How to Read a Book

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Event Name: How to Read a Book
Transcription Date:Transcription Modified Date: 4/24/2019
Transcript Version: 1


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arby on the sand

half sunk and another really strong and

you know you can see the trunk sunk you

see these are the internal rhymes of the

poem I music these are these are you

know you could have said other he could

have described half-buried he could have

said right but he didn't he said half

sunk a shattered visage lies and sunk is

something we normally think of the sea

right something sinks in in water but

here's sand another type of water the

water of Earth right half sunk a

shattered visage right what's a visit

it's the face right and and this is

important because you know that's an

older word we don't know so you have to

know why he's using a village right lies

whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer

of cold command what's he telling us

about this guy his character right tell

that it's sculptor well those passions

read right the sculptor really

understood something about this this

character right whose frown and wrinkled

lip and sneer of cold command I mean

sneer it's an interesting word right

what does sneer mean what are you doing

you sneer at somebody

it's contemptuous right arrogance just

sneering it's sneer of cold command

heartless we're dealing with a heartless

person here tell that it's sculptor well

those passions read I mean here we have

reading right the artist reads also it's

a different type of

reading he's reading into the

personality of the of the of the

character that he's sculpting he read

well those passions because he's put

them on that face and then what's he

telling his passions or when you think

of passion what do you think huh

well what do you think though passions

like somebody's passionate what are they

huh yeah but what passion he's got so

much passion uh-huh I mean I think of

life somebody who's really alive you

know they're passionate they're alive

right so he's it's interesting he's

juxtaposing here you tell that it's

sculptor well those passions read which

yet survive stamped on these lifeless

things so here he's juxtaposing passions

with lifeless and yet he's telling us

they survive

how have they survived the sculpture you

see so this is Shelley's own little

we're getting into his philosophy now

because Shelley was a romantic and

believed that in the immortality of art

that art was one way of achieving

immortality and so what he's saying is

look oz amanda's doesn't really live

anymore except because of this artist

right so the artists actually outlived

Ozymandias because he's the one that

left behind this thing it wasn't Azam

and is he paid for it but it was the

artist that produced it okay so he's

tell that it's sculptor well those

passions read which yet survive stamped

on these lifeless things the hand that

mocked them what do you think he means

they're mock them and the heart that fed

what does he mean the hand that mocked

them

what does mocked me

let's mock me there's another poem great

poem one of my favorite poems by Yeats

come let us mock at the great that had

such burdens on the mind and toiled so

hard and late to leave some monument

behind nor thought of the leveling win

come let us mock at the good with all

those come let us market the good with

all those calendars whereon they fixed

old aching eyes nor thought of how the

seasons run and now but gape at the Sun

come that US market the wise that

fancied goodness might be gay and sick

of Solitude might proclaim a holiday

wind shrieked and where are they mock

mockers after that who would not lift a

hand maybe to bar that foul storm out

who would not lift a hand maybe to help

the good wise or great to bow that foul

storm out for we traffic in mockery he's

talking about the modern age it's all

mockery let's just make fun of everybody

make fun of the Prophet Mohammed soul I

Sam you know it's just it's an age of

mockery make fun everybody's open gay

make fun of politicians make fun of

everybody's open game for mockery but is

that what he's saying here the hem that

mocked them see there's some importance

of knowing terms yeah that's what he

means he means more imitate because that

you know in his time mock also meant to

copy or to imitate the hand that copied

them because he wasn't mocking he wasn't

mocking Ozymandias so this is important

you can't understand something unless

you know the words

that the author is using in it so here

he means the hand that copied them now

what's he mean the heart that fed

the passions yeah he copied those

passions he nailed them

he got them on that face in stone right

the hand that mocked them and the heart

that fed what's the heart that fed fed

what the passion so it's the heart of

Ozymandias he got his heart it's it's a

cold heart

it's a contemptuous heart it's a heart

that you know it's it's it looks down it

frowns on things not not a happy heart

and on the pedestal these words appear I

mean what do we put up on pedestals

right on the pedestal these words appear

my name is Ozymandias king of kings look

on my works ye mighty and despair you'll

never be able to achieve what I achieved

despair mighty he's talking to the mind

he's not talking to the peasants he's

talking to other King I'm King of Kings

look on my works ye mighty not peasants

you know they're all shaking in their

boots I'm talking about the mighty

should look at me and Who I am

look on my works ye mighty and despair

and then boom he's got the exclamation

mark right and then what nothing beside

remains it's just such a beautiful turn

of phrase to come right after that you

know nothing beside remains that's it

round the decay of that colossal wreck

right this giant Ozymandias nothing

beside remains round the decay of that

colossal wreck boundless and bare the

level sands the lone and level sands

stretch far away so what do you mean

boundless and bare the lone and level

