I’m in Vermont for a few days of R&R; and found a few books at a used bookshop in Brattleboro:
Lao Russell’s Love; a scientific and living philosophy of love and sex;
A 1980 reprint of the 1768 The delights of wisdom concerning conjugial love: after which follow, the pleasures of insanity concerning scortatory love by Emanuel Swedenborg;
and
Sex after Forty, which could come in handy now that I’m of that age.
To give you a taste, and to follow up on the nature theme, and since I’m in Vermont enjoying it’s beauty, here’s an excerpt from Russell’s book. It’s from a little section called “Country Life.”
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One who loves country life always feels sorry for those who have not discovered the exciting and beautiful world of Nature. No one can ever be lonely as he walks in the woods and discovers the pulsing, singing, courageous, growing trees, and the bright, glowing beauty of wild flowers–an endless array of them. Each month you discover another species. Did you know that there are actually about twenty-five kinds of chickweeds? Their little white flowers contain tiny capsules of small seeds that songbirds love.
Nature is far more exciting than odor-filled cities whose streets are filled with raucous noises, instead of the sound of the songs of birds, the rustle of leaves, falling twigs, and the “chatter” of wildlife both far and near. . . .
No life is as exciting as forest life, and yet man crowds into cities where there is tension created by man who all too often desires to build transitory wealth for his body, instead of permanent wealth for his Soul.
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Ah, with that, I’ll head back out into the woods. I’ve been on the computer way too long!