Vault 07.15.2010 - Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark

Today I have enjoyed this sort of morbid, yet peaceful emotion all day. I mean, nothing about the day has been drab, nor gloomy, nor stressful, nor really even morose, but I have maintained this quiescence of complete tranquility today, to the point that I feel I can withstand to entertain those topics which I fear the most. I had the luck of stumbling upon two great books at the library:

The first book, you might remember from back in middle school: "Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark," By Alvin Schwartz.




I remember classmates used to fight tooth and nail to check this book out from the school library. The stories were scary, too. The original book, and it's sequel - "More Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark" - contained excellent drawings, thanks to artist Stephen Gammell. You can view more of his work here. I have included a few drawings below:








The other book I came across today was "The Tibetan Book of The Dead," or Bardo Thodol in the traditional translation.

According to Tibetan tradition, the book was composed by Padmasambhava, and written down by his apprentice Yeshe Tsogyal. As is the case with many religious sacred writings, there are variants of the text prevalent among different sects.

The text illustrates "one of the most detailed and compelling descriptions of the after-death state in world literature," says editor Graham Coleman. This text really is great. Here is an excerpt that I just read this morning, and has inspired me already today:

"The moments of our life are not expendable,
And the [possible] circumstances of death are beyond imagination.
If you do not achieve an undaunted confident security now,
What point is there in your being alive, O living creature?"

Breathtaking honesty, and truth to live by today, and every day.

-P