Reading and Writing in Ancient Times and Today
Thoughts come to mind last night and this morning, on books, reading, writing.
Read recently that in ancient times almost all reading was done aloud. I think it was probably done more slowly too. It was a group activity, communal. Non-isolating. Nice. I imagine that the reading part of things felt group-ey and cozy, and then, afterward, the individual’s thought processes, going on alone and in privacy in the person’s head, the cogitations ABOUT what had been read, felt complementary and a fruitful offshoot from the communal reading experience. Verbal processors would also have felt free to discuss together with others the readings that had taken place, even down to quoting and dissecting exact phrases and words.
Looking at the timeline in the front of my Bible this morning I see that papyrus to make paper and ink for writing were discovered by the Egyptians as long ago as 2500 B.C. The first libraries then appeared! I love a good library. Have one on my Kindle, these days…
There are those…
“There are those who, while they love the altar and delight in the sacrifice (Tozier is speaking of the Old Testament imagery of the ancient Israeli altar building, out of stones, and animal sacrifices upon the altars, which were a “figure” or “proto-type”, looking ahead, toward the once-and-for-all sacrifice/atonement for sin of Jesus, the “Perfect Lamb of God”, on the cross.)………are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste for themselves the “piercing sweetness” of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing.” – A.W. Tozier in his book, “The Pursuit of God”.
Some of my favorite quotes on Writing
“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.” – John Ruskin
“Even before I knew how to read and write, I made up stories.” – Beverly Barton
“As writers, we have to train ourselves to notice what is around us, and understand how it relates to the world.” – Andrew Mc Aleer
“Reading great fiction is like taking a writing workshop from a master for free.” – Cinda Williams Chima
“When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue, you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night. There’s all heaven and earth in a book.” – Christopher Morley
Some of my favorite quotes on Writing
“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.” – John Ruskin
“Even before I knew how to read and write, I made up stories.” – Beverly Barton
“As writers, we have to train ourselves to notice what is around us, and understand how it relates to the world.” – Andrew Mc Aleer
“Reading great fiction is like taking a writing workshop from a master for free.” – Cinda Williams Chima
“When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue, you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night. There’s all heaven and earth in a book.” – Christopher Morley
“I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”
“I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” – J.K. Rowling
Imagine if You Can
“Imagine if you can a world in which character is revered as much as beauty and money and fame are now. Picture the magazine leads: “World’s 
Most Generous Woman”, “Kindest Man Alive”, “Lose Ten Ugly Character Traits in Just Ten Days!” – Victoria Moran
Is religion the answer? No.
I really love this quote, and believe it’s true…
“Religion is not the place where the problem of man’s egotism is automatically solved. Rather, it is there that the ultimate battle between human pride and God’s grace takes place. Human pride may win that battle, and then religion can and does become one instrument of human sin. But, if there is a confrontation of the SELF with God’s grace, and the SELF does meet God in His grace, and so surrenders to something beyond his self interest, then Christian faith may prove to be the thing the human race needs: release from its self concern.” – Langdon Gilkey in his memoir, “Shongtung Compound”.
A Quote from Eugene Peterson, Another from Chole
These resonate.
“Christian spirituality…..is not about us. It is about God. The great weakness of American spirituality is that it is all about us; fulfilling our potential, getting the blessings of God, expanding our influence, finding our gifts, getting a handle on principles by which we can get an edge over the competition. The more there is of us, the less there is of God.” – Eugene Peterson, by way of the book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard.
“God’s words are needful to us. So let us post them on our minds, and hide them in our hearts. Let us honor God’s words, and be encouraged: our lack of understanding cannot sabotage the power or the purpose of His voice.” – Alicia Britt Chole in her book, Forty Days of Decrease.
The photo is of living coral, in the Seattle Aquarium. So beautiful and interesting, and SUCH a special place!
Two quotes from Chole’s book on Lent. She certainly has a turn of phrase!
