I try and read a book or two a day. I enjoy it, and it's good for the mind, especially if coupled with writing and thinking… If I have an hour to kill, it's hard to make a solid case for a television show over a book (although I do regularly succumb due to my own weakness).
This morning I read Loving and Leaving The Good Life, Helen Nearing's emotional biography of both herself, and her husband Scott. It starts at her childhood, spends time on her six year relationship with Krisha (yes, that Krishnamurti), and then her life with Scott until his planned death at one hundred years old. I very much enjoyed Helen's kind clean writing, although I was a little disturbed by the self-depreciating nature of the book (perhaps it is a byproduct of having spent her life with two undeniably overpowering and impressive men), and the unresolved pain that Krisha's overly cold breakup with her brought.
In any case, the book offered a great deal of insight both into their life philosophy and about the nature of Love that you don't find in Scott Nearing's books… While I believe that men may well be smarter and stronger than women, and most violent historical shifts are accomplished through the will and action of men, ultimately it is women that are the foundation that the world is built on, and it is to women that we collectively owe this world. Not just in that women bear children, but in that it is women who have the real lasting strength, endurance, vision, and beauty of soul, that is required for communities to grow and flourish and create great things. Not that I ever forgot, but this book really helped me think about how much I Love Rachel, and why she's so special to me.
PS. I should also say that Helen's cookbook is awesome. In many ways, the best cookbook I own.
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