Philosophical rambles

[amicus]

I think this thread is illustrative of why I, personally, remain a member of the Lit family.

You will not appreciate my contribution, but after having read each post, from beginning to end, these are the thoughts that crossed my mind, feeble as you think it is.

There is a toilet a few doors down, through which turds migrate through a structured pipe line to a sewage center manned by workers large and small.

There are water faucets abound that supply hot and cold on demand, facilitated by more workers down the line who do their jobs and go home when the shift is over.

There is electricity that lights my reading lamp, warms or cools my abode and pushes electrons through my computer and across my monitor.

There are Cops and Firemen on duty at all hours and thousands who will wake to man the Malls and the Marts that serve us day to day.

And so it has been since the ancient Chinese 5,000 years ago, the Greeks and Romans of antiquity or 1066 in England.

Most of humanity is content to live day to day and they seldom if ever consider such as has been discussed here.

What rare creature doth rise above the commonplace and consider such issues as art and life in the hereafter?

I wonder, sometimes, about the reverence of antiquity, as I walked the streets of London and Paris, viewed the art of the Classics. And when I listen to the music of the Masters and look upon the skeletons of Tyrannosaurus Rex, or look at the myriad of stars on the open sea or sense eternity while holding a newborn child.

There is not a major poet or author that I have read and not learned from, yet, what did I learn by this wide exposure to thought and dreams? I know not the answer.

They sought, as you seek, as I seek, to comprehend, to understand, this mystery of the life we possess.

The Yin, the Yang, the Male, the Female, the Yes, the No, the active, the passive, the aggresive the submissive, the predator, the prey; all things are a part of what we are and what we will become.

The earth, upon which we live, had a beginning and will one day have an end.

Should the sun go nova tomorrow and Sol Three cease to exist, would any remembrance, anywhere, of our history exist?

We are but a speck of light in a low density neighborhood on the fringe of a medium sized galaxy named by us, the Milky Way. Whatever meaning there is to be, is within, not without.

Special thanks to the thread starter and a pleasure to see Shereads posting as I must be on ignore for many.

amicus...

 

[mismused]

delete

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

=================================================

That meditation doesn't feel like a self, or an "I," according to Bhuddhism, is that all is "emptiness." Interesting, that.

In so far as awareness and consciousness, one clinical psychologist apparently tried to tie some ideas together into something acceptable by his peers, namely that there is a tie between what pysicists have found in the universe and ourselves, and illustrates how it is we commence as atoms, and proceed. In this, he introduces a new thing that says consciousness/subconsciousness is not as such, but rather "awareness" that is variously perceived (like your analogy of what is at the periphery of the eye). I found this interesting, though not sure just how far it is in being correct, but very promising.

Only meant to be of possible interest to you, and others, perhaps. Could this be a new science deplete of religious dogma, namely just finding what is, and saying it is plainly and clearly?

I don't completely understand what you are saying, but regarding the last item, that is exactly what interests me: The idea that there is a way of looking at/perceiving consciousness that is not part of our Western tradition, but is nevertheless real and subject to empirical investigation. Further, that understanding/experiencing this increases well being.

"If it is possible to be deeply happy in the knowledge that you and everyone you ever know will die, we need to understand this!"

I will get old and sick and possibly lonely and will die. (Surveys of old people show that "sadness" is one of the main features of life after 80 or so.) If despite that I can be happy, and if this is the means to acheive that, I want to know more about it!

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Yay!!!! keep on rambling !!!

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I think this thread is illustrative of why I, personally, remain a member of the Lit family.

You will not appreciate my contribution, but after having read each post, from beginning to end, these are the thoughts that crossed my mind, feeble as you think it is.

There is a toilet a few doors down, through which turds migrate through a structured pipe line to a sewage center manned by workers large and small.

There are water faucets abound that supply hot and cold on demand, facilitated by more workers down the line who do their jobs and go home when the shift is over.

There is electricity that lights my reading lamp, warms or cools my abode and pushes electrons through my computer and across my monitor.

There are Cops and Firemen on duty at all hours and thousands who will wake to man the Malls and the Marts that serve us day to day.

And so it has been since the ancient Chinese 5,000 years ago, the Greeks and Romans of antiquity or 1066 in England.

Most of humanity is content to live day to day and they seldom if ever consider such as has been discussed here.

What rare creature doth rise above the commonplace and consider such issues as art and life in the hereafter?