sands stretch far away what are the

sands referring to

it's the desert right but what do you

think what do we think of sands also the

sands of time right so it's time it

levels everything everything we build

it's all going to be leveled time is the

great leveler so you know he's basically

just saying look nothing beside remains

it's all boundless and bare the lone and

level sands stretch far away there's

just this little half sunk village in

the midst of a massive ocean called time

that no matter what we do it's always

going to be this half sunk a shattered

visage in the ocean of time the sands of

time right in the end pretty bleak

unless what alpha D and net in Santa Fe

Xhosa it'll in madina al munawwara

middle Saudi Hathi what's also but happy

with who also the summer unless people

are building not for this world because

all these things that you do here become

meanings in the next world everything

you do here is is meaningful in the next

world

that's another view anyway so any

questions any answers on the okay let's

hear it yeah yeah yeah speed reading is

like trying to read on methamphetamines

I don't believe in speed reading I think

you can speed read a blog not my blogs

now you can speed read a blog you can

speed read a an article in time or

Newsweek something like that you know

there's things you could read there's

their skimming and then there's

superficial reading skimming is just

scrolling down a page and you know

trying to see do I really want to read

this or not and then superficial reading

is to read it without really thinking

about it right whereas real reading

takes time I mean real readers are you

know if you're gonna read something in

the way he's talking about

Adler's recommends not reading more than

twenty pages an hour and taking a break

I don't know that's you know that's slow

reading so you know but I mean I you

know my teachers like chabela bimbe he

reads all the time amazing he's always

takes books with him and and bought up

that Hadj I brought him once a

three-volume book of at was Annie as a

gift it was a book of thought was that

he didn't have and it's a famous one

it's quoted he just for the next three

weeks

that's all he read when he would had

free time and he finished it in like

three weeks mind you he's reading

something that he knows a lot about so

it depends on also what you're reading

Adler talks about you know original

communication which are primary texts

because there's authors that that are

giving you original thought and most

books don't have a lot of original

thought in them because it's just not

very few humans have really original

things to say and a lot of them are

actually just rehashing things that have

already been said but because people

don't know tradition you know Mark Twain

said the ancients stole all their best

ideas from us all right and there's a

lot of truth to that statement you know

because people don't know where things

come from and so they they read

something wow that's amazing but then

you read Aristotle and you'll see like

oh that's where he got it from you know

so that happens anyway so I mean I'm not

a yeah I took a speeding course in

school that I had to take in residence

and maybe I didn't have to take it but I

think I did actually cuz I it was in a

it was part of four because I was a

tutor when I was in school in the

reading lab but I wouldn't recommend

speed reading I'm not a fast reader she

read really slow I look upwards to like

I don't if I don't know a word I'll look

it up which slows you down you know I

mean I have a pretty good vocabulary but

you know there's words I still come

across words all the time that I either

don't know or I'm not quite sure I can't

remember you know it's like because you

have passive and active vocabulary

active vocab is what you use passive is

what you can recognize and understand

when you here to read it and our passive

vocabulary are much larger than our

active vocabularies and our active Oh

cavities are usually limited to about

two or three thousand words but but are

passive but act

I mean active our passive ones you know

you're talking a lot of words people

people know a lot of words surprisingly

I mean even you know relatively

uneducated people know a lot of words

and also a lot of nuances and I mean

what the average person knows is just

phenomenal that's why people are

brilliant humans are we're not stupid

we're very smart you know in memory

people say I don't have a good memory

rubbish

you you remember so many things it's

amazing you can all leave this room and

I can ask you to tell me basically

what's in this room and you remember it

I mean how did that happen just from

being in a room to know you know where

the podium was you know where the books

were approximately how many of those

shelves are in here you know where the

table was where you know we can we can

describe those kiosks the little

cubicles in the thing right we've been

and there's a little guestbook on the

thing right and then I saw a little

poster you can go there now if it's

still there you know a little poster

about building say tuna brick by brick I

mean that's just walking into a room and

I just noticed all these things I mean

how did that get stuck in there people

have phenomenal memories we just don't

know how to utilize our memories like

don't know how to read these things are

trained you know memories uh

you train your memory that's it's it's a

skill so anyway any other questions in

regards to reading higher-level books

and primary sources isn't it helpful to

rely on something that is a little

easier to understand as a means of

gaining familiarity with the material

and then heading into more difficult

original texts otherwise it would seem

to be a barrier to learning if an

individual becomes overwhelmed or give

ups you know I would say it depends on

what you're reading I mean for instance

you know I'm reading a book right now

that I've read before but I'm reading it

with somebody and it's book by moment

