“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Monday, August 8, 2011

Out of My Depth

Why write, unless one wanted to go a little out of one's depth? It's hard to like all the ideas I'm having while I'm writing this book. But writing seems to require some kind of loyalty to something outside of yourself.

Otherwise you are just ringing the changes on a prefabricated set of tools.

I'm genuinely disturbed by some of the ideas I'm having in this book, and yet I can't deny the inner coherence of what I'm writing.



5 comments:

karen said...

Are you referring to the writing of Buddhaphobia? Keenly awaiting the release or some extracts.

Karen

Bill Benzon said...

It's called speculation, I believe. It's the most important kind of thinking we can do as intellectuals, for it's the only way to advance into the wilderness. Or, if circumstances should drop you into the wilderness unaware and unprepared, it's the only way to make your way back home. In either case, the important thing is to leave a clear trail, that way others can follow, if they wish, or they know what to avoid if, for example, you've had to fight your way free of dragons or pickled kumquats.

Bill Benzon said...

Oh, I forgot, "loyalty to something outside of yourself." YES YES YES

Timothy Morton said...

Hi Karen, actually no, but I'll certainly release some extracts when that one is done.

Timothy Morton said...

...and thanks for your enthusiasm Karen!