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According to a legend, the existence of which can be traced back with certainty only to 1645, the little chapel of Portiuncula was erected under Pope Liberius (352-66) by hermits from the Valley of Josaphat, who had brought the relics from the grave of the Blessed Virgin.
The same legend relates that the chapel passed into the possession of St. Benedict in 516. It was known as Our Lady of the Valley of Josaphat or of the Angels — the latter title referring, according to some, to Our Lady's ascent into heaven accompanied by angels.
A better founded opinion attributes the name to the singing of angels which had been frequently heard there.
On his death-bed St. Francis recommended the chapel to the faithful protection and care of his brethren.
Now the place is the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli the most sacred place of the Franciscan Order.
"Salve Reina de los Ángeles, Amparo de pecadores,
a Ti clamamos Señora, escucha nuestros clamores!"
Biri Island, Northern Samar -
A rain two hours ere the dawn didn't falter us to go on with the shoot. We have endured a kilometer and waistline level salt-water walk to Makadlaw rock formation. Scuttling clouds and blessed sunrise stunned us.
(Not a HDR photo)
Between 34th & Prince St.
Something that has always fascinated me as I walk for miles around NYC going from shoot to shoot is seeing just how differently people's lives are at a particular moment in time. Someone sits reading in a cafe, another hugs a loved one goodbye, someone rushes down the subway stairs to catch a train, while another dreams of a better life.
I've decided to start a photo series where I walk on a particular street in Manhattan for only an hour and take photos of anyone that tells some kind of story to me. My goal is to show just how differently, and perhaps even how similarly, we're all existing in a particular slice of time.
As I look back on this first set I did within one hour on Broadway between 34th and Prince Streets, I found it to be more telling than I'd even imagined.
View the series as a slideshow.
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Foot traffic keeps these roads open, it's the only thing that ensures their existence. Now and then, I get the mood to offer a little salvation, push back the ever-crowding forest. So I spent two afternoons snapping branches on Fraser Road, breaking the backs of alders, making way for anyone following in my footsteps. The south-facing slope of the North Mountain is always wild, young growth soaked in sun and angrily taking advantage of any light on offer. This winding road is a mood of its own, you can just feel the rising urge to get up above it all. To the tip, overlooking the effort it took to get so high. When I'm feeling low (and that's often enough), climbing a mountain road always leaves that down in the valley. The quality of this place is being buried in an arbor, the beauty of branches meeting overhead, shepherded all the way to Wade Lake.
I'm drawn to the paths that are right on the edge, in danger of almost being lost forever. When I was a kid, I plastered my bedroom walls with maps from my father's collection. Whatever I could find went up above my bed, and I went to sleep dreaming of exploring. But as I got older, I discovered that everywhere was already found. The world had been mapped, every little lonely corner of it, marked down long before I was born. So I stopped dreaming, and for years, that old sense of wonder never came calling. What was the point of going if everything was already known? Then I realized the answer – if you can't be the first, you can still be the one to find a forgotten memory. Lewis and Clark are dead, and all their contemporaries, but the countryside is crowded with crumbling homes and roads to nowhere, I can't discover the Rockies or map the Northwest Passage, but here in the forgotten forests of Nova Scotia, I can dig the lost past, one filthy footstep at a time.
October 8, 2019
Granville Centre, Nova Scotia
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"The way I see things, the way I see life, I see it as a struggle. And there's a great deal of reward I have gained coming to that understanding -- that existence is a struggle."
Harvey Keitel
Jack, a volunteer with Photo Camp, struggles through the mud while marsh mucking.
This photo was taken during the National Geographic Photo Camp trip to Chesapeake Bay, Marlyand.
"National Geographic Photo Camp is a series of photography workshops for youth from underserved communities both in and outside the United States. In partnership with local newspapers and community organizations, Photo Camp inspires young people to explore their communities through the camera's lens, and to share their vision through public presentations and exhibitions across the United States and throughout the world."
Balinese cremation, or Ngaben, is a purification rite intended to free the spirit from its temporary earthly house and facilitate the journey to its next existence.
