I am at the end of this book Abhorsen. It is the end of a trilogy that started with Sabriel and then Liriel. I checked these books out from the local library. Never heard of the author, Garth Nix. Lately I've been preoccupied with the concept of how death influences the self, so when I read that the book's heroine was necromancer with the ability to delve into death and effect change in the lived world, my interest was peaked. The books are entertaining, but I don't really know what to think. All I know that my thoughts are pondering and thinking hard about the subject. Normally I shrug off errant thoughts and move on to something else, but once my dreams incorporated the story and inserted me into the story line, I knew I would have to delve deeper.

I think most people think of death as more of as an end, rather than as a transitional state. Even devout believers in an afterlife still treat death as end.

Traditional Navajo religious thought, as I interpret it, the self is comprised of a multitude of powers. The self is many in one and at a person's death the self transitions back into the many. The self transitions back into the many parts of the cosmos.

I always wondered why Navajo traditions forbid speaking of people who have died. I think that other persons through the power of their thoughts and voice prevent a person from dissolution back into the cosmos. The composition of a person or of the self, does not carry on to an afterlife as a whole, it changes back into many other powers. As far as I know, Navajo religious tradition, does not mention or speak of an afterlife, nor does it suggest one. Which I think is an oddity when compare to other religious traditions around the world. I don't know if this makes any sense, but this is what ideas have been milling in my thoughts for awhile.

I've always had problems with the Cartesian maxim, "I think therefore, I am." I always wondered why it bugged me so much. I think some of it has to do with how Navajo religious thought influences my concept of self. "I" or the self in western thought is singular. The self in Navajo thought is also singular too, but it is composed of many others and that singularity is temporary and ends in death.

I didn't even get to talk about the book!

Tweakers: part 1

The latest book I am reading about how meth is destroying the lives of gay men is a bit sobering for me and also brings back many unpleasant memories. The examples used in the book resonate with me and relates on so many levels to the days that I used meth. I have been sober for over seven years now and yet the addictiveness of the drug still frightens me. I like the book, it reminds me of why I had get away from meth. Although I would like to hear a story chronicling a person recovery and all the hardships a person must undergo to rebuild their lives. As for myself, it seems, it took forever and at times I doubted whether I would ever be happy and fulfilled. All I remember hearing are the horror stories and never any successses. It seems that everything would forever be bleak. In my opinion the negatives are overstressed in order to prevent the possibility of any possible users from taking that often fatal step. I would do the same, but the doom and gloom, is not what a committed recovering users wants to hear.

I haven't completed this book, when I do, I comment again.

I recently finished this book. It was an interesting deviation from the normal book topics I choose. I admit I understood little, but I gleaned enough information to get a sense of what the author was attempting to convey. I feel like a understand a little more about the evolution of the financial world. I understand more of the reasons leading to the recent collapse of our nations finance world. It is dry reading, but I recommend this book, however I am still mystefied by the worlds intense obsession with money. Yeah... I need it, but I still don't get why it should take priority over so many other more relevant isssues.

Vampires

Lately I have been reading more novels about Vampires. I have always like vampire themed stories, even before the vampire mania sparked by the Twilight novels. For me, Anne Rice set the tone and standards for the current crop of authors.
Twilight was great. I read them all. I then moved on to the Bluebloods series, and then onto the novels by P.C. and Kristen Cast. They are fun reads, but they do awaken the inner school girl. So much for machismo.
However, I did start reading Vampire Vow. A fun and sexy story of gay vampire lovers.