The Life of the Mind: On the Joys and Travails of Thinking

The structure of the book make it easy to read and to followThe cross reference to the books of great Philosophers serves as a guide into the world of deep thought and the wiseness of others that might help you to be wise in your own little world.

Fr. Schall's books have literally introduced to me that there is a life to our minds, something I never really thought of before my conversion to Catholicism. This is a great book, among many that he has written. There is nothing like learning to think rightly in a world gone mad.

I've purchased many many books and products from Amazon over the years and have never once felt compelled to write a review. I do with this book! I cannot not give it 5 stars!! I am not an intellectual or Catholic however this book speaks such timeless truths I believe anyone would greatly benefit from reading it.

Of the books written by Schall this has been my favourite to date. It is a testimony to how good it is that I was able to read it all in hospital whilst very ill and anyone who has been in hospital knows how notoriously difficult it is to concentrate there. Schall has the great gift of being able to enkindle in the reader a desire to know all things to discover the depth of things and to be exposed to the "radiance of being" and to savour "intellectual delights". I was diagnosed with a terminal disease 18 months ago and the things that have sustained me have been my Catholic faith but also a zest for living but particularly a zest for knowing the truth of things. I consider myself blessed to have across Schall a few years ago in his essays for Ignatius Insight as not only have I read 4 of his books I feel my mind and spirit has expanded by continuously dipping into his reading list. Note this book too has a reading list with some different books than are included in his "Another Sort of Learning". So, one of my one regrets on passing on from this life (likely to be soon enough) is that I did not come across Schall earlier in my life as Schall shows us there is so much to know and there is so much joy to be had in simply knowing things. But, I think what particularly marks this book is a kind of old fashioned gentlemanliness - a kind of spirit that seems to be disappearing from the world - a spirit that the English used to have in abundance but are losing.But, the key is Schall is not heavy, he notes a "certain lightsomeness in existence itself, something we miss at our peril". But amidst the many philosophical reflections, we have sound common sense advice: "No political reform could ever be successful without personal reform" and a continual exhortation to rediscover the foundation of liberal education: "Liberal education is not a "speciality". It is not what is called a "major". Rather, it is rooted in the kind of intellectual eros we find in Plato, in the wonder that according to Aristotle stimulates all thought". Its purpose is "to explain man to himself". And to be caught up in that eros we need the stimulus of the greats (as Maritain says): "Great poets and thinkers are the foster-fathers of intelligence. Cut off from them, we are simply barbarians" So what if we are not the world's greatest intellects: "Just because we are not an Aristotle is no reason for us to do little or nothing with what we are given by nature"Schall puts his hand on the pulse of Christianity by showing its uniqueness, lest we forget: "What is perhaps unique about Christianity is that it is a revelation that unabashedly also addressed itself to intellect" and "Catholicism, for better or worse, is a religion of intelligence". And in a time of increasing agnosticism and taking pride at a kind of knowing nothing, he reminds us : "The real discovery is not that we have questions, but that we have answers to such questions. Our minds cannot be satisfied with mere questioning, even though to question is to start to seek an answer". Concerning relativism, one chuckes when one reads: "I will not go into the self-contradictory irony of the "truth" of the proposition that all "truth is relative". He reminds us that in the modern world where Christian beliefs (particularly on sexual ethics) are no longer acceptable, often treated as akin to racism or sexism: "Tolerance does not tolerate truth, though that was once its purpose, the finding of truth. " it is the spirit of the age to keep the mind open (unless one is dealing with opposing Christian beliefs!) but "A mind that cannot or will not make an affirmation or judgement is not a mind". Schall reminds us that it is not with our eyes as such that we see the world but through the lense of our philosophy. Thus, "The relation between mind and virtue is not of minimal importance. Most failures of intellect, I suspect, can be traced back to a prior failure of virtue, of spiritual life".I was most taken by his alluding to CS Lewis who says about books that they "enable us to live many lives besides our own" and "the enormous extension of our being, which we owe to authors" and "in reading great literature, I become a thousand men and yet remain myself".Anyway, what can one say but that this book is simply splendid - anyone who enjoys philosophical reflections made known in a gentlemanly and lucid manner will enjoy this wonderful book.