There was a handwritten note on a message board in Ubud announcing a cremation on the following day. We signed up, and for 8,000 Rp ($1), someone would provide transportation to and from the village in which the cremation was taking place. The next morning, about 12 people, mostly locals, piled into a taxi van and we were taken to the village. Shortly after arriving, we saw a group of men walking though the streets carrying a large cow. The cow, known as a lembu, is made of paper and light wood and is and believed to be the vehicle of the spirits. We followed as they made there way to a clearing on the edge of the village which serves as the cremation site (photos 1 &2). We, the tourists, had no information, nor idea as to what to expect or at what time the activities were scheduled to commence.
After the limbu had been placed at the cremation site, we ended up waiting around the village with no idea as to what to expect or when it might happen. While waiting some girls came by offering clove cigarettes (photo 10), another person offered rambutan they had just picked from the trees overhead. Fortunately, another person lead me to the home of the deceased. In the home’s courtyard, a number of persons had gathered (photos 5, 6, 7 & 8) and there was a large number of spiritual offerings (photos 3 & 4). The remains of the deceased were laid out on an elevated bamboo platform where a priest was performing rituals (photo 9). The night before the cremation, holy water was collected from a main temple to be used in preparing the body and during the cremation ceremony.
Once the priest had completed the preparations, the body, wrapped in white sheets was carried to, and placed in a casket. The casket was carried through the village (photos 15, 16 & 17) to the location where the wadah (photos 11 & 12) - a large throne-like structure - had earlier been placed. The wadah stood on a large platform made of bamboo. The casket was placed on the wadah and, accompanied by two sons (photo 18), carried by dozens of men through the streets of the village (photos 20, 21 & 22) in a frenzied manner. The men carrying the wadah changed directions often, going in circles and often backtracking in an effort to confuse the earthly spirits and enable the deceased to escape the earthly spirits.
Once the procession arrived at their ultimate destination – the cremation site (photos 23 & 24), the casket was lowered from the wadah and carried overhead to the location where the lembu was placed earlier (photos 26 & 27) . The remains, wrapped in white cloth (photo 28), were removed and placed in the lembu through an opening in the cow’s back. With the priest overseeing the proceedings (photo 30), a hose was attached to the rear of the lembu (photo 32). The hose ran up to a canister of fuel that was suspended overhead in a palm tree (photo 31). Using fire from a holy source, the fuel was ignited and the lembu began to burn (photos 33 and 34). As the intensity of the fire increased, the lembu became engulfed in flames (photos 35, 36 & 37). Once the fire consumed the lembu and it’s contents, the ashes were transported to the coast and ultimately taken to sea, to be spread in the water symbolizing the final separation of the soul from the body.
Canada had recently offered the Long-neck tribe people(Padong), who are refugees in Thailand citizenship. Unlike the younger generation, the older generation is tired of their constant moving and would prefer to stay in Thailand, just like this lady. Unfortunately, her son had decided to move to Canada and will be leaving her behind.
The Bouleuterion is one of the best preserved buildings in the whole of the ancient city. Strabo refers to the existence of a Gerontikon or Senate House at Nysa, bt this must be a predecessor to the present building. The bouleuterion is situated in the eastern half of the site and is reached from the Theatre, by means of the path that runs past the Market Basilica and the row of Shops, while to the east lies the Agora. The Bouleuterion has a square exterior plan, measuring 23,44 X 27,24 metres, but has a semicircular shape inside, forming a banked auditorium or cavea of 12 rows of seats, divided into four segments by five stairways. Its frontage comprises an open vestibule, but the building's thick walls indicate that the main body of the Bouleuterion was roofed. On the north side of the building is a vaulted gallery, containing four elliptical columns, set about 5 metres apart. On the south side are five doorways providing entrances to the building, while side passages (paradoi) give access to the orchestra. The floor of the orchestra is paved with marble opus sectile, arranged in a star pattern comprising square an octagonal slabs and surrounded by other rectangular panels. This floor had earlier been exposed to the elements and, in order to preserve it from further damage, the area was covered up in 1995. It is estimated that the Bouleuterion had a capacity of about 600-800. The south vestibule is decorated with a polychrome mosaic of geometric design. A pool was added to this part of the building at a late date in its history, together with a row of statue bases. Architectural fragments found in the Bouleuterion date it to the 1st century AD, but it is clear from other decorative elements and an inscription referring to the empresses Faustina the Elder the Younger that it also underwent alterations in the middle of the 2nd century AD.
