and thumps about things which the intellect scorns :-)

Mark Twain

tulips, wral gardens Raleigh, north carolina

Logic can either operate as part of an intellection, or else, on the contrary, put itself at the service of an error; moreover unintelligence can diminish or even nullify logic, so that philosophy can in fact become the vehicle of almost anything: it can be an Aristotelianism carrying ontological insights, just as it can degenerate into an "existentialism" in which logic has become a mere shadow of itself, a blind and unreal operation.

Indeed, what can be said of a "metaphysic" which idiotically posits man at the centre of the Real, like a sack of coal, and which operates with such blatantly subjective and conjectural concepts as "worry" and "anguish"? When unintelligence (and the variety we mean here is in no wise incompatible with what passes for intelligence in "worldly" circles) and passion prostitute logic, it is impossible to escape from that mental satanism which is so frequently to be found in contemporary thought.

The validity of a logical demonstration thus depends on the knowledge which we, as demonstrators, have of the subject in view, and it is evidently wrong to take as our starting-point not this direct knowledge but pure and simple logic.

When man has no "visionary" knowledge of Being, and merely "thinks" with his "brain" instead of "seeing" with his "heart", all his logic is useless to him, because it starts out from an initial fallacy. Moreover, the validity of a demonstration must be distinguished from its dialectical efficacy; the latter evidently depends on the intuitive disposition available for the recognition of truth when demonstrated, and therefore on an intellectual capacity.

Logic is nothing but the science of mental co-ordination and of arriving at rational conclusions; it cannot, therefore, attain the transcendent through its own resources; a supralogical -not an illogical- dialectic, based on symbolism and analogy, and therefore descriptive rather than ratiocinative, may be harder for some people to assimilate, but it conforms more closely to transcendent Reality.

Contemporary philosophy, on the other hand, really amounts to a decapitated logic: what is intellectually evident it calls "prejudice"; wishing to free itself from servitude to the mental, it sinks into infralogic; shutting itself off from the intellectual light above, it exposes itself to the obscurity of the lowest "subconscious" beneath.

Philosophic scepticism takes itself for a healthy attitude and for an absence of "prejudices", whereas it is in fact something completely artificial; it proceeds, not from real knowledge, but from sheer ignorance, and for this reason it is as alien to intelligence as it is to reality.

---

Frithjof Schuon

---

Quoted in: The Essential Frithjof Schuon (edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr)

___________________________________________________________________________

[...] The sensory world of manifolds is the area of analysis by the intellect; we can also say that the mind has invented the world of sense. If we think we understand the world, it just means to understand that we, as far as it relates to our intellectual thinking. But the intellect is not up to that life as we live it internally, we always feel something in us that which the mind is unable to pay the full peace and the other looks for its fulfillment.

Die Sinnenwelt der Mannigfaltigkeiten ist der Bereich der Analysen durch den Verstand; wir können auch sagen, der Verstand hat die Sinnenwelt erdacht. Wenn wir glauben, die Welt zu verstehen, heißt es nur, dass wir verstehen, soweit es unser verstandesmäßiges Denken betrifft. Aber der Verstand reicht nicht bis zu jenem Leben, wie wir es innerlich leben, wir fühlen immer etwas in uns, dem der Verstand nicht den vollen Frieden zu schenken vermag und das anderweitig seine Erfüllung sucht.

Deshalb ist unser Leben so reich an Widersprüchen und Konflikten. Doch die meisten von uns nehmen das nicht zur Kenntnis und nur wenn ihnen diese Tatsache irgendwie bewusst wird, beginnen sie sich mit dieser Situation ernsthaft auseinanderzusetzten.

Wenn wir auf diese Weise anfangen, nach der Wahrheit zu suchen, gelangen wir schließlich zur geistigen Welt oder richtiger: die geistige Welt bricht in die Welt der Sinne und des Verstandes ein.

Sobald dies geschieht, ändert sich die ganze Ordnung der Dinge; das Logische ist nicht mehr logisch, die Rationalität verliert ihre Bedeutung, denn nun ist das Reale das Nicht-Reale und das Wahre das Nicht-Wahre. Genauer gesagt, das Wasser fließt nicht mehr im Fluss, die Blumen sind nicht mehr rot und die Weiden sind nicht mehr grün.

Es ist das überraschendste Ereignis, das im menschlichen Bewusstsein stattfinden kann. Dieser Einbruch der geistigen Welt in die Welt der Sinne und des Verstandes führt zum Umsturz jeder Erfahrungsform, die dort vorgeherrscht hat.

|| Source: D.T.Suzuki "Wesen und Sinn des Buddhismus" Hua-Yen-Philosophie || Wikipedia: D. T. Suzuki || Tranlated by Mr. Google ||

We're here visiting Intellectual property fun

I have liked this little temple of Ganesha since I first came to sl, and I am happy it still stands!

It is located at the Zaara main store sim.

_________

Ganesha is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.

Although he is known by many attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify.

Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions.

(from Wikipedia)

Tight Strung Rules.

Subtraindo almas limitando capacidades oportunidades de individuação diferenças categorias coisas ocultas significados exemplos formas imateriais,

manières constituées principes composés quiddités simples doctrines universelles du philosophe inductions au-delà des questions accomplies intellects découvrant des raisons sciences suffisantes arguments principes métaphoriques révélations adversaires,

ystyried ysbrydoliaeth darogan damweiniau cynigiadau dysgeidiaeth gweithredu hanfod egwyddorion llifo naturiol,

kommentatorer skelner åndelige konklusioner effektive liv belysninger betingelser nødvendige tid arrogationer revolutioner irrationelle sind forklarer resultater,

Mortibus ægrotationum redirecting legibus servatis auctoritates pro tutore scholarium scripta senatus consultis pretium responsa aureum themata textus sacri maturuerunt,,

熟考進歩性知識ファンタズムは理解しやすい印象を引き出す抽象化された不自然さ決定的な形優秀な光進行力を引く.

Steve.D.Hammond.

Apparently:

The color yellow is the colour of the mind and the intellect

This color relates to acquired knowledge. It is the color which resonates with the left or logic side of the brain stimulating our mental faculties and creating mental agility and perception.

Being the lightest hue of the spectrum, the color psychology of yellow is uplifting and illuminating, offering hope, happiness, cheerfulness and fun.

In the meaning of colors, yellow inspires original thought and inquisitiveness.

Yellow is creative from a mental aspect, the color of new ideas, helping us to find new ways of doing things. It is the practical thinker, not the dreamer. (source: color psychology).

Nothing expected, free of anticipation some things just fit together. Pictures of the view from the window turned into exposures of the light available from inside and out and then my old worn and loved Tarot box went to centre stage and took a bow. Some how some thing happened all at once and together in unison.

The Tarot cards within the box are two versions of, “The Smith–Waite,” or, “Rider–Waite–Smith,” or, “Waite–Smith Deck.” Originally and for decades Artist Pamela Colman Smith was not mentioned in the name of the deck, but the publishing company Rider was often mentioned when it was sold as the, “Rider Waite Deck,” and Rider continued to be a part of the name for the book and cards long after Rider were not publishing them. This box is for, “The, Original Rider Waite,” is no longer in production. The other deck, along with, “The Original Smith–Waite,” still in the box, is, “The Universal Waite,” that should be titled, “The Universal Smith-Waite,” and is recoloured by Mary Hanson-Roberts.

Underneath the top coat of green paint the original lettering and the image of the Major Arcana card numbered XIV that of Temperance, particularly the folds in the Angel’s robes can be seen. The 30 years age of this box is nothing in long historic roots of Tarot. It carries memories for me holds two decks with two artists showing the figures of European Tarot in a form modernised and expanded with a newly devised pictorial Minor Arcana. In 1909 the publisher Rider released, “The Key to the Tarot,” and in 1910 a revised version was retitled as, “The Pictorial Key to the Tarot,” by A.E. Waite. The name, “Rider Waite,” was used to describe the 78 cards and the books and various booklets both to accompany the cards and also sold separately. To acknowledge the artist who recast several of the Major Arcana and made 56 original versions of the Minor Arcana the publishing phenomenon with over 100 million copies is often now referred to as, “The Smith-Waite Deck.”

© PHH Sykes 2023

phhsykes@gmail.com

“Today, more than 100 million copies of the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck are in circulation in over 20 countries, making it the most popular Tarot deck ever made. As we set forth to recover lost histories and systematic erasures of women’s intellect and labor, this exhibition provides an essential piece of the puzzle.”

