With the opera Iolanta, by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, Opera, Blood , and Tears begins the new series Applied Opera. The intention is to consider which lessons the world of opera can impart to the social and individual life. Iolanta —- a lyric opera in one act Music: Peter Ilyitch TchaikovskyLibretto: Modest Tchaikovsky Based on the… Continue reading Applied Opera — Iolanta (Tchaikovsky)
Category: Wisdom
Twentieth Century Vienna Fruits
In the wake of such influential studies as Allan Janik and Stephen Toulmin's Wittgenstein's Vienna (1973) and Carl Schorske's Fin-de-siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture (1979), scholars from diverse fields have come to recognize that in the years from about 1890 to 1918 the imperial city of Vienna comprised a unique historico-cultural nexus. The fact that… Continue reading Twentieth Century Vienna Fruits
Life’s Lemons bring their Flowers along
The concept of The Life You Give, and why Frédéric Chopin
As a pianist, Chopin was unique in acquiring a reputation of the highest order on the basis of a minimum of public appearances—few more than 30 in the course of his lifetime. His original and sensitive approach to the keyboard allowed him to exploit all the resources of the piano of his day. He was… Continue reading The concept of The Life You Give, and why Frédéric Chopin
Celebration Day I: January 1 2022 — Happy Birthday, Edmund Burke *1.1.1729
Edmund Burke, born January 1, [Old Style], 1729, in Dublin, Ireland, was statesman, parliamentary orator, and political thinker prominent in public life from 1765 to about 1795 and important in the history of political theory. He championed conservatism in opposition to Jacobinism in Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).Early lifeBurke, the son of a… Continue reading Celebration Day I: January 1 2022 — Happy Birthday, Edmund Burke *1.1.1729
Beyond language and vocabulary
Thank you, William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe! Where would I be without your poetic tongues?And Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, and Alexander Pushkin, who can be more inspiring to dive and fly in life through your cultural, and equally transcendental wordings?You all understood something beyond our physical being which has had your… Continue reading Beyond language and vocabulary
Eating towards either godside
— one may abide by the common notion that central to eating is a need to subside hunger — one may otherwise eat, not merely in order to escape starvation, or be nourished and avoid ailments but rather in pursuit of the joy in eating, in all its stages The latter goes well with either… Continue reading Eating towards either godside
Personal Lexicon: “as days go by”
I find there to be a misunderstanding about the content packaged in days go by. Poetically there is a pleasing sound to it, or it may convey the sense of an unavoidable something, perhaps even wisdom. However, in the context of an individual development, days go in. Thankfully!
Simple versus Easy
In a hut / in a castleOn a shore / in the forest / on a hillAlone / with a herd — in the hut / about the hut / in the castle / around a castleTangible and intangible chores in creativity, and logic, and magicTo be, lively, in wisdom, in love, That is simpleNot… Continue reading Simple versus Easy
Matters of Life — period!
I remember the love of my father, not his suffering.
A question follows which wants no answer but merely be asked
Why, in the midst of a conversation, does a scientist and Christian believer confess that, if it did turn out, there is no god, he would be disappointed?
Madiba on Language
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.Nelson Mandela — born on a day like today, July 18 1918
Life is not easy being human
which is why each human is surrounded by other humans, and together they are humanity.
You can not lose everything.
relax
Love is Love
It seems incomprehensible to me that it could ever be more complex than that.
If there was (and is) a tree of knowledge, how vast is the nature of innocence, the realm of not knowing, and even the capacity of refusing knowledge?
Wedding after wedding we may watch brides marching, hearing the recognizable melody announcing their entrance. Decades ago I bought my first Lohengrin recording, and it hit me to learn that Richard Wagner created that melody for Elsa and her saviour. It continues to touch me, how I, and likely many thousands of humans rejoice in… Continue reading If there was (and is) a tree of knowledge, how vast is the nature of innocence, the realm of not knowing, and even the capacity of refusing knowledge?
A Beautiful Mind
I am currently admiring such one. It lives in a body that freezes frames of a simple life — taxidermy, family in the garden, cooking, gentle and subtle singing with guitar, yoga sessions — all simplicity. Such mind can share simple signs only because it is one of deep complexity. Beauty might just be what… Continue reading A Beautiful Mind
Being patient is not to be passive
...rather it is similar to dancing into wisdom, love, grasping.
Spice — of Life/for Life
As part of our evolution, a spice may have been a matter of flavor. Likewise it may have been a matter of health and hygiene. Today, the animal considers one or the other. The animal noble ought to consider both.
A Philosophy Hour
That is the moment when peasants break bread with refined thinkers. They are all smiles, all hunger, all growing. An open table, buffet style — feasting that they are. All animals All noble
on beING
delight in the suneat carefullyavoid fatigue and worry
Sila Blume 