“With carefully selected quotes from Jesus-centric traditions and readings crafted to engage our modern minds with the most disenchanting days of the first disciples’ lives, 40 days of Decrease seeks to reintroduce Lent as a wise mentor that encourages us to reframe unanswered questions, darker seasons, and spiritual disillusionment as the shedding of earthly illusions and the gaining of God’s reality.” – from the book’s introductory material.
And, on ROOTS: “Roots are, perhaps, among the most humble of God’s creations on earth. They require neither acknowledgment nor praise. Their reward is reached when the living stand upon them and reach for the fruit the roots made possible.” -from Day Two in the book.
(note from La Niña de Sus Ojos) I found this book only a few days ago via Amazon Kindle and, at the moment anyways, it only costs 2 dollars, U.S.)
Shepherding, discipling – a high calling and huge responsibility
I love the way she puts this!
“One of my favorite words for PASTOR is curate. The term is unfamiliar to many of us. But the word “curate” signifies a person who partners with God for the “cure of the soul” or, in Dallas Willard’s words, the “renovation of the heart”. Mentors, spiritual directors, spiritual friends, parents, teachers, pastors and disciplers are called to take a risk on God as they accompany people in the Spirit’s soul-curing work.” – Adele Calhoun, p. 265, The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook – Practices that Transform Us.
A Quote I like from the book, “Self-Compassion” by Kristin Neff, PhD.
“Many people are resistant to the idea of self-compassion…Isn’t it really just a form of self-pity? Or a dressed-up word for self-indulgence? I will show throughout this book that these assumptions are false and run directly counter to the actual meaning of self-compassion. As you’ll come to see, self-compassion involves wanting health and well-being for oneself and leads to proactive behavior to better one’s situation, rather than passivity. And self-compassion doesn’t mean that I think my problems are more important than yours, it just means I think that my problems are also important and worthy of being attended to. Rather than condemning yourself for your mistakes and failures, therefore, you can use the experience of suffering to soften your heart.” – Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion.
An Unusual Book, that’s Fantastic.
The book is The Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard, and it came out in 1988.
It’s not the lightest reading in the world and, I’m studying through it, little bit by little bit, as part of my daily quiet times with God first thing every morning. And, it’s WONDERFUL! It’s basically, SORT of, generally on the topic of “personal growth and strengthening in the Christian life”, and fits in beautifully with the area of what’s sometimes called, these days “Spiritual Disciplines”.
Here’s an excerpt that hugely spoke to me this morning (I’m leagues away – it feels like as far as the west is from the south – from being able to do this, but I have confidence in Jesus in me, to move me toward being able to do this.)
“Jesus did invite people into that sort of life from which behavior such as loving one’s enemies will seem like the only sensible and happy thing to do. For a person living that life, the hard thing to do would be to hate the enemy, to turn the supplicant away, or to curse the curser, just as it was for Christ. True Christlikeness, true companionship with Christ, comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as He would.” – page 8, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard, Harper Collins.
Some of my favorite quotes on Writing
“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.” – John Ruskin
“Even before I knew how to read and write, I made up stories.” – Beverly Barton
“As writers, we have to train ourselves to notice what is around us, and understand how it relates to the world.” – Andrew Mc Aleer
“Reading great fiction is like taking a writing workshop from a master for free.” – Cinda Williams Chima
“When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue, you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night. There’s all heaven and earth in a book.” – Christopher Morley
Beautiful or Telling Portions, from “Gilead” (by Marilynne Robinson) #1
On Laughter: “It is an amazing thing to watch people laugh, the way it sort of takes them over. Sometimes they really do struggle with it. I see that in church often enough. (Note from me: the character, John Ames, must have been a great preacher, though the author never says that, per se. Robinson intimates the fact, through this subtle line, of the book. How many ministers can say, honestly, that when they preach they often see persons in the congregation wanting to burst into authentic, joyful, honest laughter?) So I wonder what it is and where it comes from, and I wonder what it expends out of your system, so that you have to do it till you’re done, like crying in a way, I suppose, except that laughter is much more easily spent.” – the novel GILEAD, by Marilynne Robinson, 1% on Kindle.