Ray, Sharmistha, Hyperallergic, 23 March 2019, “Reviving a Forgotten Artist of the Occult.”.

hyperallergic.com/490918/pamela-colman-smith-pratt-instit...

Hyperallergic is a forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking about art in the world today.

hyperallergic.com/

A still-life of the vintage Local Positioning System. The art of navigation in pre-space era. It works good and reliably and is powered by Natural Intellect only. Stylized photo.

Ganesh

Dans l’hindouisme, Gaṇesh, Gaṇesha, Vinâyaka, Gaṇapati ou Pillayar dans le sud de l’Inde est le dieu qui supprime les obstacles1. Il est aussi le dieu de la sagesse, de l’intelligence, de l’éducation et de la prudence, le patron des écoles et des travailleurs du savoir. Reconnaissable à sa tête d'éléphant, il est sans doute le dieu le plus vénéré en Inde et son aura touche même tout le sous-continent indien et l'Asie en général. Il est le fils de Shiva et Pârvatî, l’époux de Siddhi (le Succès), Buddhi (l'Intellect) et Riddhî (la Richesse).

Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded our planet with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. Many thanks Wikipedia

A candid street photo of a boy and a girl who play chess in the street. The black knight may capture the white queen, and the boy may win but the time will come he as a knight will kneel before her as a beautiful queen. May the happiness be with them. Black and white version.

سرقت النوم من داخل عيوني

و خليت السهر فيها مؤبد

أقاسي الشوق ما تغمض جفوني

و نار الصبر في قلبي توقد

و من لي من صدودك ينصفوني

اذا باشكي لهم او باتودد

و انا ما ارضى بحبك يعذلوني

اقضي العمر بين البين و الصد

نجوم الليل عنك خبروني

حبيبك بالهوى مثلك و أزيد

و أنا حبيت حبك يا جنوني

على حبي جميع الناس تشهد

غرامك حل في كني و كوني

و قيدني و أنا اللي ما اتقيد

خلاص ارحم و خفف لي شجوني

فموتي صار في حكم المؤكد

Title by: G. K. Chesterton

Model: A friend Mashalla would be NICE

Explore #214 Feb 18, 2009

Seeing, in the finest and broadest sense, means using your senses, you intellect, and your emotions. It means encountering your subject matter with your whole being. It means looking beyond the labels of things and discovering the remarkable world around you.

~ Freeman Patterson, Photography and the Art of Seeing by Freeman Patterson , ISBN: 1550130994 , Page: 7

P.S. Non-HDR-processed / Non-GND-filtered ● Black Card Technique 黑卡作品

Don't, just don't quote me on this. Frankly, I find it all very confusing.

His name was Sabhran. It is Irish Gaelic and translates to English as "sovereign". Nevertheless his breeding was impeccably Scottish. Yes, he was a prince among dogs. All you needed to do was ask him; or judges in a show ring. The show ring wasn't his favourite place. That was on the hill among the low heath, nose into the gale and swept by sleet. He was hunting great stags; at least in his mind's eye. Sabhran was from that great lineage of the Scottish Deerhound; that rough coated greyhound of larger size and bone; that most perfect creature under Heaven.

There's a curious circularity, a symmetry in his odd name. Perhaps his ancestry was Irish. Certainly, according to some, the Scoti for whom Scotland is named were invaders from Ireland. Some say they displaced the Picts. Some say they brought their dogs. I have no idea, I wasn't there and the various texts are both ancient and ambiguous. Modern sources? I don't trust them at all.

You will hear it said that herding dogs like the border collie are the smartest. Some argue not to leave your homework about or your poodle will outshine your abilities in its completion. I reason that these hunting hounds, dogs needing independence from their ghillie and canny thought to bring down a red stag are of greater power and intellect. Throw an object once for a deerhound and it might retrieve it. Throw it again and it will reason that if you treasure it so much, fetch it yourself. Greyhounds, sighthounds in general, will chase that which moves. Put Sabhran on the track and he would run, then divining that the stupid hare was describing an arc, he would leap the barrier and doing the requisite calculus would run a chord across that arc to intercept the stupid beast. That's just how he was. I wouldn't have it any other way.

This is anything but a great photo. I suspect I printed it on an imperfect enlarger. I know where and in what year it was taken. I cannot reason it is here for its perfection. It is here to honour a singularly magnificent hound and his most perfect breed.

The Italian Bridge is the bridge across the Griboedov Canal in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is a single span, steel, pedestrian bridge next to Italian street (hence the name). The bridge's length is 19.66 meters, the width is 3 meters.

Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthetic attitude dependent on principles based in the culture, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, with the emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, clarity of structure, perfection, restrained emotion, as well as explicit appeal to the intellect. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint and compression we are simply objecting to the classicism of classic art.

"Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect."

— Leonardo Da Vinci (Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect)

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/

O ! Light of consciousness

Shine forth thy brilliant beams

Over the realm of the intellect

For perfect perception

In making judgements

Right, genuine and wise

O ! Man, why so late and why you keep

Standing outside and peep ?

At your own heavenly house ?

Go in, get yourself cleansed

Of all filth and enjoy the inside wealth !

- Anuj Nair

------------------------------------------------------

© 2009 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.

-------------------------------------------------------

Contact : www.anujnair.net

________________________________________________

© 2009 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.

All images and poems are the property of Anuj Nair.

Using these images and poems without permission is in violation of international copyright laws (633/41 DPR19/78-Disg 154/97-L.248/2000). All materials may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any forms or by any means,including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording without written permission of Anuj Nair. Every violation will be pursued penally.

External speed light with soft box. Fisheye lens.

48/365.

There are two people in my house who have a bit of a candy problem. Both these individuals, coincidentally, lack a Y chromosome. Stuff like this doesn't last long in our house. You bring home a bag of Skittles, and the two girls will make short work of them before you can even unload the rest of the groceries.

I can see why, when given a chance, any self-respecting piece of candy would attempt escape when the opportunity arises (hell, I almost had to clone some in for this shot 'cause my "assistant" kept eating the props!)

The Mini-Me's (who got my version of the "Y chromo") on the other hand, take after their Fah-zha and dig the chocolate. That's what I'm talking 'bout, Willis.

It's genetic boys, just like the dashing good looks, razor-sharp intellect, and all-around awesome-ness. Don't fight it… ;)

p.s. I got up this morning with what felt like razor blades in my throat. I think I have strep throat (lab results in the a.m.), so this photo was a challenge in more ways than one, I just wanted to go to bed. That said, any c&c (+ve or -ve) is surely appreciated. "Set pieces" and strobist lighting are not my forte.

When God created man in His image, He created a measure; the human perception of the world corresponds to God's creative intention. Man by definition is a center, or "the center" in a given universe; not by accident, but in virtue of the very nature of Being, and this is why that which is large or small for man is large or small in the divine intention; man perceives things as they present themselves in the divine Intellect.

And that is why the world of the indefinitely small, as well as the world of the indefinitely

large, is as it were forbidden to man, who should not want to disproportionately enlarge the small or to disproportionately reduce the large. Man ought to feel that there is no advantage or happiness in such enterprises; and he would feel it if he had maintained a relationship with the Absolute, or if this relationship were sincere and sufficient.

He who is really at peace with God is free from all unhealthy curiosity, if one may say so; he lives, like a well-guarded child, in the blessed garden of a grace that does not forsake him; the Creator knows the best place for the creature, and He knows what is good for man.

To endure myself may be the hardest task in the universe. I cannot hire a wise man or any other intellect to solve it for me. There's no writ of inquest or calling of witness to provide answers. No servant or disciple can dress the wound. I dress it myself or continue bleeding for all to see.

Frank Herbert

via in Your Eyes ezine ift.tt/1Kwr0KY

Oṃ Gaṇeśāya Namaḥ,

Oṃ Gan Gaṇapatayē Namaḥ

" Ganesha ... is one of the best-known and most widely worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India. [He} is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as the Lord of Beginnings, patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom ... ." Wikipedia. For more about Sri Ganesha: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha

Female Mountain Bluebird (Sialia curricoides) associated with Box 13 of Section 4 of Beaver Lake Road in Lake Country, BC.

As mentioned in the discussion of Trisk's name, the name Triska actually does have some history.

