The Meaning of Life vs. The Life of Meaning
I couldn’t help but notice these two inverse titles we happen to have in stock. The first is a bite-sized book with a lot to wrap your head around. The second is a heftier collection of short pieces, written in layman’s terms, by various figures–Studs Terkel, Anne Lamott, The Dalai Lama, Jimmy Carter, and dozens of others–on religion, spirituality, and the meaning of life.
‘What is the meaning of life?’ looks at first glance like the same kind of question as ‘What is the capital of Albania?’, or ‘What is the colour of ivory?’ But is it really? Could it be more like ‘What is the taste of geometry?’
-Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, $11.95)
I’m not a natural pray-er. I mean, I’m just not pious in that way. My wife asked me if I prayed before class, and I said “no.” She said, “You should.” So I said, “Okay.” I spend about thirty minutes every morning trying to write a goddamned prayer. I’ve done it now for, I guess, seven or eight years…I prayed a prayer this morning that said, “I’m angry. I’m one angry son of a bitch.”
-Stanley Hauerwas, The Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Doubt, and Repairing the World (Seven Stories, $18.95)
