One of my all-time favorite books is “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin. I always have to pause while reading it to soak in the gracefulness of the writing. The entire work is just a tapestry of beautiful sentences. There is definitely a political message embedded in it that makes it difficult for some to read. I suppose that enjoying it is easier if you have a liberal political bent, as I do. When I consider the political aspect, I feel it is a counter to Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” (which also, for me, possesses some beautiful writing). Both books should be required reading for everyone.
There are a few quotes from “The Dispossessed” that particularly resonate with me.
“It is our suffering that brings us together. It is not love. Love does not obey the mind, and turns to hate when forced. The bond that binds us is beyond choice. We are brothers. We are brothers in what we share. In pain, which each of us must suffer alone, in hunger, in poverty, in hope, we know our brotherhood. We know it, because we have had to learn it. We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. And the hand that you reach out is empty, as mine is. You have nothing. You possess nothing. You own nothing. You are free. All you have is what you are, and what you give.”
I could meditate on that for hours. “All you have is what you are, and what you give.” It’s true. More and more we have an attachment to objects outside ourselves, but it is us that imbues everything in our lives with meaning. The meaning in our lives comes from us, and from what we do for others. I prefer an existence in which we are defined by how we interact with the world and how we treat others, rather than what objects we surround ourselves with. The connections we share with people are what matter. I realize this more and more as I get older, and the distance between present and past increases.
She writes about creativity, and I love this one particularly because it illustrates a truth that is not well-known, I think. Artists and musicians are known for their creativity, but creativity also exists in the sciences. I’ve had the privilege of observing it from the front row while assisting with research into geometric algorithms. I hope to explain this better in some later posts.
“It was a revelation, a liberation. Physicists, mathematicians, astronomers, logicians, biologists, all were here at the University, and they came to him or he went to them, and they talked, and new worlds were born of their talking. It is of the nature of idea to be communicated: written, spoken, done. The idea is like grass. It craves light, likes crowds, thrives on crossbreeding, grows better for being stepped on.”
Ursula Le Guin, in another of her recognized masterpieces, “The Left Hand of Darkenss”:
Happiness has to do with reason, and only reason earns it. What I was given was the thing you can’t earn, and can’t keep, and often don’t even recognize at the time; I mean joy.
Thanks for the suggestions. I plan to start reading a bit more when I’m up north.