Shepherding, discipling – a high calling and huge responsibility
I love the way she puts this!
“One of my favorite words for PASTOR is curate. The term is unfamiliar to many of us. But the word “curate” signifies a person who partners with God for the “cure of the soul” or, in Dallas Willard’s words, the “renovation of the heart”. Mentors, spiritual directors, spiritual friends, parents, teachers, pastors and disciplers are called to take a risk on God as they accompany people in the Spirit’s soul-curing work.” – Adele Calhoun, p. 265, The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook – Practices that Transform Us.
Telling Stories under the Full Moon all around the World
Recently, I heard a true story about a thousands-year-old tradition in Damascus of having Professional Story-Tellers. “One Thousand Arabian Nights”, as a major piece of Syrian literature is a direct part of the historical tradition of this nation, and I believe what is now the book of that title was primarily oral literature up until Richard Burton’s translation of the same, into English, in the last quarter of the 1800’s.
Lonely Planet travel guide says that the last professional Damascene story-teller retired in 1974. At the same time, there was a young guy in Damascus who used to love reading and story-telling so much that he would often run away from his job at the local library in order to have enough time to enjoy his life’s passion of reading more books! When the last Official Professional Story-teller retired, this boy began dressing up in ancient traditional Syrian costume and going to a public square every evening, and telling stories. He’s been continuing the tradition for many decades now, even though sometimes his audience is sparse.
How SAD to think that he may have had to STOP because of this terrible war! He may have even been killed!
Many of this man’s stories were the traditional age-old ones of the Middle-East. He would have stacks of handwritten books, that authorities had entrusted to him, that he would display beside him and, at times, hold in his hands as he would tell the tales. Some evenings, he would use much drama in his story-telling presentation, and often would make up new stories, of his own, often ones that shrewdly illustrated or poked cynical fun at world-wide political realities.
Kindred Spirit Books
Does anybody want to add any books or magazines or written resources in on this list? You are more than welcome to – I love community-made lists of resources! Please feel free to add ideas in, via “Comments”, if you want!
1. The Bible of course. Especially in the New Living Translation. Especially Psalms, the last two-thirds of Isaiah, Matthew, John, Phillipians, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians.
2. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
3. Finding Calcutta by Mary Poplin
4. anything by C.S. Lewis, especially “Til We Have Faces”, “Narnia”, “Letters to an American Lady” and his “Poems”. And “The Screwtape Letters”, “Mere Christianity” and “Surprised by Joy”.
5. everything by Amy Carmichael.
6. everything by Elisabeth Elliot
7. The Peacemaker by Ken Sande (really excellent. on personal conflict resolution.)
8. ” Missionary Methods: Saint Paul’s or Ours?” by Roland Allen
9. everything by Ravi Zacharias
10. “Jesus-Driven Ministry” by Fernando Ajith
11. “Simply in Season” (cookbook) (Herald Press)
12. “A Resilient Life’ by Gordon MacDonald
13. “From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya” compiled by Ruth Tucker
14. the Beth Moore Bible studies, especially some of the newer ones.
15. “Hidden Art” by Edith Shaeffer
16. The New Evidence (Josh McDowell)
17..Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
18. Warren Wiersbe (Bible studies)
19. CT magazine (monthly)
20. Sonlight Curriculum
21. More-with-Less Cookbook (Herald Press)
22. Where there is no Doctor (Hesperian Foundation)
23. Where there is no Dentist (Hesperian Foundation)
24. Living More with Less (Herald Press)
25. Extending the Table (Herald Press)
26. Bible studies from D. Martin Lloyd-Jones (word-by-word studies)
27.Loaves and Fishes (children’s cookbook)
28. Jungle Camp Cook Book
29. Wycliffe International Cookbook
30. The Bread Book by Betsy Oppenneer
31. Changes that Heal by Cloud and Townsend
32. Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend
33. How People Grow by Cloud and Townsend
34. The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancy
35. To the Golden Shore (about) Adoniram Judson by (his grandaughter, I believe)
36. For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer MacAulay
37. Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
38. Educating the Whole-Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson
39. How to Really Love your Child, and How to Really Love your Teenager by Ross Campbell
40. Let’s Make a Memory by Gloria Gaither and Shirley Dobson
41. Marva Collin’s Way by Marva Collins
42. Teach your Own and Why Johnny Can’t Read by John Holt
43. Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book by Jane Brody
44. The Life and Death of Adolph Hitler by Robert Payne
The Yummy and Nourishing Treat of a Book
Stumbled upon this book and am learning SO much from it! ” QUIET, THE POWER OF THE INTROVERT IN A WORLD THAT CAN’T STOP TALKING” by Susan Cain. Goodbye! I’m off to read in “QUIET” some more…see ya tomorrow!
