Victoria Y > Recent Status Updates

I read this book in the Plato readings course and I’m 100% certain that it’s impossible to fully enjoy it without studying Plato first. How many more literary pieces I would have been able to enjoy if I had a missing cultural layer downloaded in me?

«…, ты можешь узнать, что лучшее в тебе, по тому, чем ты встречаешь то, что полюбил.»

А ты что-нибудь любишь, […]? […] - Не знаю. Что-то такое, что иногда приходит ко мне. Иногда это какая-нибудь мысль, […], иногда ветер. Главное, что я всегда узнаю это, как бы оно не наряжалось, и встречаю его тем лучшим, что во мне есть.

«Любовь придает смысл тому, что мы делаем, хотя на самом деле его нет».

«… любовь - это то, из-за чего каждый находится там, где он находится.»

«… если ты оказался в темноте и видишь хотя бы самый слабый луч света, ты должен идти к нему, вместо того чтобы рассуждать, имеет смысл это делать или нет.»

«А ты хоть знаешь, что такое социум? - спроси Затворник. - Это и есть приспособление для переливания через Стену Мира.»

“They stand in silence and regard the design […]. The shape arrests them. It reads them their rights. You have a right to be present. A right to attend. A right to be astonished.”

“[…] his heart is as good and as worthy as wood.”

“To solve the future, we must save the past. My simple rule of thumb, then, is this: when you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down”.

«No one sees trees. We see fruit, we see nuts, we see wood, we see shade. We see ornaments or pretty fall foliage. Obstacles blocking the road or wrecking the ski slope. Dark, threatening places that must be cleared. We see branches about to crush our roof. We see a cash crop. But trees—trees are invisible.”

“The past is lote. Prune it and it grows.

“[…] he’s nuts. Any reasonable person would say the same but reason is what’s turning all the forests of the world into rectangles.”

I read it lying in my wooden bed, facing wooden commode, with a wardrobe decorated with wood, standing on the wooden floor. So many gifts I didn’t deserve and never even questioned where the wood was coming from, what ecosystem has gifted it. This book makes your blood boil with anger and solidify with shame. Why are we so blind and entitled? Ah, I’m also a social scientist btw.

“We’re not saying don’t cut anything. […] We’re saying, cut it like it’s a gift, not like you’ve earned it.”

“She spreads her arms against the furrows. She’s like a flea trying to hug a dog. Her face tilts straight up the titanic trunk. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe there’s no other way to protect this thing except with our bodies.””

“But hope and truth do nothing for humans, without use. […] [Old Tjikko’s] use is to show that the world is not made for our utility. What use are we, to trees? She remembers the Buddha’s words: A tree is a wondrous thing that shelters, feeds, and protects all living things. It even offers shade to the axmen who destroy it.”

«How long does it take to know anyone? Five minutes, and done. Nothing can move you off a first impression. That person in your life’s passenger seat? Always a hitchhiker, to be dropped off just down the road.”