Fascinating questions about Western religious thought and the human psyche.

My favorite short stories of Thomas Mann: 1) Death in Venice: A battle between the Apollonian vs. Dyonesian parts of the human psyche. 2) Tonio Kroger: A bourgeois on the wrong path.

One of the best books an artist can read. A bunch of random snippets of his advice to his students. Much more than just technique. "The point of these arts is the doing of them rather than the accomplishments. The things that turn up during practice can be a real joy, but these are just a by-product, a trace. The traces are inevitable. The living is the thing."

An enjoyable read for the dilettante. Check into Schopenhauer's idea of the world as will. The lower we go among forms of life, the smaller the role of intellect; but not so with will.

What is so frightening is not the nastiness of the pigs, but rather the stupidity and complacency of the other animals.

I don't agree with Rand's philosphy, but she does expose some of our sheeplike tendencies and she makes the important point that 1)There is a good kind of "Selfish" 2)and a bad kind of "unselfish." It is easier to look down on those below you and than to look up at those above you.

The purest sport. Let go of all the transitory bs and return daily to your original instrument with patience and persistence. Starting yoga was one of the best decisions I ever made. Work without anxiety about the fruits of your labor. Those who work selfishly for results are miserable. (This is a true Indian Asani, not some Westernized, pseudo-yoga).

Peter Banning is not really Peter Pan, but actually he is.

Most Hollywood movies are repetitive and formulaic escapism and are generally at the intelligence level of a seventh grader. This is better.

Hard to get used to his voice, but this is pure poetry. Very strange, sometimes disturbing, stream-of-consciousness imagery, with a raw, honest power and beauty. Reason has it's limits.

This is soooooooo much better than those collections of their hits. Much more introspective and personal. Brilliant composition and instrumentation. Brian Wilson was a genius.

feel as I used to. You hear musicians playing with a great fluidity and complete conception early on, and you don't have that ability. I didn't. I had to know what I was doing. And yes, ultimately it turned out that these people weren't able to carry their thing very far. I found myself being more attracted to artists who have developed through the years and become better and deeper musicians...

a true master of his craft. Also The bassist really steps up on this one. Evans once said, "Actually I'm not interested in Zen that much, as a philosophy, nor in joining any movements. I just find it very similar to jazz. Like jazz, you can't explain it to anyone without losing the experience. It's got to be felt without words."

This book helps to understand dependent origination. Develop your powers of 1)Concentration 2)Self-analysis Whatever exists dependent on conditions is empty of its own inherent existence.

Renounce not action itself, but the fruits of your action. Work done with anxiety about the results is far inferior to work done in the calm of self-surrender. The preface to this edition has a great explanation of the key terms: Brahman Atman Dharma Karma Samsara Moksha