Mobile Phone Ebooks

One great thing about mobile phones these days which gets less attention than the crappy camera that they feature is the ability to read ebooks on them. I now have 6 books on my phone which I can read wherever I go. In fact I rarely read a conventional book as I am so used to computer screens that they hurt my eyes. I know it should be the other way around, but what can I say- I'm a child of the digital generation!

Right now I am reading two ebooks. One is Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra. Now I know that the Nazis claimed to get a lot of their ideas from there but I can verify that there is no racism or antisemitism to found in his work (that I have read) and in fact his idea of the superman is much more about individual freedom of an artist than about nationalistic movements (he didn't like nationalism either). I can see, however, how fascism could misunderstand what he was saying and think they were the kind of progress he was speaking of... but I very much doubt that their grim and destructive ways would find much sympathy from him, as he spoke of living to the full, which they certainly didn't. Nietzsche passed away a long time ago so there is really no way to know his position on these issues short of a successful seance, but I feel I should bring them up whenever his name is mentioned.

Anyway, Thus is an intriguing, at times strange and disturbing, at times inspiring read. What I find most inspiring is the concept of the superman, who finds new values and makes the world afresh- that is quite liberating and something each generation seems to do. At times his writing reaches the heights of poetry and I suppose he is more romantic artist than philosopher, which is why I like reading him so much. What I don't like is that when I read it I can't help thinking that there is something deranged and bitter about the mind that wrote it- Nietzsche was a sick and lonely man. I wouldn't want to follow him- he is not a spiritual guru for me the way Krishnamurti or a founder of a religion is. Partly because he doesn't focus on helping others-the island he aspires to be doesn't exist- all are judged or grow on the basis of how they treat their fellow man, not just on the value of their private meditations. But still, a very stimulating read, one of the most stimulating I know of.

The other work I am reading right now is The Voice of the Silence, by Madame Blavatsky of the Theosophists. I absolutely love Eastern Wisdom and am learning a lot from this- by reading it i remember why I was first so drawn to India and the wisdom of the East. I may even start quoting these books on my blog, as and when a passage especially inspires me. So more happy reading to come!