The Oldest Advice

"Good! There goes that life, too. We lived it, and it was brief, but what does it matter? We enjoyed it, in a flash, like lightning, all of it."

Lycophron to Alka in the play Melissa by Nikos Kazantzakis. From the collection Three Plays. Simon & Schuster, New York 1969 - page 189.

As always, the old advice. Live in the present moment.

The Moderns Part 2

"My whole life has been a wild, unceasing struggle uphill, plagued by terrible virtues and equally terrible vices."

Periander to Lycophron. From the play Melissa by Nikos Kazantzakis in the collection Three Plays; Simon & Schuster, New York, 1969 - page 139.

The plight and the paradox of modern man.

Shiny, Happy People

"Happiness shames man, my child, it disrupts the order of the world."

Nurse to Alka. From the play Melissa by Nikos Kazantzakis in the collection, Three Plays. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1969 - page 127.

All the better to be happy then.

The casting out of Eden, paradise, rest and play, to work and toil, forever.

Happiness is the road back to Eden, paradise.

The Ends

"Can you, even at the moment of your strength and victory, keep your mind clear and detached, fixed not on yourself, but on your god?"

Minos to Theseus from the play Kouros in the collection Three Plays by Nikos Kazantzakis, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1969 - page 269.

God is the goal. It is the outcome. It is the ends. Not the means. Not the player, musician, worker, artist, labourer, painter, sculptor, bricklayer or scientist. The end result is the goal. The goal is god.

The danger here is that the ends could justify the means. But there is danger everywhere, especially in literature and reality.

To Be Strong

"...to be strong is to control your strength..."

Minos to Theseus from the play Kouros in the collection Three Plays by Nikos Kazantzakis, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1969 - page 245.

A proper zen koan if you will. Hard to live up to for most. How does one maintain such integrity in the face of such temptation? How about it America? The west? Me and you?

Life On Earth

"Beloved, are you still concerned with gods? What curse is this that drives men so! They battle unceasingly, incurably, with shadows, never realizing that god exists and toils and rejoices only in the flesh!"

Ariadne to Theseus from the play Kouros in the collection Three Plays by Nikos Kazantzakis, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1969 - page 266.

This could only be written by a meditteranean. My life is here on earth. Some may take this passage to mean that we should revel in the material but I take it as meaning that all we need is right here on earth, there is no need to hunger after insubstantialities. There are plenty of mysteries and adventures in substantial things, today, right now.

Out Of Reach

"I, too, will choose the highest, most innacessible mountain to enthrone my god so that I, too, may climb it alone and converse with him."

Theseus to Ariadne from the play Kouros in the collection Three Plays by Nikos Kazantzakis, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1969 - page 236.

That seems to be the problem. We've set god far away from us in an inaccessible place. We've chained him to a lofty location and enslaved ourselves to a low place and we never meet...What we we need are gods we can keep close to us, so close we can smell them, taste them and have a true feeling for them.

The Unexpected

Captain - "What do you expect to find?"
Theseus - "The unexpected..."

From the play Kouros in the collection Three Plays by Nikos Kazantzakis, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1969 - page 220.

This is a daunting concept for most, never completely accepted.

What Do You Speak?

What slanguage do you speak?

I didnt't quite know what this meant before either but take the quizz and have fun. It eventually makes sense.

Myself? Canadian slang naturally.

The Mirror Stares Back At Me

I stare into the mirror but do not see what others see. Is the fault in my eyes or the mirror or the others or in the space between all? Or is there a fault at all?

Radio, Radio

There are lots of internet radio stations but I happen to like this one because I believe it is quite useful in building a station that plays the type of music I want to hear and also adds in some pleasant surprises.

Running To Stand Still

Today I had a lunch appointment with a colleague and went to a bank first to get some cash. As I walked out of the bank and ran up to meet with my lunch partner, I realized that most of my adult life seems to consist of running from one meeting to another of whatever sort (personal, professional or otherwise), giving little time or thought to the meaning of the experience or even to my feelings about the experience. Even less time is spent telling the other party what the experience meant or felt.

So…I had a great time at lunch today. Thank you!

Men At War

Rosalind: “I’d rather keep it as a beautiful memory – tucked away in my heart.”
Amory: “Yes, women can do that – but not men. I’d remember always, not the beauty of it while it lasted, but just the bitterness, the long bitterness.”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner’s, New York, 1998 8th printing - page 181.

If men could learn to transcend this we might have fewer struggles.

The Ministry Of Information

“If we could only learn to look on evil as evil, whether it is clothed in filth or monotony or magnificence.”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner’s, New York, 1998 8th printing - page 144.

Do you hear that Fox News?

In Our Time

“He thought how much easier patriotism had been to a homogenous race…”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner’s, New York, 1998, 8th printing - page 139.

Perhaps a clue (from a writer who saw some of thebefore and aftermath of the First World War) as to how to end certain conflicts in our own time…Put aside your land and tribe. Let us own each other’s culture.

Awakenings

“…and when Amory crept shivering into bed it was with his mind aglow with ideas and a sense of shock that someone else had discovered the path he might have followed.”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner's, New York, 1998 8th printing - page 119.

And so another man stuck in adolescence grows up…

The Becoming

“It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being.”

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner's, New York, 1998 8th printing - page 24.

This is a trap of adolescence. A trap because many of us bring this attitude into adulthood and are constantly searching instead of living. Some can make great art out of this search but most just dream away their lives.

Harm

Violence is a subject that intrigues and troubles me just about every day. Maybe it's because I'm a father and read the newspaper every day. This is probably no surprise to anyone who reads this blog (all three of you).

I’m still really torn on the issue of using violence. So, how about an examination of both sides, however superficial it might be.

Firstly, the use of violence:

Violence may not always be unreasonable; but in order to formulate a reasonable response to atrocities we should try to figure out what is going on first and that includes understanding the other guy's side. Violence may indeed be an answer once we have ascertained the five w’s. The old saying, "to defeat your enemy you must first know him" applies here. For example, going to Afghanistan and bombing the heck out of the Taliban and hunting down bin Laden probably was a reasonable response after the events of Sept. 11. Going to Iraq was not.

Secondly, the use of non-violence:

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

I have used here only examples from the New Testament because it is the book I am most familiar with but I could have easily used the Old Testament, Qu’ran or Buddhist texts to come to similar sayings. And I believe that the writings on compassion, love and responsibility far outweigh the writings on calls to violent action in these very same books. Amen.

Share The Blame

During an argument recently, an American Christian fundamentalist said to me, “If you haven't noticed the entire world is vehemently arrayed against Jesus in everything it says and does.”

I wonder why then her own vehemence seems to be only directed at Muslims. Why is there no rage against evil, greedy marketing folk or corrupt papists or atheists or scientists…all of whom have done arguably worse to Christianity than Islam…

Lots Of Zeroes

In 1997 the CIA's budget was $26.6 billion dollars.

In 1996/97 the federal portion of total expenditure for elementary school education in the US was $22.2 billion dollars.