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Foreword
- University of Georgia Press
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FOREWORD A book by the title Life's Philosophy would normally be fair game for ridicule. It sounds just a tad egoistic—what's the Norse for "chutzpah"? But in this case the author is first of all an actual card-carrying philosopher, indeed one of great renown, and he has lived an actual life, one that by every indication has verged on the splendid. And so in this casethe title turns out to be the utter opposite of pretentious, as is the book—in fact, they lack pretense almost entirely, as if written in some altogether forgotten language where arrogance is not a linguistic possibility. Americans who know of Arne Naess (and, given that he is a Norwegian philosopher, a surprising number do) know of him because of his connection with the environmental debate—most significantly , his work with Californian George Sessions to formulate the principles of Deep Ecology.Asthis book makesclear, those completely sane and modest (albeit revolutionary) principles come from a saneand modest mind, albeit one out ofstepwith the times. Hereis a defense of slowlearning, ofjoyfulness, of simplicity, of listening to faint feelings, that contradicts nearly every notion of a "successful" modern life. And yet,just as one cannot read Wendell Berry without wishing to become a small farmer, one cannot read this book without wanting to turn into some emotional semblance of its author—to marry the strong Scandinavian sense of reason with the strong Scandinavian love of nature (all those Norwegians in their rustic cabins!), ix and to grace it with an exquisite mindfulness. Here is the examined life, but not the excoriated one: there is a tenderness in Naess, especially in his regard for the young and their education, that is too rare among our elders. His seems to be a life without bitter aftertaste. Indeed, he offers avolume that sometimes seems to me a Strunk and White for daily life: "To Learn Well Is to Learn Slowly"; "Music Conveys Emotion Better than Words"; "Do Little Things in a Big Way." His ending, with its mathematical endorsement of fervor, will linger in your mind. Very few people, I fear, change their lives as a result of reading contemporary academicphilosophy. They are more likelyto respond to example, to story. Sohere is a kind of universal great-grandfather, eager to share some gentle wisdom about that most mystifying of topics: How to Live. It is a grand and generous gift. Bill McKibben x Foreword ...