"What Are You Doing?"
Mar. 16th, 2023 08:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloIt was my idea to reorganise the Meeting House library- but once I'd broadcast it others took it up and I began to wish I'd kept it to myself.
We made a start yesterday. I zoned in on the children's section while Ailz and Allan went through a couple of cupboards. By the end of the morning we had several bags full of miscellaneous junk, paper for recycling and books to go to the book bank- all of which Ailz and I drove to the Tip.
We didn't touch the main bookshelves. Thats where the real challenge lies. Most of our books are old. Most of them are churchy- and I detest churchiness.
"Left to myself," I said to Ailz, "I'd get rid of everything published before the 21st century- with the exception of a few obvious classics"
And then we wouldn't have a library.
But perhaps that would be a good thing.
There's a zen story that goes a bit like this. The old abbot is retiring and handing over authority to his successor. He passes the younger man a weighty manuscript. "This he says, "Is very precious. It contains the writings of all our predecessors."
"Very nice," says the new abbot. "But we mustn't be bound by tradition, must we?- so you keep it."
"No", says the old man, "It's yours."
"Oh very well," says the younger man. He takes it off the old man and throws it on the fire.
The old man leaps up and rushes to retrieve it. "What are you doing?" he screeches.
The younger man keeps his cool. "What are you doing?" he says.
We made a start yesterday. I zoned in on the children's section while Ailz and Allan went through a couple of cupboards. By the end of the morning we had several bags full of miscellaneous junk, paper for recycling and books to go to the book bank- all of which Ailz and I drove to the Tip.
We didn't touch the main bookshelves. Thats where the real challenge lies. Most of our books are old. Most of them are churchy- and I detest churchiness.
"Left to myself," I said to Ailz, "I'd get rid of everything published before the 21st century- with the exception of a few obvious classics"
And then we wouldn't have a library.
But perhaps that would be a good thing.
There's a zen story that goes a bit like this. The old abbot is retiring and handing over authority to his successor. He passes the younger man a weighty manuscript. "This he says, "Is very precious. It contains the writings of all our predecessors."
"Very nice," says the new abbot. "But we mustn't be bound by tradition, must we?- so you keep it."
"No", says the old man, "It's yours."
"Oh very well," says the younger man. He takes it off the old man and throws it on the fire.
The old man leaps up and rushes to retrieve it. "What are you doing?" he screeches.
The younger man keeps his cool. "What are you doing?" he says.
