View allAll Photos Tagged PASSIVITY
Exposición 394 segundos + 6 segundos (camera doble exposure)
Aperture f/5,6
Lente 36 mm
ISO 100
Long exposure photography – Fotografía de larga exposición.
"Orwell temía que censuraran libros, lo que Huxley temía era que no hubiera ninguna razón para censurar libros, porque no habría nadie que leyera ninguno.
Orwell temía que alguien nos privara de la información, Huxley temía que nos dieran tanta información que nos veríamos reducidos a la pasividad y al egotismo.
Orwell temía que la verdad se nos ocultara, Huxley temía que la verdad fuera ahogada en un mar de irrelevancia.
En 1984 a la gente se le controlaba infligiéndole dolor, en "Un mundo feliz" a la gente se le controla infligiéndole placer.
En pocas palabras, Orwell temía que lo que odiamos termiraría por arruinarnos, Huxley temía que aquello que amamos terminaría por arruinarnos."
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one."
"Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism.
Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.
In 1984, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure.
Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us."
Neil Postman, "Amusing Ourselves to Death".
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© Isaac Lew | Photography
Catlin | South Island | New Zealand
I do not believe that a good photograph can be made without recognising that the landscape will always be more important than either you or the photograph you plan to make of it. Of course it has to be helped and supported by all the techniques of photography, but, when taking a photograph I know to be good, the sensation I always have is a modest one. It is an inner "ah", the knowledge that something is right. When this understanding is there, something strange happens to me. The heartbeat slows down, the whole metabolism seems to come down to the rate of the landscape itself, and the mind, almost as if coated with an emulsion itself, starts to soak up the meaning of the place. There is nothing casual about it. It is not a snatch.
Understanding grows as you allow the landscape to come into you. Passivity, not acquisition, is the key to this. A good photograph is a received photograph, an exchange between you and the landscape, in which - however unlikely this may seem - there is a dialogue between the two of you. It is simply courtesy to allow the landscape to speak.
CHARLIE WAITE
Best to view LARGE
[Gear]:
Nikon D300
Tokina 11-16mm
© All rights reserved
A reflection from under a staircase on a ferry to one of the two Îles de Lérins that overlook the bay of Cannes. Today we have a confidence of travel and look back to a coast with a casual interest. On board, the excitement of young children mixes with holiday snaps chutter and quiet passivity. For the great journeys of man ; into Australia 60,000 ybp, over to the British Isles 7,000 ybp, across to the Pacific Islands 1,200 AD..., more travelers would have looked back with an emotional weight of life itself. A heady mix of both optimism and dread. There is a quality to this 'game of light' shot that may, by chance, serve to illustrate this ancient sentiment of man and the sea...
AJ
(Continuation. See the texts of the earliest images of this series. The whole images from these series are already on my insta, but without this texts)
So, it’s World Anti-War I. And one of the main its theaters is in my country, Russia. In one of the comments to the previous image I was asked: “How can we support the Digital Resistance in Russia?”. And other forms of the Russian Resistance, I’d like to add. That’s very important and difficult question. It is important because that infamous and archaic by its methods and thinking war is possible not least due to its support or passivity of a lot of Russians. And that is possible because of recent prohibition on the information including using the social media. Of course, a lot of Russians are still on Insta and reading everything they want (that’s one of the forms of the Digital Resistance). But a lot of others are afraid or even don’t want to. I feel that all could stop much faster if the general view in Russia would change. And that could change because of activity of those who are sharing views and the truth in spite of the fear.
To be continued…
Also, I want to speak with people about this nightmare times, to show, to see and to listen. To do something together. I think that what I’m doing now is the “photo-diary from the other side” with the unique opportunity to show life in the country when its doors are closing. So, I’m very welcome you to stay in touch with me on Insta, which now turned to the main site of the Digital Resistance in Russia in spite of becoming the outlaw social media or maybe partly because of that. As well as on other social resources. Though I’ve abandoned them for now or barely even started, but I’ll be back. Hopefully.
yinyang, in Eastern thought, the two complementary forces that make up all aspects and phenomena of life. Yin is a symbol of earth, femaleness, darkness, passivity, and absorption. Yang is conceived of as heaven, maleness, light, activity, and penetration.
In harmony, the two are depicted as the light and dark halves of a circle.
(britannia)
ai/gimp
artweek
Art Week Gallery Theme ~ Light and Dark ~
acrylic on canvas, 2015, 70 x 100 cm
-- la culture de l'enthousiasme moutonnier --
- the culture of sheep enthusiasm
Censorship is about submission !!
In de Nazi-periode moesten de vrijheid en uniciteit van het individu plaats maken voor conformisme, dienstbaarheid en ondergeschiktheid. De verpulvering van de mens tot een ding was zonder twijfel het grootste drama van de twintigste eeuw. Hiermee werd de Kantiaanse stelling dat we de mens steeds als een doel moeten zien en niet als een middel, brutaal en meedogenloos opzij geschoven. De wreedheden die in de kampen gebeurden waren zo erg dat menige overlevende zich bewust was dat anderen hen niet zouden geloven.
www.liberales.be/teksten/2017/12/2/over-kampliteratuur-ja...
In Islamic cultures, for instance, the community prevails over the individual - Prof. Chantal Mouffe, 4 november 2013
Albert Jacquard 1994 Noms de dieux
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v9updAv018&feature=youtu.be
Jan Theuninck is a Belgian painter
www.boekgrrls.nl/BgDiversen/Onderwerpen/gedichten_over_sc...
www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.be/wiki/index.php/Yperite-Jan...
www.graphiste-webdesigner.fr/blog/2013/04/la-peinture-bel...
www.eutrio.be/expo-west-meets-east
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Shut up !
don't try to be
who you are
shut up !
some more discipline
and a cheerful face
shut up !
your duty is sacred
work yourself to death
shut up !
your only way
is "their" way
shut up !
© by Jan Theuninck
I found these that make one go: "Hmmm"; at www.quotegarden.com/hmmm.html
And upsidedown in the earth a dead man walks upon my soles when I walk. ~Bill Knott, "(End) of Summer (1966)" (Thanks, Laurie.)
The day was counting up its birds and never got the answer right. ~Author Unknown
Night and morning are making promises to each other which neither will be able to keep. ~Richard Shelton
I imagine that yes is the only living thing. ~e.e. cummings
Ink smears, as thoughts sometimes do. ~Emme Woodhull-Bäche
Never mind. The self is the least of it. Let our scars fall in love. ~Galway Kinnell
Her hearing was keener than his, and she heard silences he was unaware of. ~D.M. Thomas
Silence moves faster when it's going backward. ~Jean Cocteau
We are asleep with compasses in our hands. ~W.S. Merwin
Sharp nostalgia, infinite and terrible, for what I already possess. ~Juan Ramon Jimenez
[T]he departing world leaves behind... not an heir, but a pregnant widow. ~Alexander Ivanovich Herzen, Other Shore
If only I could leave everything as it is, without moving a single star or a single cloud. Oh, if only I could! ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Two and two the mathematician continues to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five. ~James McNeill Whistler, Whistler Versus Ruskin, 1878
We are never prepared for what we expect. ~James A. Michener, Caravans
The universe is simmering down, like a giant stew left to cook for four billion years. Sooner or later we won't be able to tell the carrots from the onions. ~Arthur Bloch
As I was walking up the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd go away.
~Hugh Mearns
It has been said repeatedly that one can never, try as he will, get around to the front of the universe. Man is destined to see only its far side, to realize nature only in retreat. ~Loren Eiseley, "The Innocent Fox," The Star Thrower, 1978
We have met the enemy and they are us! ~Walt Kelly, Pogo, 1971
Our dream dashes itself against the great mystery like a wasp against a window pane. Less merciful than man, God never opens the window. ~Jules Renard, Journal, 1906
Fear is a cloak which old men huddle about their love, as if to keep it warm. ~William Wordsworth
You can owe nothing, if you give back its light to the sun. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
the high cost of
living isnt so bad if you
dont have to pay for it
~Don Marquis, Archy and Mehitabel, 1927
Take the so-called standard of living. What do most people mean by "living"? They don't mean living. They mean the latest and closest plural approximation to singular prenatal passivity which science, in its finite but unbounded wisdom, has succeeded in selling their wives. ~e.e. cummings, Introduction, Poems, 1954
You're only as sick as your secrets. ~Author Unknown
Those who gave away their wings are sad not to see them fly. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Clouds, birds, tree tops
The freedom of being on high
Closer to the sun
Further from the slum,
But farther to fall when they die.
~Carrie Latet
All that we know is nothing, we are merely crammed waste-paper baskets, unless we are in touch with that which laughs at all our knowing. ~D.H. Lawrence, "Peace and War," Pansies, 1929
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
~T.S. Eliot, 1943
The beginning of all wisdom is to look fixedly on clothes, or even with armed eyesight, till they become transparent. ~Thomas Carlyle
I believe if I should die, and you were to walk near my grave, from the very depths of the earth I would hear your footsteps. ~Benito Perez Galdos
You are sad because they abandon you and you have not fallen. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Another way of approaching the thing is to consider it unnamed, unnameable. ~Francis Ponge
Invent a past for the present. ~Daniel Stern
My great day came and went, I do not know how. Because it did not pass through dawn when it came, nor through dusk when it went. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Nothing is not only nothing. It is also our prison. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
A hunter of shadows, himself a shade. ~Homer
The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions. ~Susan Sontag
Within your lifetime will, perhaps,
As souvenirs from distant suns
Be carried back to earth some maps
Of planets and you'll find that one's
So hard to color that you've got
To use five crayons. Maybe, not.
~Marlow Sholander, "Maybe"
Let your working ideas go for a picnic - sometimes the fresh air and ant bites are just what they need. Many great ideas were bitten a little at the beginning. ~Carrie Latet
No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it. ~Terry Pratchett
I wish I could have known earlier that you have all the time you'll need right up to the day you die. ~William Wiley
I am the vessel. The draft is God's. And God is the thirsty one. ~Dag Hammarskjold, Markings, 1964
The first step... shall be to lose the way. ~Galway Kinnell
Psychoanalysis and Zen, in my private psychic geometry, are equal to nicotine. They are anti-existential. Nicotine quarantines one out of existence. ~Norman Mailer
The Great Way has no gate.
Clear water has no taste.
The tongue has no bone.
In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.
~Seung Sahn
He who does not fill his world with phantoms remains alone. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
I would go to heaven, but I would take my hell; I would not go alone. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Love, she said, should be said more slowly, and ran from the house. Words could not catch her as such. Honesty is so slow, that is the trouble. ~Author Unknown
They have stopped deceiving you, not loving you. And it seems to you that they have stopped loving you. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
It is known that there is an infinite number of worlds, but that not every one is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so if every planet in the Universe has a population of zero then the entire population of the Universe must also be zero, and any people you may actually meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination. ~Douglas Adams, The Original Hitchhiker Radio Script
Learning is not easy, but hard; culture is severe. The steps to Parnassus are steep and terribly arduous. ~John Jay Chapman
He who holds me by a thread is not strong; the thread is strong. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Alas! must it ever be so?
Do we stand in our own light, wherever we go,
And fight our own shadows forever?
~Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken," 1916
You think you are killing me. I think you are committing suicide. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered. ~Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
You purchase pain with all that joy can give, and die of nothing but a rage to live. ~Alexander Pope
My heaviness comes from the heights. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.
~Robert Frost, In the Clearing, 1962
I have figured for you the distance between the horns of a dilemma, night and day, and A and Z. I have computed how far is Up, how long it takes to get Away, and what becomes of Gone. I have discovered the length of the sea serpent, the price of priceless, and the square of the hippopotamus. I know where you are when you are at Sixes and Sevens, how much Is you have to have to make an Are, and how many birds you can catch with the salt in the ocean - 187,796,132, if it would interest you. ~James Thurber, Many Moons
My whole life is waiting for the questions to which I have prepared answers. ~Tom Stoppard
If you come to a fork in the road, take it. ~Yogi Berra
EXPLORE at www.flickr.com/explore/2007/11/22
# 246 on November 23, 2007
# 180 on November 24, 2007
# 90 on September 15, 2008
# 88 on September 25, 2008
# 80 on October 4, 2008
# 74 on December 29, 2008
# 80 on April 27, 2011
# 68 on August 18, 2013
# 62 on August 7, 2022
Men's Fraternity
- Reject Passivity
- Accept Responsibility
- Lead Courageously
- Expect God's Reward
M for Medallion. Taken for the M theme of the Macro Mondays weekly challenge group.
The medallion is 1.25 inches in diameter.
DSC_6663a
Mitt bidrag till Fotosöndag och veckans tema «kontrast».
My contribution for this week's theme «contrast»; for the Swedish photo group Fotosondag.
Yin and yang is a Chinese symbol that indicates the balance between the two forces. The forces are opposites, but can not exist without each other, both are equally important.
Yin is the black part. It symbolizes femininity, passivity, cold, dead, night, moon, water and winter.