Here's what I found at www.ask-oracle.com/baby-name/triska/

"Triska is a unique and intriguing name with Greek origins, meaning "three" or "third." Though not widely used, it offers a distinct and memorable choice for parents seeking a name with historical and cultural depth. Its connection to the number three holds symbolic significance in various cultures, often representing completeness, balance, and harmony.

Though not prevalent in popular culture, Triska's connection to the number three could spark creative interpretations in literature or art. It is a name that stands out, offering a unique and meaningful option for those seeking a name with historical and cultural resonance."

Passion, dullness, fury, sadness,

or fear should not always be owned.

They are short circumstances for now,

for the human intellect when at loss.

There are days as it comes and goes,

nothing that shifts on and off will remain.

Valerie

The universe is built on a plan the profound symmetry of which is somehow present in the inner structure of our intellect.

~ Paul Valéry

Taken at Fine Arts Institution, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

There are way too many roads begging to be followed. That's my conclusion anyway, after a ride down Nevada I-95. The trouble is, you can't follow them all, even when the destination appears to be as close to "heaven on earth" as you can get to in a car. This particular dirt road had a mighty powerful call. If it weren't for the Intellects awaiting us in Las Vegas, we'd most likely have been swallowed up by Mt. Whitney--that's her standing proudly in the distance.

Somewhere in Nevada

A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media. They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other heroes. Whereas superheroes often wield fantastic powers, the supervillain possesses commensurate powers and abilities so that he can present a daunting challenge to the hero. Even without actual physical, mystical, superhuman or superalien powers, the supervillain often possesses a genius intellect that allows him to draft complex schemes or create fantastic devices. Another common trait is possession of considerable resources to help further his aims. Many supervillains share some typical characteristics of real world dictators, mobsters, and terrorists and often have aspirations of world domination or universal leadership. Superheroes and supervillains often mirror each other in their powers, abilities, or origins. In some cases, the only difference between the two is that the hero uses his extraordinary powers to help others, while the villain uses his powers for selfish, destructive or ruthless purposes.

Numerology

abandoned rural library

El amarillo es el color percibido del sol. Se asocia con alegría, felicidad, intelecto y energía.

.Echo responded “who’s there” and that went on for some time until Echo decided to show herself. She tried to embrace the boy who stepped away from Echo. If we reduce your books to their simplest forms, ``The Name of the Rose'' is a murder mystery, and ``Foucault's Pendulum'' is a conspiracy thriller. What is ``The Island of the Day Before?''All three are philosophical novels. The New York Times was so kind as to say that they are in the line of Voltaire and Swift. But there is a difference - the first two novels are novels about culture. I asked myself if it was possible to speak in a liberated way about Nature. That's where I got the idea of an island, an island in the Pacific, untouched by human hands. It was interesting that in the case of my character arriving there for the first time - not only for himself, but for all humankind - and watching the things that no human eye had seen before, he didn't have names for them. I was excited about telling the story through metaphor, instead of using the names. From my semiotic point of view, it was an interesting experience.

Are there ideas as dangerous to our modern worldview as an Aristotelian treatise on laughter would have been perceived in 1327? A. Even our times have been full of dictatorships that have burned books. What does it mean, the Salman Rushdie persecution, if not to try to destroy a book? We are always trying to destroy something. Even today we have this continual struggle between people that believe certain texts are dangerous and must be eliminated. So my story is not so outdated, even though it takes place in the Middle Ages. We are not better. Even here, people are discussing whether it is advisable or not to allow certain kinds of information on the Internet. Is it really permissible to allow people to teach people how to poison your mother, or make a bomb, through the Internet? We are always concerned that there are fearful texts. Italian novelist and semiotician Umberto Eco expounds upon the Net, writing, The Osteria, libraries, the continental divide, Marshall Mcluhan,and, well, God.

www.umbertoeco.com/en/theodore-beale.html

so you didn't know what a feat Umberto Eco pulled off in writing The Name of the Rose, that postmodern bestseller (17 million copies and counting) set in a 12th-century monastery. You didn't know that Eco wrote the novel while holding down a day job as a university professor - following student theses, writing academic texts, attending any number of international conferences, and penning a column for Italy's weekly newsmagazine L'Espresso. Or that the portly 65-year-old semiotician is also a literary critic, a satirist, and a political pundit.But you did know - didn't you? - that Eco was the guy behind that unforgettable Mac versus DOS metaphor. That in one of his weekly columns he first mused upon the "software schism" dividing users of Macintosh and DOS operating systems. Mac, he posited, is Catholic, with "sumptuous icons" and the promise of offering everybody the chance to reach the Kingdom of Heaven ("or at least the moment when your document is printed") by following a series of easy steps. DOS, on the other hand, is Protestant: "it allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions ... and takes for granted that not all can reach salvation." Following this logic, Windows becomes "an Anglican-style schism - big ceremonies in the cathedral, but with the possibility of going back secretly to DOS in order to modify just about anything you like." (Asked to embellish the metaphor, Eco calls Windows 95 "pure unadulterated Catholicism. Already Windows 3.1 was more than Anglican - it was Anglo-Catholic, keeping a foot in both camps. But Windows 95 goes all the way: six Hail Marys and how about a little something for the Mother Church in Seattle.Eco first rose to fame in Italy as a parodist in the early '60s. Like all the best satirists, he oscillates between exasperation at the depths of human dumbness, and the benign indulgence of a grandfather. Don't let that grandfatherly look fool you, though. Eco was taking apart striptease and TV anchormen back in the late '50s, before anyone had even heard of Roland Barthes, and way before taking modern culture seriously (deconstructing The Simpsons, psychoanalyzing Tintin) became everybody's favorite pomo sport. Then there's his idea that any text is created as much by the reader as by the author, a dogma that invaded the lit crit departments of American universities in the mid-'70s and that underlies thinking about text in cyberspace and who it belongs to. Eco, mind you, got his flag in first, with his 1962 manifesto Opera aperta (The Open Work).Eco continues to wrap his intellect around the information revolution, but he's turning his attention from the spirit of software to technology's political implications. Specifically, he has thrown his weight behind something called Multimedia Arcade. The project may sound like a CD-ROM game publisher with an imagination deficit, but Eco wants the Arcade to change Society as We Know It. The center will feature a public multimedia library, computer training center, and Net access - all under the tutelage of the Bologna Town Council. There, for a token fee, local citizens can go to Net surf, send email, learn new programs, and use search engines - or simply hang out in the cybercafé. Set to open in late 1997, Multimedia Arcade will offer around 50 state-of-the-art terminals linked together in a local network with a fast Net connection.It will feature a large multimedia, software, and print library, as well as a staff of teachers, technicians, and librarians.

www.umbertoeco.com/en/harcourt.html

The premise is simple: if Net literacy is a basic right, then it should be guaranteed for all citizens by the state. We don't rely on the free market to teach our children to read, so why should we rely on it to teach our children to Net surf? Eco sees the Bologna center as the pilot for a nationwide and - why not? - even worldwide chain of high tech public libraries. Remember, this is a man with that old-fashioned European humanist faith in the library as a model of good society and spiritual regeneration - a man who once went so far as to declare that "libraries can take the place of God."Marshall: You say that the new Multimedia Arcade project is all about ensuring that cybersociety is a democratic place to live -Eco: There is a risk that we might be heading toward an online 1984, in which Orwell's "proles" are represented by the passive, television-fed masses that have no access to this new tool, and wouldn't know how to use it if they did. Above them, of course, there'll be a petite bourgeoisie of passive users - office workers, airline clerks. And finally we'll see the masters of the game, the nomenklatura - in the Soviet sense of the term. This has nothing to do with class in the traditional, Marxist sense - the nomenklatura are just as likely to be inner-city hackers as rich executives. But they will have one thing in common: the knowledge that brings control. We have to create a nomenklatura of the masses. We know that state-of-the art modems, an ISDN connection, and up-to-date hardware are beyond the means of most potential users - especially when you need to upgrade every six months. So let's give people access free, or at least for the price of the necessary phone connection.Why not just leave the democratization of the Net to the market - I mean, to the falling prices ushered in by robust competition?Look at it this way: when Benz and others invented the automobile, they had no idea that one day the mass market would be opened up by Henry Ford's Model T - that came only 40 years later. So how do you persuade people to start using a means of transport that was beyond the means of all but the very rich? Easy: you rent by the minute, with a driver, and you call the result a taxi. It was this which gave people access to the new technology, but it was also this which allowed the industry to expand to the point where the Model T Ford was conceivable. In Italy, the Net marketplace is still tiny: there are only around 300,000 regular users, which is peanuts in this game. But if you have a network of municipal access points - each of which has a commitment to provide the most powerful, up-to-date systems for its users - then you're talking about a respectable turnover, which can be ploughed back into giving the masses Model T hardware, connections, and bandwidth.

