Quizzes & Puzzles8 mins ago
Non-Religious Literary Works Part 2
28 Answers
The original question ….. has any non-religious literary work had a positive influence on your life?
The follow up question …. if so, in what way?
The follow up question …. if so, in what way?
Answers
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I did answer on the previous thread and said n how the particular book helped me.
Can I have a poem?
The Peace Of Wild Things.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
-------------------------------------------------
I read this when I am troubled and find it gives me comfort.
Can I have a poem?
The Peace Of Wild Things.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
-------------------------------------------------
I read this when I am troubled and find it gives me comfort.
Tilly, of course you may. That's lovely.
Grasscarp, no. It relates to the link I posted on the first thread.
http://
I just omitted to ask people in what ways the non-religious books they'd read had influenced their lives - hence part 2.
Grasscarp, no. It relates to the link I posted on the first thread.
http://
I just omitted to ask people in what ways the non-religious books they'd read had influenced their lives - hence part 2.
I think you mean in a spiritual way so probably not but when I was made to read Far from the Madding Crowd at school it was the first book that totally consumed me, I couldn't put it down and dreamed for weeks of being Bathsheba Everdene. It gave me a life-long love of Hardy and a desperate desire to be in Dorset (where I've now lived for 25 years). I've always thought I must have connections with the county from a previous life.
My whole life was shaped by 2 magazines. One - Girl Abou Town - said first girls to phone up would get a free flying lesson. Went loved it. Worked in aviation ever since. Other was Lord Reith writing in the Listener - "I realised to late that life was for living". I promptly changed my behaviour and started really living! Not books that changed me but written word none the less.
//I think you mean in a spiritual way…//
Not only that – since it has often been said that good moral values can only be acquired through religion, I’m also wondering if anyone feels that a specific piece of non-religious literature has beneficially influenced their morals or principles. For example, one of the books that influenced me was Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’. I admired Jane’s principles, her resolve, her honesty, her refusal to succumb to sycophancy or to be anything other than true to herself, ‘Jane’ endorsed what my parents taught me – and I thank her for it.
Not only that – since it has often been said that good moral values can only be acquired through religion, I’m also wondering if anyone feels that a specific piece of non-religious literature has beneficially influenced their morals or principles. For example, one of the books that influenced me was Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’. I admired Jane’s principles, her resolve, her honesty, her refusal to succumb to sycophancy or to be anything other than true to herself, ‘Jane’ endorsed what my parents taught me – and I thank her for it.
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I've just read a couple of these -
http://
I don't think I will ever be quite the same again. :o)
http://
I don't think I will ever be quite the same again. :o)
I actually find 'Brave New World' a lot more incisive and readable than '1984', which I think is somewhat overrated.
Other than that, I'd nominate 'Alice in Wonderland'/'Through the Looking Glass.' It probably doesn't come across on AB very much (I tend to be super-serious on AB because humour doesn't translate well), but in real life I make an effort to see the ridiculous side of everything I can.
Learning to realise how absurd most people are got me out of a particularly po-faced and humourless phase in my teens and has dramatically affected the people I choose to socialise with. Reading the 'Alice' books were at least partly responsible for that - and so was 'Catch-22'.
As Lazygun mentioned in the other thread, I've also been a long-time reader of science fiction. Probably the book I most obsessed about when I was younger was Frank Herbert's 'Dune', which isn't a particularly uplifting read, but I think it might have introduced me to the idea of transcendence. Whenever I think about that book, my mind always ends up trying to imagine being something other than human in a way that I've not found in other books. The first book alone has an incredibly rich setting which puts snore-fests like 'Lord of the Rings' to shame.
Herman Hesse's 'Steppenwolf' had a significant effect on me, too. Though I only read it a couple of years ago and I can't really explain what that effect is.
Other than that, I'd nominate 'Alice in Wonderland'/'Through the Looking Glass.' It probably doesn't come across on AB very much (I tend to be super-serious on AB because humour doesn't translate well), but in real life I make an effort to see the ridiculous side of everything I can.
Learning to realise how absurd most people are got me out of a particularly po-faced and humourless phase in my teens and has dramatically affected the people I choose to socialise with. Reading the 'Alice' books were at least partly responsible for that - and so was 'Catch-22'.
As Lazygun mentioned in the other thread, I've also been a long-time reader of science fiction. Probably the book I most obsessed about when I was younger was Frank Herbert's 'Dune', which isn't a particularly uplifting read, but I think it might have introduced me to the idea of transcendence. Whenever I think about that book, my mind always ends up trying to imagine being something other than human in a way that I've not found in other books. The first book alone has an incredibly rich setting which puts snore-fests like 'Lord of the Rings' to shame.
Herman Hesse's 'Steppenwolf' had a significant effect on me, too. Though I only read it a couple of years ago and I can't really explain what that effect is.
(sorry, I'll stop posting after this.)
Is this thread just about literature or any non-religious work of culture? 'cause I honestly think there's a huge number of graphic novels, comics, and TV shows etc. I would mention that offer serious moral and philosophical discussion in a more funny and contemporary way than religious texts do - especially for teenagers.
Is this thread just about literature or any non-religious work of culture? 'cause I honestly think there's a huge number of graphic novels, comics, and TV shows etc. I would mention that offer serious moral and philosophical discussion in a more funny and contemporary way than religious texts do - especially for teenagers.
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