Posts in: Books and reading

Allegory and symbol

Henry Corbin, Alone with the Alone: At this point we must recapitulate the distinction, fundamental for us, between allegory and symbol; allegory is a rational operation, implying no transition either to a new plane of being or to a new depth of consciousness; it is a figuration, at an identical level of consciousness, of what might very well be known in a different way. The symbol announces a plane of consciousness distinct from that of rational evidence; it is the “cipher” of a mystery, the only means of saying something that cannot be apprehended in any other way; a symbol is never “explained” once and for all, but must be deciphered over and over again, just as a musical score is never deciphered once and for all, but calls for ever new execution.

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Finished reading Ann the Word by Richard Francis. The writer was a bit snarky in places but it was an engaging biography. I’m a bit sad it’s over. I’m done with Shaker reading for the moment but I wouldn’t be surprised if I come back to it. There’s plenty more.

Finished reading All That’s Unseen: An Appalachian Memior by Emilee Hackney. Holy crap, what a book. I haven’t been that engrossed in a book in a long time. Highly recommended.

Emilee Hackney:

To this day, I’ve never been to an Appalachian funeral where there wasn’t a preacher and a sermon.

It’s the same around here. I keep hearing that cremation is now the majority practice but I can count on one hand the number of services or memorials I’ve attended that involved a cremated body. Here, the body is almost always in an open casket and the funeral service always has a preacher, who preaches a sermon well more than half the time. Elsewhere funerals may have changed a lot over the years but my experience of them is essentially unchanged since childhood.

Finished reading One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. Thanks to @jaheppler for reminding me of it. As I read it, the phrase kept rolling through my mind, “the empire must die.” Selfishly, for my family’s sake, I hope its death is not sudden and violent. Maybe there was a time when the empire wasn’t thoroughly corrupt; I wouldn’t know. It’s lies all the way down at this point though. I don’t know what would come next, or whether it would be better. For the sake of a better world, however, the empire must die.

Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This:

The idea that walking away is childish and unproductive is predicated on the inability to imagine anything but a walking away from, never a walking away toward—never that there might exist another destination. The walking away is not nihilism, it’s not cynicism, it’s not doing nothing— it’s a form of engagement more honest, more soul-affirming, than anything the system was ever prepared to offer.

It’s strange how a competent biography that attempts to explain someone’s motivations and context can make them more sympathetic. Because, y’all, if Ann Lee was operating today, not one of us would think she’s worth listening to. Not that anyone is holding her up as a model, but you know what I mean

Finished reading Tools For Engagement: Reclaiming Craft in an Age of Technology by Joshua Klein and Mike Updegraff. This book is full of Joshua and Mike’s characteristic blend of woodworking history, craft philosophy, technological criticism, and practical skills. I appreciate the way they have never let theory drift far from practice. Embodied intellect.