I wonder, sometimes, about the reverence of antiquity, as I walked the streets of London and Paris, viewed the art of the Classics. And when I listen to the music of the Masters and look upon the skeletons of Tyrannosaurus Rex, or look at the myriad of stars on the open sea or sense eternity while holding a newborn child.

There is not a major poet or author that I have read and not learned from, yet, what did I learn by this wide exposure to thought and dreams? I know not the answer.

They sought, as you seek, as I seek, to comprehend, to understand, this mystery of the life we possess.

The Yin, the Yang, the Male, the Female, the Yes, the No, the active, the passive, the aggresive the submissive, the predator, the prey; all things are a part of what we are and what we will become.

The earth, upon which we live, had a beginning and will one day have an end.

Should the sun go nova tomorrow and Sol Three cease to exist, would any remembrance, anywhere, of our history exist?

We are but a speck of light in a low density neighborhood on the fringe of a medium sized galaxy named by us, the Milky Way. Whatever meaning there is to be, is within, not without.

Special thanks to the thread starter and a pleasure to see Shereads posting as I must be on ignore for many.

amicus...

Fabulous.

 

[Recidiva]

I don't usually often respond to art, sculpture or lots of stuff in the visual realm. I've spoken to ABS about this extensively and I won't repeat all of it, but that path into my brain seems to be out often.

My main fascination with a work of art began with Rodin and "The Caryatid Fallen Under Her Stone"

This image was haunting to me and I didn't get exactly what it was that struck me. Beautiful, but also something else.

I went so far as to get a reproduction of this piece, and I've had it for years. The depiction is of a Caryatid. The name of a woman in sculpture, one who is carved into the piece to hold up a building, as a column, as ornamentation.

Rodin had her collapsed under her stone. I'd often used this as a symbol, a meditation, something so powerful to myself.

It took me years to notice why it was particularly evocative to me. She was still carrying it. The stone wasn't cast to the side, she was still struggling to hold it.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I don't usually often respond to art, sculpture or lots of stuff in the visual realm. I've spoken to ABS about this extensively and I won't repeat all of it, but that path into my brain seems to be out often.

My main fascination with a work of art began with Rodin and "The Caryatid Fallen Under Her Stone"

This image was haunting to me and I didn't get exactly what it was that struck me. Beautiful, but also something else.

I went so far as to get a reproduction of this piece, and I've had it for years. The depiction is of a Caryatid. The name of a woman in sculpture, one who is carved into the piece to hold up a building, as a column, as ornamentation.

Rodin had her collapsed under her stone. I'd often used this as a symbol, a meditation, something so powerful to myself.

It took me years to notice why it was particularly evocative to me. She was still carrying it. The stone wasn't cast to the side, she was still struggling to hold it.

I needed to seek this out.

http://members.tripod.com/~v_m_smith/caryatid.jpg

 

[Recidiva]

I needed to seek this out.

http://members.tripod.com/~v_m_smith/caryatid.jpg

Robert Heinlein first mentioned her in "Stranger In A Strange Land" and then I was hooked on Rodin.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Robert Heinlein first mentioned her in "Stranger In A Strange Land" and then I was hooked on Rodin.

I'm still reading that by the way.

 

[Recidiva]

I'm still reading that by the way.

Yaaaaay!

I grok you, sister.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Yaaaaay!

I grok you, sister.

I'm groking stracked now....sniff.

 

[Recidiva]

I'm groking stracked now....sniff.

Strack deep, sister.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Strack deep, sister.

Sometimes my deepness surprises even me. Then I must ramble.
I was out in nature the other day contemplating the clouds and watching the fish in the pond. It gives me a oneness.

 

[Recidiva]

Sometimes my deepness surprises even me. Then I must ramble.
I was out in nature the other day contemplating the clouds and watching the fish in the pond. It gives me a oneness.

I also love the work of Rob Schouten. He has a series of paintings on certain emotions. Lynn Andrews published a "Power Deck" of his work and I just keep the cards and swap them out according to my mood. Tiny bits of resonance around me.

Here's one of my favorites, Grief:

http://www.ktcdallas.org/creative/grief/grief.htm

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I also love the work of Rob Schouten. He has a series of paintings on certain emotions. Lynn Andrews published a "Power Deck" of his work and I just keep the cards and swap them out according to my mood. Tiny bits of resonance around me.

