Consolations of Philosophology

Milton

Ok, there are two ways to learn from another scholar, either coolly and dispassionately, or else head first in full immersion. The latter approach is learning by heart; the former learning by humor.

I think the first rule of scholarship is to recognize that learning from somebody else's book is self abrogation; unless one can raise a Spocklike eyebrow no learning occurs and no reference to the Real has transpired, not even when that reality is a mere hell imagined by clever poets. Dante. Milton. Fun minds who entertain. Or Einstein, unapproachable without years of frozen meditation and no fun at all without epiphany.

Whatever.  The truth is, I'm searching for a good recipe for lentil soup.  The rest is inconsequential.