INTERIOR LIGHTS In A Dark Universe
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I once read some lines by Malcolm Cowley to the effect that an author is a writer with a public consisting of his readers. This definition excludes me as an author. The question then arises as to why a writer without readers should write at all. Writers tend to justify their labor with the feeling that readers derive pleasure or benefit from reading their work. The emphasis is on the consumer of the work, not the producer. This is true of many pursuits. The active person likes to think others benefit from his activity—his clients, his public, his family. The most conscienceless of captains of industry justify their plunder by thinking they are expanding job opportunities or that they give some of their profits to charities or that their family will reap the rewards of their efforts. I believe, however, that a person needs to justify his activities in life principally by their effects on his own person. He cannot know if he is doing any good for others. The riches he leaves to his offspring may corrupt them. The services he renders to clients or customers may be of no value to them in the long run. For a writer, his writings may have no more real effect on his public than the rain beating on the rooftops, may even have a deleterious effect in diverting them from more important concerns. The only person he can truly be certain of positively affecting—is himself.
I write and I presume many others write because of an intuition that writing is what we need to do for ourselves. Writing expands my mind, stimulates my thoughts, gives vent to what is inside of me, discovers my soul. It frees me from the corrupting urge to look outside of myself to justify my being. I am certain writing places me in some significant position in the greater scheme of things, even if I have no idea what that scheme is. What I do know is that the beneficial effect of writing for me has no relationship to readers. To paraphrase the famous expression of an anonymous Portuguese navegador during the era of transoceanic exploration (“It is necessary to sail, it is not necessary to live.”), I say it is necessary to write, it is not necessary to have readers. I reject the concept of authorship defined by Malcolm Cowley.
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About the Book
INTERIOR LIGHTS expresses a philosophy of interior self and a defense of metaphysical reality. The bulk of the book is composed of “trechos” (Port.), literary passages that contain the author’s personal and philosophical meditations. Issues addressed include: what is a soul?, interior development through writing, bourgeois reality, metaphysical reality, and independent spirituality.
From the book’s preface, “Certain states of mind are required for a reader to gain something from this work. These are: 1) The ability to read slowly in order to reflect on unfamiliar or impolitic ideas, and 2) A sense of being at odds with society. The reader must feel the need to separate himself in some way from the world in which he lives. It is not for those who wish only to strengthen their position in it. 3) Most important of all, a reader must have a ‘metaphysical sensibility’. He or she must be aware that the material world is not all that there is and that there is a dimension of reality not experienced in our daily object-oriented existence.”
“INTERIOR LIGHTS is essential reading for writers, publishers, literary agents, and all those interested in development of self through the writing process.”
—M. Dreisbach, Ph.D., CSU Professor Emeritus of Education
“Your books are vivid and full of ideas. I quite agree with you that the world is in need of art and not historical scholars.... One can doubt everything but if one writes, one must be secretly a fanatic of one’s mind.”
— E.M. Cioran
“Richard Schain is a member of a small but significant group of ‘independent’ philosophers working outside of academic philosophy. I believe that his writings serve as powerful testimony to the value of the life of the mind, and the perennial urgency of the questions of metaphysics.
” — Geoffrey Klempner, D. Phil., Director of Studies, International Society for Philosophers; Editor, Philosophy Pathways
About the Author
Richard Schain obtained B.A. (philosophy) and M.D. degrees from New York University. He trained in neurology at Yale Medical Center, later serving as professor of neurology at UCLA. His life as an independent philosopher began with the publication of "Affirmations of Reality" in 1982. Subsequent works include "Philosophical Artwork" (1983), "Souls Exist" (1989), "The Legend of Nietzsche's Syphilis" (2001), "In Love With Eternity" (2005), and "Sculpting Sententiae" (2010). He currently lives with his wife in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. (http://schainphilo.com)