Cultural analysis is intrinsically incomplete. And worse than that, the more deeply it goes the less complete it is.       – Clifford Geertz

What a delight to hear Clifford Geertz referenced in an academic talk this week! His commentary on cultural analysis was one of the first reading assignments I had at divinity school, and it set a little spiral of possibility opening up in my brain.

For years I’d been trained to sprint to the answer, to be quickest and surest and sometimes the most loudly declarative. And this is a fine approach, when the questions are small. But for some topics, speedy calculation is a mean sort of shortcut. Here was someone willing to illuminate the infinite of true inquiry.

Dear ones, may we ask worthy questions.

May we dive deep.

May we revel in the vastness of the whole.

This week we also celebrate independent bookstore day!
(Though surely every day is independent bookstore day.)
Here are a few favorites:
* Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
* Parnassus, Nashville, TN
* Tattered Cover, Denver, CO
* Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL
* Burke’s, Memphis, TN
* Powell’s, Portland, OR
These and many others can also be linked to via the IndieBound.org site.