Some of my favorite quotes on Writing
“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.” – John Ruskin
“Even before I knew how to read and write, I made up stories.” – Beverly Barton
“As writers, we have to train ourselves to notice what is around us, and understand how it relates to the world.” – Andrew Mc Aleer
“Reading great fiction is like taking a writing workshop from a master for free.” – Cinda Williams Chima
“When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue, you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night. There’s all heaven and earth in a book.” – Christopher Morley
Found this new (old!) book – “Spirit of the Disciplines – understanding how God changes lives”, by Dallas Willard
Here’s a quote from the early pages of it:
BETWEEN THE DUSTHEAP AND THE HEAVENS
An initial clue to guide our understanding of our nature may be found in our aspirations to take in their sharp and obvious contrast with our physical being. The poets as well as the writers of Scripture were vividly aware of this contrast. Humankind aspires to beauty and power, to purity and dignity, to knowledge and endless love. And yet we are wandering heaps of protoplasm – bits of “portable plumbing” as the poet Stephen Spender says. (p. 46)
A Quote that Makes me Think!
Lewis was speaking in the context of biblical criticism, commenting on some of the 20th century critics’ insistence that the New Testament accounts of the “historical Jesus” were myths and legends.
Here’s the Lewis quote, in its entirety.
“If he (the biblical critic) tells me that something in a Gospel is legend or romance, I want to know how many legends and romances he has read, how well his palate is trained in detecting them by the flavor; not how many years (as a biblical critic) he has spent on that Gospel (trying to pick it apart and discredit it). Read the dialogues (in John): that with the Samaritan woman at the well, or that which follows the healing of the man born blind. Look at its pictures: Jesus (if I may use the word) doodling with his finger in the dust; the unforgettable (greek phrase) (‘and it was night’). I have been reading poems, romances, vision-literature, legends, myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know that not one of them is like this. (Lewis, Christian Reflections, 154, 155)
A Quote I like from the book, “Self-Compassion” by Kristin Neff, PhD.
“Many people are resistant to the idea of self-compassion…Isn’t it really just a form of self-pity? Or a dressed-up word for self-indulgence? I will show throughout this book that these assumptions are false and run directly counter to the actual meaning of self-compassion. As you’ll come to see, self-compassion involves wanting health and well-being for oneself and leads to proactive behavior to better one’s situation, rather than passivity. And self-compassion doesn’t mean that I think my problems are more important than yours, it just means I think that my problems are also important and worthy of being attended to. Rather than condemning yourself for your mistakes and failures, therefore, you can use the experience of suffering to soften your heart.” – Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion.
The Coolest Monastery in Potosi, Reading and Writing
“Suppose you (over)hear a conversation with something marvelous in it, then I advise you to write it down in your journal. A hint is to write nice and small so you won’t use the book up with big loping writing.
One of the first things I’m going to write is a phrase I overheard as two people passed by my window the other day, talking about a friend of theirs. ‘Her feet aren’t any use to her – not as feet, that is…’
It makes you wonder what on earth they ARE useful as, and there’s surely some story it can go into along the way.
If you listen well, you will have many more, and probably better quotes for yourselves. You will look through them and realize that it would be positively criminal to waste them, and you will start writing straightaway!” – Maeve Binchy, in her book “The Writer’s Club”.
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