Yang is the white part. It symbolizes masculinity, activity, warmth, life, day, sun, fire and summer.
The dots in each field shows that the yang is a small part of the yin and the yin is a part of the yang. The interesting thing about this is perhaps to think that within every woman there are some male characteristics and vice versa. There are properties that are female or male, but that does not mean it is not like you can have some feminine qualities or that it is somehow wrong. Both men and women are also needed as much, neither sex is more important than the other. The balance is required for nature to be able to exist and flourish.
Explore.-
Te miro, te observo y en mis noches de soledad, siempre pido el mismo deseo…
Por eso espero, porque algún día llegaras…
Espero en calma… sin desfallecer…
Espero sin pasividad, con sutil actividad…
Espero sin vacilar, sin escuchar.
Espero algún día poder completar…
Espero alguna oportunidad…
sin miedo… entregada a la verdad.
Espero… confiada en el más allá…
Espero, porque en algún lado, yo sé, estás…
I wacht you, I observe you and in my lonely nights,
I always beg for the same desire…
For that reason I wait, because someday you will arrive…
I wait in calm… without becoming weak…
I wait without passivity, with subtle activity…
I wait without hesitate, without listen
I hope someday to be able to be complete…
I wait some opportunity…
without fear… given to the truth.
I wait… trusting in further on…
I wait, because in some place, I know, you are…
Today, we are facing a profound human crisis, which we can sum up in this mysterious torpor, this insurmountable boredom, this lack of humanity in which we often find ourselves when the mentality the book denounces is victorious. This profound human crisis is seen in the passivity of many young people, who seem almost incapable of getting interested in something truly meaningful, or in the skepticism of many adults, who do not show them anything for which it would be worthwhile to work in order to get out of this situation. It’s as if young people did not find interests that were worth fully involving their humanity. It seems like nothing is able to interest them to the point of setting them in motion, and thus, as often happens in the classrooms of our schools, boredom is what dominates.
-Disarming Beauty ESSAYS ON FAITH, TRUTH, AND FREEDOM,JULIÁN CARRÓN Foreword by Javier Prades
The tiger is authoritative, emotional, courageous, and intense, but often vain and impulsive—a fitting metaphor for our aggressive and unsettled times. The pig is loving, tolerant, honest, and appreciates luxury, but tends to slovenliness and whining—character traits that complement the fierce tiger. Only together can each be whole: roar and squeal, light and darkness, action and passivity, heaven and earth, man and woman, yang and yin. Without one there is no other.
Studio 26, assignment on low graphic style
I don't think black dogs lend themselves to this style, & Flat-Coats, even in their calm moods do not give an impression of passivity. But here are the low graphic elements influencing this portrait:
--50 mm. lens
--square frame, with subject central
-- monochrome, with muted tones in a low-contrast conversion
--repetition of squares in background deck railing (which railing usually drives me crazy as background, as it interferes with the view :-)
Sadomasochism is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual gratification from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer respectively to one who enjoys giving and receiving pain, practitioners of sadomasochism may switch between activity and passivity. BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage , discipline , dominance and submission , sadomasochism , and other related interpersonal dynamics. The term BDSM is first recorded in a Usenet post from 1991, and is interpreted as a combination of the abbreviations B/D (Bondage and Discipline), D/s (Dominance and submission), and S/M (Sadism and Masochism). BDSM is now used as a catch-all phrase covering a wide range of activities, forms of interpersonal relationships, and distinct subcultures. BDSM communities generally welcome anyone with a non-normative streak who identifies with the community; this may include cross-dressers, body modification enthusiasts, animal roleplayers, rubber fetishists, and others. Activities and relationships in BDSM are often characterized by the participants' taking on roles that are complementary and involve inequality of power; thus, the idea of informed consent of both the partners is essential. The terms submissive and dominant are often used to distinguish these roles: the dominant partner ("dom") takes psychological control over the submissive ("sub"). The terms top and bottom are also used; the top is the instigator of an action while the bottom is the receiver of the action. The two sets of terms are subtly different: for example, someone may choose to act as bottom to another person, for example, by being whipped, purely recreationally, without any implication of being psychologically dominated, and submissives may be ordered to massage their dominant partners. Although the bottom carries out the action and the top receives it, they have not necessarily switched roles. The abbreviations sub and dom are frequently used instead of submissive and dominant . Sometimes the female-specific terms mistress , domme , and dominatrix are used to describe a dominant woman, instead of the sometimes gender-neutral term dom . Individuals who change between top/dominant and bottom/submissive roles—whether from relationship to relationship or within a given relationship—are called switches . The precise definition of roles and self-identification is a common subject of debate among BDSM participants.
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual and genderminorities who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender. Originally meaning "strange" or "peculiar", queer came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century.
Queer is sometimes expanded to include any non-normative sexuality, including (cisgender) "queer heterosexuality
Originally, jodhpurs were snug-fitting from just below the knee to the ankle, and were flared at the hip to allow ease for sitting in the saddle. Modern jodhpurs are made with stretch fabric or leather and are tight-fitting throughout. They are supportive and flexible.
Trying to escape
HKD
Tag und Nacht
Der Versuch, vor dem Schatten zu fliehen.
HKD
Motivation power A3 (activity) + B3 (passivity)
HKD
9/52
Technically I didn't take this photo this week, it's actually from Oregon (specifically that one time I got to see the Pacific ocean with a caravan of stunners) but I did do the drawing last night and skeletons are my two-dimensional kryptonite so this definitely counts as far as I'm concerned yo
Did you guys know that dumbwaiters (small elevators that move things instead of people) are also called silent waiters? You're WELcome remember me when you win Jeopardy.
Meww this is just my visual representation of a thing that I'm always so guilty of, when you want to change something you don't like about something but you don't actually DO anything, you know? Passivity, that's what I'm trying to say. Like so much of the time I feel silenced by my own brain because social anxiety rakes its nastyass fingers through all the sulci of my cerebral cortex while my heart simultaneously thrashes around all frustrated like a cat in a bathtub and so I end up standing still when I want to be going somewhere.
Listen to your heaartt
when [it's] caalling for youu, listen to your heaarrt. There's nothing else you caan doooo ~everybody now
But then so I end up feeling like a person just wasting away while my mind Fight Clubs and the world keeps on doing its thing around me. Definitely just made 'Fight Club' a verb, sorry Chuck. It's so applicable though, I couldn't not. Y'all feel what I'm saying though?
Anyways. Happy Monday, happy week, happy joy joy, me to thee~ Totally just wrote a poem for you after textually serenading you and enlightening you with generally useless freight elevator terms like you gonna get me a box of chocolates or something.
Flowers.
A hug.
No.
Alright. Whatever.
I still like you you can't change that.
<3
Un conflicte enquistat i amagat entre l’arena del desert: els refugiats saharauis, uns 150.000, porten 41 anys a Tindouf, on viuen de l’ajuda internacional.
Aviat celebraran el 42è aniversari de la seva república.
Per Algèria hi passa tota l’ajuda internacional destinada als refugiats, i també és Algèria qui proveeix tots els serveis: l’aigua -que fa arribar amb camió cisterna-, els mòbils, el wifi i, des de fa mig any, una línia elèctrica.
El Sàhara, una moneda de canvi per al Marroc
Fa més de quatre dècades que els saharauis busquen una solució.
Després d’una mala descolonització espanyola va venir la passivitat de la comunitat internacional, que en tots aquests anys ha sigut incapaç de trobar un encaix sostenible a aquest poble que malviu acollit a Algèria, potser confiant que el sentiment d’identitat i pàtria es diluiria entre les generacions més joves.
L’ONU considera que és un territori pendent de descolonitzar i aposta per l’autodeterminació del poble saharaui, però mai s’ha atrevit a portar fins a les últimes conseqüències el procés que duu a les urnes.
A l’altra banda sempre hi ha el Marroc, el país que, quan les tropes espanyoles van deixar la colònia africana, va ocupar la regió militarment, i fins ara.
www.ara.cat/suplements/diumenge/Oblidats-al-desert_0_1749...
La Fatou en els Campaments Refugiats Sahrauís a Smara.
--------------------------------------------
Forgotten in the desert
A conflict enquished and hidden between the sand of the desert: Sahrawi refugees, about 150,000, are 41 years old in Tindouf, where they live on international aid.
Soon they will celebrate the 42th anniversary of their republic.
For Algeria, all international aid for refugees is passed, and it is also Algeria that provides all the services: water, which is used to reach a tanker, mobile phones, Wi-Fi and, for half a year, a line electric
The Sahara, a currency for Morocco
For more than four decades, the Saharawi have sought a solution.
After a bad decolonization in Spain, the passivity of the international community came, which in all these years has been unable to find a sustainable fit for this friendly town that is invaded by Algeria, perhaps confident that the sense of identity and homeland would be diluted among younger generations
The UN considers that it is a territory that is pending decolonization and is committed to the self-determination of the Sahrawi people, but it has never dared to bring to the final consequences the process that it takes to the ballot boxes.
On the other side there is always Morocco, the country that, when the Spanish troops left the African colony, occupied the region militarily, and so far.
www.ara.cat/suplements/diumenge/Oblidats-al-desert_0_1749...
La Fatou at the Sahrauish Refugee Camps in Smara.
By way of immediate action, a stand must first be made against thought, against mental processes. "I do not know" - it is said - "anything which, when unbridled, uncontrolled, unwatched, untamed, brings such ruin as thought, and I do not know anything which, when bridled, controlled, watched, tamed, brings such benefits as thought."
Thought, which everyone lightly says is "mine," is, in reality, only to a very small degree in our power. In the majority of cases, instead of "to think" it would be correct to say "we are thought" or "thought takes place in me." In the normal way, the characteristic of thought is its instability. "Incorporeal" - it is said - "it walks by itself": it "runs hither and thither like an untamed bull." Hard to check, unstable, it runs where it pleases. In general, it is said that, while this body may persist one year, two years, three years or even up to a hundred years and more in its present form, "what we call thought, what we call mind, what we call consciousness arises in one manner, ceases in another; incessantly, night and day"; "it is like a monkey who goes through the forest, and who progresses by seizing one branch, letting go of it, taking hold of another, and so on."
The task is to "arrest" thought: to master it and to strengthen the attention; to be able then to say: "Once this thought wandered at its fancy, at its pleasure, as it liked: I today shall hold it completely bridled, as a mahout holds a rut-elephant with his goad."
A few explanations.
If one day normal conditions were to return, few civilizations would seem as odd as the present one, in which every form of power and dominion over material things is sought, while mastery over one's own mind, one's own emotions and psychic life in general is entirely overlooked. For this reason, many of our contemporaries - particularly our so-called "men of action" - really resemble those crustaceans that are as hard-shelled outside with scabrous incrustations as they are soft and spineless within. It is true that many achievements of modern civilization have been made possible by methodically applied and rigorously controlled thought. This, however, does not alter the fact that most of the "private" mental life of every average and more-than-average man develops today in that passive manner of thought that, as the Buddhist text we have just quoted strikingly puts it, "walks by itself," while, half-unconscious, we look on. Anyone can convince himself of this by trying to observe what goes on in his mind, for example, when leaving his house: he thinks of why he is going out but, at the door, his thoughts turn to the postman and thence to a certain friend from whom news is awaited, to the news itself, to the foreign country where his friend lives and which, in turn, makes him remember that he must do something about his own passport: but his eye notices a passing woman and starts a fresh train of thought, which again changes when he sees an advertisement, and these thoughts are replaced by the various feelings and associations that chase each other during a ride through the town. His thought has moved exactly like a monkey that jumps from branch to branch, without even keep-ing a fixed direction. Let us try, after a quarter of an hour, to remember what we have thought - or, rather, what has been thought in us - and we shall see how diffi¬cult it is. This means that in all these processes and disordered associations our consciousness has been dazed or "absent." Having seen this, let us undertake to follow, without disturbing them, the various mental associations. After only a minute or two we shall find ourselves distracted by a flood of thoughts that have invaded us and that are quite out of control. Thought does not like being watched, does not like being seen. Now this irrational and parasitical development of thought takes up a large part of our normal psychic life, and produces corresponding areas of reduced activity and of reduced self-presence. The state of passivity is accentuated when our thought is no longer merely "spontaneous" and when the mind is agitated by some emotion, some worry, hope, or fear. The degree of consciousness is certainly greater in these cases - but so, at the same time, is that of our passivity.
These considerations may throw some light on the task that is set when one "ceases to go"; one reacts, one aims at being the master in the world of one's own mind. It now seems quite incomprehensible that nearly all men have long since been accustomed to consider as normal and natural this state of irrationality and passivity, where thought goes where it will - instead of being an instrument that enters into action only when necessary and in the required direction, just as we can speak when we wish to, and with a purpose, and otherwise remain silent. In comprehending this "according to reality," we must each decide whether we will continue to put up with this state of affairs.
