Troubled Water

“Life inevitably translates into time. That is why the sum total of it is called 'a lifetime'. Freedom is the potential to spend one's time in any fashion one determines. I would always want the time invested in my ideas to be profitable, to give the reader something lasting for their investment in me. It is very important to me that my ideas be understood. It is not as important that I be understood. I believe that this is a matter of respect; your most significant asset is your time and your commitment to invest a portion of it considering my ideas means it is worth a sincere attempt on my part to transmit the essence of the idea. If you are looking, I want to make sure that there is something here for you to find.” Because I always feel like running Not away, because there is no such place Because if there was, I would have found it by now Because it's easier to run, Easier than staying and finding out you're the only one who didn't run Because running will b...

“It is impossible to understand how millions and millions of people all obey a sickly collection of gentlemen that call themselves 'Government!' The word, I expect, frightens people. It is a form of planetary hypnosis, and very unhealthy." "It has been going on for years," I said. "And it only occurred to relatively few to disobey and make what they call revolutions. If they won their revolutions, which they occasionally did, they made more governments, sometimes more cruel and stupid than the last." "Men are very difficult to understand," said Carmella. "Let's hope they all freeze to death. I am sure it would be very pleasant and healthy for human beings to have no authority whatever. They would have to think for themselves, instead of always being told what to do and think by advertisements, cinemas, policemen, and parliaments.” The Hearing Trumpet (1974) “I think she was mistaken when she said I was torturing myself. I think that s...

The root reaches downwards; the herbage upwards. All herbage is an extension of the medullary substance of the root. The flower is the ending of every plant, fertilization is its distinction, and the seed is its beginning. The ending of a plant is the same, whether it is life continued in a bud or propagated in a flower. The bud protects the ends of a plant from the severity of the climate, and the seeds protect its beginnings. The bud is the winter abode of the herbage, the seed is its box. The bud preserves the embryos between scales, the seed does so between teguments. Perennial herbs are propagated by bud no less than trees. Southern trees cannot be northern ones, on account of the buds. A perennial plant possesses a duplicated flower: one is the glorious predecessor; the other, the invisible successor. The bud is pregnant either with little buds or with flowers, or both. Quite often, either a flower or a bud forms the ending of the plumule. The origin of the flowers and the leaves...

«Evangelis Papathanassiou, one of the world's most sucsessful popular composers in spite of the fact that he can neither read nor write music, strode to a 9in. rotary saw blade fixed to a piece of wood in his studio (a converted girls' school behind Marble Arch in London), struck it with a xylophone hammer and listened with delight to the resulting sound. "Everything is an instrument", he said. "Everything is a tool to make music". For Vangelis , as he is known, this simple philosophy has proved astonishingly profitable during a career which had its foundations 35 years ago in his curious desire, at the age of four, to stuff his parents' grand piano with nails, chains, glasses, paper or cutlery in order to adjust the sound. "I drove that piano crazy, but I never smashed the strings or broke anything. It was all for the sound". Today he plays with more sophisticated devices, synthesisers, to produce haunting music for films like the recently-rel...

«[...] What is the pre-history of LGBT activism ? Most historians agree that there is evidence of homosexual activity and same-sex love, whether such relationships were accepted or persecuted, in every documented culture. We know that homosexuality existed in ancient Israel simply because it is prohibited in the Bible, whereas it flourished between both men and women in Ancient Greece. Substantial evidence also exists for individuals who lived at least part of their lives as a different gender than assigned at birth. From the lyrics of same-sex desire inscribed by Sappho in the seventh century BCE to youths raised as the opposite sex in cultures ranging from Albania to Afghanistan; from the “female husbands” of Kenya to the Native American “Two-Spirit,” alternatives to the Western male-female and heterosexual binaries thrived across millennia and culture.  These realities gradually became known to the West via travelers’ diaries, the church records of missionaries, diplomats’ journ...