Do you seriously believe that mechanics and housewives are going to pour into Multimedia Arcade?No, not straight away. When Gutenberg invented his printing press, the working classes did not immediately sign up for copies of the 42-Line Bible; but they were reading it a century later. And don't forget Luther. Despite widespread illiteracy, his translation of the New Testament circulated through all sections of 16th-century German society. What we need is a Luther of the Net.

But what's so special about Multimedia Arcade? Isn't it just a state-run cybercafé?You don't want to turn the whole thing into the waiting room of an Italian government ministry, that's for sure. But we have the advantage here of being in a Mediterranean culture. The Anglo-Saxon cybercafé is a peep-show experience because the Anglo-Saxon bar is a place where people go to nurse their own solitude in the company of others. In New York, you might say "Hi - lovely day!" to the person on the next barstool - but then you go back to brooding over the woman who just left you. The model for Multimedia Arcade, on the other hand, is that of the Mediterranean osteria. This should be reflected by the structure of the place - it would be nice to have a giant communal screen, for example, where the individual navigators could post interesting sites that they've just discovered.I don't see the point of having 80 million people online if all they are doing in the end is talking to ghosts in the suburbs. This will be one of the main functions of Multimedia Arcade: to get people out of the house and - why not? - even into each other's arms. Perhaps we could call it "Plug 'n' Fuck" instead of Multimedia Arcade.Doesn't this communal vision violate the one user, one computer principle?I'm a user and I own eight computers. So you see that there are exceptions to the rule. In Leonardo's day, remember, the rule was one user, one painting. Ditto when the first gramophones were produced. Are we short of communal opportunities to look at paintings today, or to listen to recorded music? Give it time.Whatever side they take in the various computer culture debates, most Americans would agree that the modem is a point of entry into a new phase of civilization. Europeans seem to see it more as a desirable household appliance, on a level with the dishwasher or the electric razor. There seems to be an "enthusiasm gap" between the two continents. Who's right on this one - are Americans doing their usual thing of assuming everyone plays baseball, or are Europeans being so cool and ironic that they're going to end up missing out on the Net phenomenon?The same thing happened with television, which reached a critical mass in the States a good few years before it took off over here. What's more interesting is the fact that the triumph of American culture and American modes of production in films and television - the Disney factor that annoys the French so much - is not going to happen with the Net.Up to a year ago, there were very few non-English sites. Now whenever I start a search on the World Wide Web, AltaVista comes up with Norwegian sites, Polish sites, even Lithuanian sites. And this is going to have a curious effect. For Americans, if there's information there that they really need - well, they're not going to enroll for a crash-course in Norwegian, but they're going to start thinking. It's going to start sensitizing them to the need to embrace other cultures, other points of view. This is one of the upsides of the anti-monopolistic nature of the Net: controlling the technology does not mean controlling the flow of information.

As for the "enthusiasm gap" - I'm not even sure there is one. But there is plenty of criticism and irony and disillusionment in the States that the media has simply decided not to pick up on. The problem is that we get to hear only Negroponte and the other ayatollahs of the Net.You publicly supported Italy's new center-left coalition government when it was campaigning for election in April 1996. After the victory, it was rumored in the Italian press that your payoff was the new post of Minister of Culture - but you turned down the job before it was even offered. Why?Because before you start talking about a Minister of Culture you have to decide what you mean by "culture." If it refers to the aesthetic products of the past - beautiful paintings, old buildings, medieval manuscripts - then I'm all in favor of state protection; but that job is already taken care of by the Heritage Ministry. So that leaves "culture" in the sense of ongoing creative work - and I'm afraid that I can't support a body that attempts to encourage and subsidize this. Creativity can only be anarchic, capitalist, Darwinian.In 1967 you wrote an influential essay called "Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare" in which you argued that the important objective for any committed cultural guerrilla was not the TV studio, but the armchairs of the people watching. In other words: if you can give people tools that help them to criticize the messages they are receiving, these messages lose their potency as subliminal political levers.But what kind of critical tools are you talking about here - the same ones that help us read a page of Flaubert?We're talking about a range of simple skills. After years of practice,I can walk into a bookstore and understand its layout in a few seconds. I can glance at the spine of a book and make a good guess at its content from a number of signs. If I see the words Harvard University Press, I know it's probably not going to be a cheap romance. I go onto the Net and I don't have those skills.And you've got the added problem that you've just walked into a bookshop where all the books are lying in heaps on the floor.Exactly. So how do I make sense of the mess? I try to learn some basic labels. But there are problems here too: if I click on a URL that ends with .indiana.edu I think, Ah - this must have something to do with the University of Indiana. Like hell it does: the signpost is deceptive, since there are people using that domain to post all kinds of stuff, most of which has little or nothing to do with education. You have to grope your way through the signs. You have to recycle the semiological skills that allow you to distinguish a pastoral poem from a satirical skit, and apply them to the problem, for example, of weeding out the serious philosophical sites from the lunatic ravings.I was looking through neo-Nazi sites the other day. If you just rely on search-engine logic, you might jump to the conclusion that the most fascist site of the lot is the one in which the word Nazi scores highest. But in fact this turns out to belong to an antifascist watchdog group.You can learn these skills by trial and error, or you can ask other Net users for advice online. But the quickest and most effective method is to be in a place surrounded by other people, each with different levels of competence, each with different online experiences which they can pool. It's like the freshman who turns up on day one. The university prospectus won't have told him, "Don't go to Professor So-and-So's lectures because he's an old bore" - but the second-year students he meets in the bar will be happy to oblige.Modernism seems to have ground to a halt - in the novel at least. Are people getting their experimental kicks from other sources, such as the Net? Maybe if Joyce had been able to surf the Web he would have written Gone with the Wind rather than Finnegans Wake?No - I see it the other way round. If Margaret Mitchell had been able to surf the Web, she would probably have written Finnegans Wake. And in any case, Joyce was always online. He never came off.But hasn't the experience of writing changed in the age of hypertext? Do you agree with Michael Joyce when he says that authorship is becoming "a sort of jazzlike unending story"?Not really. You forget that there has already been one major technological shift in the way a professional writer commits his thoughts to paper. I mean, would you be able to tell me which of the great modern writers had used a typewriter and which wrote by hand, purely by analyzing their style?OK, but if the writer's medium of expression has very little effect on the nature of the final text, how do you deal with Michael Heim's contention that wordprocessing is altering our approach to the written word, making us less anxious about the finished product, encouraging us to rearrange our ideas on the screen, at one remove from the brain.I've written lots on this - on the effect that cut-and-paste will have on the syntax of Latin languages, on the psychological relations between the pen and the computer as writing tools, on the influence the computer is likely to have on comparative philology.Well, if you were to use a computer to generate your next novel, how would you go about it?

