The Greatest Oppression

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I finished reading Native Son, by Richard Wright, today.

Although the ideas and people I lived in through his words for the past two days are still near enough for my thoughts to turn to and explore further, it makes me sad because now that I have read his three major works, I don't know where to turn to satiate this desire to read.

Anyways, rather than go into how much Richard Wright was a fighter, seeker, artist, genius who kept it real and most of all was constantly, brutally honest in his explorations, and uncannily perceptive in his observations of MAN (that large M Man that includes ALL.OF.HUMANITIES Universal Emotions, Desires, Motives, Yearnings) ... (I just highly highly highly recommend reading his works, esp Black Boy & The Outsider) I just wanted to share a line from Native Son that most struck me:

"Remember that men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread!"

I kept pairing that line in my head with this line from Baha'u'llah, where in the Kitab-I-Iqan (Book of Certitude) he writes:

"What "oppression" is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it?"

Comments

Shirin said…
Great observation there with that parallel between the two quotes
October 30, 2008 at 10:03 AM
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