In these times I feel invited to recall the impression of mind left by the example of the works of Lao Tzu, Socrates; various poets, philosophers and "warriors" and instances of exceptional endeavor; exemplars of those who heed the call to higher inquisition and understanding and determination. I think of the acts of Muhammad Ali, and what is said to be so of Jesus and Buddha and Muhammad.
Those brave to seek Truth and the telling.
As Issac Netwon himself is said to have said, 'If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.'
Nikola Tesla in a moment of rapture recalls passages from Goethe’s Faust.
The Arts, often seek to express fundamental truth; often in the vein of a humanistic expression and character.
There is value in these things, because in these things; fundamental human truths, I find the tremendous power of a common ground, the experience of living a human life.
‘All is one, one is none, none is All’
Remember unity. Also the mathematical expression for a quantity divided by the equivalent of that same quantity = One.
I have enjoyed the works of Hermann Hesse; and Edmund Fitzgerald’s “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ver. I-V, Stephen King (Lisey’s Story in particular has something of a ring), I have been moved by the work of Jack Kerouac “On The Road” in particular for its determined whimsy and the heeding of the Dreamer – the abandon of a time and Time and youth and Truth and other when’s that speak of things with common ends, common themes, truths --- to sit on an evening gazing on a river, or riding in a car under stars –
Harvard Classics Vol. II – Emphasis on Socrates and Epictetus
The Dhammapa is admirable in its resonant brevity; what William Shakespeare characterized as the ‘Soul of wit.’
I love Sam Cooke’s singing, his freedom and technique and exploitation of his instrument and perhaps most, his surrender –
Samuel Barber; Antonin Dvorak ; Beethoven;
Dali’s contemplation of roses and ‘persistence of memory’
The intrepid vision of ‘gardens of earthly delights’ of Hieronymous Bosch ca.1550 ; the texture of van Gogh;
I enjoy documentaries – and realized tremendous benefit in the formal study of Calculus and the reading of Albert Einstein’s Relativity and Nikola Tesla’s “My Inventions” among so many myriad others…
- - -
Dean Koontz’s : Lightning, Odd Thomas, Life Expectancy, The Taking, Velocity
Stephen R. Donaldson’s ,Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and Mordant’s Need
Nelson DeMille’s Plum Island
F. Paul Wilson’s The Tomb
Stephen Kings: Dark Tower, Lisey’s Story, The Talisman (w/Peter Straub), The Night Shift
Remember fun and puppies.
And sometimes a rum and coke is the thing; in lieu of venerable cannabis.
*grin*
Cheers guys
4 years; it is an age of consequence, of exponential change, and we require greater than we’ve allowed ourselves to claim, however the young are strong and learning, and knowledge, “Scientia potential est” grows, as a light.
Learn from and seek out instances of exception in multiple milieu’s; refine and grow, remember hope and the fruits of your open inquiry and learning.
Tomorrow approaches fleetly; diligent attendance to the present best will find you well to meet it.
-ramble-