on books

The following is from Emerson, Society and Solitude:

THAT book is good Which puts me in a working mood. Unless to Thought be added Will Apollo is an imbecile.

It is easy to accuse books, and bad ones are easily found; and the best are but records, and not the things recorded; and certainly there is dilettanteism enough, and books that are merely neutral and do nothing for us. In Plato’s Gorgias, Socrates says: "The ship-master walks in a modest garb near the sea, after bringing his passengers from Ægina or from Pontus; not thinking he has done anything extraordinary, and certainly knowing that his passengers are the same and in no respect better than when he took them on board." So is it with books, for the most part: they work no redemption in us. The bookseller might certainly know that his customers are in no respect better for the purchase and consumption of his wares.

And so, there have been explosions in the volume of our reading material, but how many of these explosions over naught bring changes to our lives or even to our thoughts? Emerson's observations apply in double measure to what we read on the internet. My hopes are that this blog sets you to action, or leads you in your observations toward deeper thought to guide your hands in crafting more meaningful lives. But all this truly resides in your own hands. I hope to put you in a working mood. I can merely tell you to "go for it." There are rewards, but you must harvest them yourself. Today, I am making small boxes to fill an order at Appalachian Spring Galleries in Washington, DC.

Make, Fix and Create...