Mere Christianity
By: C.S. Lewis
HarperOne; Revised & Enlarged edition (April 21, 2015)
227 pages

What can I say about a classic text, like Mere Christianity, that has not already been said? I think this is actually my second (or third?) time reading this book. The first time was when I was an undergrad. And I think I read it again in graduate school. Lewis takes on the questions of: What exactly do Christians believe? And what basis do they have for that belief? If you care about religion and/or ethics, definitely look this one up.

Two of my favorite quotes:

If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other, there would be no sense in preferring civilised morality to savage morality, or Christian morality to Nazi morality. In fact, of course, we all do believe that some moralities are better than others. We do believe that some of the people who tried to change the moral ideas of their own age were what we would call Reformers or Pioneers—people who understood morality better than their neighbours did. Very well then. The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other. But the standard that measures two things is something different from either. You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as a real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people’s ideas get nearer to that real Right than others. Or put it this way. If your moral ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true, there must be something—some Real Morality—for them to be true about.

When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.

Buy this book.

Stillness Is The Key
By: Ryan Holiday
Portfolio (October 1, 2019)
288 pages

Stillness Is The Key is a book about learning to slow down. We hustle and work and strive, but for what? Status? Money? Is it making us happy or achieving our mission? Let’s go after our dreams and goals, but let’s not get burnt out in the process. This book is in praise of the downtime of a long walk, or time in the shower, that brings with it that perfect idea or clarification. Don’t miss Holiday’s first two books in this series, The Obstacle is The Way and Ego Is The Enemy. If you want more on this topic, I enjoyed How To Be Idle, By: Tom Hodgkinson.

Two of my favorite quotes:

We want to learn to see the world like an artist: While other people are oblivious to what surrounds them, the artist really sees. Their mind, fully engaged, notices the way a bird flies or the way a stranger holds their fork or a mother looks at her child. They have no thoughts of the morrow. All they are thinking about is how to capture and communicate this experience. An artist is present. And from this stillness comes brilliance.

If true patience and clarity are what you seek in this life-and by the way, they are what you deserve-know that you will find them nearby and not far away. Stick fast, as Emerson said. Turn into yourself. Stand in place. Stand in front of the mirror. Get to know your front porch. You were given one body when you were born-don’t try to be someone else, somewhere else. Get to know yourself. Build a life that you don’t need to escape from.

Buy this book.