In its fluid, changeable and inconsistent character, normal thought reflects, moreover, the general law of samsāric consciousness. This is why mental control is consid¬ered as the first urgent measure to be taken by one who opposes the "current." In un¬dertaking this task, however, we must not be under any illusions. The dynamis, the subtle force that determines and carries our trains of thought, works from the subconscious. For this reason, to attempt to dominate the thought completely by means of the will, which is bound to thought itself, would almost be like trying to cut air with a sword or to drown an echo by raising the voice. The doctrine, which declares that thought is located in the "cavern of the heart," refers, among other things, to thought considered "organically" and not to its mental and psychological offshoots. Mastery of thought cannot, therefore, be merely the object of a form of mental gymnastics: rather, one must, simultaneously, proceed to an act of conversion of the will and of the spirit; inte¬rior calm must be created, and one must be pervaded by intimate, sincere earnestness.
The "fluttering" of thought mentioned in our text is more than a mere simile: it is related to the primordial anguish, to the dark substratum of samsāric life that comes out and reacts since, as soon as it feels that it is seen, it becomes aware of the danger; the condition of passivity and unconsciousness is essential for the development of samsāric being and for the establishment of its existence. This simile illustrates an experience that, in one form or another, is even encountered on the ascetic path.
The discipline of constant control of the thought, with the elimination of its automatic forms, gradually achieves what in the texts is called appamada, a term variously translated as "attention," "earnestness," "vigilance," "diligence," or "reflection." It is, in point of fact, the opposite state to that of "letting oneself think," it is the first form of entry into oneself, of an earnestness and of a fervid, austere concentration. When it is understood in this sense, appamāda constitutes the base of every virtue. It is also said: "This intensive earnestness is the path that leads toward the deathless, in the same way that unreflective thought leads, instead, to death. He who possesses that earnestness does not die, while those who have unstable thought are as if already dead." An ascetic "who delights in appamāda - in this austere concentration - and who guards against mental laxity, will advance like a fire, burning every bond, both great and small." He "cannot err." And when, thanks to this energy, all negligence is gone and he is calm, from his heights of wisdom he will look down on vain and agitated beings, "as one who lives on a mountaintop looks down on those who live in the plains."
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excerpt from The Doctrine of Awakening by Julius Evola
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painting by Blake
Ewe get as far as you get...and a nod is as good as a wink to an all-seeing ewe.
I like how their footwear has degraded, and nothing else on their persons, though their surroundings have been somewhat 'warstruck'© (See photo below).
Evidently, they just sat it out. Clever that. It was as if they dared it, with a "come on and do your worst" meditative passivity. They just sat under their 'tree' side by side, as advised by the Buddha himself, though neither of them were 'believers'. Infrathin had somehow got them to that juncture.
But as Marcel liked to say, it's always the other guy who dies. Clever chappie!
Dolly had, apparently, found her cloven footing, in a 'home at last' sort of way. She was definitely the Groucho/ Falstaff of the trio. This was some time before she had adopted the 'they' pronoun, and gender fluidity.
We discussed this description and they (Dolly) is fine with it.
Understanding grows as you allow the landscape to come into you. Passivity, not acquisition, is the key to this. A good photograph is a received photograph, an exchange between you and the landscape, in which - however unlikely this may seem - there is a dialogue between the two of you. It is simply courtesy to allow the landscape to speak. - Charlie Waite, The Making of Landscape Photographs by Charlie Waite , ISBN: 1855851490
11.365
no man is an island
entire of itself
John Donne
I'd rather be the island than the continent.
the 35º weather at the beach felt practically like spring compared to the -5º weather earlier this week.
I always thought that you were stronger than me. That you were tougher. He jumped and he left and it hurt you I saw it, and I saw the pain in your eyes and I felt the palpable pain around us but I couldn't do anything about it and he left you and you left me and it still hurts but it hurts less when I think about how you used to be so strong, and you put your family before yourself, and you didn't act condescending, and now I can see you've grown weaker, and you act like a coward, and you define yourself by passivity, and you always wait for things to come to you and are too afraid to voice your own desires, and you lose yourself in waiting, and you stopped paying attention to your family, and you started spending time with entitled assholes, and you're weaker. I can see it.
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Easily the most thrilling find during my 5 weeks at the Yellow House in Mindo in 2007: a massive Equatorial Mussurana, Clelia equatoriana. I found it stretched across a trail at dusk - and I remember laughing maniacally as I held the beast in my hands. I took it down to my cabin where I kept it for a couple of days, waiting for a clear evening on which to shoot. Back in the forest, when I placed the beauty before the camera it shrugged off its previous passivity and writhed madly. I was frantic. I'd had high hopes of shooting it at sunset, but the sun sinks awfully fast on the equator, and the presence of a camera seems to speed it further. Finally, the leaden* beauty becalmed, I opened the shutter - but, in my fluster, for almost twice as long as my initial calculations had called for! The sunset therefore registered only as a mere tinge of pink in the captured image, although my use of 3 strobes gave a nice flash exposure on the snake itself. I was disappointed - until years later, when new and better post-production tools enabled me to pull just a little more colour from that too-bright sky.
The 'mussuranas' of the genus Clelia** are formidable predators of other snakes, even pit-vipers, to whose venom they are immune. Prey is subdued by a combination of constriction and venom - these snakes are rear-fanged (opisthoglyphous). Despite the potential for a venomous bite, mussuranas seldom attempt to bite a human captor - perplexingly.
* María Elena Garzón had described the colour of the snake as 'plomo' - lead, when she and sister Inés María Garzón stopped by to admire it.
** 'Clelia' is the name of a character in Stendhal's 1839 novel The Charterhouse of Parma. Being a great fan of Stendhal, I've sometimes wondered whether there was a connection between the novel and the snake; however, it seems that the name 'Clelia' was applied to the type species (Coluber clelia DAUDIN 1803) some years prior to the release of that book.
All images © James A. Christensen/PrimevalNature.com
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By way of immediate action, a stand must first be made against thought, against mental processes. "I do not know" - it is said - "anything which, when unbridled, uncontrolled, unwatched, untamed, brings such ruin as thought, and I do not know anything which, when bridled, controlled, watched, tamed, brings such benefits as thought."
Thought, which everyone lightly says is "mine," is, in reality, only to a very small degree in our power. In the majority of cases, instead of "to think" it would be correct to say "we are thought" or "thought takes place in me." In the normal way, the characteristic of thought is its instability. "Incorporeal" - it is said - "it walks by itself": it "runs hither and thither like an untamed bull." Hard to check, unstable, it runs where it pleases. In general, it is said that, while this body may persist one year, two years, three years or even up to a hundred years and more in its present form, "what we call thought, what we call mind, what we call consciousness arises in one manner, ceases in another; incessantly, night and day"; "it is like a monkey who goes through the forest, and who progresses by seizing one branch, letting go of it, taking hold of another, and so on."
The task is to "arrest" thought: to master it and to strengthen the attention; to be able then to say: "Once this thought wandered at its fancy, at its pleasure, as it liked: I today shall hold it completely bridled, as a mahout holds a rut-elephant with his goad."
A few explanations.
If one day normal conditions were to return, few civilizations would seem as odd as the present one, in which every form of power and dominion over material things is sought, while mastery over one's own mind, one's own emotions and psychic life in general is entirely overlooked. For this reason, many of our contemporaries - particularly our so-called "men of action" - really resemble those crustaceans that are as hard-shelled outside with scabrous incrustations as they are soft and spineless within. It is true that many achievements of modern civilization have been made possible by methodically applied and rigorously controlled thought. This, however, does not alter the fact that most of the "private" mental life of every average and more-than-average man develops today in that passive manner of thought that, as the Buddhist text we have just quoted strikingly puts it, "walks by itself," while, half-unconscious, we look on. Anyone can convince himself of this by trying to observe what goes on in his mind, for example, when leaving his house: he thinks of why he is going out but, at the door, his thoughts turn to the postman and thence to a certain friend from whom news is awaited, to the news itself, to the foreign country where his friend lives and which, in turn, makes him remember that he must do something about his own passport: but his eye notices a passing woman and starts a fresh train of thought, which again changes when he sees an advertisement, and these thoughts are replaced by the various feelings and associations that chase each other during a ride through the town. His thought has moved exactly like a monkey that jumps from branch to branch, without even keep-ing a fixed direction. Let us try, after a quarter of an hour, to remember what we have thought - or, rather, what has been thought in us - and we shall see how difficult it is. This means that in all these processes and disordered associations our consciousness has been dazed or "absent." Having seen this, let us undertake to follow, without disturbing them, the various mental associations. After only a minute or two we shall find ourselves distracted by a flood of thoughts that have invaded us and that are quite out of control. Thought does not like being watched, does not like being seen. Now this irrational and parasitical development of thought takes up a large part of our normal psychic life, and produces corresponding areas of reduced activity and of reduced self-presence. The state of passivity is accentuated when our thought is no longer merely "spontaneous" and when the mind is agitated by some emotion, some worry, hope, or fear. The degree of consciousness is certainly greater in these cases - but so, at the same time, is that of our passivity.
These considerations may throw some light on the task that is set when one "ceases to go", one reacts, one aims at being the master in the world of one's own mind. It now seems quite incomprehensible that nearly all men have long since been accustomed to consider as normal and natural this state of irrationality and passivity, where thought goes where it will - instead of being an instrument that enters into action only when necessary and in the required direction, just as we can speak when we wish to, and with a purpose, and otherwise remain silent. In comprehending this "according to reality," we must each decide whether we will continue to put up with this state of affairs.
In its fluid, changeable and inconsistent character, normal thought reflects, moreover, the general law of samsāric consciousness. This is why mental control is considered as the first urgent measure to be taken by one who opposes the "current." In undertaking this task, however, we must not be under any illusions. The dynamis, the subtle force that determines and carries our trains of thought, works from the subconscious. For this reason, to attempt to dominate the thought completely by means of the will, which is bound to thought itself, would almost be like trying to cut air with a sword or to drown an echo by raising the voice. The doctrine, which declares that thought is located in the "cavern of the heart," refers, among other things, to thought considered "organically" and not to its mental and psychological offshoots. Mastery of thought cannot, therefore, be merely the object of a form of mental gymnastics: rather, one must, simultaneously, proceed to an act of conversion of the will and of the spirit; inte¬rior calm must be created, and one must be pervaded by intimate, sincere earnestness.
The "fluttering" of thought mentioned in our text is more than a mere simile: it is related to the primordial anguish, to the dark substratum of samsāric life that comes out and reacts since, as soon as it feels that it is seen, it becomes aware of the danger; the condition of passivity and unconsciousness is essential for the development of samsāric being and for the establishment of its existence. This simile illustrates an experience that, in one form or another, is even encountered on the ascetic path.
The discipline of constant control of the thought, with the elimination of its automatic forms, gradually achieves what in the texts is called appamāda, a term variously translated as "attention," "earnestness," "vigilance," "diligence," or "reflection." It is, in point of fact, the opposite state to that of "letting oneself think," it is the first form of entry into oneself, of an earnestness and of a fervid, austere concentration. When it is understood in this sense, appamāda constitutes the base of every virtue. It is also said: "This intensive earnestness is the path that leads toward the deathless, in the same way that unreflective thought leads, instead, to death. He who possesses that earnestness does not die, while those who have unstable thought are as if already dead." An ascetic "who delights in appamāda - in this austere concentration - and who guards against mental laxity, will advance like a fire, burning every bond, both great and small." He "cannot err." And when, thanks to this energy, all negligence is gone and he is calm, from his heights of wisdom he will look down on vain and agitated beings, "as one who lives on a mountaintop looks down on those who live in the plains."
--------
Julius Evola: The Doctrine of Awakening - Part II., Chapter 2. - Defence and consolidation (excerpt)
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painting by Vincent after Doré
An increasing number of friends and Flickr members have asked me why I have stopped posting to the 100 Strangers pool.
If you would like to know more about what happened previously, you may read my rather lengthy clarification in the Discussion Forum of the 100 strangers Group.
www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/discuss/72157655180027...
Surprise, surprise ! The 100 Strangers Group administrators have removed my 'Thank you and Goodbye letter' from the Discussion forum and have banned me altogether from the group. Here it is for you who would like to know what has been going on in the group lately.
THANK YOU AND GOODBYE TO THE 100 STRANGERS GROUP
An increasing number of friends and Flickr members have asked me why I have stopped posting to the 100 Strangers pool. I feel it's time for some clarification and also reflections on some of the ideas and suggestions that have been floating around in this forum.
On July 11th 2015, out of the blue, a highly offensive ad hominem attack on me and the two other top contributors was made in emails from the Staff of the 100 Strangers group.
There was also a follow-up email confirming that every word written was carefully checked and not accidentally chosen which actually made the insult appalling.
The jaw-dropping message was that we three top contributors are to blame for the passivity of 10.000+ members of the group.
In his email to me and the two other members of the 100 Strangers group, moderator Al Fed suggested that we, the three veterans, are abusing the space of the group and using it for our own purposes. He literally questioned our motivations.
