The short sayings, aphorisms, in Jean Toomer's Essentials can change the way you think.
For the past week, I've been carrying around a little book, Essentials by Jean Toomer. I can fit it in my purse or leave it in odd spots so that I can read it anywhere. But don't let this fool you. The book might be small but Jean Toomer's writing is powerful.
Toomer is best known as the author of Cane--an innovative, unified work of fiction and poetry. Cane, which was published in 1923, is considered by many to be the first literary work of the Harlem Renaissance. It is a remarkable book that describes the lives of African-Americans in the South during the early 20th century. If you haven't read it, put it on your list.
Essentials was published later, in 1931. It is a series of aphorisms that have been compared to the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Kahlil Gibran. This is a reflection of Toomer's immersion in the study of literature and, maybe more important, his lifelong spiritual quest.
In his preface to the book, philosopher-novelist Charles Johnson describes Toomer's study of G. I. Gurdjieff's ideas on spiritual development, and Eastern and Western philosophies as influences on Toomer's writing. In his afterword, Rudolph P. Byrd, who edited the book, presents more on Toomer's personal, spiritual and literary life.
It's clear that, as a black man living in the early 20th century, Toomer was exceptional. As Johnson points out in the preface, "During a Great Depression that fueled European fascism, the rise of racial eugenics, and black lynchings throughout the South, this man only three generations removed from slavery dared to portray himself as 'a psychological adventurer.'"
The aphorisms are short sayings that can be read quickly. However, I assure you, you'll think about their meanings for a long time. Here are examples from Essentials:
Acceptance of prevailing standards often means we have no standards of our own.
A true individual belongs on the one hand to no less than himself; and, on the other, to no less than mankind and the entire human world.
Whatever stands between you and that person stands between you and yourself.
To understand a new idea break an old habit.
Essentials by Jean Toomer. Edited with an afterword by Rudolph P. Byrd. Preface by Charles R. Johnson. Published by Hill Street Press.
