TO NOT WRITE:
1. Great Ones do not write
For example, Jesus, Buddha, Socrates.
The more recent religious leaders who
appear to have written certain texts,
actually have an accepted tradition
to the contrary: Mohammad, Smith.
In Mohammad's case, the Quran was
dictated by him to women who could write.
He said he received the revelations
directly from the angel Gabriel.
In the case of Joseph Smith, the
Book of Mormon (1830) was a compilation of
of many ancient prophets, abridged by a
prophet historian named Mormon,
supplemented by his son Moroni (421 AD),
and revealed to Smith through translation
by two stones (the Urim and Thummim).
2. Look at the numbers. Scholars were already
at their limit in Gutenberg's day. Now, with
miles of books/writings pouring in DAILY...it
is obvious there is no great need for more.
Few can apply knowledge; few have ever
been much improved by reading of morals.
The engine of improvement has been compilations
of Science and How To Books. And it's a
bit late in the day to mark your contribution
to this deluge.
3.
TO WRITE:
1. The small and unaccomplished do not write.
As for the Great Ones who supposedly did not
write, SOMEBODY next to the Great Ones,
DID write. And it is implausible, however
it is preached, that "oral" teachings were
somehow memorized, transcribed, or taken down.
The quality of The Written is remarkable and
invariably worthwhile to someone in some function.
2. It is RELATIVELY SAFE to read and write.
As Chesterton put it:
["The Man Who Was Thursday" (7)].
..."Between us, by the peace of God,
Such truth can now be told:
Yes, there is strength in striking root,
And good in growing old.
We have found common things at last,
And marriage and a creed,
And I may safely write it now,
And you may safely read."
3. It is wildly therapeutic; nonpareiled.
4. Writing, with the benefits of speech, but
inside the alpha recording of a Time-Machine which
allows us to Go Back, reflect; in this sense,
it may even be "progressive", enabling one
to reflect on error and improve.
5. It is certainly collegial. You get a "jury"
of comments, many of which are breath-taking
in their insight.
Ryszard Kapuscinki (d.2007 age 74), the great Polish journalist (who was sentenced to death 4 times and had more reasons than most to succumb to serious depression), was compelled to "travel", but it was really WRITING, by 3 things:
ReplyDelete1. To prevent the traces of human events from being erased by time;
2. Faith in the possibility and value of truly describing the world; and
3. Simple curiosity -- like a child wondering at the borderlines of sun and sky and asking if there could be something beyond.
Oh I treasure these as a basis for continuing, or starting, any and all forms of communication -- expression, travel, creation, building, digging, flying, looking for the patterns, puzzling things through.
DO NOT SUCCUMB....