about Judy and he momma divide Judy

assumes in that book and it's a it's

really a secondary book cuz he's drawing

from a lot of different books but he and

it's a textbook it was used in a lot

hard for Activa

but in that book he's assuming that you

know logic rhetoric grammar philology

and mad wall that he's assuming that you

know theology because it's an

intermediate theology book so he's

assuming you've had basic theology so he

makes all these assumptions on his

reader now if you knew Arabic pretty

well you can actually read the book but

you would be missing a lot of his

nuances you just you just would cuz and

then you'll miss things like he'll use a

word that you won't know that he's using

it to refer to something else as a

science as a technical term because

that's one things about knowing terms

now one of the things that he's going to

argue in here is that you have to also

in in the second level of reading you

have to be able to identify terms and

propositions and arguments and these are

basically the three subjects of logic

understanding judgment and reasoning

those are the three subjects that logic

deals

with understanding is what are called

simple apprehensions knowing terms

what's called in Arabic logic so water

being able to conceptualize something

and the Arabs say they say that I'll

hook more attache in foreign anti so

where he in order to judge something

judging a thing is a branch of its

conceptualization that you have to

conceptualize something before you can

make a proposition so you have to know

if I say all men are created equal

ok I have to know what men all men

that's a universal statement so I mean

every man does that include black people

at a certain time maybe people would

have agreed that right but now most

people right would include that does

that include you know Arabs

does that include right so when we say

all men we're talking about everybody

right irrespective of what people went

to hundred years ago when when they

declared that and they didn't think that

that was a universal statement Jefferson

did right and Benjamin Rush and others

but not all of them I mean I'm sure they

they didn't but you make that say you

have to know what they mean by all men

and then what do they mean created equal

equal is a mathematical term and they're

using it in a philosophical statement so

I mean are we equal like you're taller

than me aren't you standing he's taller

than me isn't he

so we're not equal so all men are not

created equal

he's taller than me right so what am i

what do I mean by equal here what am I

talking about

these are terms you have to understand

the terms before you can make the

proposition so is it a mathematical

metaphor is it am I saying created is

assuming God - right because created

means it's a passive form that assumes a

create or right because creative means

to be made so something was made has to

have a maker that's an assumption

and they believed it because they are

endowed by their creator they mentioned

the Creator right after that right so

that's a proposition all men are created

equal is it a true proposition in

modal logic you have what are called

modalities so it depends on what you're

talking about

you know because people aren't creative

some people are faster than others

taller another smarter than others we're

not all created equal so what are we

talking about are we talking about with

our basic human dignity

that's so there's a proposition is that

what he meant maybe we need to discuss

it so you you have to know the terms and

then the proposition now he's making an

argument that's a proposition as a

categorical statement right it's a

declarative statement all men are

created equal

he's not saying maybe all men are

created equal I think all men are

created equal in my opinion all men are

created equal those are different ways

of saying he's saying all men are

created equal categorical declarative

Universal statement we have to know what

those terms are and then we have to know

okay what's his reasoning

what's his reasoning what so now that's

the third level so that is that that's a

science that inshallah you guys are

going to learn before you get out of

here because it's very important you

know one of the things about logic is no

longer taught generally and it's it's

created a lot of havoc because people

can't think any more clearly and and our

tradition is very committed to logic I

mean the Shem CEO was a almost a

universal you know the pseudonym in

North Africa I mean one of the things

about Sheldon Bay yeah that makes him

distinct amongst a lot of scholars I've

seen is he really knows logic really

well so when he when he reasons he's

just it's like knowing chess logics like

knowing chess but you know you don't

just know the rules because everybody we

can all reason and we're humans like

yeah every game you can make an argument

you can make an argument a car give its

all the time but when that's there's a

difference between knowing the rules of

chess and knowing the strategies of

chess right because if you know the

strategies of chess you can end a chess

match in about three or four moves with

somebody who doesn't know the strategies

of chest and and logic is not simply to

win arguments it's it's really a means a

tool to pursue the truth and and that's

why you know that's one of the things he

says that you

should not ever want to read a book

critically just to win an argument with

the author no you should be open to

being convinced Imam Shafi said I never

debated anybody but I hope and prayed

that the truth would manifest on his

tongue so I would have to submit to it

and that's a whole other way of looking

at this thing

but he's assuming that you know

traditionally people study grammar

rhetoric logic they understood

conditional sentences they understood

universals particulars

they understood definitions and fib

Lee's equivocations all these type

things are really important in language

and they're all things they're tools of

learning that you need to acquire and