Nysa ad Meander antik kentinin en iyi korunmuş yapılarından birisi Buleuterion'dur. Strabon, bu yapıyı Gerontikon (Yaşlılar Meclisi) olarak tanımlamıştır. Bouleuterion, antik kentin doğu kesiminde, tiyatronun güneydoğusundaki Pazar Bazilikası ve Dükkanlar geçildikten sonra gelinen bir alanda yer almaktadır. Yapının doğusunda kentin Agorası bulunmaktadır. Bouleuterion dikdörtgen planlı olarak inşa edilmiş olup, iç kısmında yarım daire şeklindeki Cavea (Theatron) kısmı yer almaktadır. Bouleterion'un 23,40 X 27,24 m. ölçüsündeki bu dikdörtgen şekilli esas yapısının önünde ise üstü açık olan bir ön salon kısmı bulunmaktadır. Yapının oturma sıraları 12 adettir ve bunlar 5 merdiven sırası ile 4 bölüme ayrılmıştır. Bouleuterion'un kalın duvarları yapının üstünün örtülü olduğuna işaret etmektedir. Yapının kuzey kısmında kemerli bir galeri bulunmaktadır ve burada yaklaşık 5 m. aralıklarla yerleştirilmiş olan 4 adet eliptik sütun vardır. Yapıya güneydeki 5 adet kapıdan girilmektedir. Ayıca, orkestraya girişte, yanlarda da paradoslar bulunmaktadır. Nysa'daki bu Bouleuterion'un orkestra kısmında ortada, orijinalinde eşkenar dörtgen ışıklı sekizgen göbekli bir yıldız motifinin oluşturduğu opus sectile taban kaplamasını düzgün dikdörtgen mermer plakalar çevrelemektedir. Doğanın tahribatına açık olan bu mermer kaplamalar Nysa'da 1995 yılında yapılan kazı ve onarım çalışmaları sırasında üstü örtülerek koruma altına alınmıştır. Nysa Bouleuterion'unun yaklaşık 600 ile 800 kişiyi alabilecek kapasitede olduğu anlaşılmaktadır. Yapının güneyindeki salonun döşemesinin çeşitli renklerdeki geometrik motiflerle süslü bir mozaikle kaplı olduğu görülmektedir. Yapıya geç bir tarihte eklendiği düşünülen güneydeki bu kısımda bir havuz ile bir dizi halinde sıralanmış olan çeşitli heykel kaidelerinin bulunduğu görülmektedir.
Bouleuterion'da MS 1. yüzyıla tarihlenebilen mimari parçalar bulunmaktadır. Ayrıca MS 2. yüzyıla ait olan mimari süslemeler ile bir yazıtta imparatoriçe genç ve yaşlı Faustina'lara değinilmesi de yapının Roma İmparatorluk devrinde Antoninler döneminde (MS 2. yüzyılın ortası) bir değişiklik gördüğüne işaret etmektedir.
Bouleuterion'da ilk kez 1907 ve 1909 yıllarında W.von Diest başkanlığında sürdürülen çalışmalar, yapı hakkında genel bilgilere ulaşmak için sondaj şeklinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yapıda geniş kapsamlı kazı çalışmalarını 1921 ve 1922 yıllarında Yunanlı Arkeolog K. Kouriniotis gerçekleştirmiştir. Bu çalışmalar Kurtuluş Savaşı sırasında çok hızlı bir şekilde sürdürülmüş, koilon (cavea) ile scaenae frons tamamen kazılarak ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Ancak yapı tam anlamıyla araştırılıp yayını yapılmamıştır. B çalışmalarda ortaya çıkan toprak ve moloz yapının güneydoğusundaki alanda biriktirilmiştir. 1960'lı yıllarda zamanla toprakla dolan Bouleuterion'da İzmir Arkeoloji Müzesi Müdürlüğü'nce tekrar kazılara başlanmıştır. Ancak bu çalışmaların da sonuçları yayınlanmamıştır.
