You Don't Have to Be Buddhist to Know Nothing: An Illustrious Collection of Thoughts on Naught - Hardcover

 
9781591027577: You Don't Have to Be Buddhist to Know Nothing: An Illustrious Collection of Thoughts on Naught
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1591027578 ISBN 13: 9781591027577
Verlag: Prometheus Books, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

" ‘Nothing’ is the force
That renovates the World."
—EMILY DICKINSON

"I love talking about nothing….It is the only thing I know anything about." –OSCAR WILDE

"Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being—like a worm." —JEAN-PAUL SARTRE

"Who in this world has not felt the power of this: a nothing!"—VICTOR HUGO

Whether a subject of dread or of fascination, nothing (often spelled with a capital "N") has intrigued writers, philosophers, and scientists since ancient times. In this sound-bite history of the concept of nothing, distinguished journalist Joan Konner—author of the bestselling The Atheist’s Bible—has created a unique anthology devoted to, well, … nothing. The collection brings together, in one portable volume, the thoughts of well-known writers and philosophers, artists and musicians, poets and playwrights, geniuses and jokers, demonstrating that some of the finest minds explored, feared, confronted, experienced, and played with the real or imagined presence of nothing in their lives. Paradoxical? Yes, indeed. You Don’t Have to Be Buddhist to Know Nothing shows that, like many Eastern sages, deep thinkers in the West also recognized and pondered nonexistence as an essential component and complement of existence itself. Organized in short topical chapters from "Knowing Nothing" to the "Joy of Unknowing" and "Nothing is Sacred," the verbal snapshots captured in this collection create a coherent work of insight, wisdom, humor and wonder. You Don’t Have to Be Buddhist to Know Nothing is compelling enough to be read all at once or in short bursts, as the spirit moves.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Joan Konner conceived and edited The Atheist’s Bible, which became a national bestseller in 2007. She is Dean Emerita and Professor Emerita of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, as well as the former publisher and currently an honorary co-chair of the Columbia Journalism Review. This is her second book.

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You Don't Have to Be BUDDHIST to Know NOTHING

Prometheus Books

Copyright © 2009 Joan Konner
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-59102-757-7

Contents

PREFACE...................................................11INTRODUCTION..............................................13BOOK I: BEFORE............................................230. The Origin.............................................25BOOK II: HERE GOES NOTHING................................311. In the Beginning.......................................332. The Light at the End of the Tunnel.....................353. Directions.............................................374. The Geography of Nowhere...............................41BOOK III: IN RESIDENCE....................................451. Foyer..................................................472. Living Room............................................493. Dinner Party...........................................514. East Room..............................................565. West Wing..............................................586. A Room of One's Own....................................627. The Children's Hour....................................658. In the Garden..........................................689. Reflecting Pool........................................70BOOK IV: PUBLIC LIBRARY...................................751. Dictionary of Nothing..................................772. Reading Room...........................................833. Writer's Room..........................................854. In the Stacks..........................................904.1 Samuel Beckett........................................904.2 Italo Calvino.........................................924.3 E. M. Cioran..........................................934.4 Edmond Jabs..........................................954.5 Thomas Merton.........................................974.6 Rumi..................................................984.7 William Shakespeare...................................1005. Poet's Corner..........................................1026. No Exit................................................1067. The Classics...........................................113BOOK V: CONCERT HALL......................................1171. Overture...............................................1192. Silence of the Spheres.................................1203. Symphonies of Silence..................................1224. Moments of Silence.....................................1255. The Audience...........................................129BOOK VI: SCHOOL...........................................1311. Knowing Nothing........................................1332. The Joy of Unknowing...................................1363. Mathematics............................................1394. The Arts...............................................1445. Science Sutra..........................................1476. Creative Thinking......................................1527. Paradoxical Logic......................................1568. Master Class...........................................1629. Recess.................................................16510. Final Exam............................................168BOOK VII: MUSEUM..........................................1711. Permanent Collection...................................1732. The Moderns............................................1753. Warhol Retrospective...................................1774. Gallery of Blind Spots.................................1795. In Studio..............................................1836. Nothing Is Beautiful...................................186BOOK VIII: THEATER DISTRICT...............................1891. Comedy Tonight.........................................1912. Mostly Mystery.........................................1943. In the Wings...........................................1964. Theater of the Absurd..................................199BOOK IX: HOUSE OF WORSHIP.................................2031. Nothing Is Sacred......................................2052. Seminary...............................................2123. House of Doubt.........................................2154. Practicing Nothing.....................................217BOOK X: DOWNTOWN..........................................2211. City Hall..............................................2232. The Office.............................................2273. Inn on Main Street.....................................2314. Restaurant.............................................2335. Corner Bar.............................................2346. Wall Street............................................237BOOK XI: CITY LIMITS......................................2391. This Way Out...........................................2412. Tunnel at the End of the Light.........................2453. Cemetery...............................................2504. Last Words.............................................2555. After Lite.............................................256EPILOGUE..................................................259ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...........................................261BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................263INDEX.....................................................303CREDITS AND PERMISSIONS...................................325ABOUT THE AUTHOR..........................................333

Introduction

I was in Aspen, Colorado, on my first on-location shoot as executive producer for the new season of Bill Moyers' Journal, fall 1978 on PBS. It was late August, and the green and hay-colored meadows were glorious in the Rockies' radiant light. Moyers was shooting an interview with one of his favorite subjects, the late philosopher Mortimer Adler. This program was to be a conversation on Adler's latest book, Aristotle for Everybody. Adler's thesis was that Aristotle, by means of reason and logic, had paved The Way to answer life's most persistent questions about the nature of Truth, Beauty, Goodness, and Happiness. Logic and reason were Aristotle's religion-and Adler's, but with an exception, as revealed in the interview. Adler had taken a leap of faith some years earlier, converting from being Jewish, the religion into which he was born, to becoming a Catholic.

Leap of faith? That mysterious leap keeps leaping up, in both belief and science. An inexplicable change from this to that! An instantaneous shift from here to there! What is a quantum, anyway? And what is the in-between, the blind spot over which the leap occurs?

Between rolls of film, in a scenic clich, Adler sat down next to me, on a stone beside a babbling brook. I chatted with him and posed a question that was on my mind:

"How do you reconcile Aristotelian logic with Eastern philosophy and religion, which are based on paradoxical logic?" I asked.

As background and a brief digression, I had in mind the documentary I had produced and written a few years earlier for NBC News called The Search for Something Else. It was a report on the spread of Eastern philosophy and religion to the United States through music: the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and others; and changes of hearts and minds through the practices of Buddhism, Yoga, Transcendental Meditation, and Zen, led by gurus from India, Tibet, Japan, and a few American early adopters. A shift in Western consciousness was taking place, especially among young people.

"That's easy," Adler answered. "They are wrong! Just try flying from New York to Tokyo based on paradoxical logic."

"Oh," I responded. And then, with respectful hesitation, I added, "I didn't know you could take a...

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Verlag
Prometheus Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2009
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1591027578
ISBN 13 
9781591027577
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
333
Herausgeber
Konner Joan
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV
info@simonandschuster.nl

Herculesplein 96
Utrecht
3584 AA
Niederlande