New Pages: April 1st

Here's the latest from the April 1st Project:

Make the most of your regrets...

To regret deeply is to live afresh.

- Thoreau

I discovered two new artists that sent me on a hunt for images: Charles-Marie Dulac and Pierre-Paul Prud'hon.

Another quote:

Law is mind without reason. - Aristotle

A few more quotes:

The basic question is what vision do you aspire to? - Abraham Maslow

All art is an imitation of nature. - Seneca

A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days. - Goethe

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination. - Bertrand Russell

I have been a Bruce Springsteen fan for decades and was pleased to read the above article out of the Houston Chronicle.

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. - wise words from William Jennings Bryan

And then there's David...

The infinite is Brahman. From it, from this Self, space came to be; from space, the wind; from the wind, fire; from fire, water; from water, earth; from earth, the plants; from plants, food; and from food, the body of man. This body of man, composed of the essence of food is the physical sheath of the Self. - Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1

Discovered The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas.

I really love the ad below.

The western images are from illustrated letters by Frederick Remington.

All turning goes as it will. - a line from a Hafez poem

All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop. - Kabir

A Formula on Living

Only those who take leisurely what the people

 of the world are busy about

can be busy about what the people of the world

 take leisurely.

-- Chang Ch'ao

And so I opened The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang.

Right away there is a discussion about idealism and realism, and formulas are put forward for national characters (French, English, Americans) and a brief list of poets and writers. Yutang believes that 'manking seems to be divided into idealists and realists, and idealism and realism are the two great forces molding human progress.'

I thought it would be interesting to consider the formulas put forward by Yutang and then come up with a self describing equation.

His list breaks down as follows:

     Reality - Dreams = Animal Being
     Reality + Dreams = A Heart-Ache (usually called Idealism)
     Reality + Humor = Realism (also called Conservatism)
     Dreams - Humor = Fanaticism
     Dreams + Humor = Fantasy
     Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom

I have rightly been called an idealist in the past, and I recognize my failure to find humor in more things than I do. And, I am far too serious most of the time.

Yutang goes on to provide his assessment of the nature of certain peoples based on units of realism, dreams, humor, and sensitivity.

     R3D2H2S1 = The English
     R2D3H3S3 = The French
     R3D3H2S2 = The Americans
     R3D4H1S2 = The Germans
     R2D4H1S1 = The Russians
     R2D3H1S1 = The Japanese
     R4D1H3S3 = The Chinese

I think my equation would look something like this:

     R2D4H1S4 = Maria

While I have a realistic view, I don't accept things as they are and then detach from them. Instead, my dream quotient is high, and it butts up against realism -- pushing hard, resisting. An idealist, for sure, but I've never considered that a weakness. Low humor is really a result of high seriousness; one takes up too much space and doesn't allow the other any oxygen. And then there is the S factor -- sensitivity. Quite high for me. I believe it is the font of my creativity and is certainly evidenced in my writing. I've recently learned about my work that it is relies on emotion more than plot, and so my stories are really about the response to life, the feelings that make up that response. That is the story. Anyway...

At least, that's how I see it for now. How about you?

Resolution (after the Beatles)

Every new year brings resolutions. I was musing about it yesterday when something struck. I hope you find it as entertaining as I did / do. I had fun with this. Hum along to the tune of Revolution by the Beatles.

Resolution (after the Beatles)

I say it’s time for resolution

Well, you know

I really want to change the world

It’s more than stopping air pollution

Well, you know

I do my part to save the world

But when you go talk about redistribution

Surely you know that you can count me out

Don't you know it’s gonna be my right

my rite, that’s right

I’m trying to measure my contribution

Well, you know

I teach people how to plan

There really is no substitution

Well, you know

Do more than you think you can

But if you don’t understand the need to control your fate

Well you better brother if you want to do something great

Don't you know it’s gonna be my right

my rite, that’s right

I’m thinking about all things Confucian

Well, you know

I don’t want to be misread

It’s really all in the execution

Well, you know

Time to use the heart and the head

But if you go thinking it’s all about landing the wow

You won’t achieve anything, no way, no how

Don't you know it's gonna be my right

my rite, all right

all right, all right, my rite

all right, all right, all right

Note: Sing the words along with the Fab Four below.

 

Meaning

It was not my intention to post another poem today; however, I opened my collection by Cavafy to a page titled Meaning. I share it here:

Meaning
by C.P. Cavafy

The years of my youth, my sensual life--
how clearly I see their meaning now.