1990 yılından itibaren Prof. Dr. Vedat İDİL başkanlığında yürütülen kazılarda ise, 1997 yılında kısa süreli olarak Bouleuterion'un orkestrasında, 1998 ve 2002 yıllarında yapının kuzeyinde ve güneybatı köşesinde birer açma gerçekleştirilmiş, 2006 yılından itibaren Bouleuterion'un güney girişinin önündeki stoaların tespitine, Bouleuterion'un Agora ile arasındaki caddeye (Cardo Maximum) çıkışına ve sırtını Doğu Stoa'ya veren "Cardo Maximus" üzerindeki dükkanlara odaklanılmıştır.
Son yıllarda yapılan yeni tespitlere göre, Bouleuterion'un güneydeki beş ayrı çıkışı, doğu, batı, kuzey ve güney stoaları çevrelenmiş bir alana bağlanmakta, bu alanı çevreleyen doğu stoanın içindeki bir koridor ile de Bouleuterion - Agora bağlantısını sağlayacak şekilde Cardo Maxsimus'a çıkıldığı anlaşılmıştır.
Kaynak:
1- Nysa ve Akharaka - Prof.Dr. Vedat İdil, Yaşar Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı Yayını, İstanbul 1999
2- 2003, 2004, 2005 ve 2006 Yılları Nysa Kazı ve Restorasyon Çalışmaları Raporları
Wow!! This Bloomberg article says, "But their very existence highlights what some scientists say are potential risks in wider use of the drug, which was recently cleared in China" as if China was the only country that has approved this Merch anti-viral drug. The first few paragraphs also use the name, Lagevrio, for the drug instead of the more commonly known name of molnupiravir. The fact is this drug is approved by some 20 countries, including the U.S., UK, the Philippines, Denmark, etc. In fact, UK approved the use of molnupiravir on Nov 4, 2021.
www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/merck-covid-drug-linked-to-...
Merck Covid Drug Linked to New Virus Mutations, Study Says
(Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co.’s Covid-19 pill is giving rise to new mutations of the virus in some patients, according to a study that underscores the risk of trying to intentionally alter the pathogen’s genetic code.
Some researchers worry the drug may create more contagious or health-threatening variations of Covid, which has killed more than 6.8 million people globally over the past three years.
Mutations linked to the use of Merck’s pill, Lagevrio, have been identified in viral samples taken from dozens of patients, according to a preprint study from researchers in the US and at the Francis Crick Institute, Imperial College London and other UK institutions.
The drug-linked mutations of the virus haven’t been shown to be more immune-evasive or lethal yet, according to the study published Friday without peer review on the medRxiv website. But their very existence highlights what some scientists say are potential risks in wider use of the drug, which was recently cleared in China.
Lagevrio works by creating mutations in the Covid genome that prevent the virus from replicating in the body, reducing the chances it will cause severe illness. Some scientists had warned before it was authorized in late 2021 that by virtue of how it works, the drug could give rise to mutations that could turn out to be problematic. The preprint paper has reawakened those worries about the Merck drug.
“There’s always been this underlying concern that it could contribute to a problem generating new variants,” said Jonathan Li, a virologist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “This has largely been hypothetical, but this preprint validates a lot of those concerns.”
Merck Response
Merck disputes the view that its drug is causing problematic variants.
“There is no evidence to indicate that any antiviral agent has contributed to the emergence of circulating variants,” Merck spokesman Robert Josephson said in an email in response to questions about the study. “Based on available data we do not believe that Lagevrio (molnupiravir) is likely to contribute to the development of new meaningful coronavirus variants.”
He said new mutations have emerged over the course of the pandemic due to the virus spreading uncontrollably and Lagevrio can form an important part of the solution, he said. Merck pointed to research done in animals that showed its drug didn’t cause mutations.
The study authors assume the mutations were associated with molnupiravir treatment, but don’t have direct proof that the mutations arose in patients who took their drug, Josephson said in a follow-up email. Instead, the researchers drew their conclusions from “circumstantial associations between viral sequence origin and timeframe of sequence collection in countries where molnupiravir is available,” Josephson said.
Merck fell as much as 1.2% in New York Wednesday, recovering some losses to close down 0.4%.
The US Food and Drug Administration, which authorized Lagevrio in late 2021, said it doesn’t comment on third-party research and works with Covid drugmakers to assess their products’ activity against variants.