«[...] Heinrich shrugged his shoulders. "Yes. I felt quite guiltless. Somewhere or other in my soul and somewhere else, perhaps deeper down, I felt guilty.... And deeper down still, guiltless again. The only question is how deep we look down into ourselves. And when we have lit the lights in all the storeys, why, we are everything at the same time: guilty and guiltless, cowards and heroes, fools and wise men. 'We'—perhaps that's putting it rather too generally. In your case, for example, George, there are far less of these complications, at any rate when you're outside the influence of the atmosphere which I sometimes spread around you. That's why, too, you are better off than I am—much better off. My look-out is ghastly, you know. You surely must have noticed it before. What's the good to me of the lights burning in all my storeys? What's the good to me of my knowledge of human nature and my splendid intelligence? Nothing.... Less than nothing. As a m...

«[...] But there are also in Job these things about the position of the stars, where he says: "He that made the Pleiades and the evening star and the North Star and Orion and the chambers of the south." And the Pleiades, with the seven stars in it, is known to many. But some call it the Cluster because of its resemblance to a cluster (of grapes). And the evening star is the star that is seen in the west at evening time, but especially in the autumn season. They call this the long-haired. Moreover, O lover of the good, you have written in Job concerning this: "For thou callest," he says, "the evening star with the voice, and he answers thee; but thou leadest him, taking hold of his hair." But as to the North Star, some say that it is the foremost star in the pole of Charles's Wain, but others say that it is one of the four (constituting) the wagon itself, that is, the corner one at the wagon end of the pole. But as to Orion, they say that it is the one ...

"Mas porque algunos hablan tan mal, que oírlos es oír sirenas, que matan a sus oyentes, es bien que veamos a quién tenemos de oír y a quién no. Para lo cual es de notar, que Adán y Eva, cuando fueron criados, un solo lenguaje hablaban, y aquél duró en el mundo hasta que la soberbia de los hombres, que quisieron edificar la torre de la confusión (Babel significa confusión), fue castigada con que, en lugar de un lenguaje con que todos se entendían, sucediese muchedumbre de lenguajes, con los cuales unos a otros no se entendiesen.  En lo cual se nos da a entender que nuestros primeros padres, antes que se levantasen contra Él que los crió, quebrantando con atrevida soberbia su mandamiento, un solo lenguaje espiritual hablaban en su ánima, el cual era una perfecta concordia que tenía uno con otro, y cada uno consigo mismo y con Dios; viviendo en el quieto estado de la inocencia, obedeciendo la parte sensitiva, á la racional, y la racional a Dios; y así estaban en paz con Él, y se ent...

A caminho de Treblinka (feitos escravos pelos egípcios) rasgando o mar Vermelho com a vara de Moisés. No comboio de Dachau (desde a Terra Prometida) levados para a Babilónia de Nabucodonosor. No vagão para Bergen-Belsen segue a diáspora judia (expulsa de Jerusalém pela mão do imperador Tito). Na viagem para Auschwitz a lenha alimenta o vapor. Por fim respiramos fundo. Que mais pode acontecer? Judeus Errantes Eu peço imensa desculpa cardeal Federico Cornaro mas cuido que Gian Lorenzo Bernini o enganou. Se não o Mestre que explique (como lhe aprouver melhor) a face de gozo da Santa (o corpo lançado para trás o hallux semiflectido os olhos semicerrados) já nem falo desse anjo trespassando a seta em fogo com o riso atrevido de um cupido consolado – se isto é o amor divino eu quero ser querubim a menos que (Excelência:) Vossa Excelência confesse que ordenou a obra assim (o pecado mascarado pelos excessos do barroco algo difícil de ver numa igreja calvinista) nesse caso (Excelência:) não se...

«[...]Quando os nossos adversários pedem antes de tudo a restauração dos direitos e liberdades violadas, o reconhecimento do principio das nacionalidades e a livre (existência dos pequenos Estados, basta lembrar a sorte tragica dos povos irlandez e finlandez, a déstruição da liberdade e independência da Republica dos Boers, a sujeição do norte d'Africa pela Inglaterra, pela França e pela Italia, e finalmente as violências, sem exemplo na Historia, exercidas contra a Grécia. O governo austro hungaro verifica, assim como os governos das potencias suas aliadas, que se tinha declarado pronto a terminar a guérra por uma troca de impressões verbaes com os governos inimigos, e que dependia unicamente da decisão dos adversários se a paz devia ou não ser preparada. Perante Deus e perante a humanidade, declina a responsabilidade da continuação da guerra ; mas a Austria Hungria e os seus aliados continuarão a lucta com uma firme esperança e confiantes no seu bom direito até que seja obtida um...

