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In These Times blogs live from the Republican National Convention September 1 - 4.

When Lost Is Found

By Mark Engler

On the surface, it would seem that getting lost requires little instruction, and that few of us would want to improve whatever talent for it we might possess. But in her new book, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit offers a compelling case for a state more commonly avoided than aspired to. She quotes theorist Walter Benjamin: “Not… return to article

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    The central idea of this book, as revealed in this insightful review, resonates among some of the best writers I’ve read.  She mentions Thoreau, who was quite in favor of getting lost as a way of finding yourself.  And Jose Ortega y Gassett wrote this in revolt of the masses:

    The man with the clear head is the man who frees himself from those fantastic “ideas” and looks life in the face, realises that everything in it is problematic, and feels himself lost. As this is the simple truth- that to live is to feel oneself lost- he who accepts it has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look round for something to which to cling, and that tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere, because it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to bring order into the chaos of his life. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked. All the rest is rhetoric, posturing, farce.

    United States Posted by kccole01 on Aug 24, 2005 at 7:52 PM
    Page 1 of 1 pages

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