What needless repentances, how futile...

But I didn't see the meaning then.

Out of the dissolute life of my youth
my poetry's aims grew
my art's realm was drawn.

That is why the repentances were never steadfast.
And my resolutions to hold back, to change,
lasted two weeks at most.

And I Wrote the First Faint Line

Reading about the writing life, I came across this poem by Pablo Neruda. There isn't much to say about it other than, 'write on.'

Poetry
by Pablo Neruda

And it was at that age...Poetry arrived 
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where 
it came from, from winter or a river. 
I don't know how or when, 
no, they were not voices, they were not 
words, nor silence, 
but from a street I was summoned, 
from the branches of night, 
abruptly from the others, 
among violent fires 
or returning alone, 
there I was without a face 
and it touched me. 

I did not know what to say, my mouth 
had no way 
with names 
my eyes were blind, 
and something started in my soul, 
fever or forgotten wings, 
and I made my own way, 
deciphering 
that fire 
and I wrote the first faint line, 
faint, without substance, pure 
nonsense, 
pure wisdom 
of someone who knows nothing, 
and suddenly I saw 
the heavens 
unfastened 
and open, 
planets, 
palpitating plantations, 
shadow perforated, 
riddled 
with arrows, fire and flowers, 
the winding night, the universe. 

And I, infinitesimal being, 
drunk with the great starry 
void, 
likeness, image of 
mystery, 
I felt myself a pure part 
of the abyss, 
I wheeled with the stars, 
my heart broke loose on the wind. 

Launching 2011 with April 1st

Hello and Happy New Year.

An update of the April 1st Project seems like a great way to launch the year. I've made one change to my beloved ongoing journal -- I've eliminated cataloging entries by date. Instead, all that I come across can be found in one continuous stream. I hope you are enjoying it. Here's the latest:

The Odds of Getting Struck by a Meteorite

According to astronomers, the probability of getting hit by a meteorite is one in 700,000. And while millions of meteors enter the earth’s atmosphere continuously, there exists only a 50% chance that celestial rubbish will come from nowhere and smack you upside the head.

Armed with this information, I was astonished when two characters were killed by meteor strikes within a matter of days – Asterios and Max.

I mean characters literally. The title character of Asterios Polyp and Max Delius of The Discovery of Heaven.

Interestingly enough, these wanton rocks didn’t put either man out of his misery. Instead, it blasted their happiness into a gazillion pieces. Asterios was about to live happily ever after, or as best he could recognizing his personality; and Max had just discovered heaven. Yes, as in God.

In these two of 700,000 instances, the meteorite was the dues ex machina. Used widely by Euripides and other Greek tragedians, the god out of the machine solved the problem when the plot line came to a stop sign or perhaps a dead end. Evidently the authors found Asterios and Max lost in the labyrinth of the story with no easy way out.

With Asterios, I saw death by meteor as a clever way to use his own words against him. Therefore, it was brilliant, and you’ll have to read it to see what I mean. However with Max, it was a disappointment. Not due to the ironic fact that he’s an astronomer, but because I enjoyed him and became quite fond of him over those several hundreds of pages. I didn’t just think it was an easy way out. Frankly, I thought it was a cop out. If he was to die, it should have been more…I don’t know, real. He deserved better.

The improbability of getting struck by a meteor is used more frequently than I had realized. In the same span of a few days of finding it in these texts, it was also hurled forth by a news commentator trying to make a point. What hit me was the synchronicity of these pebbles colliding into the earth in such a short time span.

The truth of this meteor shower is that an otherworldly force doesn’t exist to step in and answer the question of ‘what’s next?’ or to solve that age-old problem of ‘what do I do?’ There is no crane to lower the answer onto the stage and wrap things up or move them into a new direction. As much as I would like that to be so, it isn’t.

But, I do believe in random things colliding and the universe conspiring. I can’t say that I’ve ever thought of one of those blissful moments as having to do with getting permanently KOd by a rock – well, a pebble actually – that’s the size of most of them.

Anyway, in the end, we’re not in total control. Whatever comes is a matter of our own doing, or the result of someone else’s actions, or it’s the mighty scriptwriter making those last minute edits. You never know, but I’m betting on the odds.

 P.S. Sorry if I was spoiler on the books. They're still very much worth the read.