Following the light ...

"Temporary madness may be necessary in some cases, to cleanse and renovate the mind; just as a fit of illness is to carry off the humours of the body. "

Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827

Torrent ...

"The man who thinks he can live without others is mistaken; the one who thinks others can't live without him is even more deluded."

Lisa Gerrard - Celon

Treat other people the way you would like to be treated. Respect what you cannot understand, people are different ... they think different. You may think that they are all wrong, but it is quite possible that they think the same of you.

Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others. 

Frustration is part of life, we will always wish that the people we care will understand what we want them to understand, but we also need to accept that maybe it will never happen, and if does not happen  ... I choose to be compassionate instead of infuriated, this is the feeling  I expect from the others when I am the one that cannot understand. 

Maybe I am not what people would like me to be, but I am afraid it cannot be helped. 

I feel free ... I am just me ...

I will not pursue the butterflies, I will just sit quietly here and wait for them to pass by  ...

Notre Dame Cathedral - