The Cult of Destruction and Cynicism

The Greek word logos has multiple meanings, including "word," "thought," or "principle." Deep and extended exercises in the realm of thought/idea through the vehicle of reason can take us down some dark corridors if we are not grounded in logos as defined by John. "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word (Logos) was with God, and the Word (Logos) was God" (John 1:1).

But God grounds us and guides us if we are willing to listen. If we are not, we can become fascinated with myopia and pessimism as seemed to have happened with Schopenhauer.  

"Schopenhauer’s particular characterization of the world as Will is nonetheless novel and daring. It is also frightening and pandemonic: he maintains that the world as it is in itself (again, sometimes adding “for us”) is an endless striving and blind impulse with no end in view, devoid of knowledge, lawless, absolutely free, entirely self-determining and almighty. Within Schopenhauer’s vision of the world as Will, there is no God to be comprehended, and the world is conceived of as being inherently meaningless. When anthropomorphically considered, the world is represented as being in a condition of eternal frustration, as it endlessly strives for nothing in particular, and as it goes essentially nowhere. It is a world beyond any ascriptions of good and evil." - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 

A cult of destruction and cynicism may be "daring" but it is not new. It is as old as the events leading up to the first dragon falling from the sky.

Some Thoughts on Raskolnikov's Transformation in Crime and Punishment and Why Sonya is the Hero and Raskolnikov Merely the Protagonist

Do you still need to add a spoiler alert for a book published 158 years ago?

Although it's unlikely that Dostoevsky read Nietzsche, Raskolnikov believed that certain people were above moral codes if it served a higher purpose. This belief led him to justify killing the old pawnbroker with an axe. Raskolnikov saw himself as a kind of pre-Nietzschean Übermensch, though, unlike Nietzsche, he still believed that most people were bound by a moral code.

Nietzsche’s Übermensch represents an idealized version of humanity that has transcended traditional morality, especially the Christian values of obedience, humility, and an afterlife-focused worldview. Nietzsche believed these values were life-denying and led to nihilism—the idea that life has no inherent meaning.

However, Nietzsche did not envision the Übermensch merely rejecting these values and passively evolving into "his own God." Instead, the Übermensch actively creates his own values and purpose in the face of existential realities, embracing life and its inherent meaninglessness without relying on external sources of morality or transcendence. Nietzsche saw the Übermensch as a response to nihilism, not something that emerges after it.

Once Raskolnikov confesses to the murder and is sent to Siberia, he is gradually transformed by Sonya, who represents divine love, or Christian charity—the pure love of Christ. While Raskolnikov initially remains unconvinced that he committed a moral sin, believing instead that his only mistake was confusing himself for an Übermensch, Sonya’s constant, unconditional love slowly breaks down his defenses.

This brings up an important point: Nietzsche’s Übermensch draws strength from the body and esteems the material world, rejecting reliance on a fictional or transcendent source of meaning. Yet, as Sonya demonstrates, divine love manifests in the here and now, in service to others. Christ's teachings directly oppose those who neglect to follow the first and second great commandments, as seen in Matthew 25:

"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:34-40).

Through Sonya, Dostoevsky illustrates that it is only through Christian charity that one can transcend the nihilism of the present world and become a beacon of love and light for those who are hardened and lost. Her influence even extends to the entire prison, confounding Raskolnikov and gradually breaking down his intellectual defenses. Sonya’s Christian charity not only redeemed her from a life of prostitution, but it also saved Raskolnikov from the grip of nihilism.

My Reading Year - 2025

It is September of 2024 and I wanted to get a head start on 2025's reading year. In an answer to prayer, meditation, research, muddling about online, stumbling across BookTube, reading and reading, and writing, and writing, and writing and writing, I've seen an improvement in my reading and writing abilities. Although, as any good reader and writer will be able to tell, I still have a long way to go. This isn't discouraging in the least, but riveting. Progress marches forward and I have nothing but the expanse of time unfurling like an endless rug.   

In thinking about what I want to read in 2025, I already know that much of what I am currently reading now will extend into 2025 and perhaps beyond, though I hope not, as there is so much I want to get to. But I wanted organize my aspirations.  

Normally I just set a reading goal on Goodreads but this year, I wanted to make it more special and more difficult. For 2025 I will be using a few tools, one of which is this post, also Goodreads (like usual), and Harold Bloom's canonical list of the greatest books of all time, entitled The Western Canon. 

I'm not particularly interested in only reading from the canon but I'd love to read as much of the canon as I can without veering from my own reading goals, which have everything to do with devotional material as well as books that are supposed to inform my own writing. To this end, if a book is part of Bloom's Western Canon then I will add the (WC) label. If I am rereading the book I will add a (RR) label. 

A large portion of what I will be reading will come directly from my own library and piles of books to be read (TBR). This is a work in progress and is subject to change. But as I build out this list it will give me a lot to think about. 

Anyway, onward and upward as I worm my way through the stacks. 

2025 Reading Year

• Fiction

1. Notes from Underground (WC) by Dostoevsky
• Background: 
• Type: Novella, Russian Literature
• Published: 1864
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Type: Literary
• Published: 1963 
3. The Question of Bruno by Aleksandar Hemon
• Type: Literary
• Published: 2000
4. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
• Type: Bildungsroman (coming-of-age), Crime fiction
• Published: Sept. 11, 2001
5. True History of the Kelley Gang by Peter Carey
• Type: Historical fiction, Crime fiction 
• Published: 2000
6. A Man by Keiichiro Hirano
• Type: Japanese literature, Psychological, Mystery
• Published: 2018
7. My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok (RR)
• Type: Bildungsroman, Jewish fiction, Künstlerroman (an artist's coming-of-age)
• Published: 1972
8. The Gift of Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
• Type: Novel, Faith, Art, and Secularism, Jewish fiction 
• Published: 1990
9. Brave New World (WC) by Aldous Huxley
• Type: Novel, Science Fiction, Dystopian
• Published: 1932
• Award(s): Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century
10. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
• Type: Science Fiction
• Published: 1964
11. Fiskadoro (WC) by Denis Johnson
• Type: Post-Apocalyptic Novel
• Published: 1985
12. The Laughing Monsters by Denis Johnson
• Type: Novel, Spy Novel
• Published: 2014
13. Pure Color by Sheila Heti
• Type: Novel, Psychological fiction
• Published: 2022
• Award(s): Governor General's Literary Award
14. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Type: Novella, Roman à clef 
• Roman à clef is French for novel with a key, is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction
• Published: 1899 
15. Their Eyes Were Watching God (WC) by Zora Neale Hurston
• Type: Novel, Psychological Fiction
• Published: 1937
16. Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (WC) by Bruno Schulz
• Type: Novel, Polish literature, Jewish fiction
•  Published: 1937
17. As I Lay Dying (WC) by William Faulkner
• Type: Novel, Southern Gothic, Literature
• Published: 1930
18. The Sun Also Rises (WC) by Ernest Hemingway
• Type: Novel, Historical Fiction, Roman à clef
• Published: 1926
19. A Farewell to Arms (WC) by Ernest Hemingway
• Type: War Novel, Literary Realism
• Published: 1929
20. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
• Type: War Novel
• Published: 1940
21. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
• Type: Novella, Philosophical Fiction
• Published: 1902
22. Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott
• Type: Novella, Science Fiction, Scientific Romance 
• Published: 1884
23. The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
• Type: Novel, Western
• Published: 1940
24. The Deer Stalker by Zane Grey
• Type: Novel, Western
• Published: 1925
25. Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
• Type: Novel, Western, Sports
• Published: 2001

