I heard about this book from a Talk by one Evolutionary scientist (i guess) on how human beings are evolutionarily linked to our predecessors , and how we differ to such extents from them. So somewhere in the speak he talks about our ability of meta-cognition. You know, like know how you are thinking. Stuff like "Does he know that I know that he knows" is pretty meta. This video was posted on my wall and i loved it and I so wanted to read this book. But because it is very a obscure writer and book I just could not find it. Long story short after a lot of trouble, that involved getting myself transferred I got this one in my hand. Now what was great about this book thatihave noticed is that it can be read form back to front, or one page at a time. Ok all this is pretty pointless. Getting to the point.
The Book of Qualities by Ruth Gendler is about the lady giving us the life story or an event or the psychological profile of some very interesting people like Fear, Wisdom, Intensity, Joy, Commitment. All of them have very interesting characters and in some pages the woman has drawn their portriats too. So sometimes you feel like reading about wisdom, or despair etc, then it is almost like a dictionary, here are a few excerpts form the book, I have always searched for it and never found.
Wisdom: Wisdom wears an indigo jacket. She takes long walks in the purple hills at twilight, pausing to meditate at an old temple near the crossroads. She was sick as a young child so learned to be alone with herself at a young age.
Wisdom has a quiet mind.
She likes to think about the edges where things spill into each other and become their opposites. She knows how to look at things inside and out. Sometimes her eyes go out to the things she is looking at, and sometimes the thing she is looking at enters through her eyes. Questions of time, depth and balance interest her. She is not looking for answers.
Joy: Joy drinks pure water. She has sat with the dying and attended many birth. She denies nothing. She is in love with life, all of it, the sun and the rain and the rainbow. She rides horses at half Moon Bay under the October moon. She climbs mountains. She sings to the hills.
She jumps from the hot spring to the cold stream without hesitation.
Although Joy is spontaneous, she is immensely patient. She does not need to rush. She knows that there are obstacles on every path and that every moment is the perfect moment. She is not concerned with success or failure or how to make things permanent.
At times Joy is elusive - she seems to disappear even as we approach her. I see her standing on a ridge covered with oak trees, and suddenly the distance between us feels enormous. I am overwhelmed and wonder if the effort to reach her is worth it. Yet, she waits for us. Her desire to walk with us is as great as our longing to accompany her.
Commitment: Commitment has kind eyes. He wears sturdy shoes. Everything is very vivd when he is around. It is wonderful to sit and have lunch in his gardens around harvest time.
You can taste in the vegetables that the soil has been cared for.
Because Commitment is so serious, he loves clowns and balloons and fools and limericks. He has four daughters, grown now, but when they were little they always took him to the circus.
There is something special about the way Commitment gazes at the new moon. I wish I knew how to explain it. He is such a simple man and yet he is so mysterious. He is more generous than most people. His heart is open. He is not afraid of life.
He is married to joy.
Defeat: Defeat sits in his chair staring at the grey doves on the porch. He holds his hand underneath his heart, fingers curled tightly into themselves, glued together in a paralyzed rage. He is unwilling to go forward and unable to let go. He is not blind or deaf, but it is unclear who he sees or what her hears. He has a stroke six years ago and sleeps most of the day.
In response to questions he answers yes or no inter-changeable. Speech has lost meaning.
Depression: Depression is the child of Lethargy and Despair. She was born tired.
She has always had beautiful dreams. As she grew up, she stopped
believing in them. The only person she could talk to then was Rage. He
sat next to her during the geography class. When Rage left. Depression
felt totally abandoned.
Depression sits at the table staring out the window as if there’s no
escape. she makes sure no one comes too close. Then she frets about
being lonely. You warned me not to take her overtures of friendship too
seriously. I wasn’t paying attention. After all, I hardly have the time
for my good friends, and I figured she would bore me. It wasn’t until my
neck was hurt that I found out why so many want to spend time with her.
Underlines added pseudo-randomly. Well that is all folks.
