Reader's Place: Sept 1, 2020
Our newsfeeds and news sources are full of images and reports of violence and anger. Here are a few titles to help us maintain some equilibrium.
The force of nonviolence: an ethico-political bind, by Judith Butler, 2020. Library Catalog , Hoopla
In this psychosocial and philosophical reflection that draws upon Foucault, Fanon, Freud, and Benjamin, Queen of Queer Theory Butler argues that to oppose violence now requires understanding its different modalities. The struggle for non-violence is found in modes of resistance and movements for social transformation that separate off aggression from its destructive aims to affirm the living potentials of radical egalitarian politics.
I see you: how love opens our eyes to invisible people by Terence Lester, 2019. Library Catalog , Hoopla
For several years, Lester has ministered to people experiencing poverty and homelessness. He now communicates their experiences to aid others in seeing the people behind the difficulties.
How to treat people: a nurse's notes , by Molly Case, 2019. Library Catalog , Hoopla
A journey through the variegated days and nights of a young nurse. Combining a near dreaminess with quotidian details, both refreshingly and intimately shared ("as a last resort, we use medication to subdue patients: haloperidol, which between ourselves we call vitamin H"), London-based Case tells the story of her first steps as a nurse.
In praise of great compassion, by Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, 2020. Library Catalog ,
Volume 5 of the Library of Wisdom and Compassion continues the Dalai Lama's teachings. This volume is about opening our hearts to others and generating and strengthening our determination to benefit sentient beings. The volume concludes with a chapter on mind training practices in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which challenge us to reorient the framework through which we view the world, calling out the ridiculous logic of the self-centered attitude and self-grasping that leads to misery and replacing it with a more realistic perspective that helps us to remain balanced when we experience either happiness or suffering, allowing us to make all circumstances favorable to the path.
Compiled by Ina Rimpau