The piece on the material world
seems overly focused on physiological aspects of life as well as sex. This isn’t
an unworthy topic, but with a title like “The material world” I would have
expected a piece rambling about the dangers of being materialistic, quoting
heavily from other authors before finally going on the conclude it’s alright to
enjoy some guilty pleasures. Rather, I got a piece rambling about the
discomforties of life, quoting and commenting heavily from other authors before
finally concluding that the body can be a good thing to have. Like every other
piece in the book, “The Material World” is not an organised thought process
discussing the merits of an aspect of human life, but rather a confused stream
of consciousness mostly composed of explanations and quotes of other writer’s
works. It would be suitable for leaving on the coffee table for light chatter
at parties, or perhaps reading on the way to yoga class, but presents little in
the way of original content worthy of serious study.
There are a few thought provoking
passages here:
“People who are always taking
care of their health are like misers hoarding a treasure which they have never
spirit enough to enjoy” (Laurence Sterne) This piece exactly sums up the danger
of obsessing too greatly over one’s health and causes you to think about your
approach to health.
“Once the decision has been made
to celebrate rather than cogitate, simple good health has to rank foremost when
enumerating the pleasures of the material world.” This sentence expresses the
joy of being healthy, cautioning readers to rethink their assumptions as to
what kind of health they should take pleasure in, and not worry too much about
being perfect.
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