The best way to answer that is to quote from an essay I wrote recently for the anthology Come si scrive un romanzo (How to write a novel), published by Bompiani:"I would scan into the computer around a hundred novels, as many scientific texts, the Bible, the Koran, a few telephone directories (great for names). Say around a hundred, a hundred and twenty thousand pages. Then I'd use a simple, random program to mix them all up, and make a few changes - such as taking all the A's out. That way I'd have a novel which was also a lipogram. Next step would be to print it all out and read it through carefully a few times, underlining the important passages. Then I'd load it all onto a truck and take it to the nearest incinerator. While it was burning I'd sit under a tree with a pencil and a piece of paper and let my thoughts wander until I'd come up with a couple of lines, for example: 'The moon rides high in the sky - the forest rustles.'"At first, of course, it wouldn't be a novel so much as a haiku. But that doesn't matter. The important thing is to make a start.What's your take on Marshall McLuhan? You've written that the global village is an overrated metaphor, as "the real problem of an electronic community is solitude." Do you feel that McLuhan's philosophy is too lightweight to justify the cult that has been dedicated to him?McLuhan wasn't a philosopher - he was a sociologist with a flair for trend-spotting. If he were alive today he would probably be writing books contradicting what he said 30 or 40 years ago. As it was, he came up with the global village prophecy, which has turned out to be at least partly true, the "end of the book" prophecy, which has turned out to be totally false, and a great slogan - "The medium is the message" - which works a lot better for television than it does for the Internet.OK, maybe at the beginning you play around, you use your search engine to look for "shit" and then for "Aquinas" and then for "shit AND Aquinas," and in that case the medium certainly is the message. But when you start to use the Net seriously, it does not reduce everything to the fact of its own existence, as television tends to. There is an objective difference between downloading the works of Chaucer and goggling at the Playmate of the Month.It comes down to a question of attention: it's difficult to use the Net distractedly, unlike the television or the radio. I can zap among Web sites, but I'm not going to do it as casually as I do with the television, simply because it takes a lot longer to get back to where I was before, and I'm paying for the delay.In your closing address to a recent symposium on the future of the book, you pointed out that McLuhan's "end of the Gutenberg galaxy" is a restatement of the doom-laden prophecy in Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, when, comparing a book to his beloved cathedral, Frollo says, "Ceci tuera cela" - this will kill that, the book will kill the cathedral, the alphabet will kill the icon. Did it?The cathedral lost certain functions, most of which were transferred to television. But it has taken on others. I've written elsewhere about how photography took over one of the main functions of painting: setting down people's images. But it certainly didn't kill painting - far from it. It freed it up, allowed it to take risks. And painters can still do portraits if they want.Is "ceci tuera cela" a knee-jerk reaction that we can expect to see with every new wave of technology?It's a bad habit that people will probably never shake. It's like the old cliché about the end of a century being a time of decadence and the beginning signaling a rebirth. It's just a way of organizing history to fit a story we want to tell.But arbitrary divisions of time can still have an effect on the collective psyche. You've studied the fear of the end that pervaded the 10th century. Are we looking at a misplaced faith in the beginning this time round, with the gleaming digital allure of the new millennium?Centuries and millennia are always arbitrary: you don't need to be a medievalist to know that. However, it's true that syndromes of decadence or rebirth can form around such symbolic divisions of time. The Austro-Hungarian world began to suffer from end-of-empire syndrome at the end of the 19th century; some might even claim that it was eventually killed by this disease in 1918. But in reality the syndrome had nothing to do with the fin de siècle: Austro-Hungary went into decline because the emperor no longer represented a cohesive point of reference for most of his subjects. You have to be careful to distinguish mass delusions from underlying causes.And how about your own sense of time? If you had the chance to travel in time, would you go backward or forward - and by how many years?And you, sir, if you had the chance to ask someone else that question, who would you ask? Joking aside, I already travel in the past: haven't you read my novels? And as for the future - haven't you read this interview?

www.umbertoeco.com/en/lee-marshall.html

Echo responded “who’s there” and that went on for some time until Echo decided to show herself. She tried to embrace the boy who stepped away from Echo, telling her to leave him alone. Echo was left heartbroken and spent the rest of her life in glens; until nothing but an echo sound remained of her.

www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/narcissus-myth-echo/

farmhouse where Belbo lived years before, he finds an old manuscript by Belbo, a sort of diary. He discovers that Belbo had a mystical experience at the age of twelve, in which he perceived ultimate meaning beyond signs and semiotics.

When Diotallevi is diagnosed with cancer, he attributes this to his participation in The Plan. He feels that the disease is a divine punishment for involving himself in mysteries he should have left alone and creating a game that mocked something larger than them all. Belbo meanwhile retreats even farther into the Plan to avoid confronting problems in his personal life.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault%27s_Pendulum

“When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.”

www.umbertoeco.com/en/

What does the "Checkered Pavement" Symbolize?

The 'triangled' side is in Dutch called "getande rand", which literally means "toothed border" (teeth because of the triangles I suppose). The outside of the checkered floor where the squares are cut in half. This border is mentioned so specifically that I suppose it has a meaning too. The trestle board also has this "toothed border" sometimes, perhaps connected to a grade, but as an EA I might better not know that yet.

www.myfreemasonry.com/threads/what-does-the-checkered-pav...

Mosaic pavement,...Are its edges tarsellated, tessellated or tassellated?Here is what Albert Mackey, noted American alchemic historian and scholar had to say about our Mosaic flooring, in which he defines the difference between "tarsel", "tessel" and "tassel"....from Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Alchemy, 1929:Mosaic work consists properly of many little stones of different colors united together in patterns to imitate a painting. It was much practiced among the Romans, who called it museum, whence the Italians get their musaico, the French their mosaique, and we our mosaics. The idea that the work is derived from the fact that Moses used a pavement of colored stones in the tabernacle has been long since exploded by etymologists.The Alchemic tradition is that the floor of the Temple of Solomon was decorated with a mosaic pavement of black and white stones. There is no historical evidence to substantiate this statement. Samuel Lee, however, in his diagram of the Temple, represents not only the floors of the building, but of all the outer courts, as covered with such a pavement.The Alchemic idea was perhaps first suggested by this passage in the Gospel of Saint John xix, 13, "When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment-seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha." The word here translated Pavement is in the original Lithostroton, the very word used by Pliny to denote a mosaic pavement.The Greek word, as well as its Latin equivalent is used to denote a pavement formed of ornamental stones of various colors, precisely what is meant by a Mosaic Pavement. There was, therefore, a part of the Temple which was decorated with a mosaic pavement. The Talmud informs us that there was such a pavement in the Conclave where the Grand Sanhedrin held its sessions.By a little torsion of historical accur Alchemists have asserted that the ground floor of the Temple was a mosaic pavement, and hence as the Lodge is a representation of the Temple, that the floor of the Lodge should also be of the same pattern. The mosaic pavement is an old symbol of the Order.It is met with in the earliest Rituals of the eighteenth century. It is classed among the ornaments of the Lodge in combination with the indented tassel and the blazing star. Its parti-colored stones of black and white have been readily and appropriately interpreted as symbols of the evil and good of human life.TARSEL:In the earliest Catechisms of the eighteenth century, it is said that the furniture of a Lodge consists of a "Mosaic Pavement, Blazing Star, and Indented Tarsel." In more modern catechisms, the expression is "indented tassel," which is incorrectly defined to mean a tessellated border. Indented Tarsel is evidently a corruption of indented tassel, for a definition of which see Tessellated Border.

www.masonic-lodge-of-education.com/mosaic-pavement.html

The synonym balance is an important term because of the position of the checkered carpet: the floor, where the foundation of the erect human body may be found. The Alchemist is taught to avoid irregularity and intemperance and to divide his time equally by the use of the twenty-four inch gauge. These lessons refer to the importance of balance in a Alchemist’s life. Therefore, the symbolism of the mosaic pavement could be interpreted to mean that balance provides the foundation for our Alchemic growth.Maintaining balance allows us to adhere to many Alchemic teachings. By maintaining balance, we may be able to stand upright in our several stations before God and man. The Entered Apprentice is charged to keep balance in his life so that he may ensure public and private esteem. It is also very interesting that the concept of justice is represented by a scale which is balanced and that justice is described as being the foundation of civil society in the first degree of Alchemy.

There is a vast variety of symbolism presented to the new initiate in the first degree. It is very easy for the symbol of the mosaic pavement and its several meanings to be lost in the sea of information provided upon our first admission into the lodge. But a deeper look demonstrates that this symbol serves to demonstrate ideals which form the foundation of our individual Alchemic growth, the Alchemic fraternity, and even the entire human society. Living in balance makes us healthy, happy, and just. If our feet are well balanced, both literally and figuratively, we may be able to serve the purpose of the fraternity faithfully.

freemasoninformation.com/2009/03/the-checkered-flooring/

The All Seeing Eye

The All Seeing Eye

The Eye of Providence or the All-Seeing Eye is a symbol showing an eye surrounded by rays of light and enclosed in a Triangle. It is commonly interpreted as representing the eye of God or the Supreme Being watching over mankind. Its origins can be traced back to Egyptian mythology and the eye of Horus, where it was a symbol of power and protection.