Here's one of my favorites, Grief:

http://www.ktcdallas.org/creative/grief/grief.htm

I have been exposed to something new, thank you. I love powerful imagery.
I am also in great awe of anything carved in stone, Bernini makes me swoon.

 

[Recidiva]

I have been exposed to something new, thank you. I love powerful imagery.
I am also in great awe of anything carved in stone, Bernini makes me swoon.

I usually get stuck on the robes. "That's rock. Looks like cloth. That's so cool."

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I usually get stuck on the robes. "That's rock. Looks like cloth. That's so cool."

Yes! Exactly....how can one carve something so solid and make it look so fluid that you just want to touch it to make sure. That is fucking brilliant.

 

[Recidiva]

Yes! Exactly....how can one carve something so solid and make it look so fluid that you just want to touch it to make sure. That is fucking brilliant.

I find I'm only rarely interested in the abstract, unless it's clear how difficult it was to create the abstraction.

I seem to like accuracy, and sculpture is one of those places where you have to get in three dimensions, so I'm usually just dumbstruck at the craft.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I find I'm only rarely interested in the abstract, unless it's clear how difficult it was to create the abstraction.

I seem to like accuracy, and sculpture is one of those places where you have to get in three dimensions, so I'm usually just dumbstruck at the craft.

Same here, I'm more into realizm, my thing is that if you can see it you can understand it. Many folks look but never see things. There are so many hidden clues and mini mysteries to discover in life, we just need to stop thinking the way we do. We need to expand our personal universes.

 

[Recidiva]

Same here, I'm more into realizm, my thing is that if you can see it you can understand it. Many folks look but never see things. There are so many hidden clues and mini mysteries to discover in life, we just need to stop thinking the way we do. We need to expand our personal universes.

I remember reading about some painter that was so good, that years later someone could diagnose glaucoma from the portraits he painted.

My man.

I usually use words and song and emotions, the ephemeral stuff, to gather other people's experience, but sometimes, something physical will hit me across the chest like a plank, like the "Caryatid" and be intimately fascinating until I can figure out what exactly it is. Sometimes it's the craft, the detail, or the symbology.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I like to think that within us is a spark of divinity. We ebb and flow with the mundane until something comes along and ignites that spark and shows us things in a new light. We can choose to analyze it or enjoy it. Beauty doesn't need comprehension it just needs to be seen and made aware of and enjoyed. Even ugliness has a beauty of its own.

 

[Recidiva]

I like to think that within us is a spark of divinity. We ebb and flow with the mundane until something comes along and ignites that spark and shows us things in a new light. We can choose to analyze it or enjoy it. Beauty doesn't need comprehension it just needs to be seen and made aware of and enjoyed. Even ugliness has a beauty of its own.

That's another Rodin I love, "She Who Was Once the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife" A nude sculpture of an elderly woman. Ironically I can't find an image online.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

That's another Rodin I love, "She Who Was Once the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife" A nude sculpture of an elderly woman. Ironically I can't find an image online.

There is a story in that, I think a rather lovely one. You're going to make me go on searches now, you bitch. I never really looked into Rodin that much, I shall make it a point to do so.

 

[Recidiva]

There is a story in that, I think a rather lovely one. You're going to make me go on searches now, you bitch. I never really looked into Rodin that much, I shall make it a point to do so.

I love chases. I think that's why I loved Robert Heinlein so much, he always brought up books, art, things to go find on his recommendation. I'd look them all up. For me it was a trip to the library, didn't have the internet back then.

Treasure hunts are fun. Thomas Harris has the same fun ability to bring up cultural stuff, but half his crap is totally illegal and I'm afraid even searching for it puts me on a list somewhere. Bastard.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I love chases. I think that's why I loved Robert Heinlein so much, he always brought up books, art, things to go find on his recommendation. I'd look them all up. For me it was a trip to the library, didn't have the internet back then.

Treasure hunts are fun. Thomas Harris has the same fun ability to bring up cultural stuff, but half his crap is totally illegal and I'm afraid even searching for it puts me on a list somewhere. Bastard.

That's because some of us are natural seekers. I love to seek out new things. I like to find them in simple everyday things. I love to deeply explore the colors in a flower or absorb life in a small patch of grass.
Animals fascinate me as well. My snakes are amazing creatures, so misunderstood. To just watch the strength of an animal that has no limbs...amazing.