OK here's a choice. You can listen to a few minutes of Louis Armstrong playing 'Blue Turning Grey Over You'. Or you can spend the same few minutes reading this article by Karen Armstrong.
Our mnemonic powers have declined since the advent of writing. (What's 'mnemonic'? Dunno. I used to, but I forgot when I learned to write.) Still, we wouldn't be without writing. Are our powers of reflection atrophying in the electronic age? (What's 'atrophying'? I'd tell you but the hum of my computer has messed up my thinking.) Maybe they are atrophying, like our memories; and do you know, people increasingly find it hard to take a country walk without a mobile phone? It bodes ill for our creativity. Still, no one would be without their computer. (If only I could take my computer and my mobile phone on a country walk. And that stretch limo I've always craved; I'd like to take that on a country walk - well, drive.) Karen Armstrong's convinced that one of the reasons why people have problems with religion today is that they expect to comprehend its insights immediately. You need time, you need silence, you need to be alone. I like time and silence and being alone - long as I got my mobes.
Believe me, go with the Louis.