"Where is the learning aspect in your stranger photography?"
"It seems you're merely collecting strangers, not really learning something photography-wise."
I personally found his insinuations hurtful, disappointing, condescending and totally out of place.
How can anyone, to start with, question another person's learning experience?
"We couldn't help but notice that for example in the last month 14% of all the submissions came from only three people, one of which is you."
"A couple of other numbers and some feedback from group members have led us to believe that the momentum of the group is changing. The „heavy posters“ seem to have taken over somewhat and are overly represented in the pool."
Al Fed said he spoke in the name of the whole staff. Their consensus didn't make any sense to me at all. How could the three of us, dedicated and devoted members of the group, become suddenly a threat to the "lifeblood of the group", as Paco wrote?
How could we be accused of the lack of more postings from the other members of the group?
I contacted the other moderators in the hope to understand things better. One of them had no idea whatsoever of what was going on, the other said they will get back to me once they find out, they both did. A third one wrote a most sympathetic letter of apologies, while Chris and Peter backed Al Fed.
Following this, Bob wrote his Au revoir post and Jeff and I have not posted any stranger portraits to the pool since.
Soon after this disturbing email, the Refocusing and New Guidelines appeared on the discussion board of the group.
It became clear that the Staff had already been long pondering about making a change in the rules.
"Al's message was the end result of an extended conversation about the group and the direction it was taking. We value all the veterans and love the posts but feel a strong need to ensure the balance is addressed to build the new communities of 1-100 posters and slow down the long standing members to show more progression and not flood the pool."
So as a dedicated member of the 100 Strangers group, as one who was interviewed here for the 100 Strangers Photographer Profile, I have to ask. What was the purpose of Al Fed's smears to the three of us to begin with?
Why didn't the Admin just change the rules and be done with it without having to accuse us of flooding the pool, causing the off balance, not learning anything, etcetera?
Did they need scapegoats to blame for the decreasing growth and increasing problems of the group?
Accusing me of "twisting words", as administrator Xavier did after my comment to support Bob in his Au revoir thread and then closing the very thread for any further discussions I also find patronizing.
If the intention was to make us feel very unwelcome and unneeded, I have to admit they succeeded just fine!
Are these new guidelines really going to improve anything? The main idea seems to be to cut down postings from us veterans. All these explanations about the veterans' negative impact on new members seem mere speculations not based on facts.
The staff could have started by for instance doing an inquiry among the 10,000+ members to find out the reasons for their poor posting.
How many members are there who simply lost all interest in our group and why?
Instead, an undemocratic decision without open discussion was made. Regardless of what one's opinion about this rule change is, I believe this was never part of the staff’s mandate or the way rule change should be handled. You don't change rules in the middle of the game, at least not without prior discussion with the parties involved.
I also fail to see the 100 Strangers project as some zero-sum game. In fact, I feel that this whole sickening machination is a prime example of the classic 'Tall Poppy Syndrome', or what we here in Scandinavia call the 'Law of Jante'.
I am a little surprised and also disappointed that so many members have yet to realize what has taken place and how the group is changing. However, I have also received some concerned emails that express it very well.
"And why do I feel like the group has been hijacked by a pack of fashion photographers who couldn't care less about human encounter but only strobes and umbrellas and people who look interesting but don't have time to speak and share any depth of human experience.”
Another member wrote to me:
"I believe there are others who would be shocked to find out what is happening but who don't read Discussions or if the do, they don't read between the lines and just swallow the platitudes about how the Admin are "saving" the group from certain ruin and maintaining its purity of purpose.
I can only wonder if this is, at least in part, due to a fear of the consequences of speaking out on this issue.
The Admin group has virtually "slapped down" any dissent and the message is clear: They have given this great thought, are clear in their purpose, and are prepared to ride out any ripples of dissatisfaction because they "know" what they are doing is right."
And a relatively new 100 Strangers member told me:
"I'm going to finish with my 100, because the challenges are many, I am starting to feel like even if I become a veteran of the group, because I'm not treating the street work like studio portraits, I can't offer much to newcomers. This group seems to marginalize the social aspects of the encounter and consider the social aspects to actually mean interactions with the group members, as opposed to interactions with the subjects portrayed. A thread by Jeff Bowen, whose work I have enjoyed, like yours, leads me to think I'm not alone in this assessment of the group."
As this is "first and foremost a learning group" why not emphasize the deeper aspects of photography and not mainly photographic technique skills?
If the Admin "feel a strong need to ensure the balance is addressed to build the new communities of 1-100 posters", I believe they need to look into this much deeper.
There has been much talk about the learning ethos of the group. The way it has been suggested in the discussion forum seems to a close friend of mine, who also happens to be an experienced photography educator, very narrow and restricted.
He made some comments to me:
Who is this pedagogic guru in the staff first of all and what does he really know about how people learn things, specifically how students of photography learn?
There is actually no end to learning. You always learn more, deepen and refine your skills and capabilities. Learning is by no means steady progress. The learning curve is steep, in the beginning you learn a lot, then you hit the ceiling, and after a long time you might learn a little more.
I believe only you yourself will be able to judge if you are progressing, how far you might have come and when it's time for you to move on.
In fact to suggest that you can learn new photography techniques by testing your new equipment on complete strangers is both misleading and backfiring. That is also not how a professional photographer ever would work.
If you have an assignment you must do everything to minimize the risks of failing due to untested or unknown equipment factors. Instead of fooling around with new strobes etc. you should be concentrating on your subject.
I am also confident that it is what people in the group in fact do, so it is actually bad advice to newcomers to suggest otherwise.
I think for most of us it is enough to concentrate on rapport with the stranger and all that it implies; being Teppo’s original idea of 100 Strangers project. But if your main challenge is to learn new photography techniques, such as portable studio equipment, why do you need the stranger at all? Free models?
To really learn new techniques and so on, you only need a patient friend or a nice family member who is willing to sacrifice his spare time for your experiments and tests.
What is the difference between a portrait of someone you know and a complete stranger?
This brings me to the most important issue here. What is the role of the Stranger in all of this? Isn't the social aspect the primary thing and learning photography equipment secondary? Shouldn't we always ask ourselves to what extent we are using, or sometimes even abusing, our fellow human beings? If we take, shouldn’t we also be giving something in return?
Strangers are human beings not objects to hunt, shoot and collect.
The truth is that regardless of whether we are aware of it or not, we always take advantage of a stranger when we publish his/her photo. We should always strive to minimize this built-in aspect of our work.
We should always try to work on the Stranger's conditions.
Can we contribute to a better understanding between humans?
How can we fight xenophobia with photography?
In these difficult times, can we make the world a bit of a better place!
The guiding idea in the 100 Strangers project is essentially overcoming the fears in yourself and in your stranger. This in itself can be a never-ending challenge, because in my opinion you should always strive working outside your comfort zone. Naturally, it is always quite personal, but it depends on external factors like time and place.
It is our challenge as photographers to show that a meaningful encounter took place. There are no ordinary, uninteresting people, since in my opinion every individual is a whole world by himself, unique.
Some pictures and texts may be mistaken as boring failures, but hey, this is a learning project and there is no learning without failure.
Isn’t the actual working process often the most important aspect of the learning?
Reading the forum gives the impression that the emphasis of the group is on technical progress of mastering new equipment or Photoshop processing ideas and on deliberate efforts at novelty and experimentation. I am not opposed to these things, as I think there is room for everybody’s learning challenges, but why think that this is what photography is all about to the detriment of the interpersonal experience?
It can, indeed, be a long and arduous process to learn how to control your equipment and editing software, but in my opinion, the deeper challenge lies in seeing the project as a means of producing meaningful portraits through personal growth in our understanding of our fellow man. The fun starts with thinking about the art and philosophy of photography.
I feel there is a risk of too much techniques interfering between you and your subject. Often less is more.
Henri Cartier-Bresson used for most of his master photographs one normal lens and available light.
Get hold of a couple of good photography books and study them, instead of buying one more lens! Your photography will improve.
When looking through the pool of Stranger photographs, there appear to be some clichés and repeated formulas. There is also this increasing number of highly polished and staged photographs which in my opinion are more reflective of fashion, advertisement or studio portraiture and less consistent with a group that has generally been seen as a home for street portraiture. Glamorizing the subject may appeal to some Flickr members and while it's not my cup of tea, it should be allowed like any other style of photography. We are after all at different levels of growth and with different ideas of where we want our photography to lead us. I don't understand why there was not room for all of us in the group.
Portraits of strangers can be taken, they can be made, or they can be viewed as gifts.
Personally the greatest challenges in photography are in trying to be open, spontaneous and ready to improvise within the often-strict limits of time, light and space. In other words, how can I make the most creative use of the spontaneous opportunities that strangers in their natural environment provide? How can I establish a meaningful and positive interaction with strangers so that they feel they have not just been a model for a photo project but have also had a meaningful encounter in what can be an anonymous world?
While individual decisions can be made as to how much we impose our project and portrait goals on our strangers, on some level most photographs are based on the simplest of rules:
placing the camera in the correct place and pressing the button at the right moment. This is the most difficult thing there is in the world of photography.
The problem of posing, giving directions, or resisting from doing it, is always present.
A really important photographic challenge for me is the danger of fantasy replacing reality in my photographs. How can I make a truthful portrait of somebody I've just met? Is it at all possible?
I am trying to photograph in an intuitive manner, but trying not to impose myself, or my feelings, upon my subject. This is really a big challenge by itself.
How can you show what is underneath the surface, when photography can only record reflected light?
I have to remind myself at all times what I'm doing and what I hope to achieve with my photography.
An interesting problem in this learning group is that almost everybody has adopted quite an elitist attitude of showing only their best pictures. Many times I find that failures, and the conclusions you can draw from them, can in fact be much more relevant from a learning point of view.
Wouldn't it be more encouraging for the benefit of new members to show also failures and mistakes?
Is it not quite intimidating for a beginner to see brilliant photography techniques combined with advanced processing that he/she probably has no idea or resources to match?
Here are some more relevant aspects of portrait photography to consider and hopefully improve on. I do, and I know I have a lot more to learn in photography, it never stops!
The likeness of the person is always the basic challenge. Mama knows, ask her.
How to achieve correct perspective?
How to create the illusion of 3D on a 2D surface?
How to understand and handle light?
How to preserve the feeling of presence?
How to avoid style turning into mannerism, of repeating oneself?
Thinking about colour and composition problems.
Improving basic processing techniques.
And last but not least, how to combine text and photographs in a creative way to tell the story?
I began this project several years and many portraits ago wanting to improve my photography and celebrate in some way the fascinating people I met. Of course it's a disappointment to see where this has ended up. I want, however, to be very clear that I was never motivated to simply "collect" strangers, an accusation that was made and which is so far from the truth that I can't believe I even have to state it.
For about seven years I’ve spent long hours every day contributing my photos, stories and comments to 100 Strangers. It was a really important part of my life, but I guess all good things have to come to an end. To no longer be welcome in the group feels like a shock, but since my goals and approach no longer have a place here, it is best that I move on. Of course I am continuing my project in my Photo stream because it is truly a part of who I am.
To all my friends I say thank you for all the wonderful feedback and support I've received through the years. It is definitely the interaction with you, which has in some ways been the richest reward from this community. For those who still feel a good 'fit' with the goals of the group, I wish you all success with your projects.
-----------------------------------
To close a debate, which in the first place is an invite for discussing, for agreeing to disagree, for exchanging ideas and thoughts, is a drastic step to shut the other side up for fear of loosing the argument. It is a proof of not being totally convinced of one's own cause.
I am moving on to the new HUMAN FAMILY group. For those who are interested to join, check it out here:
www.flickr.com/groups/thehumanfamily/
See you :-)
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This was my last photo, but it has been removed as well.
Stranger # 1210 in my Thirteenth Round of the 100 Strangers project. www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/discuss/72157633469671...
www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/pool/28200184@N08/
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers from around the world, in the Flickr group 100 Strangers.
Various ranks of an imperial army during an age of innovation and discovery.
From left to right:
- Foot Soldier/Grunt: The bottom of the ranks, expected to follow orders and die for the empire he serves. The recent implications of more advanced machinery in factories has cost many workers their jobs, leaving them the choice between military service or a life of crime. Soldiers like these are sent to the front lines, considered expendable by generals, and are quite likely to die in their first large battle.
- Drill Sergeant: The highest rank a working class soldier can reach in the army. In charge of the order and discipline of soldiers, during training, battle or and other time. Since soldier formations can be extensively large, a simple megaphone is used for shouting orders at his men. Discipline is often administered through the use of a truncheon; "nothing gets a soldier in line like a good beating". During battles, these Drill sergeants are often found toward the rear, relaying orders from officers to the soldiers in front, while ensuring soldiers don't try to escape/desert.