Preprint
Major scientific journals don’t publish studies until the completion of a “peer review” process in which the research is scrutinized by outside experts. During the pandemic, scientists increasingly started publishing their research on what are known as “preprint servers” prior to exhaustive reviews, in attempt to advance the science more quickly and share urgent findings.
Researchers found Lagevrio-induced mutations in small patient clusters, indicating the new versions were spreading among them. While the biggest group they found with similar mutations was 21 people, that may not fully represent the true scope of the problem as viral samples of many patients aren’t analyzed, according to Ryan Hisner, an independent researcher from Indiana who helped write the paper.
The researchers looked at some 13 million viral genomes in databases around the world. The drug-linked mutations were proportionally more common in countries and groups where Lagevrio was likely to be used, especially the US and Australia, where it was introduced early. The signature mutations are less frequent in Canada, France, and other countries where the drug isn’t used.
“These effects are visible in these databases,” said Theo Sanderson, a Crick Institute geneticist who led the study. “It appears that people are being treated, some of them aren’t clearing their infections, and some are passing them on.”
The risk of drug-linked mutations is too great to continue using Merck’s drug, Hisner said. The US should explore authorizing drugs used in other countries to control Covid, like Xocova from Japan-based Shionogi & Co., and discontinue use of Lagevrio, said Michael Lin, a Stanford University antiviral drug researcher who said he consulted with the authors but wasn’t involved in the study. China cleared Lagevrio late last year and Shionogi said it’s in the final stages of discussions with the country’s regulators over its Covid drug.
“It’s a very distressing situation,” said Lin. “There’s no evidence that any of these mutants is worse in any way — not yet — but it’s well agreed that you’re playing with fire if you’re creating random mutations and hoping nothing bad will come of it.”
Sanderson declined to comment on whether doctors should continue using Merck’s drug, saying the study doesn’t address the issue.
Lingering concerns
Concerns about Lagevrio’s safety and effectiveness are longstanding. Health officials recommend against its use in pregnant women. In general, the drug shouldn’t be used when alternatives are available, according to the US National Institutes of Health.
Merck was encouraged by former Warp Speed science czar Moncef Slaoui to team up with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP to get the much-needed oral Covid pill ready for widespread use. Early results showed it cut the risk of hospitalization and death by about 50% in non-immunized people.
Subsequent studies have indicated it’s actually less effective than those early trials indicated. A study released in December showed that adding Lagevrio to standard care didn’t reduce hospitalizations or deaths in high-risk adults, although the time to recovery from symptoms was shortened by several days.
However, Covid treatment options are dwindling. Variants have mutated to evade Covid antibodies made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Eli Lilly & Co. and Vir Biotechnology Inc. The last one to retain effectiveness, AstraZeneca Plc’s Evusheld, was just removed from the US market. That leaves few alternatives for Americans: just Paxlovid and Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir, which must be infused in three daily sessions as soon as someone is diagnosed.
Some patients aren’t eligible to take Paxlovid because it contains a component, called ritonavir, that has adverse interactions with therapies for other conditions like heart disease, that are common in people vulnerable to severe Covid.
Raymond Schinazi, an Emory University researcher, raised concerns about Merck’s drug early on in its development. He’d done his own research into it years ago before abandoning it.
He called for more monitoring to investigate whether the viruses with drug-linked mutations are having any impact after learning about the new study.
The preprint study is “an orange flag, not a red flag yet,” Schinazi said. “Proceed with caution.”
Existence of this old castle was confirmed into 11th Century, there was first a wooden fort, soon replaced by a romanesque stone castle. From that time comes the romanesque rondel, the tower is from a later gothique period. The castle served as a guardian for many centuries, until it became not suitable for modern living in the 17th Century and began to deteriorate. It was restored into livable condition in the late 18th Century, the palaces and economic buildings were modernized and used as apartments. Today it´s owned by the Czechoslovak hussite church, the tower serves as a lookout and exposition hall, the rondel is a active chapel.
Sarnath is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The Buddha went from Bodhgaya to Sarnath about 5 weeks after his enlightenment. Before Gautama (the Buddha-to-be) attained enlightenment, he gave up his austere penances and his friends, the Pañcavaggiya monks, left him and went to Isipatana.