Father Schall's book reads like a series of lectures given in one of his classrooms, in order to stimulate his students at Georgetown. He praises highly the pursuit of knowledge, and especially recommends Catholic authors in that pursuit. As with Eric Voegelin, Schall seeks to meld the life of reason with that of reveation, and he does not see as much conflict as, say, Leo Strauss. He emphasizes the active pursuit of knowledge as the path to the Truth, or that which is. In this he reveals a fundamental flaw, in that all thought is essentially old and is constantly being brought into the active present. But thought obscures that which is, and veils the Truth of each moment. In active contemplation (or meditation) thought goes into abeyance and the mystery is frequently revealed. All in all, a very enjoyable book. I particularly liked his"Reading for Clerics."

C.S. Lewis famously said that one has not read a great book until they have read it more than once (though you have to read it once to read it again). I would place Schall’s oeuvre in that category, and Life of the Mind is no exception. It is a book that could be profitably read over and over in order to discover anew or for the thousandth time what truly matters and what one should spend their precious time pursuing. Schall’s book is like a fortune cookie from Ancient Athens in that you can turn to almost any page, select any sentence, and meditate on its profundity throughout the day. Let me concretely apply this bold statement by opening the book at random to three places and recording what I find, which I can do, because I am my own editor.“We do sense, however, that we need speculative reasons to explain of justify our practical decisions and actions, especially if we suspect that what we do is wrong by some transcendent standard—that is, if we presume we do have such a thing as a conscience” (124, The Whole Risk for a Human Being).“Modern economics has shown ways for the drudgery of labor to be performed with dignity and profit by free citizens. If one thinks, for instance, of modern sewage and waste management systems, we see how the work formerly forced on slaves can be carried out in another, more human, way” (29, Artes Liberales—The Liberal Arts).“Not only am I, I, but that which is not myself is just as real as I am” (107, The Metaphysics of Walking).Look at the chapter that last citation is taking from: The Metaphysics of Walking! What does that even mean!? I know that you are intrigued. Other chapter titles include such gems as: On the Things That Depend on Philosophy; On the Consolations of Illiteracy, Revisited; Books and the Intellectual Life; On the Joys and Travails of Thinking.If you are looking for a good graduation present for either high school or college seniors, look no further my friends. One of the most shocking moments of Schall’s book to our modern sensibilities is when he reminds us that some pleasures are worth pursuing and others are not. In other words, some things are better than others! Any author willing to sacrifice his career at a prestigious East coast university (Schall teaches at Georgetown) with such a brazenly old-fashioned statement deserve a standing ovation.I had the privilege of meeting Schall in grad school—I hope that I gave him a standing ovation, alas, I cannot remember—and I consider it one of the highlights of that period of my life. Wearing an eye patch and continually dabbing the excess saliva from the corners of his mouth as he spoke, Schall’s body was deteriorated but his face beamed like a child, mind sprightly, eyes radiating with the joie de vivre that comes from a life of disciplined intellectual delights and the continual back and forth of students and teacher. The Life of the Mind is a book that every person should have on their bookshelf, and hopefully, more often than not, in their hands. There are few books that come to my mind so full of life and wisdom and few thinkers that have done so much with the joys and challenges of the intellectual and spiritual life as Father James Schall. It will be a sad day, indeed, when his astute mind and childlike countenance go to find their final rest.

BOOOOOORING.

Schall escreve de modo muito agradável e cativante. O livro traz várias reflexões preciosas sobre livros, leituras e estudo. Em uma época em que ficamos tão centrados na educação proveniente de instituições, este livro é um bom lembrete sobre o quanto a nossa educação individual depende de nossa iniciativa própria. E caso você seja protestante, como é o meu caso, não deixe de ler este livro simplesmente porque é escrito por um clérigo católico .