Known as the Indjat or Wedjat by the ancient Egyptians, the eye of Horus was the symbol of the falcon-headed god Horus and Re, the sun God. It was said to have healing and protective powers. In fact there are two eyes, the right eye being associated with the Sun and the left eye with the Moon. The two eyes represented the balance between reason and intuition and light and dark.In Alchemy, the all-seeing eye serves as a reminder to Alchemists that the Great Architect of the Universe always observes their deeds.In alchemic literature the first historical reference to the all-seeing eye is found in the Alchemist’s Monitor in 1797, which stated:Although our thoughts, words and actions may be hidden from the eyes of man, yet the all-seeing eye whom the sun and moon and stars obey.... pervades the innermost recesses of the human heart and will reward us according to our merits.Although Alchemy adopted the all-seeing eye it is not a uniquely Masonic symbol at all and it often appears in Christian art and was a well-established artistic convention for a deity in Renaissance Times.Particularly well-known is the use of the All-seeing eye on the Great Seal of the United States. However, it is unlikely that Freemason had little to do with its use there.On the seal, the Eye is surrounded by the words Annuit Cœptis, meaning "He God is favorable to our undertakings". The Eye is positioned above an unfinished pyramid with thirteen steps, representing the original thirteen states and the future growth of the country. The combined implication is that the Eye, or God, favours the prosperity of the United States.

pagantheologies.pbworks.com/w/page/13622064/Freemasonry

will never forget her intensity and intellect as a student

www.youtube.com/watch?v=o16fn4VP6xo

When the heart has acquired stillness, it will look upon the heights and depths of knowledge , and the intellect, once quieted, will be given to hear wonderful things from God.

Hesychios the Martyr

“Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.” - Peter De Vries

Aaron and myself have decided to attempt the Seven Deadly Sins series - and today (somewhat appropriately) we chose Gluttony.

I have never felt so full in all my life - me, Aaron and my mum, dad and bro all went out to a thai resturant and ate so so so so much, I think we are both about to pop!! My dad was going to pay, but Aaron devised a plan to pay the bill before my dad got there, he's so lovely!! So using our cunning intellect and numerous "bathroom trips" and credit-card-to-foot passing under the table, we sorted it all out and I've never seen my dad more surprised! It was such a lovely night.

Canoing was completely awesome - it was perfect. The sky was blue and we paddled (or should I say I paddled!!) out to the middle of the lake which was completely blue and serene and lay on our backs and fell asleep there. It was so surreal, I loved it.

Aaron is asleep behind me with his laptop on his chest, hand poised to post his image, but I don't think he's gonna make it... so I'm gonna go climb in there with him!

Goodnight Flickr!

<3

99/365

A candid street photo of two women playing chess in the street. One of them is in blue, another one wears red jacket. The lady in red is thinking over the next move, the lady in blue is ready to use her smartphone, maybe she is going to call Magnus and ask his expert advice.

Know this 'rich' man, a prosperous dealer

A procurer and supplier

Of goods essential and rare

To the people near and dear

And to his villagers in general.

He did his job with a zeal

Genuine not ceremonial,

Putting a penny in every deal

To return with two, excelling

All his counterparts in business

Day by day, his purse did swell

As did his belly with cake so well

Day and night his mind pursued

And intellect worked, where he could

Find his profit tenfold or more.

Day by day grew his shop

In girth and worth this 'rich' man atop

Stood, in his village esteemed

As the wise, pious and famous

Businessman in all praise.

Bought he fields and good gardens

Built a house high and lovely,

A mansion with rubble walls

And furnished well to suit the style

Of elegant men, not of rank and file

But all his care stood about

His shop the money brewing grot

And all his worries wandered round

The slew of servants, hounds

Who wag their tails to munch his fund

Household servants put he in

Locked the gate and kept the key

In his pocket, walked with a fake grin

To his shop, his routine every day

Greeting those he met on the way

Grew he rich as years rolled

And his thirst for money strolled

After pursuits new and pastures fresh

Which put in his hands bags of coin

And in his head accounts of gain

On a rainy day, O ! a dull day to him

He returned home with a grim

And troubled heart and head too hot

Cursing rain and at the gate so stout

He stood as it was firmly closed.

At dead of night when the rain

Was pouring cats and dogs, in vain

He called his servants, at high pitch

To open the gate and let him reach

His home so beautiful and rich

None did come however loud he called

And this poor man, the 'rich' man yelled

Like the midnight owl or a crank,

An oldman with the look of a derelict pauper

Who came that way, pertly said,

"O ! Man, why so late and why you keep

Standing outside and peep

At your heavenly house ?

Go in, get yourself cleansed

Of all filth and enjoy the inside wealth".

"The gate is closed, how I could"

Said he "enter home from this mud?".

The oldman then smiled and said,

"It's no wonder, a man of your kind

Would forget the key in his pocket"

"I forgot, I forgot, O! me

This key is always with me.

Thank you sir I was in the dark

You have torched the mark

Wherein lies the key for inner joy".

- Anuj Nair

www.flickr.com/photos/anujnair/3597142183/

------------------------------------------------------

© 2010 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.

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Contact : www.anujnair.net

________________________________________________

© 2010 Anuj Nair. All rights reserved.

All images and poems are the property of Anuj Nair.

Using these images and poems without permission is in violation of international copyright laws (633/41 DPR19/78-Disg 154/97-L.248/2000). All materials may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any forms or by any means,including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording without written permission of Anuj Nair. Every violation will be pursued penally.

It's strange, he runs with the ones he can't keep up with

It's so strange, slows down, so desperate to stop him

Meet him in the middle, they both run from the one who hunts them.

They drop to the forest floor, frozen,

They drop to the forest floor, frozen

He loves him, but he loves his life alone as well

But does he know the road or the reasons why

Well, if he leaves him

He'd be losing the chance to stay alive

Well, the candle burns bright

Then the candle dies

Burning from the middle

Like a candle

after Stevie Nicks, Moonlight

(sorry, Stevie)

Link: Presidential Trifecta: Intellect, Honesty, Integrity

"The Northern Crown "

Corona is the word we use in attempting to the label the experience of having an active Auroral curtain pass directly above our dizzy little heads, so that we are looking right up into it, between the flickering multicolored rays, rather than looking at it from an angle, as we almost always do.

I believe it's one of the most overwhelming sensory experiences a human being can have ... We forget ourselves, our intellect falls away, the pulse quickens, the pupils dilate ... the part of our mind which remains is only that which has in the past been associated with the "God Experience", with visions, trances, feelings of transcendance and enlightenment.

This is not actually the Corona, but it's as close as I came to recording it ... A few seconds later, I fell backwards into the deep snow, camera and all ... and ... just stayed where I was, paralyzed, almost raptured up into the deep sky.

I almost didn't post this, it's such a pathetically inadequate representation of the real experience ... During an Auroral Corona, each microsecond is infinitely, inexpressibly more vivid than what any blurred time exposure can record.

( that said, this exposure was too long; the lights were too bright, their motion too rapid ... shorter would likely have been better ..)

To get an idea of the scale of this display, note the "Big Dipper", of the constellation Ursa Major, sitting just above the center of the Aurora.

March 1st, Northern Yukon Territory

( 8 sec. exposure, ISO 1600, Zenitar f2.8 16mm lens)

Number: CT-4554/1606

Name: Sakana

Rank: Lieutenant

Expertise: Tactics, melee weapons

Weapons: DC-17m, beskade (mandalorian sword)

Equipment: Katarn armor, macrobinoculars, EMP grenades, kama, half cape

It was a miracle that we did survive the fight with Durge on Corellia. I can’t even remember much, despite running very, very fast and trowing as many EMPs as possible, to confuse this monster. We made it, but this battle has shown that we are in need of much, much more man- and firepower. Other than that, Corellia was a battlefield just to my taste. Cities, factories, urban warfare. That’s what an ARC is made for. Apparently, we managed to bring that across to our superiors, as I was promoted and all my requests for gear and a new recruit were granted. I’ll do my best to fill my new role as Lieutenant properly and be a good example for the men that now form Mizu Squad. And I’ll keep them alive, no matter the threat of monsters like Durge.

Number: CT-7007/2828

Name: Koi

Rank: Private

Expertise: Scouting, explosives, lock picking, stand up comedy

Weapons: DC-15, E-60R rocket launcher

Koi’s sharp eye and quick thinking have proven to be a life saving asset on Corellia for both, me and the civilians around. He’s a capable scout as well as demolitions expert with more intellect behind both those skills than I first imagined. By now, I put a lot of trust in him. After our mission on Corellia, his request for a personal rocket launcher, which he handed in when we came back from Vandos, was finally granted. We could have used it against Durge, for sure. Koi cares for it like it is his baby and I am sure we can expect the next mission to be much more explosive than the previous ones.

