avalokitesvara
bodhisattva
- Nov 28, 2024
- 262
what books have you read lately? or currently reading?
i usually have several books on the go at once bc my concentration is really bad and i get distracted. at the moment i have going:
self and others by r d laing
i'm primarily interested in what is to be a self, a subjectivity, and what it means to be in subject/object relationships. this book has made me cry a few times from recognising the futility or at least extreme difficulty of actually connecting authentically with others. we're always using others to maintain our own self-image or play out a phantasy. i recognise my essential loneliness here and why i have only ever felt connected authentically with other people who practice zen, because none of us is pursuing an agenda or a self-image. where the void is present within the relationship.
some quotes:
"separateness between man and man, that no love, nor the most complete experience of union, completely or permanently annuls."
"the greater need there is to get out of an untenable position, the less chance there is of doing so. the more untenable the position is, the more difficult it is to get out of it… by untenable, i mean that is impossible to leave and impossible to stay. in an alienated untenable position one does not realise this. hence why it is impossible to get out. as soon as paul realises that he is in a box, he can try to get out of it. but since to them the box is the whole world, to get out of the box is tantamount to stepping off the end of the world, a thing that no one who loves him could sit by and let happen"
rethinking consciousness by michael graziano
i watched a video about graziano's "attention schema theory" (link in profile) and it tied up with a previous book i've read on the neuroscience of consciousness (the ego tunnel by thomas metzinger). i am pretty firmly convinced that the attention schema theory answers the question of concsiousness. if you're interested i recommend the video from simon roper. he expresses it pretty clearly. graziano's book also deals with animal and other forms of consciousness which i find very interesting. he's also pretty funny and the book is very accessible. later in the book he discusses machine learning and ai which i'm looking forward to, might make another thread about that when i get there.
cranford by elizabeth gaskell
this is the cosiest book in the world and i have a very old edition that belonged to me great great aunt. instant comfort. i wish i lived in cranford.
i usually have several books on the go at once bc my concentration is really bad and i get distracted. at the moment i have going:
self and others by r d laing
i'm primarily interested in what is to be a self, a subjectivity, and what it means to be in subject/object relationships. this book has made me cry a few times from recognising the futility or at least extreme difficulty of actually connecting authentically with others. we're always using others to maintain our own self-image or play out a phantasy. i recognise my essential loneliness here and why i have only ever felt connected authentically with other people who practice zen, because none of us is pursuing an agenda or a self-image. where the void is present within the relationship.
some quotes:
"separateness between man and man, that no love, nor the most complete experience of union, completely or permanently annuls."
"the greater need there is to get out of an untenable position, the less chance there is of doing so. the more untenable the position is, the more difficult it is to get out of it… by untenable, i mean that is impossible to leave and impossible to stay. in an alienated untenable position one does not realise this. hence why it is impossible to get out. as soon as paul realises that he is in a box, he can try to get out of it. but since to them the box is the whole world, to get out of the box is tantamount to stepping off the end of the world, a thing that no one who loves him could sit by and let happen"
rethinking consciousness by michael graziano
i watched a video about graziano's "attention schema theory" (link in profile) and it tied up with a previous book i've read on the neuroscience of consciousness (the ego tunnel by thomas metzinger). i am pretty firmly convinced that the attention schema theory answers the question of concsiousness. if you're interested i recommend the video from simon roper. he expresses it pretty clearly. graziano's book also deals with animal and other forms of consciousness which i find very interesting. he's also pretty funny and the book is very accessible. later in the book he discusses machine learning and ai which i'm looking forward to, might make another thread about that when i get there.
cranford by elizabeth gaskell
this is the cosiest book in the world and i have a very old edition that belonged to me great great aunt. instant comfort. i wish i lived in cranford.