Isipatana is the name used in the Pali Canon, and means the place where holy men (Pali: isi, Sanskrit: rishi) landed.
After attaining Enlightenment the Buddha, leaving Uruvela, travelled to the Isipatana to join and teach them. He went to them because, using his spiritual powers, he had seen that his five former companions would be able to understand Dharma quickly. While travelling to Sarnath, Gautama Buddha had to cross the Ganges. Having no money with which to pay the ferryman, he crossed the Ganges through the air. When King Bimbisāra heard of this, he abolished the toll for ascetics. When Gautama Buddha found his five former companions, he taught them, they understood and as a result they also became enlightened. At that time the Sangha, the community of the enlightened ones, was founded. The sermon Buddha gave to the five monks was his first sermon, called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. It was given on the full-moon day of Asalha Puja. Buddha subsequently also spent his first rainy season at Sarnath at the Mulagandhakuti. The Sangha had grown to 60 in number (after Yasa and his friends had become monks), and Buddha sent them out in all directions to travel alone and teach the Dharma. All 60 monks were Arahants.
Several other incidents connected with the Buddha, besides the preaching of the first sermon, are mentioned as having taken place in Isipatana. Here it was that one day at dawn Yasa came to the Buddha and became an Arahant. It was at Isipatana, too, that the rule was passed prohibiting the use of sandals made of talipot leaves. On another occasion when the Buddha was staying at Isipatana, having gone there from Rājagaha, he instituted rules forbidding the use of certain kinds of flesh, including human flesh. Twice, while the Buddha was at Isipatana, Māra visited him but had to go away discomfited.
A stone pillar marks the spot where the Buddha preached his first sermon. Nearby was another stupa on the site where the Pañcavaggiyas spent their time in meditation before the Buddha's arrival, and another where five hundred Pacceka Buddhas entered Nibbāna. Close to it was another building where the future Buddha Metteyya received assurance of his becoming a Buddha.
Buddhism flourished in Sarnath in part because of kings and wealthy merchants based in Varanasi. By the third century Sarnath had become an important center for the arts, which reached its zenith during the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries CE). In the 7th century by the time Xuan Zang visited from China, he found 30 monasteries and 3000 monks living at Sarnath.
Sarnath became a major centre of the Sammatiya school of Buddhism, one of the early Buddhist schools. However, the presence of images of Heruka and Tara indicate that Vajrayana Buddhism was (at a later time) also practiced here. Also images of Brahminist gods as Shiva and Brahma were found at the site, and there is still a Jain temple (at Chandrapuri) located very close to the Dhamekh Stupa.
At the end of the 12th century Sarnath was sacked by Turkish Muslims, and the site was subsequently plundered for building materials.
Sarnath has been developed as a place of pilgrimage, both for Buddhists from India and abroad. A number of countries in which Buddhism is a major (or the dominant) religion, among them Thailand, Japan, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, have established temples and monasteries in Sarnath in the style that is typical for the respective country. Thus, pilgrims and visitors have the opportunity to experience an overview of Buddhist architecture from various cultures.
WIKIPEDIA
Chris Motionless of Motionless in White live at Starland Ballroom, Sayreville NJ. 12.11.14
Feature gallery on Music Existence: musicexistence.com/blog/2014/12/15/gallery-motionless-in-...
Giovanni Segantini (1838 - 1899) - "L'Amour au Sources de la Vie" (1896)
Au-dela des Etoiles - Le Paysage Mystique de Monet a Kandinsky
"Seeking an order beyond physical appearances, going beyond physical realities to come closer to the mysteries of existence, experimenting with the suppression of the self in an indissoluble union with the cosmos… It was the mystical experience above all else that inspired the Symbolist artists of the late 19th century who, reacting against the cult of science and naturalism, chose to evoke emotion and mystery. The landscape, therefore, seemed to these artists to offer the best setting for their quest, the perfect place for contemplation and the expression of inner feelings.
Thus the exhibition, organised in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, explores the genre of landscape principally through the works of Paul Gauguin, Maurice Denis, Ferdinand Hodler and Vincent Van Gogh, but also presents North American painters such as Giorgia O'Keeffe and Emily Carr, who are less well known in France. Contemplation, the ordeal of the night or of war, the fusion of the individual with the cosmos, and the experience of the transcendental forces of nature, are stages in a mystical journey the exhibition invites you to take."
