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Stupidity consists in a desire to conclude.

- Flaubert

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Brilliance

Architecture in general is frozen music.

-Friedrich von Schelling, Philosophie der Kunst

Was denkbar ist, ist auch möglich.
[What is thinkable is also possible.]

-Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921)

Photo: There was a full moon in Detroit last night [Click on image to enlarge]

The law of [Christian] love

At bottom, however, the law of love is, and can be, no longer valid if defence by force is set up beside it. And if once the law of love is not valid, then there remains no law except the right of might.

He [Christ] knew, as all reasonable men must do, that any employment of force is incompatible with love as the highest law of life, and that as soon as the use of force appears permissible even in a single case, the law itself is immediately negatived . . . The difference between the Christian and all other nations is only this: that in Christianity the law of love had been more clearly and definitely given than in any other religion, and that its adherents solemnly recognized it. Yet despite this they deemed the use of force to be permissible, and based their lives on violence–so that the life of the Christian nations presents a greater contradiction between what they believe and the principle on which their lives are built: a contradiction between love which should pre scribe the law of conduct, and the employment of force, recognized under various forms–such as governments, courts of justice, and armies, which are accepted as necessary and esteemed. This contradiction increased with the development of the spiritual life of Christianity and in recent years has reached the utmost tension.

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Letter to Mohandas K. Ghandi, Sep. 7, 1910

Photo: God is a gun originally uploaded by Hekate-moon

That’s soooooooooooo straight

It’s okay with me. I just wish they wouldn’t flaunt their disgusting lifestyle choices in public.

Photo: We’re Still at War: Photo of the Day for July 23, 2009, Mother Jones

Another

A glimspe

The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the sower of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger . . . is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself to us as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the centre of all true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the ranks of devoutly religious men.

ALBERT EINSTEIN, “Strange Is Our Situation Here on Earth,” in Modern Religious Thought, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan ; Boston: 1990. p. 225.

What the imagination seizes as Beauty

Wordworth’s younger contemporary John Keats (1795-1821) used the term “Negative Capability” to describe the ekstatic attitude that was essential to poetic insight. It occurred “when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any reaching after fact & reason.” Instead of seeking to control the world by aggressive reasoning, Keats was ready to plunge into the dark night of unknowing: “I am however young writing at random—straining at the particles of light in the midst of great darkness—without knowing the bearing of any one assertion, of any one opinion.” He claimed gleefully that he had no opinions at all, because he had no self. A poet, he believed, was “the most unpoetical of any thing in existence; because he has no Identity.” True poetry had no time for “the egotistical sublime,” which forced itself on the reader:

We hate poetry that has a palpable design upon us—and
if we do not agree, seems to put its hands in its breeches
pocket. Poetry should be great & unobtrusive, a thing
which enters into one’s soul, and does not startle it or
amaze with itself but with its subject.—How beautiful
are the retired flowers! how they would lose their beauty
were they to throng into the highway crying out “admire
me I am a violet! dote on me I am a primrose!”

Where philosophies had been wary of the imagination, Keats saw it as a sacred faculty that brought new truth into the world: “I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the heart’s affections and the truth of the Imagination—What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth—whether it existed before or not—for I have the same Idea that all our Passions as of Love they are all in their Sublime creative of essential Beauty.”

KAREN ARMSTRONG, The Case for God

Speaking of Keats… is anyone else appalled at the oversight of Jane Campion’s Bright Star this awards season? The Blind Side???! (“Precious-lite”) Bollocks.

Photo: Duncan Aitken [Click on image to enlarge.]

Tell me Y

Returning to the Y at fifty is a lot like being an outpatient. Machines. Disinfectant. Industrial. With large words on the walls like “Caring,” “Honesty,” Inclusiveness,” “Respect.” And a whole lot of people trying to get better or hoping not to get any worse.

Basically sucks.

It was a lot prettier ten years ago (my last foray here). Most of the downtown boys have vacated, much like what little gayety remains on Church. There’s a few fresh muscly tatts plugged-in, bouncing on the cross-trainer. Zoned.

My doctor told me to lose fifty by fifty. I didn’t. Now entering my third cycle losing that much weight and more.

Besides, I like to “stay sharp” which, for me is heightened/strengthened by intentional physical activity. Not “busy,” active. Inactivity deadens. My mind’s spark plugs need a fresh scrub to fire anew.

Do I want to go? No. Do I feel better after a workout? Sometimes. Mostly it’s to prevent me from giving myself shit had I not.

Just got to step out the backdoor with my gym bag and I’m good. Yes, it helps that it’s just a block away. And when my friend Michael joins me.

It’s familiar terrain. Trainers have told me most people drop out in their first three months. They’ve grown so accustomed to not moving. It’s tough to get moving again.

To find/exercise the will/courage to do something completely different.

No big hurry. I know it’s not instant, no pill, or quick fix. I’m in.

I simply want to breathe easier.

Photo: sud273

Take your iron

What you feel doesn’t matter in the end; it’s what you do that makes you brave.

Tonight: I remind myself that it will require iron discipline to cope with these forces, and whatever else comes my way. Back pain, bad shots, foul weather, self-loathing. It’s a form of worry, this reminder, but also a meditation. One thing I’ve learned in twenty-nine years of playing tennis: Life will throw everything but the kitchen sink in your path, and then it will throw the kitchen sink. It’s your job to avoid the obstacles. If you let them stop you or distract you, you’re not doing your job, and failing to do your job will cause regrets that paralyze you more than a bad back.

ANDRE AGASSI, Open

Photos: Andre Agassi originally uploaded by Mike Manning on flickr