and the better you get at them the

better you'll be at it reading and the

better you'll be at critical reading

because one of the things about all

these men that one of the things that

they share if you go into any of these

books like imam sowwy you know wrote

this book is a commentary on his ships

book you know he is going to assume that

you understand you know logic I mean

he's just going to assume it and he's

going to assume that you understand

mmm you know al Cathy come on fess up

you know for hone Mandel Harlan repeat

Amanda body ie o'clock level JJ dolly

come first Sara B he al bhaji you know

so now he's defining what's he mean by

al kathira wa ha meter fill JJ the other

hard men who feel bad at Mohammed Farah

dear al owal al-qadir men who feel

better dil de la Roche that was a

mineral je dominar ad hoc Oh baby so

these are all terms that you have to

understand he's talking about jagged of

foodstuff the good of a foodstuff right

and the rowdy is the lower quality al al

Holly IL Cathy ermine who feel better

the majority of it in a country illa the

everybo shade that was up energy yet Oh

Mina rowdy yep yup ah Bobby so you can

also use what's between the two and then

he goes further into the commentary al

qadir here accordion for her

means the same at heart and some say it

means the as fee attack level je de la

it's the heart of the jade only so you

know these are like this is like a

telegraph

I mean he's using you know it's like

it's like texting he's using minimal

language there and that's the way the

later writers are the earlier writers

are much easier to read but they're just

they kept distilling it distilling it

distilling it right because here see in

when he wrote this book this is a

six-volume when he wrote this book it

was assumed that you memorize the text

this is a commentary on a text that's

about 150 pages and he assumed you

memorize the text and then what what the

commentary is is those are for the text

to be memory pegs for the meanings but

this book is a condensation another book

which is called the mood Awana right

which i should be here somewhere

anyway it's the module one is like about

this size so they took the madonna and

took it down to about this size so they

took a book like this and summarized it

to this and then had to write this to

explain it so you're back where you

started but the reason they did that was

because in the old days they actually

memorize this and they couldn't do that

anymore so they started writing these

abridgements to keep the memory you know

to simplify it so even though it was

much smaller it was actually a lot

harder than this but the memory was

easier and so this was just to explain

what you had memorized because people

couldn't memorize that anymore so that's

the way the muslim tradition kind of got

into these summaries and glosses and

glosses on glosses and like that but

they're assuming at this level he's

writing in the two hundred years ago

he's he's assuming that you have

mastered a certain set of sciences he

and he's not writing for some guy that's

got a secondary degree from you know a

high school or even a college degree

now dine chumps or at Damascus

University they can't read these books

you know that you have to study people

you have to study with people who have

studied the books and that's why the

onus and that and he talks about that he

said some books you need a teacher

they're just not going to work without a

teacher he says if it's a great book

generally it should be understandable

it's a lot harder with a teacher without

a teacher but he said you can do it if

you put the work in and that and that's

true but I'll conclude sorry about I

know there's a lot of question but I'll

conclude a bahai Anatole he D one of the

great scholars of Islam he said you

illuminate hombre an adequate about the

akka famine is that I could do me that

that simple people think you know

inexperienced people think that books

will lead the one of intellect to

understanding your vulnerable Moodle and

it could teddy a family it that I could

allow me you'll come to know these

knowledge --is right well may other

Libyan afiyah

how are me BA how year at Oakland

Fushimi well my real Jahoda be under

fear how a my behavior at Oakland Fahim

but the ignoramus doesn't know that in

these books are ambiguities that will

confuse even the most intelligent of

people either um to the Illuma be lady

shaken

balota Anna Surratt or mr. Keamy hotel

to be sorrow more Oh Erica had a Serie A

Burnham into a mahaki me if you try to

learn the this knowledge you know

revelation and the knowledge is that go

with it if you try to learn this without

a teacher you will go astray and affairs

will become so confusing to you that

you'll be more astray than Thomas the

physician and it's referring to a famous

Arabic tradition of Toma

al Hakim he was a man who inherited

books from his father his father was a

physician who died he inherited his

library so he read and learned medicine

through books

and he had a book that said and habita

so that that doäôt woman could lead uh

the black seed is a cure for every

disease but there were two dots the the

Scrivener put two dots instead of one on

had that so it said I'll hire you to

soda the black snake is a cure for every

disease so he went to find a black snake

and they call Black Mamba it's very

poisonous snake and he tried to catch it

and it bit him and he died so they

that's their metaphor for anyway so

behind the Columbia time decay eyeshadow

under you don't hit that that's a little

cooler to we take talking a lot head-on

so I'm gonna do the next one will be

it'll be a continuation on this but I'm

going to go into more detail and and

we'll do some more poems and and also

I'm gonna read with you a speech to

analyze as well alright sorry it's just

a it's very hard obviously to follow

that hamdullah Joseph Walker comes with

the amazing intellectual journey we just

went on Jessica Moore cleared everyone

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Part 2