Trust (Volume 25)

by Alphonso Lingis

Trust is inherent in travel. We ask a stranger for directions, or for a ride. We live among people whose language, culture, and motivations we don't understand. Trust binds us to another with an intoxicating energy; it is brave, giddy, joyous, and lustful. A sudden attraction careens into sexual surrender, and trust becomes unconditional. Trust laughs at danger and leaps into the unknown. The author of Abuses and Foreign Bodies, Alphonso Lingis has traveled the globe for many years, and in Trust he reflects on journeys from Latin America to Asia to Antarctica. Whether feeding chocolate sauce and tuna to the baboons who visit his campsite in Ethiopia, celebrating the millennial New Year in Mongolia, or indulging in a passionate love affair in Vietnam, Lingis evaluates what happens around him and how it affects him and others. From these experiences he gains new understandings about spirituality, masculinity, love, death, ecstasy, and change. In the tradition of such international travelers as Paul Theroux, Pico Iyer, and Ryszard Kapuscinski, and with insight reminiscent of John Berger and Joan Didion, Lingis shares both the private revelations and the universal connections he acquires on his exotic journeys. "Travel far enough," he concludes, "and we find ourselves happily back in the infantile world"-where trust is ultimate. Alphonso Lingis is author of The Community of Those Who Have Nothing in Common, Dangerous Emotions, Abuses, and Foreign Bodies. He is professor emeritus of philosophy at Pennsylvania State University.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Travel

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Alphonso Lingis was an American philosopher, writer and translator, with Lithuanian roots, professor emeritus of philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. His areas of specialization included phenomenology, existentialism, and ethics. Lingis is also known as a photographer, and he complements the philosophical themes of many of his books with his own photography.

Reviews

[Delia Rainey · Rating 5 out of 5]

a truly strange and out-of-this-world book on the ecstasy of seeing, trusting, hoping. in the visual, in the historical past, in the archaeological digs of the world, in the religious and ceremonial structures built out of stones, and carrying ritual human femurs home on the plane. we trust people as we travel, we trust ourselves, and we trust our eyesight to tell us the truth. although lingis writes a lot about his feelings on nature, silence, and history, his biggest focus is the trust of human relationships. bodies colliding and caring for each other, whether we know each other or not. lingis moves through worlds and essays that could be fragmented, but his thoughts glue connections: political uprisings, travelling to understand a visual world and a way of life, and passionate sex with strangers; all of these events come with hope, hope for nothing.

[Estep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great starting point for this author. One of my favorite books.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written stories that inspire the desire to travel.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful mix of philosophy and travel writing, with paragraphs that start in Chile and end in Australia. I know of no other book quite like it.

[Poupeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lingis takes you to unknown corners and depths, outside, inside, beyond, over, never stopping, and yet never stopping to contemplate...

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found lasting things here, and eased the feeling of disquiet which phenomenology gives me.