Who to read during a crisis?

[singlemalt]

Let's assume we're in a period of severe moral/political decay. Who would you read for insight and comfort?

Whitman (Leaves of Grass)?
Thoreau (Walden)?
Hesse (Siddhartha)?

Lay 'em on me.

[judih]

i like my little zen book. i open it at random - read the page and then close it.

it works.

or, i listen to Ginsberg just to re-connect to the passion of living.

or, i listen to music to stir up my inner energies.

reading? whitman is sensational, especially read aloud.

[e_dog]

Bible.
always.

[firsty]

i read "the plague" by camus shortly after 9/11. first it brought despair but then a moral comfort.

psalms in the bible is good classic stuff, has helped me thru some rough patches.

of your choices, i'd have to say thoreau but i never looked at siddhartha before, so i cant really choose completely from the three.

[firsty]

speaking of ginsberg, yeah, hell girl, i just checked out a huge collection of his from 95 or 96 or something from the library. howl makes me howl, america makes me dream, read the ones from after neal's death and after jack's death, and some early stuff i'd never read before but reminded me PASSIONATELY of many afternoons spent back and forth on "action poetry" and made me smile indeed.

[singlemalt]

you never read siddhartha? good stuff. kind of slow, but good. short book.

herman hesse was an interesting guy. he fled germany when the shit was hitting the fan in the 30s and ended up marrying a jewish woman from either russia or romania. he combined eastern philosophy with western stuff, like carl jung.

although the good people at studio 8 seem to have a much greater "hippie factor" than i do, i agree with the hippies on this book. check it out.

[stilltrucking]

Bible.
always

The Hebrew Bible
I hardly ever read the New Bible. Except for Luke The Drifter

And when I'm go-one and at my grave you stand
Just say God called home your Ra-amblin' Man.

. http://www.poetspath.com/exhibits/troubadours_hank.html

Ecclesiastes I read over and over.

16 For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

I been reading more Zen Lately, but it has nothing to do with the desperate international situation.

It is more for my own personal reasons, kind of an analgesic

[Diana Moon Glampers]

Siegfried Engelmann, Elaine C. Bruner
]Reading Mastery - Level 2 Storybook 1 (Hardcover)

My Pet Goat

http://www.sadlyno.com/uploads/sadlynogoats.htm