venue:
highline ballroom in manhattan june 20, 2008, 8:45 pm for one hour

Introduction to metaphysics by martin heidegger

they give away paperback books of this type in used book stores. the best books ever written. it takes about three readings of a book like this for me to begin to grasp things. one of my fave things in here is how he analyzes the verb “to be.” his thing is that “to be” has lost meaning, we say something is or isn’t and we don’t even really think about it. one of his ideas is that the verb “to be” initially had a component of endurance. to exist entails endurance. i read over that a few times and cut way down on my complaining. if we live, there are things that must be endured. it’s a component of living. there’s much more here, that’s just one thing.

alchemy
an introduction to the symbolism and the psychology
Marie-Louise von Franz

written by a co-worker of jung, this book bridges together the ancient ideas of alchemy with more modern thought. sample: