“There is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans. Most alarming, both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly declined among college graduates.

These negative trends have more than literary importance. As this report makes clear, the declines have demonstrable social, economic, cultural, and civic implications.

How does one summarize this disturbing story? As Americans, especially younger Americans, read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they have lower levels of academic achievement. (The shameful fact that nearly one-third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension.)

With lower levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life,most notably in volunteerism and voting.”

~To Read or Not To Read

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idyl via spyrosp                                                    wired via James Vackovich

question: why is there evil in the world?

answer: to thicken the plot
source: …do you know?

Some say yes I know, it was said by Sri Ramakrisnha, others say it’s by Krishnamurti (per google.) Have a desire to know fershure? Read on…

“Putting an end to desire is merely another form of desire.” J. Krishnamurthi (see source below) 

Hi Gaetano, I really don’t think it was Ramakrishna. His words were translated from the Bengali in 1942 by Swami Nikhilananda with the help of Joseph Campbell, John Moffitt and Margaret Truman. The editors sought English phrases to replicate the Bengali idea.  
With best wishes,
Vrajaprana
Vedanta Society of Southern California/Santa Barbara


May 18, 2012 
 
Hi Guy, my name is Claire, I work with information and sales at the Krishnamurti Foundation. I received your call a few days ago regarding a quote you had heard attributed to both Hari Krishna, as well as Krishnamurti. I believe it was “Why is there evil in the world?” “To thicken the plot.” 

I spoke with our archivist, Tom, who verified that it does not seem to be a Krishnamurti quote. From his point of view, Krishnamurti rarely focused on providing a direct answer to a question asked, as much as he tried to engage in dialogue with the questioner as to what the question meant, and why they asked it.
He was asked variations of the question of “Why is there evil?” many times throughout his life, and I’ve included three of the responses that were recorded, in case you were curious as to what his thoughts were on this matter. 

Thanks for your interest in Krishnamurti, and I hope you enjoy the reading.

Claire


Question: What is good and what is evil?
 
Krishnamurti: As I said, it is easy to ask a question, but it is much more difficult to go into it fully.  But let us try.
 
Why do we always think in terms of duality, in terms of the opposite? Why is it that we are so conditioned by the thought that there is good and that there is evil? Why this division, why this dual process always at work within us?
Surely, if we can understand the process of desire, we shall understand this problem, shall we not?  The division of good and evil is a contradiction in us.  We are attached to the good, because it is more pleasurable; and we are conditioned to avoidevil, which is painful. Now, if we can understand the process of desire, which makes life a contradiction, then perhaps we shall be able to be free from the conflict of the opposites.
 
So the problem is not what is good and what is evil, but why this contradiction exists in our daily life.  I want something; and in that very wanting there is the opposite.  Now, is good the avoidance of evil?  Is beauty the avoidance of the ugly?  As long as I avoid something, do I not of necessity bring about resistance against it, and therefore create its opposite?  So, is there a clear line of demarcation between good and evil?  Or, is it that when I understand the process of desire, then perhaps I shall know what virtue is? Because, the man who is trying to become virtuous can obviously never be virtuous.  The man who is trying to become kindly, loving, tolerant, can never be virtuous; he is merely trying to achieve something and virtue is not a process of achievement.
The avoidance of evil is a process of achievement; but if I can understand the desire which creates duality, the conflict of the opposites, then I shall know what virtue is.
 
Virtue is not putting an end to desire, but understanding desire. Putting an end to desire is merely another form of desire.  In the very desire to end desire, I create the opposite; and therefore I perpetuate the conflict, the battle, 
between the ideal and what 1 am. So, the man who pursues the ideal only creates conflict, and the man who is becoming   virtuous can never know virtue - he is merely entangled in the battle of opposites.  This conflict between himself and what he thinks he should be gives him a sense of living; but the man of ideals is really a man of escape.

J.Krishnamurti  Paris  4th Public Talk  30th April 1950 
 
The fact is that most of us like power - the power of the wife over the husband or the husband over the wife, the power of capacity, the feeling that one is clever, the power which austerity and control of the body gives.  Any form of power is authority - whether it is the power of the dictator, political power, religious power, or the domination of one over another.  It is utterly evil, and why can we not see that, simply and directly?  I mean by `seeing’ a total comprehension in which there is no hesitancy but only a complete response.  What prevents that complete response?
J. Krishnamurti  Paris  2nd Public Talk  7th September 1961 
 
 
K: I had seen it here at Rishi Valley some years ago, under a tree, a figure of a man or a woman in which they had put pins.  I asked what it was about, and they explained it to me.  Now, there was the intention to hurt somebody. Between that and the intention to go to war, what is the difference?
 
You are losing an awful lot, you are missing an awful lot. You are all so damn clever, that is what is wrong with you.  

Light is neither good nor bad.  Which means what?  Look, sir, the computer, the chemicals, are taking over man.  This is neither good nor bad - it is happening.  Of course, there is cruelty; of course, there is kindness.  It is obvious.  The 

mother beating up a child and somebody having compassion and saying, don’t hurt anyone - there is a difference, that is obvious.  Why do you call it good or bad? Why do you call it evil?  I am objecting to the word, that is all.
J. Krishnamurti  The Way of Intelligence  Chapter 6  Part 2 Seminar  Rishi Valley  4th December 1980 ‘Intelligence, 

Computers and the Mechanical Mind

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So then, who is the source of the quote TO STIR THE PLOT

Check out the dialogue in “on the verge” a play by Eric Overmyer 

ALEXANDRA. Do you know why there is evil in the world?

FANNY. Metaphysical speculation, Alexandra?

MARY. I don’t think so. Do you?

A. Yes, I do.

F. You are so young.

M. Why is there evil in the world, Alexandra?

A. To thicken the plot.

[Pause]

F. I believe you are exactly right.

[Alexandra seizes the clipping]

A. This is plot thickener!

M. Yes!

I’ve reached out to that playwright asking if he made that witticism up for his play, or if he recalled it from memory,or what. So far, no reply. (May 20, 2012 

Eddie Kohler hosts a site where John Cage uses the phrase: 

May 21 (2 days ago)

The record whose transcription is featured here