May 15, 2011

whatcha reading xii

...we are not pure, disembodied minds, but are...bodies with our own opacities and limits. We are in and of the world, materially embedded in the same rain-drenched field that the rocks and the ravens inhabit, and so can come to knowledge only laterally, by crossing paths with other entities and sometimes lingering, responding to a thing's sparkle or its...coolness, slowly becoming acquainted with its characteristic tenor and style, the unique manner in which it resists our assumptions. All our knowledge, in this sense, is carnal knowledge, born of the encounter between our flesh and the cacophonous landscape we inhabit.

- Becoming Animal, An Earthly Cosmology, David Abrams


Terrific book. Highly recommended.

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 18, 2011

    "no one, up to now, has figured out a way to
    understand things without asking questions"

    an interesting observation from "Dreams of
    Trespass--Tales of a Harem Girlhood"
    Does not relate, necessarily, to your excerpt-
    but just thought I'd share it.

    ReplyDelete