PDF All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular World

All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular World
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The religious turn to their faith to find meaning. But what about the many people who lead secular
lives and are also hungry for meaning? What guides, what approaches are available to them?
Distinguished philosophers Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly explain that a secular life
charged with meaning is indeed within reach. It is achieved by a passionate, skillful engagement
with the people, events, and wonders present in the most ordinary days - an approach to meaning
that modern Western culture seems to have abandoned. Dreyfus and Kelly use some of the
greatest works of the Western canon to trace the way we have lost this passionate engagement to
our surroundings and to show us how to get it back. Taking us on a journey from the wonder and
openness of Homer's polytheistic world, to the monotheism of Dante, to the nihilism of Kant, to the
pantheism of Melville, and finally to the spiritual difficulties of the world evoked by modern authors
such as David Foster Wallace and Elizabeth Gilbert, All Things Shining will change the way we
understand our culture, our history, our sacred practices, and ourselves, and offer a new - and
very old - way to celebrate a secular existence. em em
The religious turn to their faith to find meaning. But what about the many people who lead secular
lives and are also hungry for meaning? What guides, what approaches are available to them?
Distinguished philosophers Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly explain that a secular life
charged with meaning is indeed within reach. It is achieved by a passionate, skillful engagement
with the people, events, and wonders present in the most ordinary days - an approach to meaning
that modern Western culture seems to have abandoned. Dreyfus and Kelly use some of the
greatest works of the Western canon to trace the way we have lost this passionate engagement to
our surroundings and to show us how to get it back. Taking us on a journey from the wonder and
openness of Homer's polytheistic world, to the monotheism of Dante, to the nihilism of Kant, to the
pantheism of Melville, and finally to the spiritual difficulties of the world evoked by modern authors
such as David Foster Wallace and Elizabeth Gilbert, All Things Shining will change the way we
understand our culture, our history, our sacred practices, and ourselves, and offer a new - and
very old - way to celebrate a secular existence. em em