Lost in Thought

My Thoughts

An entertaining book that gives words to the pleasure of reading and thinking.

In this book, Zena Hitz presents two ways of living. One is the way of seriousness and the other the way of thrill seeking/spectacle. At first glance, the later would seem more exciting, but she digs deeper to show the virtue of seriousness is a desire for the weightier and deep things of life. This is contrasted with the fleeting pleasures of life (spectacles). The virtue of seriousness is a deep desire, an earnest search for truth.

In this, it’s not the desire to reach a certain point but about moving in the right direction.

Zena also defines leisure in the following way:

Freedom of a leisurely activity is the freedom from results or outcomes beyond it, not the freedom of rest or recreation.

Sounds like all we need to do is go out in the woods and escape everything. Then, we can experience leisure and the intellectual life.

Not so fast, she says. Even when we try to get away from it all, the world still follows us. It’s inside of us.

This is where that direction of seeking truth becomes so important. It begins where we are right now. An escape is not required first.

I found that a lot of how I think about this reading project was properly described in the pages of this book.