- Officer: Military pedigree or at least from a distinguished family, officers and generals lead entire fronts, plan battles, organise military resources and ensure the overall efficiency of the imperial army. Often completely indifferent to the "peasant" soldiers that fight for them, Officers instead keep there eyes on the bigger picture: the numbers, after all, the whims of the men are for the Drill Sergeants to deal with. Although Officers still attend most battles even if just to watch its progress first-hand, or even just for the ceremony and medal-winning.
- Royal Guard: considered an extremely honourable position, reserved only for battle-hardened veterans, and for which an extremely vigorous training and selection process is required. These guards protect the King, his property and the most important locations in the empire. These guards are most often seen ceremoniously standing still in and around important buildings in the imperial Capital, however their inactivity is not to be mistaken for passivity, attacks against them or what they guard will be thwarted swiftly and without mercy.
- The Royal Protector: The highest achievable rank in the imperial military, selected by the King himself. Leader of the Royal Guard, and personal bodyguard to the king, the Royal Protector has authority over all generals and hence all military affairs and assets, and regularly advises the King on matters of war. No man in the empire, or perhaps even the world is better versed in tactics and combat than this man, and with the entire imperial military at his disposal, he can make extremely effective use of his talent.
Hope you like this, because I'v got more steampunk figbarf lined up, but with a twist...
TUMBLR /// TO BUY PRINTS // INSTAGRAM
Another photo of passivity. I'm really not this passive in real life, I should stop representing myself as such.
I practically dragged myself out of bed to go out and shoot and I was miserable the whole time. My original concept was foiled by dirty water- but its a 365 project, right? I'm supposed to be producing a photo a day. I guess this is just one of those photos that I'm only publishing to finish this project.
By way of immediate action, a stand must first be made against thought, against mental processes. "I do not know" - it is said - "anything which, when unbridled, uncontrolled, unwatched, untamed, brings such ruin as thought, and I do not know anything which, when bridled, controlled, watched, tamed, brings such benefits as thought."
Thought, which everyone lightly says is "mine," is, in reality, only to a very small degree in our power. In the majority of cases, instead of "to think" it would be correct to say "we are thought" or "thought takes place in me." In the normal way, the characteristic of thought is its instability. "Incorporeal" - it is said - "it walks by itself": it "runs hither and thither like an untamed bull." Hard to check, unstable, it runs where it pleases. In general, it is said that, while this body may persist one year, two years, three years or even up to a hundred years and more in its present form, "what we call thought, what we call mind, what we call consciousness arises in one manner, ceases in another; incessantly, night and day"; "it is like a monkey who goes through the forest, and who progresses by seizing one branch, letting go of it, taking hold of another, and so on."
The task is to "arrest" thought: to master it and to strengthen the attention; to be able then to say: "Once this thought wandered at its fancy, at its pleasure, as it liked: I today shall hold it completely bridled, as a mahout holds a rut-elephant with his goad."
A few explanations.
If one day normal conditions were to return, few civilizations would seem as odd as the present one, in which every form of power and dominion over material things is sought, while mastery over one's own mind, one's own emotions and psychic life in general is entirely overlooked. For this reason, many of our contemporaries - particularly our so-called "men of action" - really resemble those crustaceans that are as hard-shelled outside with scabrous incrustations as they are soft and spineless within. It is true that many achievements of modern civilization have been made possible by methodically applied and rigorously controlled thought. This, however, does not alter the fact that most of the "private" mental life of every average and more-than-average man develops today in that passive manner of thought that, as the Buddhist text we have just quoted strikingly puts it, "walks by itself," while, half-unconscious, we look on. Anyone can convince himself of this by trying to observe what goes on in his mind, for example, when leaving his house: he thinks of why he is going out but, at the door, his thoughts turn to the postman and thence to a certain friend from whom news is awaited, to the news itself, to the foreign country where his friend lives and which, in turn, makes him remember that he must do something about his own passport: but his eye notices a passing woman and starts a fresh train of thought, which again changes when he sees an advertisement, and these thoughts are replaced by the various feelings and associations that chase each other during a ride through the town. His thought has moved exactly like a monkey that jumps from branch to branch, without even keep-ing a fixed direction. Let us try, after a quarter of an hour, to remember what we have thought - or, rather, what has been thought in us - and we shall see how diffi¬cult it is. This means that in all these processes and disordered associations our consciousness has been dazed or "absent." Having seen this, let us undertake to follow, without disturbing them, the various mental associations. After only a minute or two we shall find ourselves distracted by a flood of thoughts that have invaded us and that are quite out of control. Thought does not like being watched, does not like being seen. Now this irrational and parasitical development of thought takes up a large part of our normal psychic life, and produces corresponding areas of reduced activity and of reduced self-presence. The state of passivity is accentuated when our thought is no longer merely "spontaneous" and when the mind is agitated by some emotion, some worry, hope, or fear. The degree of consciousness is certainly greater in these cases - but so, at the same time, is that of our passivity.
These considerations may throw some light on the task that is set when one "ceases to go"; one reacts, one aims at being the master in the world of one's own mind. It now seems quite incomprehensible that nearly all men have long since been accustomed to consider as normal and natural this state of irrationality and passivity, where thought goes where it will - instead of being an instrument that enters into action only when necessary and in the required direction, just as we can speak when we wish to, and with a purpose, and otherwise remain silent. In comprehending this "according to reality," we must each decide whether we will continue to put up with this state of affairs.
In its fluid, changeable and inconsistent character, normal thought reflects, moreover, the general law of samsāric consciousness. This is why mental control is consid¬ered as the first urgent measure to be taken by one who opposes the "current." In un¬dertaking this task, however, we must not be under any illusions. The dynamis, the subtle force that determines and carries our trains of thought, works from the subconscious. For this reason, to attempt to dominate the thought completely by means of the will, which is bound to thought itself, would almost be like trying to cut air with a sword or to drown an echo by raising the voice. The doctrine, which declares that thought is located in the "cavern of the heart," refers, among other things, to thought considered "organically" and not to its mental and psychological offshoots. Mastery of thought cannot, therefore, be merely the object of a form of mental gymnastics: rather, one must, simultaneously, proceed to an act of conversion of the will and of the spirit; inte¬rior calm must be created, and one must be pervaded by intimate, sincere earnestness.
The "fluttering" of thought mentioned in our text is more than a mere simile: it is related to the primordial anguish, to the dark substratum of samsāric life that comes out and reacts since, as soon as it feels that it is seen, it becomes aware of the danger; the condition of passivity and unconsciousness is essential for the development of samsāric being and for the establishment of its existence. This simile illustrates an experience that, in one form or another, is even encountered on the ascetic path.
The discipline of constant control of the thought, with the elimination of its automatic forms, gradually achieves what in the texts is called appamada, a term variously translated as "attention," "earnestness," "vigilance," "diligence," or "reflection." It is, in point of fact, the opposite state to that of "letting oneself think," it is the first form of entry into oneself, of an earnestness and of a fervid, austere concentration. When it is understood in this sense, appamāda constitutes the base of every virtue. It is also said: "This intensive earnestness is the path that leads toward the deathless, in the same way that unreflective thought leads, instead, to death. He who possesses that earnestness does not die, while those who have unstable thought are as if already dead." An ascetic "who delights in appamāda - in this austere concentration - and who guards against mental laxity, will advance like a fire, burning every bond, both great and small." He "cannot err." And when, thanks to this energy, all negligence is gone and he is calm, from his heights of wisdom he will look down on vain and agitated beings, "as one who lives on a mountaintop looks down on those who live in the plains."
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excerpt from The Doctrine of Awakening by Julius Evola
Meaning of Colours ♥~
Red
Excitement, energy, passion, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence, aggression, all things intense and passionate.
Orange
Energy, balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant, demanding of attention.
Yellow
Joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, gold, philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard.
Green
Nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, vigor, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune
Blue
Peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, cold, technology, depression, appetite suppressant.
Purple
Royalty, spirituality, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning
Pink
Romance, love, friendship, femininity, truth, passivity, good will, emotional healing, peace, calming, affection, emotional maturity, caring, nurturing, sweet tasting, sweet smelling, ethereal, delicacy.
White
Reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical, sterile.
Black
Power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, underground, good technical color, mourning, death
♥~
Kamera: Nikon FE2
Linse: Nikkor-O Auto 35mm f2 (1970)
Film: Kodak 5222 @ ISO 250
Kjemi: Rodinal (1:50 / 9 min. @ 20°C)
Wikipedia: Gaza Genocide
Janta Ka Reporter: Trump silent amidst global outrage on Jenin video; unthinkable step by UK govt. (Publ. 29 Nov. 2025)
- Today I’m going to present to you a true hidden gem.
But before I do that, I have to tell you that during the years 2007-2011 I myself had UN-affiliated assignments in the occupied West Bank. What I saw - and experienced - was for me very difficult to understand and comprehend and put into words at the time.
Incidentally, during approximately the exact same timeframe as I was there, a truly remarkable investigative journalist named Max Blumenthal (b. 1977) was doing ground work in Israel and Palestine for his book ‘Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel’ (publ. 2013).
What I was not able to describe, Blumenthal did.
Please do read his book.
But let us go on. I just recently discovered a truly remarkable collection of insightful interviews in relation to this subject. These are interviews with leading academics at the time (2010) and revealed to the public for the first time now in 2025. These are incredibly important and valuable talks to take into consideration for any concerning human being who wants to understand and educate themselves on today’s very pressing issues of judaism, zionism and the fascist, genocidal, religious extremist apartheid State of Israel.
Presented here are truly compelling long-form interviews with eminent distinguished leading scholars and academics such as linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), political scientist and activist Norman Finkelstein (b. 1953), historian and author Norton Mezvinsky (1932-2022), historian and author Richard Lukas (b. 1937), linguist and political advocate Ian Hancock (b. 1942) and historian and author Albert Lindemann (b. 1938) - all presented by Ron Kelley in his recently established Youtube channel called ‘Is It Antisemitic to Tell the Truth?’.
And this seems to be just the beginning. More interviews are being published almost daily.
As it turns out, I have found that Kelley himself certainly is an accomplished photographer of note, as attested to in Sondra Hale’s article Out of Place: Israel in the Photography of Ron Kelley (2000 Al Jadid Magazine) as well as in his own article Israel’s Bedouin: The End of Poetry (1998 AMEU - The Link).
Here is Ron Kelley’s own introduction to his channel:
«The origin of this channel was when I had a year-long Fulbright Fellowship to Israel in 1992-1993. My project, as a visual ethnographer, was to document recent Ethiopian and Russian immigration to the Jewish state. Part of the project was also to document the indigenous Arab Muslim Bedouin. I lived in a desert kibbutz and it wasn't long before I began hearing disturbing stories about widespread state mistreatment of the Bedouin, legitimate citizens of the Jewish state. I then decided to tell their story by videotape, completely independently, as well as my other Fulbright tasks.
Returning to America with 100 hours of videotape material, I discovered only censorship, uninterest/avoidance of my documentary -- it had no platform and I gave up.
In 2010, in the U.S., I hoped to do a documentary about Jewish identity, the Holocaust, and Israel. I interviewed a few dozen scholars and others -- mostly Jewish -- and these interviews will be posted here at this site, for the first time seen.»
Ron Kelley’s first video presented is his own documentary Israel’s Destruction of Its Bedouin Citizens, filmed in 1992-1993. Kelley’s own introduction to his documentary is as follows:
«This documentary, an indictment of the "only democracy in the Middle East, " was recorded when I was a Fulbright Fellow -- for a year, as a visual ethnographer to investigate Ethiopian and Russian Jewish immigration to the Jewish state, as well as the indigenous Bedouin -- in Israel, 1992-93. It documents Israel’s destruction of its Bedouin (Arab Muslim) citizens. These people are formal CITIZENS of Israel, not outsiders of some kind.
The systemic Israeli mistreatment of the Bedouin was shocking, but it was equally shocking to discover that I could find no one to help me edit and finish the film when I returned to America. This movie cost me $25,000 out of my own pocket. No one, no grant organization, nor any other group, was willing to contribute a nickel to help complete the work from the 100 hours of material I had recorded.
I have no personal root to the Arab/Israeli conflict. My effort was purely a labor of moral conviction.
The most astounding shock, however, was when I returned to America after the year in Israel, created the movie, alone, as best I could, and discovered that there was no forum in America to show the movie. I went, physically, in person, to various Jewish organizations requesting them to view it. The only such person who was willing to give it a look was a rabbi at a Hillel group at a Midwest university. But he didn’t watch the whole film, only a little, and his sole response was that parts of it seemed “antisemitic.” No one, anywhere, wanted to see it. PBS and other TV venues had zero interest. The only forum this documentary ever had was through Americans for Middle East Understanding, a tiny, ignored organization critical of Israel. A few VHS copies that I created in my living room were sold through them. I even sent the documentary to an Arab film festival in Seattle. A guy from the festival eventually phoned me; he said they loved the film but were afraid to show it for fear that Jews would protest their festival. I am serious. I am not exaggerating. It was then that I realized that the walls of fear and censorship – including self-censorship in the Arab community – rendered my film project hopeless folly. No one dared to platform the ugly side of the Jewish state. I had no choice but to give up, years ago.