Landscape received scant mention in Symbolist circles although the Impressionists had embraced it as a subject and invented a new style of painting focusing on the tangible world.
However, some artists chose to address their spiritual inquiries by depicting landscapes.
Against the backdrop of the rise of Positivism, which prioritised scientific experimentation, and in a world experiencing significant change, artists were pervaded by a form of idealism and began to question their own origins, religious culture and the relationship between man and nature. Nature became the locus for soul-searching, culminating in mystical experiences.
Mysticism was widespread in the late 19th century and this phenomenon is a feature of all religions and beliefs, offering a means of accessing the mysteries of existence through oneness with nature. This exhibition aims to analyse how mysticism influenced landscape painting at the dawn of the 20th century, paving the way for the birth of abstraction.
The sections of the exhibition reveal works by artists from diverse cultures who are exploring the transcendence and immanence of nature. The first section, which is underpinned by Monet’s aesthetic experiments, introduces visitors to the work of art as an aid to contemplation.
However, many artists use the motif of the landscape as a starting point to express their aspiration to mystical experience, including the Nabis, who found the theme of the sacred wood conducive to meditation. The second section explores the notion of the divine in nature in greater depth through works belonging to the Synthesist, Symbolist and Divisionist movements. Their iconography draws on Christian and Pantheist tropes.
In the third section, vivid and original paintings by Canadian artists from the period 1910-1930 tell the story of the North in pictures influenced by the natural world of Scandinavia. Landscape also reflects actual or internalised night in the fourth section, which is luminous in the case of Van Gogh, or melancholic and tragic when evil makes its presence felt.
By contrast, the mystical painter Dulac paves the way for the universal. The final section addresses the forces which transcend man and draw him to the realm of the stars: the cosmos and its interstellar light. This visit aims to reflect what Kandinsky describes as “those seeking for the internal in the external”.
www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the-musee-dor...
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The story of Germans contributing directly to New Orleans’s very existence began when Karl (Charles) Friedrich (Frederick) D’Arensbourg, an ethnic German who would today be considered a Swede (he originally came from the German section of Stockholm), took over the stewardship of a group of impoverished but hearty Southern German settlers. Having come to Louisiana under the flag of John Law’s Company of the Indies, the few Germans who survived the disease-ridden passage from Europe languished on the beaches of Biloxi and Dauphine Island, victims of Law’s dilettantish colonization plan. Upon arrival, the colonists, who came as engagés of the Company, were provided with nearly no means of support and little plan to follow.
. . .
D’Arensbourg and his settlers arrived from beleaguered Biloxi in what is today St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes.
Under D’Arensbourg’s leadership, this community of farmers quickly began to provide life-saving sustenance to the ragged collection of soldiers and provincial bureaucrats occupying the haphazard encampment of buildings called New Orleans. The Germans established their colony on the Mississippi in 1721 and, as engagés, had a commission to sell their surplus harvest to the company for the purpose of supplying New Orleans.
As early as 1724, the French Superior Council recognized the importance of these goods by issuing a decree guaranteeing their protection en route to New Orleans from the settlement. When John Law’s bankruptcy caused the company to disintegrate in 1731, the settlers ceased to be indentured to anyone but continued to supply New Orleans.
As census records and scholarly works found in THNOC’s German Study File illustrate, the contributions made by this community to the health and growth of New Orleans increased consistently through the eighteenth century. In fact, the Germans were not only supplying the provincial capital with staples, but were also sending timber and rice to Cap Français, the wealthy capital of the flourishing St. Domingue colony, and to France itself. In 1803, Napoleon’s prefect to Louisiana, Pierre Clément de Laussat, even recommended introducing a regular flow of German settlers to the region, as they were the only group who had as yet proven itself capable of taming the Louisiana wilderness.
Indeed, as evidenced in a number of the manuscripts records below, the German population up-river from New Orleans thrived through the eighteenth century. It wasn’t until close to the middle part of the nineteenth century, however, that Germans began to constitute a significant portion of the population of the city of New Orleans. www.hnoc.org/research/german-settlers-louisiana-and-new-o...
