Montaigne on reading

Reading club, a photo by kattebelletje on Flickr.

'It consoles me in my retreat; it relieves me of the weight of distressing idleness and, at any time, can rid me of boring company. 

It blunts the stabs of pain whenever pain is not too overpowering and extreme. 

To distract me from morose thoughts, I simply need to have recourse to books.'

 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/10/montaigne-philosophy

Help for Heroes

Help for Heroes Sign at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Unit, Headley Court in Surrey, a photo by Defence Images on Flickr.

'Why are so many young men afflicted with depression and what needs to be done?

One answer, as argued by American Holocaust survivor and author of The Uses of Enchantment: the meaning and importance of fairy tales, Bruno Bettelheim, begins with education.

Forget much of contemporary children's literature with its social realism about broken homes, drug addiction and peer-group pressure: for Bettelheim, traditional fairytales and archetypal myths teach about overcoming adversity, dealing with uncertainty and loss and being brave enough to confront impossible odds.'

KEVIN DONNELLY 
From: The Australian, 27 July, 2013

Tears

Tear gas, a photo by Plenty's Paradox on Flickr.

'What need is there to weep over parts of life?

           The whole of it calls for tears.'

Seneca