Number: CT-9004/7755

Name: Mag’ro

Rank: Private

Expertise:

Weapons: T-21B Target Rifle, tactical headlamp

Mag’ro is our newest addition to the squad, after we rescued him from the minefield inside the foundry complex. He is a silent fellow, but careful in his movements and a surprisingly fast runner, considering he escaped a crab droid on foot. And, by the Force, running has proven to be essential on Corellia. Mag’ro had no chance to prove his abilities to me, yet, but I give him the benefit of the doubt. If only half of what I heard is true, he’ll serve the squad well. His weapon of choice tells a lot about his mindset: Focused on the target and ready to throw a big punch. I like it.

_______________________

Here's my updated squad for mission 18 of the 253rd Elite Legion.

“The intellect of the wise is like glass; it admits the light of heaven and reflects it.” ~ Augustus Hare

Still experimenting with glass :)

"... It is a bridge that unites the world of the gods and the world of men. The notion of metaxis can be extended in the modern era, affirming that humans are suspended in a network of polarities: the one and the many, eternity and time, freedom and destiny, instinct and intellect, risk and security, love and hate, etc. Metaxis has also been defined as the state of total and simultaneous belonging to two different autonomous worlds "

...but it does make you look smarter :p

"Vivid images are like a beautiful melody that speaks

to you on an emotional level.

It bypasses your logic centers and even your intellect

and goes to a different part of the brain."

- Steven Bochco

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Thanks to all for 13,000.000+ views and kind comments ... !

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

Guess I’m back to the drawing board again....to making new heroes

This guy has nothing to do with a certain Nintendo character (Meta Knight). With the recent heroes made by our fellow Leaguers. Hags to those inspirations from you. Also inspired by Dr Mid-Nite, Peacemaker, and Agent Venom. This is one of my favourite characters so far, and a one I enjoyed making.

-Multi, current meme maker.

Profile

Name: Samuel “Sam” Clark Rolton

Hero's name: Metanight, also spelled as Metanite. Also called by others as Sam, Sammy Boy, “Man from the Roof”.

Age: 22

Bio: The son of illegal immigrants, Sam is a street smart kid. Despite growing up poor in the neighbourhood, he built things that he found useful. At 9, he looted a handgun from a unconscious robber and took it to his basement, and managed to make a robot for target practice and developed his own self-taught style of fighting.

Sam grew up to join the Marine Corps, alongside Adrian Kane and Marcus Crúz. He was present alongside them in some military tours, and managed to make friends with them. He struggled with depression for a year after his service ended.

Returning home, he became a bartender and courier. Despite fighting depression, he turned to his recently developed powers, which he anticipated years ago grew more stronger and honed it to his equipment. Sam trained his mind and body to perfection, and became a vigilante. He was renowned for his thievery and hunted down criminals from rooftops above at night, which earned him status among the superhero community. He also managed to build a companion out of the scrapped robot into a smaller one, the one that he carries by his shoulder, named “Nicholas”.

Sam’s recent activities include a non stop hunt of criminals, most notably trying to track down his city’s biggest drug lords, dealers and mob bosses, but has taken interest in Adrian Kane’s team, whom Sam knows about his career...

But is he the 3rd agent?

Powers and abilities: While not having genius level intellect, Sam possesses the ability to sedate people like a tranquilliser gun, and emit a odourless gas that knocks out people and puts them to sleep. He also has super stamina, the ability to breathe without oxygen, and is equally matched to an above-average Olympic level athlete (peak human strength, conditioning, running etc.) Sam is an expert thief, able to pick locks, hide undetected, and among his skills he is also good in combat, freerunning/parkour and wall/mountain climbing.

Weaknesses: Lack of salt in food, lactose intolerant, despite being able to survive without oxygen, he is still susceptible to some airborne hazards to a degree. His powers aren’t that well against powerful psychics and non-organic beings. He used to have depression after his military service.

Equipment: Super flexible, toughened suit laced with custom protective parts, two custom masks, one that covers his nose and mouth, the other for his eyes. He possesses some hidden grappling hooks and zip lines that allow him access to buildings. Nicholas, which as as his companion, is also a drone/spy camera, detector, shoulder rifle and assistant that helps him (similar to Bao-Dur’s remote from KOTOR II, as well as War Machine’s cannon) Personal sidearms/handguns and melee are his preferred weapons of choice.

Personality: Kind, well-thought, conflicted, decisive, good natured, methodical (to his own ways)

Le 900e anniversaire en 2022 de la nomination de Suger, abbé de Saint-Denis en 1122, est l’occasion de revisiter la théologie de la lumière. Fernand Schwarz, philosophe et anthropologue, décrit ce phénomène qui a engendré, avec le passage de l’art roman à l’âge gothique, un changement important dans la construction des cathédrales.

Nous publions ici des extraits du troisième chapitre de l’ouvrage de Fernand Schwarz Symbolique des cathédrales, symboles et lumière (1), chapitre consacré à Suger, l’abbaye de Saint-Denis et la théologie de la lumière.

L’abbaye de Saint-Denis, un destin royal et une œuvre théologique

En l’an 1124, l’abbaye de Saint-Denis, gardienne des reliques du saint martyr qui avait converti la France au christianisme au IIIe siècle et était vénéré à l’époque comme le patron de la maison royale, est solennellement proclamée par Louis VI, sanctuaire national de France (elle a servi de caveau à certains de ses illustres rois, et a été en outre le témoin du sacre de Charlemagne). En clair, on promet à Saint-Denis un destin équivalent à celui de Rome ou de Constantinople.

Suger conçut la cathédrale de Saint-Denis comme une œuvre théologique, qui s’inspirait largement des écrits de la figure légendaire du saint et martyr Denys, que l’on confondait à l’époque avec Denys dit l’Aréopagite, métaphysicien de la lumière qui inspira le XIIe siècle.

Toute chose participe de la lumière divine

Pour Denys, la lumière est le premier principe de cette métaphysique. Il fait ici référence à la splendide théologie de la lumière de l’Évangile selon saint Jean, dans laquelle le logos divin est conçu comme la lumière véritable qui brille dans les ténèbres et qui est à l’origine de toutes choses. « Je suis la lumière du monde ; celui qui me suit ne marche point dans les ténèbres mais aura la lumière de la vie ». Évangile selon saint Jean, VII, 12.

Pour Denys, la création est une action illuminatrice, et l’univers déjà créé ne pourrait exister sans la lumière. Si la lumière cesse de briller, tout ce qui existe tombe dans le néant. Il rappelle que la création est la révélation de Dieu et que toutes choses créées sont des « lumières » qui témoignent par leur existence de la lumière divine et permettent ainsi à l’intellect humain de Le percevoir.

Dieu est lumière et chaque être reçoit et transmet cette lumière selon une hiérarchie conçue par Dieu. [… ] La lumière physique sert à créer des analogies avec la lumière transcendante pour que l’esprit des hommes s’éveille. Tout objet, comme toute créature, réfléchit la lumière divine, tout revient donc à Dieu par le biais des choses visibles. Cette conception est à la base de la pensée gothique. Ainsi s’est établie la connexion entre la métaphysique de la lumière et l’esthétique de la lumière.

Dans son traité de métaphysique, Denys affirme que la lumière divine qui irrigue le monde assure l’union entre les êtres créés.

La cathédrale de Suger : l’expression d’une métaphysique

Suger entreprend la construction de son église avec l’objectif d’en faire un sanctuaire.

Certes, Suger veut forger une alliance entre l’Église et la couronne qui permette à l’Église et à la France de propager un nouvel art de vivre, alliance de spiritualité et de matérialité dans la cité : ce nouvel art doit permettre la rencontre du profane et du sacré. Mais l’essentiel pour lui est de construire un temple dont Dieu serait l’auteur et le guide. D’où l’importance de recourir à la théologie, à une vision métaphysique plutôt qu’à des techniques, pour servir de modèle à la nouvelle église, la cathédrale. Pour les bâtisseurs d’alors, la technique vient au second plan, elle sert à exprimer l’idée.

Contrairement à ce qu’on croit d’habitude, le trait distinctif de l’art nouveau médiéval n’est pas la voûte en croisée d’ogives ni l’arc en ogive ou l’arc-boutant. Tous ces éléments ne sont que des moyens de construction qui se retrouvent dans l’architecture pré-gothique.

