) What does your heritage look like? And what literature would you read to explore it?

2) What insights remain with you from your recent reading? 

3) What do you think is the purpose of great literature? 

Happy reading, everybody!