Book

"If you were given an empty bookcase as a child, it would be interesting to note how many times and how the books would change by the time you were fifty? You would see a progression of intellectual development. I think that, not counting schoolbooks and technical books, the scale would show the following eight steps. I. Fairy tales, pulp fiction, illustrated bibles, all that is wonderful and dreamlike. II. Hunting adventures, horror novels, knightly tales, legends of chivalry, - the world of the glittering heroes. Of plays in which the leading part is played by a prima donna. A prima donna in hussar breeches or peasant trousers. Korpa III. IV. adventure novels. Sue, Dumas, Jókai, Verne, comic strips, world of dusty heroes. V. Romantic books. Jókai stays. Petőfi, Heine, Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare and some new poets. A world of flowers and moonlight. VI. Genuine journeys, history written in vernacular, biographies, poetic narratives; comedies, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Viktor Hugo (The Legend of the Ages). In between, naturalistic writers from Zola to Gorky. VII. Darwin, Häckel, Büchner, Schopenhauer, Moleschott, Spencer, tragedies from Shakespeare. VIII. Positivists. Hamlet from Shakespeare. Hamlet commentaries. Investigative history of Buckle. Teleology, theosophy, theology, theoretical spiritualism, biblical commentaries, occultism. Bible. Further on, also mainly spiritual readings. Well, it empties and fills the cabinet eight times. And from this sketchy list, can you judge where you are in your spiritual development? and where you're going next."