«In the light of all this, perhaps you will understand why we prefer the metaphor "meaning making" to most of the metaphors of the mind that are operative in the schools. It is, to begin with, much less static than the others. It stresses a process view of minding, including the fact that "minding" is undergoing constant change. "Meaning making" also forces us to focus on the individuality and the uniqueness of the meaning maker (the minder ). In most of the other metaphors there is an assumption of "sameness" in all learners. The "garden" to be cultivated, the darkness to be lighted, the foundation to be built upon, the clay to be molded—there is always the implication that all learning will occur in the same way. The flowers will be the same color, the light will reveal the same room, the clay will take the same shape, and so on. Moreover, such metaphors imply boundaries, a limit to learning. How many flowers can a garden hold? How mu...

José de Ribera - Martirio de San Felipe (1639) . Óleo sobre tela, 234 x 234 cm Museu do Prado Depois disto, Jesus partiu para a outra margem do mar da Galileia, ou de Tiberíades. Seguia-o uma numerosa multidão, porque viam os sinais que realizava nos doentes. Jesus subiu para o monte e ali se sentou com os seus discípulos. Estava próxima a Páscoa, a festa dos judeus. Jesus, então, levantando os olhos e vendo que uma numerosa multidão vinha ter com Ele, disse a Filipe: «Onde compraremos pão para que eles comam?». Dizia isto para o pôr à prova, pois Ele sabia o que estava prestes a fazer.  Respondeu-lhe Filipe: «Duzentos denários de pão não lhes chegam para que cada um receba um pouco». Disse-lhe um dos seus discípulos, André, o irmão de Simão Pedro: «Está aqui um rapazinho que tem cinco pães de cevada e dois pequenos peixes. Mas que é isso para tanta gente?». Disse Jesus: «Fazei-os reclinar-se». Havia muita erva no lugar. Reclinaram-se, então. Os homens eram cerca de cinco mil. Jes...

The Farmer's Goose, who in the Stubble,  Has fed without Restraint, or Trouble;  Grown fat with Corn and Sitting still,  Can scarce get o'er the Barn-Door Sill:  And hardly waddles forth, to cool  Her Belly in the neighb'ring Pool:  Nor loudly cackles at the Door;  For Cackling shews the Goose is poor. But when she must be turn'd to graze,  And round the barren Common strays,  Hard Exercise, and harder Fare  Soon make my Dame grow lank and spare:  Her Body light, she tries her Wings,  And scorns the Ground, and upward springs,  While all the Parish, as she flies,  Hear Sounds harmonious from the Skies. Such is the Poet, fresh in Pay,  (The third Night's Profits of his Play;)  His Morning-Draughts 'till Noon can swill,  Among his Brethren of the Quill:  With good Roast Beef his Belly full,  Grown lazy, foggy, fat, and dull:  Deep sunk in Plenty, and Delight,  What Poet e'er could take...

Querida Mãe Ana Neste dia que também é teu — aliás, ganhas-me por um filho! —, escolho a palavra “aceitação”. É o exercício mais difícil para uma mãe, e não se torna mais fácil com a idade dos filhos. Nem com o nascimento dos netos. Dizemos que podem ser o que quiserem, como quiserem, mas cá dentro da nossa cabeça e do nosso coração, temos uma ideia do que é melhor para eles. E inevitavelmente tentamos empurrá-los nessa direcção, moldá-los. Muitas vezes surpreendem-nos, porque nunca nos atrevemos a sonhar com filhos tão excepcionais, tão queridos, tão empáticos, tão tudo, mas há sempre ali qualquer coisa que tentamos mudar. Que queremos aperfeiçoar (e estou-me a rir de mim própria), com a desculpa de que nos cabe educá-los até à hora da nossa morte e mais além. Desconfio que vou ser sempre como a mãe naquele filme do Woody Allen, em que de cada vez que o filho sai à rua, ouve-se uma voz lá de cima a dizer-lhe para levar um casaquinho porque vai chover, ou que é melhor ir pelo caminho d...