TITLE: Without Wonder, Without Awe
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 07, 2016 10:55 AM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Henry Miller, in "The Books in My Life" (1969):

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 Every day of his life the common man makes use of what
 men in other ages would have deemed miraculous means.
 In the range of invention, if not in <B>powers</B> of
 invention, the man of today is nearer to being a god
 than at any time in history.  (So we like to believe!)
 Yet never was he less godlike.  He accepts and utilizes
 the miraculous gifts of science unquestioningly; he is
 without wonder, without awe, reverence, zest, vitality,
 or joy.  He draws no conclusions from the past, has no
 peace or satisfaction in the present, and is utterly
 unconcerned about the future.  He is marking time.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's curious to me that this was written around the same time
as Stewart Brand's clarion call that
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2016-04.html#e2016-04-28T16_12_49.htm">
   we are as gods</A>.
The zeitgeist of the 1960s, perhaps.

"The Books in My Life" really has been an unexpected gift.  As
I noted
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2015-11.html#e2015-11-08T09_37_02.htm">
   back in November</A>,
I picked it up on a lark after reading a <EM>Paris Review</EM>
interview with Miller, and have been reading it off and
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2016-01.html#e2016-01-24T10_33_11.htm">
   on</A>
since.  Even though he writes mostly of books and authors I know
little about, his personal reflections and writing style click
with me.  Occasionally, I pick up one of the books he discusses,
ost recently Richard Jefferies's
<A HREF="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_My_Heart">
   The Story of My Heart</A>.

When other parts of the world seem out of sync, picking up the
right book can change everything.
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