I present this movie now, recently digitalized from video -- still with help from no one -- with great sorrow that I failed to be able to aid those individuals within it who pleaded for help. But the injustices – to the Bedouin, and others – go on. The outrageous atrocities in Gaza, and the internet, however, have opened new opportunities for people to be afforded the truth about what Israel really is, beyond the Wall of Propaganda that has for decades enveloped us.
Welcome here, then, as is proclaimed, to the “only democracy” in the Middle East.»
The full interviews with the various scholars are the following (together with Kelley’s introductory notes below):
- Noam Chomsky: Antisemitism, Holocaust, Israel etc. (2010 Interview)
Interview with Noam Chomsky in his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010 (This interview has never been publicly seen until now – November 2025)
«In an interview recorded in 2010 (but never publicly presented until now), Professor Chomsky, famed as he is, was extremely generous in affording me time for an interview. I had a long list of questions for him, but was caught off guard when I discovered he could – understandably – only give me about a half an hour. I rummaged through my questions and edited them down, fast.
Subjects discussed include Norman Finkelstein, including Chomsky’s respect for his work, Finkelstein’s courage at DePaul University leading to destruction of his career (“exposing the American intellectual class”) as a university professor, Finkelstein’s meticulous criticism of the popular Joan Peters (1936-2015) pro-Israel book and the campaign to silence Finkelstein by pro-Israel ideologue Alan Dershowitz (b. 1938). This subject segued to how the Holocaust has become exploited as a political tool by the State of Israel and how, more generally, Gypsy/Roma decimation under the Nazis is not given much attention because the Jewish “Holocaust” – by those who run (as Finkelstein calls it, the “Holocaust Industry”) -- is widely considered to be “unique.”
Commentary further includes Chomsky’s perspective that Israel Shahak (1933-2001) (a Holocaust survivor, later resident of Israel, and activist for human rights, including Palestinian) and Finkelstein had/have been vilified by intellectual elites in both America and Israel. Chomsky also discusses how both the Holocaust and the accusation of antisemitism are used as tools to silence free speech dissent, how mainstream Jewish/Zionist interest in the Holocaust – and increased accusations of antisemitism -- took on special meaning and attention beginning with Israel’s 1967 war, and how mainstream American Jewry didn’t actually want Holocaust survivors to come to America (!) until that time.
Other topics explored by Chomsky include the accusation of “Jewish self-hatred”, sometimes – in Jewish mainstream circles -- the Jewish parallel to being a non-Jewish antisemite. Discussion also includes free speech issues around the loose subject of “Holocaust denial,” especially with laws regarding this subject in Europe.
Further discussion includes Jewish American activism in the Civil Rights movement and how it began to falter (and why), the Haredim (religious ultra-Orthodox Jews) who are largely anti-Zionist, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and its abandonment of dedicated civil rights issues to become a shill for Israel, and Chomsky’s critique of Mearsheimer and Walt’s book THE ISRAEL LOBBY.»
- Norman Finkelstein: Israel, Holocaust, Antisemitism, ADL, etc. (2010 Interview)
«This interview – never publicly available until now -- with Finkelstein was in 2010. He was doing a tour, giving speeches at colleges, and he generously afforded me time for an interview in the midst of his road travel.
Noteworthy, and affording him extra credence in his world view, Finkelstein’s Jewish parents were survivors of Nazi concentration camps.
Much maligned – and censored -- by supporters of Israel, Professor Finkelstein has reached special prominence on the internet recently because of his studied expertise about Gaza and the recent genocide there. Among his many limited-circulation -- but influential books -- is THE HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY (2000), a volume addressing the exploitation of Jewish suffering during World War II on behalf of modern Israel. Finkelstein has been a relentless critic of the Jewish state and its treatment of the Palestinians and, as such, has many ideological detractors.
Referenced at the beginning of this interview is the film AMERICAN RADICAL (released in 2009), which is a documentary about Mr. Finkelstein.
The interview here includes the subjects of:
The misinterpretation of an internet “viral” excerpt wherein Finkelstein passionately responds to a weeping woman about the Holocaust, the contradiction between how so many American Jews perceive social justice activism in America versus Israel, Jewish privilege and power in the United States, the “Jewish sense of superiority” (per secular achievement), the Holocaust’s “uniqueness doctrine” (wherein Jewish suffering is seen to transcend all others’ in World War II), the vendetta in academia against Finkelstein for his human rights activism (mainly regarding Palestinians), Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) and his “mystical” vision of the Holocaust, the weaponization of the accusation of antisemitism (including accusations of antisemitism against former President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024), Finkelstein’s disdain for “epithets” like “Zionism” or “anti-Zionism”, Jewish influence today (in the media, the publication world, and the arts), the use of Finkelstein’s work by antisemites, scholar John Murray Cuddihy (1922-2011) (wherein, in Finkelstein’s words – “You’re not allowed to find a rational explanation regarding Jewish conduct. That’s prohibited”), American Jewish claims to victim status despite being “an amazing success story,” mainstream reactions to Finkelstein’s books, Finkelstein’s rejecting of notions like “confronting Zionism,” etc.»
- Norton Mezvinsky: Israel, Jewish Supremacy, Judaism, Chabad Lubavitchers, Pt. 1 (Interview 2010)
- Norton Mezvinsky: Israel, Jewish Supremacy, Judaism, Chabad Lubavitchers, Pt. 2 (Interview 2010)
«Never seen before, I interviewed professor Mezvinsky in about 2010 at Central Connecticut State University where he was a teacher, eventually for over 40 years. He died in 2022. Ardent free speech activist, he was Jewish and, according to one Jewish journalist, was "an academic known for his anti-Israel views...who has been labeled as anti-Zionist [and who] holds strong views questioning the right of Jews to a homeland in Israel". In this regard, and because of his ardent criticism of traditional Jewish religious beliefs, he was typified by many in the mainstream Jewish world as a “self-hating Jew.”
Among his books was “Christian Zionism” and “Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel,” which he co-authored with Israel Shahak (1933-2001). (Shahak is famed as a Holocaust survivor, professor in Israel, prominent civil rights activist in Israel, and critic of Zionism and traditional Judaism, whose own book JEWISH HISTORY, JEWISH RELIGION (1994) was an exposé about troubling details of traditional Jewish religious faith). As one Jewish supporter of Israel, Asaf Romirowsky, noted, “Mezvinsky and Shahak are prime examples of Jewish academics who throughout their careers questioned their own religion and the legitimacy of the State of Israel.”
A local rabbi in Connecticut, Stephen Fuchs, once complained that Mezvinsky “has slanted the views of a whole generation of students about the Middle East. I am concerned that he has created a negative attitude towards Israel.” In later years, Mezvinsky was a co-founder and president of the International Council for Middle East Studies (ICMES).
In part 1 of the interview, professor Mezvinsky addresses:
Secular Jews versus Orthodox Jews in Israel, controversies about conversion to Judaism in Israel, Judaism is not a proselytizing faith, Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism aren’t considered legitimate by Orthodox rabbis, about a third of Soviet immigrants to Israel weren’t Jewish, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) and the Chabad Lubavitcher organization, Mezvinsky’s studies of Yiddish texts by Schneerson, the “complicated” variety of interpretation of religious texts by various Jewish strands, Mezvinsky’s discussion that he is a member of a Chabad congregation, Rabbi Schneerson’s assertion that Jews have a superior soul over non-Jews as willed by God (and the only people who can convert to Judaism have an innately Jewish soul), the general notion in broader, traditional Judaism of Jewish superiority over non-Jews -- including in traditional prayers, Chabad rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh’s “extremist” views, is Yitzchak Ginsburgh (b. 1944) in good standing in the Chabad group?, dangers of Jewish and other faith’s fundamentalism, does antisemitism hold the Jewish community together?, etc.
In part 2 of the interview, professor Mezvinsky addresses:
The threat of antisemitism as the major rationale for the existence of Israel; the Talmud; two versions of the Talmud; the Talmud explains the Bible; traditional Judaism built on Talmud commentary; Jewish dietary laws; Reform Judaism; the concept of “self-hating Jew” (“Apologists and propagandists” label Jews like Mezvinsky/Finkelstein/Chomsky “self-hating Jew”); Parallel types of criticism from those labeled “self-hating Jews” in America aren’t labelled “self-hating” in Israel; The book 'The Israel Lobby' by John Mearsheimer (b. 1947) and Stephen Walt (b. 1955); The Israel lobby is the major reason U.S. supports Israel (Mezvinsky disagrees here with Chomsky); Mezvinsky’s refusal to be silenced for his critical views of Israel and some aspects of traditional Judaism; Importance of personal advocacy; the widespread censorship/misrepresentation of Hebrew texts when translating to English; why so many American Jews support civil rights in the U.S. but are “blind” to similar issues in Israel; the “syndrome of the Holocaust”; the minority of Jews who are rising to criticize Israel – especially on college campuses; the Anti-Defamation League which has “become an organization whose major purpose is to silence criticism of Israel; religious reference to Amalek and Jacob and Esau; Gush Emunim group in the West Bank; Israel Shahak as a “human rights activist” against God; Biblical sanction of mass murder by Israelites; Israel is not a democracy for non-Jews; efforts to censor and intimidate Mezvinsky, etc.»
- Richard Lukas: The Forgotten Holocaust / Non-Jewish Polish Genocide Under the Nazis, Pt. 1 (Interview 2010)
- Richard Lukas: The Forgotten Holocaust / Non-Jewish Polish Genocide Under the Nazis, Pt. 2 (Interview 2010)
«Little known; Polish Catholics, as well as Jews and others, were slaughtered en masse by the Nazis, who considered Poles/Slavs as “Untermenschen” (subhumans).
This interview, seen for the first time here, was conducted in 2010 at Mr. Lukas’ home in Florida. Lukas has taught history at Tennessee Technological University, Wright University, and the University of South Florida. He began his career focused on military history. He has written a number of books, among them Did the Children Cry? Hitler’s War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939-1945; Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation; and, the best known, The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944.
He is also the author of an article entitled “Jedwabne and the Selling of the Holocaust”, a response to a book, Neighbors, by Jewish author Jan Gross (b. 1947), which -- in Lukas’ view -- misrepresents facts and exaggerates Polish antisemitism.
Defender of the Polish people against smears of endemic antisemitism, struggling to present the story of non-Jewish Polish suffering under the Nazis, and daring to conflate both Jewish and non-Jewish children's stories under Nazi rule in Poland, Lukas eventually received the Janusz Korczak (1878-1942) Literary Award by the Anti-Defamation League (evaluated by a committee of Jewish and non-Jewish judges) in 1996. It had been granted and then rescinded (!) before it was quietly granted again by the organization’s “political leadership.”
Professor Lukas fought long for the Polish story under the Nazis to be heard, and was sometimes defamed, insulted, and/or ignored by monitors of the mainstream "unique" Jewish Holocaust narrative, and here he addresses, among other issues:
When starting his research, “there was very little I could get about the Polish tragedy unless I got it through the lens of Jewish Holocaust writers” (which Lukas believes is largely biased); how “World War 2 is mostly viewed -- thanks to mass media and popular culture -- by many as a “Jewish thing”;
Conflicts between mainstream Jewish historiography and Polish perspectives about the Nazi occupation of Poland; the difficulties of attaining free speech against the “traditional [Judeocentric] truth of the Holocaust”; the granting of a literary award to him by Jewish and non-Jewish judges for the Anti-Defamation League and its rescinding of his award by the ADL’s “political leadership” because, he believes, he didn’t focus on alleged Polish antisemitism; the eventual granting of the award without public fanfare;
Lukas’ irritation with Jewish author Jan Gross’ book NEIGHBORS, largely about an alleged endemic Polish antisemitism; mainstream Jewish historians and commentators about the Holocaust neglect or minimize too much about Nazi genocides of non-Jewish victims; Lukas’ critique of mainstream Holocaust scholars; media and other biases against Poles and Poland; enormous amount of “personal and professional animosity” against those who don’t accept the Jewish-centered genocide narrative;
How the mass media and popular culture focus on Jewish Holocaust suffering during World War II (an “inundation” of material that typically frames Poles in a pejorative "antisemitic" light), etc.
In part 2 of the interview, professor Lukas addresses:
Reasons for anti-Jewish hostility in Poland; exaggeration/misrepresentation by mostly Jewish historians about Polish antisemitism; Jewish monopoly in Poland in some trades; case of British historian Norman Davies (b. 1939) who (at odds with some historians about Poland) had an offered chairmanship in history at Stanford University rescinded, ostensibly for poor scholarship (but he was offered soon after to edit the Oxford History of Europe); Polish aid to Jews during World War II; passivity of Jews in Poland until Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943;
Jewish Orthodox non-assimilation in Poland and difficulties in aiding them; rising Polish nationalism in Poland versus widespread Jewish nationalism (towards the communist Soviet Union or Zionism); Polish non-Jews’ tragedy under Nazism subsumed beneath the Jewish Holocaust; “inundation” of literature, movies, etc. about the Jewish Holocaust; “We have some real problems with the historiography of this [World War II] period,” hope for younger historians to be more objective about the Holocaust era; etc.»