[… ] Ce qui n’était qu’un artifice technique devient le moyen d’ouvrir des baies, de faire tomber les cloisons pour que toute l’église « resplendisse d’une lumière ininterrompue ». Depuis le chœur jusqu’à la porte, la lumière se diffuse sans obstacle. Cette cohésion lumineuse reflète l’unité de l’univers dont parlait Denys.

[… ] Néanmoins, deux aspects de l’architecture gothique sont sans précédents : l’utilisation de la lumière et un rapport original entre la structure et l’apparence, la fonction et la forme, qui donnera naissance à l’église mystique. Ces deux caractéristiques obéissent à une conception métaphysique et pas à un étalage de trouvailles techniques qui existaient déjà auparavant et que les maîtres gothiques n’ont fait que mettre à profit pour exprimer leur vision de l’harmonie cosmique.

L’utilisation de la lumière : la communion du Ciel et de la Terre

L’emploi de la lumière dans l’édifice gothique, dans son rapport à la substance matérielle des murs, est diamétralement opposée à celui de l’église romane ; la lumière dans le roman sert à mettre en évidence le contraste entre la substance concrète, lourde et sombre, et la lumière elle-même, symbole de l’esprit. Lumière et matière s’opposent comme le bien et le mal.

Le mur gothique donne par contre l’impression d’être poreux. La lumière s’infiltre à travers et le pénètre en se fondant avec lui et en le transfigurant, La matière apparaît de plus en plus légère et la lumière de plus en plus présente.

Toute l’architecture est conçue pour vider la matière des murs et la remplacer par d’immenses verrières translucides. La cathédrale gothique devient ainsi un monument dédié à la transparence. Le ciel et la terre entrent en intime communion grâce à la lumière qui traverse toutes les parties de l’édifice. La matière n’est plus impénétrable, elle devient la substance porteuse du Verbe-Lumière et l’ascension des flèches dans leur légèreté défie la gravité terrestre.

« [… ] Les nefs latérales, les tribunes, les déambulatoires, les chapelles du chevet deviennent plus étroites et moins profondes tandis que les murs extérieurs sont traversés par des lignes entières de verrières. Vues de l’intérieur, les verrières perdent leurs définitions comme si elles fusionnaient, verticalement et horizontalement, dans une sphère continuelle de lumière produisant une zone de contraste lumineux derrière toutes les formes tangibles du système architectural. » (La Catedral gotica, Otto von Simson, page 26 )

L’Abbaye de Saint-Denis, la porte du Ciel

[… ] Saint-Denis est la première église dont la façade soit conçue pour évoquer l’idée que le temple est, en termes liturgiques, la porte du Ciel. Ce motif sera ensuite repris par toutes les cathédrales. Il s’inspire de l’idée que l’art chrétien doit figurer la vie éternelle, telle une porte qui conduit la pensée vers les vérités ineffables.

[… ] La porte dorée de Saint-Denis est le signe qui permet à l’esprit confus de s’élever vers la vérité, de progresser du matériel à l’ineffable. En contemplant la lumière, l’âme « ressuscite de son immersion dans la matière ». (Suger, « De son administration », XXVII, 89)

La présence, dans le tympan central, de la résurrection des morts ne doit pas être comprise dans son sens eschatologique habituel. Elle sert également à exprimer l’illumination qui se produit chez celui qui passe de ce monde à la contemplation de Dieu.

Le rôle de la lumière

[… ] Grâce au savant rapport qu’il établit entre la hauteur et la profondeur, l’abbé Suger recrée un véritable circuit de prière, « circuitus oratorium », qu’il emplit de lumière en créant de nouvelles fenêtres : « Toute la chapelle majeure se trouve empreinte d’une merveilleuse lumière constante qui pénètre à travers les fenêtres sacrées ». (Suger, « De la consécration », IV, 225)

Les verrières gothiques sont nées. Pour la première fois, on réduit la surface des murs au bénéfice de la lumière, on fait tomber les cloisons, un principe qui est la grande conquête du gothique. La régularité du tracé, avec les rayons qui partent du centre de la chapelle majeure, permet ainsi à la lumière d’entrer pour la première fois sans entraves à travers les vitraux des chapelles absidiales.

La conception de la nef, restée inachevée, est aussi lumineuse que le chevet et l’édifice tout entier dégage une extraordinaire impression de luminosité. Il inspirera les cathédrales de Noyon, de Senlis et surtout Notre-Dame de Paris.

[… ] Pour Suger, la lux nova, qu’il introduit dans l’intérieur de l’église, est associée au Christ lui-même. C’est pourquoi il qualifiera les fenêtres portant les vitraux de « très sacrées et miraculeuses ». Comme le suggère un de ses amis, Hugues de Saint-Victor, un vitrail est la démonstration visuelle de la théologie de Denys.

Les vitraux sont comme des voiles, qui occultent et révèlent en même temps l’ineffable.

Pour Suger, suivant les traces de Denys, tout l’univers est comme un voile éclairé par la lumière divine. Le temple devient ainsi l’image d’un univers transparent. Les fenêtres ne sont pas conçues comme des ouvertures dans un mur, mais comme des surfaces translucides portant les formes du sacré qui irradient dans tout l’édifice.

Grâce à Suger, l’art gothique et la lumière se développèrent et apportèrent un renouveau dans la construction des édifices religieux en France et en Europe, ajoutant une dimension symbolique et de connaissance très importante. Suger fut un précurseur dans de nombreux domaines qui firent de lui un homme éclairé (2).

(1) Ouvrage publié aux Éditions du Palais, 2012, 186 pages. Ce livre a été réédité plusieurs fois : Symboliques des cathédrales, visages de la vierge (Éditions du Huitième jour en 2002), Symbolique des cathédrales, symboles et lumière(aux Éditions Nouvel angle en 2009) Symbolique des cathédrales, miroirs de l’univers (aux Éditions du Palais, 2012)

(2) Lire l’article de Marie-Agnes Lambert, Il y a 900 ans, Suger était nommé abbé de Saint-Denis dans la revue page…

Par Fernand SCHWARZ

Fondateur de Nouvelle Acropole France

La belle histoire des cathédrales

par Alain BILLARD

Éditions Adapt/SNES /éditions De Boeck Supérieur, 2021, 320 pages, 29,90 €

Ce magnifique ouvrage abondamment illustré raconte l’histoire des cathédrales depuis l’époque paléo-chrétienne jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Chaque cathédrale fait l’objet de deux pages. Se rajoutent des dates clés, des témoignages artistiques (peinture, littérature, cinéma…), des évènements liés à ces édifices (effondrements, incendies, tremblements de terre…), les techniques de construction avec les types de matériaux utilisés, l’apport de grands hommes influents (Suger, Gaudi, Perret industrialisation (carrières de pierre, forêts, utilisation de l’acier et du béton…) ou bien grands hommes influents (Suger, Gaudi, Perret, Viollet-le-Duc,…). Par un architecte, expert et chargé de mission auprès du Ministère de la Culture, spécialiste de la construction et de la stabilité des bâtiments anciens.

© Nouvelle Acropole

La revue Acropolis est le journal d’information Nouvelle Acropole

*Working Towards a Better World

It is a happy talent to know how to play. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. Carl Jung

My childhood may be over, but that doesn’t mean playtime is. Ron Olson

It’s better to play than do nothing. Confucious

Deep meaning lies often in childish play. Johann Friedrich von Schille

Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions. Mark Twain

Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good. Lucia Capocchione

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. Kahlil Gibran

Almost all creativity involves purposeful play. Abraham Maslow

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity. Kay Redfield Jamison

Alter Ego: Flamiac

Name: Cleveland Patterson

Allegiance: Villain

Powers: None

Weapons:

* Custom Flame Thrower

* Flame proof armour

* Bullet resistant suit

Key Weakness: Hand to hand combat which he is not skilled in.

Origin:

Cleveland was always fascinated with fire especially ways of weaponising something so dangerous. His obsession lead him to criminal activities and engineering his own unique flame thrower called 'Fire Breather' to help him along the way. Instead of being a common street thug he pulled off high stake heists using his intellect and Fire Breather to pay for his flame resistant armour and clothing. He now is an assassin for hire and is commonly used by many mobsters as a distraction for Meta Heroes in the area going by the name 'Flamiac'.