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teamLab Planets TOKYO / チームラボ プラネッツ TOKYO DMM.com
人と共に踊る鯉によって描かれる水面のドローイング / Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People - Infinity
The Infinite Crystal Universe
Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers
意思を持ち変容する空間、広がる立体的存在 - 自由浮遊、平面化する3色と曖昧な9色 / Expanding Three-Dimensional Existence in Transforming Space - Free Floating, Flattening 3 Colors and 9 Blurred Colors
坂の上にある光の滝 / Waterfall of Light Particles at the Top of an Incline
冷たい生命 / Cold Life
やわらかいブラックホール - あなたの身体は空間であり、空間は他者の身体である
Sarnath is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The Buddha went from Bodhgaya to Sarnath about 5 weeks after his enlightenment. Before Gautama (the Buddha-to-be) attained enlightenment, he gave up his austere penances and his friends, the Pañcavaggiya monks, left him and went to Isipatana.
Isipatana is the name used in the Pali Canon, and means the place where holy men (Pali: isi, Sanskrit: rishi) landed.
After attaining Enlightenment the Buddha, leaving Uruvela, travelled to the Isipatana to join and teach them. He went to them because, using his spiritual powers, he had seen that his five former companions would be able to understand Dharma quickly. While travelling to Sarnath, Gautama Buddha had to cross the Ganges. Having no money with which to pay the ferryman, he crossed the Ganges through the air. When King Bimbisāra heard of this, he abolished the toll for ascetics. When Gautama Buddha found his five former companions, he taught them, they understood and as a result they also became enlightened. At that time the Sangha, the community of the enlightened ones, was founded. The sermon Buddha gave to the five monks was his first sermon, called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. It was given on the full-moon day of Asalha Puja. Buddha subsequently also spent his first rainy season at Sarnath at the Mulagandhakuti. The Sangha had grown to 60 in number (after Yasa and his friends had become monks), and Buddha sent them out in all directions to travel alone and teach the Dharma. All 60 monks were Arahants.
Several other incidents connected with the Buddha, besides the preaching of the first sermon, are mentioned as having taken place in Isipatana. Here it was that one day at dawn Yasa came to the Buddha and became an Arahant. It was at Isipatana, too, that the rule was passed prohibiting the use of sandals made of talipot leaves. On another occasion when the Buddha was staying at Isipatana, having gone there from Rājagaha, he instituted rules forbidding the use of certain kinds of flesh, including human flesh. Twice, while the Buddha was at Isipatana, Māra visited him but had to go away discomfited.
A stone pillar marks the spot where the Buddha preached his first sermon. Nearby was another stupa on the site where the Pañcavaggiyas spent their time in meditation before the Buddha's arrival, and another where five hundred Pacceka Buddhas entered Nibbāna. Close to it was another building where the future Buddha Metteyya received assurance of his becoming a Buddha.
Buddhism flourished in Sarnath in part because of kings and wealthy merchants based in Varanasi. By the third century Sarnath had become an important center for the arts, which reached its zenith during the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries CE). In the 7th century by the time Xuan Zang visited from China, he found 30 monasteries and 3000 monks living at Sarnath.
Sarnath became a major centre of the Sammatiya school of Buddhism, one of the early Buddhist schools. However, the presence of images of Heruka and Tara indicate that Vajrayana Buddhism was (at a later time) also practiced here. Also images of Brahminist gods as Shiva and Brahma were found at the site, and there is still a Jain temple (at Chandrapuri) located very close to the Dhamekh Stupa.
At the end of the 12th century Sarnath was sacked by Turkish Muslims, and the site was subsequently plundered for building materials.
Sarnath has been developed as a place of pilgrimage, both for Buddhists from India and abroad. A number of countries in which Buddhism is a major (or the dominant) religion, among them Thailand, Japan, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, have established temples and monasteries in Sarnath in the style that is typical for the respective country. Thus, pilgrims and visitors have the opportunity to experience an overview of Buddhist architecture from various cultures.
WIKIPEDIA
Chris Motionless of Motionless in White live at Starland Ballroom, Sayreville NJ. 12.11.14
Feature gallery on Music Existence: musicexistence.com/blog/2014/12/15/gallery-motionless-in-...