- Ian Hancock: The Nazi Genocide Against the Roma (Gypsies), Part of the ‘Holocaust’, Pt. 1 (Interview 2010)
- Ian Hancock: The Nazi Genocide Against the Roma (Gypsies), Part of the ‘Holocaust’, Pt. 2 (Interview 2010)
«This interview, never publicly seen before, was conducted in 2010 at the University of Texas.
Professor Hancock is of Romani (traditionally known in popular culture as “Gypsies”) heritage and has been both a scholar on various linguistic subjects and an advocate for his people, writing over 300 books and articles about the Romani language and community. He was the first Roma to acquire a PhD in Great Britain and is one of the best-known activists for Roma rights and heritage. He has headed the Romani Archives and Documentation Center at the University of Texas, has represented the Romani people at the United Nations, and has been a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council under president Bill Clinton (b. 1946). (Often ignored or minimized, the Nazi genocide against the Romani [“Gypsy”] community during World War II is called the Porajmos).
Professor Hancock retired from active teaching in 2018. In this interview he addresses:
Stereotypes of the Romani culture; overview of Romanis; Jewish culture is “exclusive,” like Roma; some in the Jewish community see the Holocaust as an exclusive – and unique – event; a similar percentage of Roma were murdered by the Nazis as Jewish victims; both Jews and Roma were subject to a parallel Nazi “final solution”; racism against -- and disrespect of -- Roma at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council; William Duna’s and Hancock’s struggles at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council wherein “we have been called all kinds of horrible things – that we’re trespassing [on the Jewish Holocaust], that it’s an insult to the Holocaust [for the Roma] to be associated with it,” the injustice of the Holocaust victimhood “ranking system”; with the change of U.S. presidents Roma were inexplicably not represented on the U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum council; no difference between Jewish and Roma fates under the Nazis; Norman Finkelstein’s work about the Holocaust; etc.
In part 2, professor Ian Hancock continues his comments, including Romani (Gypsy) difficulties in getting recognition for the genocide against them by the Nazis in World War II; Racism, ignorance, and bigotry against the Romani even by council members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Romani difficulties in penetrating the mainstream "exclusivity" of the mainstream Jewish Holocaust narrative, etc.
NOTE: William Duna, fellow Roma mentioned here by Professor Hancock and who served on the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum council before Hancock, was also interviewed and his comments about his experiences – including those on the Holocaust council --will be posted here soon.»
- Albert Lindemann: Do Jewish Beliefs and/or Actions Ever Cause Antisemitism?, Pt. 1 (Interview 2010)
- Albert Lindemann: Do Jewish Beliefs and/or Actions Ever Cause Antisemitism?, Pt. 2 (Interview 2010)
- Albert Lindemann: Do Jewish Beliefs and/or Actions Ever Cause Antisemitism?, Pt. 3 (Interview 2010)
«This interview was conducted in 2010 in professor Lindemann’s office at the University of California – Santa Barbara, a college where he eventually taught for nearly 50 years. (This interview has never been publicly seen until now). He is best known for his book ESAU’S TEARS: MODERN ANTISEMITISM AND THE RISE OF THE JEWS (Cambridge University Press). Among his other books, he was also the author of ANTI-SEMITISM BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST; THE JEW ACCUSED: THREE ANTI-SEMITIC AFFAIRS (DREYFUS, BEILIS, FRANK); and THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN SOCIALISM.
Professor Lindemann is not Jewish. This is a relevant point, as few non-Jewish scholars have risked an objectively detailed study of the subject of antisemitism to – while not defending any justification for such hostility -- examine actual historical reasons for it.
His book ESAU’S TEARS (1997) attracted considerable animosity in some Jewish quarters. Responding to one such scholarly critic in Commentary magazine, Lindemann wrote “I make no apologies about writing a provocative book, one that questions many familiar interpretations and will raise hackles in some quarters—is this not what scholarship is supposed to be about?”
Among Lindemann’s defenders was Jewish scholar Richard Levy (1940-2021) who wrote that “Lindemann, in the company of Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), Jacob Katz (1904-1998), and many others, does not accept the comforting but fallacious notion that Jews have had nothing to do with the generation of anti-Semitism.”
In part 1 of this interview, professor Lindemann addresses:
The subject of antisemitism is extremely emotional for some; there are “sacred cows” in the examination of this field of academic study and research; “If you say certain things you will get people very angry with you”; antisemitism in the Arab world and radical Left; “being hated” as part of Jewish identity (younger Jews are less connected to that); there is more migration OUT of Israel to America than into it; “Jews are certainly very penetrating observers of non-Jewish society, but there aren’t many non-Jews who are penetrating observers of Jewish society”; most “scolding” of Lindemann by (mostly Jewish) critics comes from “far right neo-cons”; the subject of Norman Finkelstein (b. 1953); Lindemann was attacked constantly in the American Historical Review journal; Lindemann has seen a commentary called by some “the Lindemann Thesis” (that Jews are responsible for antisemitism) which Lindemann does not endorse;
Jewish rise in power and position is obvious, and sometimes part of anti-Jewish animosity; widespread belief – even in academia – that “you dare not blame the victim”; traditional Jewish beliefs, per Exodus/Genesis and Jewish holidays like Purim, Hannukah, etc. wherein Jews are brought up -- according to such texts -- that they are “unfairly hated”; “some Jewish texts take pride in the fact that they killed the Jewish dissident (Jesus)”; traditionally, “Jews celebrated the death of Christ” (“Modern Jews have pretty much suppressed that”); most non-Jews don’t know much about Judaism or the Arab-Israeli conflict (and in conversations with Jewish friends and such “most non-Jews become quiet – they are intimidated”);
Discussion of the issue of “race” (for some Jews, especially in Orthodox communities, this is a component of Jewish identity; complications of the question what is “the Jewish people?”; converts to Judaism are not recognized by many Jews as being authentically Jewish; discussion of Orthodox Chabad Lubavitchers and their famous rabbi Menachem Schneerson (1902-1994) (Lindemann believes that some of Schneerson’s teaching, per the Jewish soul, “is an expression of racism”); Jewish author Stephen Bloom’s book about Postville, Iowa, and the Chabad community and its “corrupt rabbis” that caused such problems in that town, etc.
In part 2, professor Lindemann addresses:
The word “antisemitism” as a “whistle blower blown way too much,” is it antisemitism when people don’t like Jews or want to live with Jews? -- those two things describe some Jews’ attitude towards Gentiles; Jews in the U.S. are among the most liberal-minded; limits of free speech; in places like Europe you can be put in jail for years for saying the Holocaust doesn’t exist;
“My responsibility is to say what I think is actually true and not play the game of ‘How will this go down?’”; people of many different perspectives have praised his book ESAU’S TEARS but “some respected scholars have reviewed the book and completely misrepresented it”; there is broad opinion in the Jewish community but there are some who “try to keep debate limited”;
“The defense of Israel has been cruder, the demonization of Arabs cruder …”, some things said in defense of Israel aren’t true; the influential book and movie EXODUS (1960) is “nonsense”; Lindemann’s book ESAU’S TEARS makes issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict more ambiguous; explanation of Lindemann’s title for his book ESAU’S TEARS (in traditional religious lore, Esau – the ‘archetypical Gentile’ – and Jacob – the “father of the Jews’ – are twins. Jacob and his mother trick Esau and the title “Esau’s Tears refers to the tears of indignation when he finds out he had been tricked”;
‘Self-hating Jew’ is a term used “by many Jews to describe someone they don’t like”; discussion of the necessity of generalizations in describing any people, culture, or country, Jewish “dual morality” (yes, but virtually any group has such a thing), etc.
In part 3, professor Lindemann addresses:
Jews in Eastern Europe included religious Ultra-Orthodox Jews, the Socialist Bund, and communists; many Jews, worldwide, had an admiration for Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), who was Jewish; at one point in time there was a death penalty in the Soviet Union for antisemitism; Jews were overrepresented in both the capitalist and communist worlds (Who spoke for the Jews?);
Karl Marx (1818-1883) (fulfilling the notion of the “self-hating Jew”) wrote an article denouncing Jews, saying that, in essence, “the selfish principle is the Jewish principle”; Jews have had the opportunity to tell their history of suffering wherein the history of illiterate peasants in Eastern Europe (Ukraine, etc.) wasn’t often told; Jews were relatively poor in Eastern Europe, but “for most of history Jews were better off than the people around them”;
Many Jews “are persuaded that there is something unique about their suffering” (ultimately a religious concept); increased attention to the Holocaust over the years; many “young people today are historically illiterate”; German and Hungarian Jews had a low opinion of Eastern European Jews; Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the founder of Zionism, “did not like most Jews he came into contact with”; Christianity;
Jews themselves have recognized that some Biblical texts are dangerous; for some Jews, in a religious context, you can look at antisemitism as bad Gentiles -- God using them to punish Jews, etc.»
- End.
By way of immediate action, a stand must first be made against thought, against mental processes. "I do not know" - it is said - "anything which, when unbridled, uncontrolled, unwatched, untamed, brings such ruin as thought, and I do not know anything which, when bridled, controlled, watched, tamed, brings such benefits as thought."
Thought, which everyone lightly says is "mine," is, in reality, only to a very small degree in our power. In the majority of cases, instead of "to think" it would be correct to say "we are thought" or "thought takes place in me." In the normal way, the characteristic of thought is its instability. "Incorporeal" - it is said - "it walks by itself": it "runs hither and thither like an untamed bull." Hard to check, unstable, it runs where it pleases. In general, it is said that, while this body may persist one year, two years, three years or even up to a hundred years and more in its present form, "what we call thought, what we call mind, what we call consciousness arises in one manner, ceases in another; incessantly, night and day"; "it is like a monkey who goes through the forest, and who progresses by seizing one branch, letting go of it, taking hold of another, and so on."
The task is to "arrest" thought: to master it and to strengthen the attention; to be able then to say: "Once this thought wandered at its fancy, at its pleasure, as it liked: I today shall hold it completely bridled, as a mahout holds a rut-elephant with his goad."
A few explanations.
If one day normal conditions were to return, few civilizations would seem as odd as the present one, in which every form of power and dominion over material things is sought, while mastery over one's own mind, one's own emotions and psychic life in general is entirely overlooked. For this reason, many of our contemporaries - particularly our so-called "men of action" - really resemble those crustaceans that are as hard-shelled outside with scabrous incrustations as they are soft and spineless within. It is true that many achievements of modern civilization have been made possible by methodically applied and rigorously controlled thought. This, however, does not alter the fact that most of the "private" mental life of every average and more-than-average man develops today in that passive manner of thought that, as the Buddhist text we have just quoted strikingly puts it, "walks by itself," while, half-unconscious, we look on. Anyone can convince himself of this by trying to observe what goes on in his mind, for example, when leaving his house: he thinks of why he is going out but, at the door, his thoughts turn to the postman and thence to a certain friend from whom news is awaited, to the news itself, to the foreign country where his friend lives and which, in turn, makes him remember that he must do something about his own passport: but his eye notices a passing woman and starts a fresh train of thought, which again changes when he sees an advertisement, and these thoughts are replaced by the various feelings and associations that chase each other during a ride through the town. His thought has moved exactly like a monkey that jumps from branch to branch, without even keep-ing a fixed direction. Let us try, after a quarter of an hour, to remember what we have thought - or, rather, what has been thought in us - and we shall see how diffi¬cult it is. This means that in all these processes and disordered associations our consciousness has been dazed or "absent." Having seen this, let us undertake to follow, without disturbing them, the various mental associations. After only a minute or two we shall find ourselves distracted by a flood of thoughts that have invaded us and that are quite out of control. Thought does not like being watched, does not like being seen. Now this irrational and parasitical development of thought takes up a large part of our normal psychic life, and produces corresponding areas of reduced activity and of reduced self-presence. The state of passivity is accentuated when our thought is no longer merely "spontaneous" and when the mind is agitated by some emotion, some worry, hope, or fear. The degree of consciousness is certainly greater in these cases - but so, at the same time, is that of our passivity.
These considerations may throw some light on the task that is set when one "ceases to go"; one reacts, one aims at being the master in the world of one's own mind. It now seems quite incomprehensible that nearly all men have long since been accustomed to consider as normal and natural this state of irrationality and passivity, where thought goes where it will - instead of being an instrument that enters into action only when necessary and in the required direction, just as we can speak when we wish to, and with a purpose, and otherwise remain silent. In comprehending this "according to reality," we must each decide whether we will continue to put up with this state of affairs.
