Currently reading: ‘The Concealed Art of the Soul’
Written on February 4, 2008
The Concealed Art of the Soul: Theories of the Self and Practices of Truth in Indian Ethics and Epistemology by Jonardon Ganeri combines two of my favorite subjects: Indian philosophy and ‘theories of the self,’ plus it is very well written, so I’ve been enjoying it quite a lot. Here’s a small sample:
Only at our peril does each of us conclude too soon that we have found the great truth about ourselves, the truth of who we are; it takes time for that truth to form and organize itself within us. The nuanced truth about ourselves, our condition, our lives and aspirations, should not come too soon, before we are receptive to it, before we can let it ‘blow through’ us. Indeed, were it to come too soon, we would not even recognize it as such; or else, it would mislead us. When it does come, its effect will be transformative; indeed, its arrival is only the beginning. If receptivity — openness to the truth — is one hard-won intellectual virtue, then so too is the capacity to allow the truth to ‘keep growing deep down’…. (p. 56)
Filed in: self.