• Poetry

1. The Metamorphosis of Ovid (WC)
• Type: Poetry, Mythology, History
• Purpose: Academic - I want to understand the Ancient Near East and my knowledge is sparse.
2. The Hemophiliac's Motorcycle by Tom Andrews
• Type: Poetry
• Purpose: I need to read poetry and this spoke to me at one time. I've carried it around for years and have only read a few poems. I will complete it in 2025.
• Published: 1994
• Award(s): The Iowa Poetry Prize
3. The Legend of Light by Bob Hicok
• Type: Poetry
• Purpose: I need to read poetry and this spoke to me at one time. I've carried it around for years and have only read a few poems. I will complete it in 2025. 
• Award(s): Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry
• Published: 1995
4. Rain Scald by Tacey M. Atsitty
• Type: Poetry, Navajo poetry
• Published: 2018

• Nonfiction  

1. The Joseph Smith Papers: Journals Vol. 1
• Type: History
• Purpose: Academic
• Published: 2008
2. Witness of the Fire: Creativity & The Veil of Addiction by Linda Schierse Leonard
• Type: Jungian Psychology, Recovery, Creativity
• Purpose: Recovery, Psychological, Creativity, Spiritual
• Published: 2001
3. Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C.G. Jung (with Aniela Jaffé)
• Type: Autobiography
• Purpose: Jungian psychology, alchemy, and Carl Jung himself
• Published: 1962
4. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
• Type: Mythology
• Purpose: Academic - I want to understand the Ancient Near East and my knowledge is sparse.
• Published: 1942
5. Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, From Fire to Freud by Peter Watson
• Type: History
• Purpose: My grasp of history is sparse. I am very interested in the development of ideas. I've carried this book around for a while. It's time I cracked it. I think it will supplement all the other historical books I'll be reading. 
• Published: 2005
6. San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities by Michael Shellenberger
• Type: Sociology
• Published: 2021
7. Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger
• Type: Sociology
• Published: 2020
8. An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
• Type: Memoir
• Published: 1987
9. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
• Type: Memoir
• Published: 2014
• Award(s): Samuel Johnson Prize, Costa Book of the Year
10. Tis': A Memoir by Frank McCourt
• Type: Memoir
• Published: 1999
11. A Scientist Explores Spirit: A Biography of Emanuel Swedenborg by George F. Dole & Robert H. Kirven
• Type: Biography, Philosophy, Metaphysics
• Published: 

• Craft Books
1. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee
• Type: Craft
• Purpose: To be a better writer
• Published: 1997
2. Attack of the Copula Spiders by Douglas Glover
• Type: Craft
• Purpose: To be a better writer
• Published: 2012
3. Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell
• Type: Craft
• Purpose: To be a better writer
• Published: 2022
4. The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time by David L. Ulin
• Type: Literary Criticism, Essays
• Published: 2010
• Religious

1. By The Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion by Terryl L. Givens
• Type: Academic
• Purpose: To gain a better understanding of the Book of Mormon
• Published: 2003
2. The Doctrine & Covenants (RR)
• Type: Scriptural, Historical
• Purpose: Devotional
3. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (WC)
• Type: Historical, Mythology
• Purpose: Academic - I want to understand the Ancient Near East and my knowledge is sparse.
4. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (RR)
• Type: Theology, Fiction, Satire
• Published: 1942

To see how I'm doing, check out my Goodreads profile. 

Total Books = 47

Bloom's Western Canon total = 10

About The Writer's Bible

There are so many great online resources and tools for writers. I have used many of them for years but keeping track of it all is overwhelming. I need one place to keep all of my resources past and present. The Writer's Bible is an evolving repository for all resources that have and do benefit me as a writer. Maybe it will help you too.

1. Agents and Agencies
2. Articles
3. Author and Writer Tools
4. Authors
5. Book About Writing
6. Bookshelf
7. Bookstores
8. BookTube
9. Business Writing
10. Dictionary
11. English Class
12. Films About Writing and Writers
13. Focus on the Short Story
14. Historic Places
15. Library
16. Literary Criticism & Reading Aids
17. Literary Magazines
18. Poetry
19. Portfolio
20. Professional Organizations
21. Publishing and Submissions
22. Reference Library
23. Resources
24. Screenwriting and Film
25. Story Theory
26. The Reading Life
27. Videos About Writing
28. Writing 101
29. Writing Conferences: A Static Report
30. About Me

October 28, 2024