In its fluid, changeable and inconsistent character, normal thought reflects, moreover, the general law of samsāric consciousness. This is why mental control is consid¬ered as the first urgent measure to be taken by one who opposes the "current." In un¬dertaking this task, however, we must not be under any illusions. The dynamis, the subtle force that determines and carries our trains of thought, works from the subconscious. For this reason, to attempt to dominate the thought completely by means of the will, which is bound to thought itself, would almost be like trying to cut air with a sword or to drown an echo by raising the voice. The doctrine, which declares that thought is located in the "cavern of the heart," refers, among other things, to thought considered "organically" and not to its mental and psychological offshoots. Mastery of thought cannot, therefore, be merely the object of a form of mental gymnastics: rather, one must, simultaneously, proceed to an act of conversion of the will and of the spirit; inte¬rior calm must be created, and one must be pervaded by intimate, sincere earnestness.
The "fluttering" of thought mentioned in our text is more than a mere simile: it is related to the primordial anguish, to the dark substratum of samsāric life that comes out and reacts since, as soon as it feels that it is seen, it becomes aware of the danger; the condition of passivity and unconsciousness is essential for the development of samsāric being and for the establishment of its existence. This simile illustrates an experience that, in one form or another, is even encountered on the ascetic path.
The discipline of constant control of the thought, with the elimination of its automatic forms, gradually achieves what in the texts is called appamada, a term variously translated as "attention," "earnestness," "vigilance," "diligence," or "reflection." It is, in point of fact, the opposite state to that of "letting oneself think," it is the first form of entry into oneself, of an earnestness and of a fervid, austere concentration. When it is understood in this sense, appamāda constitutes the base of every virtue. It is also said: "This intensive earnestness is the path that leads toward the deathless, in the same way that unreflective thought leads, instead, to death. He who possesses that earnestness does not die, while those who have unstable thought are as if already dead." An ascetic "who delights in appamāda - in this austere concentration - and who guards against mental laxity, will advance like a fire, burning every bond, both great and small." He "cannot err." And when, thanks to this energy, all negligence is gone and he is calm, from his heights of wisdom he will look down on vain and agitated beings, "as one who lives on a mountaintop looks down on those who live in the plains."
--------
excerpt from The Doctrine of Awakening by Julius Evola
--------
woodcut by Munch
By way of immediate action, a stand must first be made against thought, against mental processes. "I do not know" - it is said - "anything which, when unbridled, uncontrolled, unwatched, untamed, brings such ruin as thought, and I do not know anything which, when bridled, controlled, watched, tamed, brings such benefits as thought."
Thought, which everyone lightly says is "mine," is, in reality, only to a very small degree in our power. In the majority of cases, instead of "to think" it would be correct to say "we are thought" or "thought takes place in me." In the normal way, the characteristic of thought is its instability. "Incorporeal" - it is said - "it walks by itself": it "runs hither and thither like an untamed bull." Hard to check, unstable, it runs where it pleases. In general, it is said that, while this body may persist one year, two years, three years or even up to a hundred years and more in its present form, "what we call thought, what we call mind, what we call consciousness arises in one manner, ceases in another; incessantly, night and day"; "it is like a monkey who goes through the forest, and who progresses by seizing one branch, letting go of it, taking hold of another, and so on."
The task is to "arrest" thought: to master it and to strengthen the attention; to be able then to say: "Once this thought wandered at its fancy, at its pleasure, as it liked: I today shall hold it completely bridled, as a mahout holds a rut-elephant with his goad."
A few explanations.
If one day normal conditions were to return, few civilizations would seem as odd as the present one, in which every form of power and dominion over material things is sought, while mastery over one's own mind, one's own emotions and psychic life in general is entirely overlooked. For this reason, many of our contemporaries - particularly our so-called "men of action" - really resemble those crustaceans that are as hard-shelled outside with scabrous incrustations as they are soft and spineless within. It is true that many achievements of modern civilization have been made possible by methodically applied and rigorously controlled thought. This, however, does not alter the fact that most of the "private" mental life of every average and more-than-average man develops today in that passive manner of thought that, as the Buddhist text we have just quoted strikingly puts it, "walks by itself," while, half-unconscious, we look on. Anyone can convince himself of this by trying to observe what goes on in his mind, for example, when leaving his house: he thinks of why he is going out but, at the door, his thoughts turn to the postman and thence to a certain friend from whom news is awaited, to the news itself, to the foreign country where his friend lives and which, in turn, makes him remember that he must do something about his own passport: but his eye notices a passing woman and starts a fresh train of thought, which again changes when he sees an advertisement, and these thoughts are replaced by the various feelings and associations that chase each other during a ride through the town. His thought has moved exactly like a monkey that jumps from branch to branch, without even keep-ing a fixed direction. Let us try, after a quarter of an hour, to remember what we have thought - or, rather, what has been thought in us - and we shall see how diffi¬cult it is. This means that in all these processes and disordered associations our consciousness has been dazed or "absent." Having seen this, let us undertake to follow, without disturbing them, the various mental associations. After only a minute or two we shall find ourselves distracted by a flood of thoughts that have invaded us and that are quite out of control. Thought does not like being watched, does not like being seen. Now this irrational and parasitical development of thought takes up a large part of our normal psychic life, and produces corresponding areas of reduced activity and of reduced self-presence. The state of passivity is accentuated when our thought is no longer merely "spontaneous" and when the mind is agitated by some emotion, some worry, hope, or fear. The degree of consciousness is certainly greater in these cases - but so, at the same time, is that of our passivity.
These considerations may throw some light on the task that is set when one "ceases to go"; one reacts, one aims at being the master in the world of one's own mind. It now seems quite incomprehensible that nearly all men have long since been accustomed to consider as normal and natural this state of irrationality and passivity, where thought goes where it will - instead of being an instrument that enters into action only when necessary and in the required direction, just as we can speak when we wish to, and with a purpose, and otherwise remain silent. In comprehending this "according to reality," we must each decide whether we will continue to put up with this state of affairs.
In its fluid, changeable and inconsistent character, normal thought reflects, moreover, the general law of samsāric consciousness. This is why mental control is consid¬ered as the first urgent measure to be taken by one who opposes the "current." In un¬dertaking this task, however, we must not be under any illusions. The dynamis, the subtle force that determines and carries our trains of thought, works from the subconscious. For this reason, to attempt to dominate the thought completely by means of the will, which is bound to thought itself, would almost be like trying to cut air with a sword or to drown an echo by raising the voice. The doctrine, which declares that thought is located in the "cavern of the heart," refers, among other things, to thought considered "organically" and not to its mental and psychological offshoots. Mastery of thought cannot, therefore, be merely the object of a form of mental gymnastics: rather, one must, simultaneously, proceed to an act of conversion of the will and of the spirit; inte¬rior calm must be created, and one must be pervaded by intimate, sincere earnestness.
The "fluttering" of thought mentioned in our text is more than a mere simile: it is related to the primordial anguish, to the dark substratum of samsāric life that comes out and reacts since, as soon as it feels that it is seen, it becomes aware of the danger; the condition of passivity and unconsciousness is essential for the development of samsāric being and for the establishment of its existence. This simile illustrates an experience that, in one form or another, is even encountered on the ascetic path.
The discipline of constant control of the thought, with the elimination of its automatic forms, gradually achieves what in the texts is called appamada, a term variously translated as "attention," "earnestness," "vigilance," "diligence," or "reflection." It is, in point of fact, the opposite state to that of "letting oneself think," it is the first form of entry into oneself, of an earnestness and of a fervid, austere concentration. When it is understood in this sense, appamāda constitutes the base of every virtue. It is also said: "This intensive earnestness is the path that leads toward the deathless, in the same way that unreflective thought leads, instead, to death. He who possesses that earnestness does not die, while those who have unstable thought are as if already dead." An ascetic "who delights in appamāda - in this austere concentration - and who guards against mental laxity, will advance like a fire, burning every bond, both great and small." He "cannot err." And when, thanks to this energy, all negligence is gone and he is calm, from his heights of wisdom he will look down on vain and agitated beings, "as one who lives on a mountaintop looks down on those who live in the plains."
--------
excerpt from The Doctrine of Awakening by Julius Evola
--------
painting by Munch
"Understanding grows as you allow the landscape to come into you. Passivity, not acquisition, is the key to this. A good photograph is a received photograph, an exchange between you and the landscape, in which - however unlikely this may seem - there is a dialogue between the two of you. It is simply courtesy to allow the landscape to speak." Charlie Waite
Gordon-Levitt compares the series to ideas media theorist Neil Postman presented in his 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death, which examines the negative effects of television on politics. “What [George] Orwell feared were those who would ban books,” Postman wrote. “What [Aldous] Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism . . . In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”
www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/08/comrade-detective-am...
“[…] with these words, I aspire […] to pass judgment on nothing less than Western, Christian civilization. Because I believe that our civilization is approaching the highest degree of barbarity ever recorded in history. Because it seems to me that for the first time in history, all the conditions of barbarity has come together: the richest and most powerful countries is invading one of the least developed; it tortures the inhabitants, photographs the torture, publishes the photographs in its newspaper, and no one says anything. Hitler still had the modesty to hide his tortures; Johnson has gone further: He shows them. The difference between them reflects the differences in the responsibilities of their respective populations: The Germans could say that they didn’t know what was happening in Hitler’s concentration camps: but we, civilized Christians: we can’t say that.
For we see the faces of the tortured ones everyday in our newspaper, the same newspapers that talk to us about freedom and human rights […].
Those photographs and the passivity of the citizens of the west are the symbols of our advanced barbarity. […]
I cannot comment on the formal value of these works. All I ask of art is that it helps me say what I think with the greatest possible clarity, to invent the visual signs that will allow me to condemn with the great possible efficiency the barbarity of the west. It is possible that someone will show me that this is not art; I would have no problem, I would change course, change the name of what I do: I would cross out art and call it politics, corrosive criticism, whatever”.
-León Ferrari, La respuesta del artista,
in “Propositis”, Buenos Aires, 7 October 1965; Translated by Marguerite Feitlowitz, in León Ferrari. Retrospectiva. Obras 1954-2004, Buenos Aires, Centro Cultural Recoleta and Malba Andra Giunta Ed., 2004.
think with the senses feel with the mind, art in the present tense. Published by Marsilio, 2007 (p94)
Originally I had set out for the concept in my mind of passivity- but when I came to shooting and I found this spot- it more turned into a stubbornness... or a willingness to ignore what you're supposed to do in life. I don't really believe in destiny- or that anyone has a set path (I'm actually more a believer of karma) but I guess this image could be taken in many many different ways- and I obviously messed up a bit with posing my hands and didn't catch that on location... but the sun had set, it was getting dark fast, and there were ants!
Anyway, enjoy (:
Forest dieback in the Harz National Park, Germany. Dead trees as far as the eye can see. Pest infestation, climate change and probably also passivity have led to a situation that will not be reversed for long time. It is a tragedy. Nationalpark Harz, Germany. 09/2022.
Feel free to comment.
***
Waldsterben im Nationalpark Harz, Deutschland. Tote Bäume so weit das Auge reicht. Schädlingsbefall, Klimawandel und ggfs. auch Passivität haben zu einer Situation geführt, die sich über eine langen Zeitraum nicht umkehren wird. Es ist ein Trauerspiel. Nationalpark Harz, Deutschland. 09/2022.
Kommentare sind willkommen.
***
© All rights reserved.
On the Path
There is always some Work
HKD
It is quite a distance from the house I live in to the road.
This time Julia is warming up by shovelling snow.
HKD
If psychology is of interest:
The energy of action is Alpha – activity
The energy of slowdown is Beta – passivity.
I can be motivated to be active in different manners – A1 – A5.
For example: A1 motivates to rule, A2 to teach, A3 to deal, A4 to fight, A5 to think.
To do a work like this – to fight against the snow – I need A4.
HKD
If I would express the work she is doing in my terms: in this very moment she is motivated by A4 and B2, because she was not in a hurry but did shovel very serene – in a meditative mood. That means she is balanced.
I love doing work in a mood like this because the work is more like a play. If I do not resist, but be in inner peace, I am in harmony with uncomfortable situations like bad weather.
The energy of B2 gives all action a peaceful touch.
If B2 is predominant, I would not leave the house to do anything. Pure B2 is paralyzing and an extreme like total action or a forest fire – A4.
HKD
Es kommt stets auf die Auslalanciertheit der Kräfte an.
Ein Gleichgewicht zwischen Alpha und Beta kommt dem Gleichgewicht zwischen Yin und Yang gleich. Pure Harmonie.
Das Leben kommt in die Schwebe.
Diese Sichtweise kommt dem mittleren Pfad gleich, der vom Buddha empfohlen wird.
Von meinem Standpunkt aus ist diese buddhistische Weisheit unbedingt zutreffend. Die Vereiigung der Gegensätze im Bewusstsein ist ein korrekter Hinweis auf dem Pfad zum inneren Frieden und Glück.
HKD