Quote from the book you're reading

We're always thinking of eternity as an idea that cannot be understood, something immense. But why must it be? What if, instead of all this, you suddenly find just a little room there, something like a village bath-house, grimy, and spiders in every corner, and that's all eternity is. Sometimes, you know, I can't help feeling that that's what it is.

 

I've wanted to read Crime and Punishment, but haven't yet (even though it's a title that I must have heard a 1000 times since I was a kid). Is this your first reading of it?

I did read some biographical info on Dostoevsky though, after googling your quote. I must have googled him before; it was all familiar.

 

IF JESUS COMES BACK WE WILL KILL HIM AGAIN !

 

I always believe that to be true.

 

This is the second reading but feels like the first, I dont really remember much from reading it the first time and I like it a lot better this time around. It's a really good psychological examination into what drives someone to such things as murder

Dostoevsky's short stories are excellent if you dont want the commitment of a novel

 

I've added it to my wishlist on Audible. "Psychological examination" did it for me. Most reviews i read mention
Dostoevsky's "insight". "Examination" , makes me think there's something for the reader to really dissect (like I'm sure you are doing!), rather than just admire.

Thanks!

 

I hope I haven't oversold it

Let me know what you think after you read..er, listen to it !

 

"It is now known to science that there are many more dimensions than the classical four. Scientists say that these don’t normally impinge on the world because the extra dimensions are very small and curve in on themselves, and that since reality is fractal most of it is tucked inside itself. This means either that the universe is more full of wonders than we can hope to understand or, more probably, that scientists make things up as they go along."

Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

 

"We who bore the 'sign' might rightly be considered odd by the world, even mad and dangerous. We were 'awake' or 'wakening' and our striving was directed at an ever-increasing wakefulness, whereas the striving and quest for happiness of the rest was aimed at identifying their thoughts, ideals, duties, their lives and fortunes more and more closely with that of the herd. That too was striving, that too was power and greatness. But whereas we, in our conception, represented the will of nature to renew itself, to individualize and march forward, the others lived in the desire for the perpetuation of things as they are. For them humanity - which they loved as we did - was something complete that must be maintained and protected. For us, humanity was a distant goal to which we were marching, whose image no one yet knew, whose laws were nowhere written down."

Demian by Hermann Hesse

 

Question: What would your good do if
evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows
disappeared? After all, shadows are cast by things and people. Here is the
shadow of my sword. But shadows also come from trees and living beings.
Do you want to strip the earth of all trees and living things just because
of your fantasy of enjoying naked light?
-The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

 

I'm still making my way through that myself(thanks to your suggestion! ). First time since I was a kid that I haven't switched back and forth among books until the end.

 

I havent finished it yet either, I read slowly because I always read in bed and fall asleep 2 pages in lol

But it's already making it's way into my favorite books list. I can genuinely say I've never read another book like it. I'm probably going to give it a second read immediately after this read but with an annotated version next time. I'm sure I'm missing a lot of references and thematic elements

 

I've never read a book like it either(except for a class assignment, maybe...and definitely not to completion). Honestly, I didn't know how to read it (still changing my approach every so often). Everything else I read is nonfiction.

 

Would love to hear you elaborate on this sometime when you have a chance

 

You might regret suggesting that I elaborate I can turn a simple explanation into an long rambling mess, .
I'll type up something tomorrow during lunch break, and I'll try to not turn it into a novel. I know what I have in mind to write, but I get off point a lot.

 

"Let's drop the war."
"It's very hard. There's no place to drop it."
"Let's drop it anyways."
"Alright."

And then they kiss (after she smacks him, because, 1917 propriety) and forget about the war. Yay.

 

Siddhartha said: "Yes I have had thoughts and knowledge here and there. Sometimes, for an hour or for a day, I have become aware of knowledge, just as one feels life in one's heart. I have had many thoughts, but it would be difficult for me to tell you about them. But this is one thought that has impressed me, Govinda. Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish. "

 

"This also does not trouble me much," said Siddhartha. "if they are illusion, then I also am illusion, and so they are always of the same nature as myself. It is that which makes them so lovable and venerable. That is why I can love them. And here is a doctrine at which you will laugh. It seems to me, Govinda, that love is the most important thing in the world. It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect."

 

This is so wise
Heh