The Voyager's Handbook: The Essential Guide to Blue Water CruisiNg

By Beth A. Leonard

Sometimes I dream of buying a boat and sailing away from it all.

It is a commitment. This book prepares you for that commitment-- the time, the money, the planning, the execution. 

The reality of that commitment always dampens my dream. 

The Plague

By Albert Camus

More reading for my philsophy explorations. A story of the outbreak of bubonic plague in Orman. 

How does one deal with senseless, persistent suffering or evil, be-it war, death, facism or plague? There are ways...

• Quiet persistent resistance. Fight the evil without hope of final victory.
• Reject the judgement. Revolt. Organize for the greater good.
• Humility. Moral value is found in persistent and small human acts
• Faith-- struggle to reconcile belief with senseless evil
• Understand your part-- individualism and personal happiness vs the greater good and moral duty.

Meaning is not found in the universe or in the afterlife, but in our actions. 

Evil retreats and evil returns. Never forget that. Be vigilant. 

"On this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it's up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences. That may sound simple to the point of childishness; I can't judge if it's simple, but I know it's true. You see, I'd heard such quantities of arguments, which very nearly turn my head, and turned other people's heads enough to make them approve of murder; and I'd come to realize that all our troubles spring from the failure to use plain clear-cut language. So I resolved always to speak-- and to act-- quite clearly, as this was the only way of setting myself on the right track." 

"the doctor raised himself a little in his chair and asked if Taro and an idea of the path to follow for attaining peace.

"Yes", he replied. "The path of sympathy."

"A man should fight for the victims, but if he ceases caring for anything outside that, what's the use of his fighting?"

Waiting for God

By Simone Weil

"The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: 'What are you going through?' It is a recognition that the sufferer exists... as a man, exactly like us"

Somewhat intuitively and intentionally, I've been learning about philosophies and philosophers who advocate that discovering the truth, is our primary obligation to others. The first step on that journey is to pay attention to reality, the our problems and to others. 

The chief enemy of excellence is personal fantasy. Free your self from being a slave to your reactions. Stay away from the desire to fix, help or set people straight until you deeply know the truth, until you are invited.

Many of these readings point back to Weils and her essay on attention. It was good to go back to the source. 

Weils deeply believed in God, though she declined to join a church. I need to reread that at some point. 

The Manticore

By Robertson Davies

2nd book in the Depford trilogy, following the Fifth Business.

A satisfying book, though it has a lot to say about Jungian psychology. Perhaps the book hasn't aged well since Jung is no longer as influential. 

We often see or interpret the world through simplifications and archetypes. Health comes from seeing beyond that, from seeing the truth, seeing people for who they really are.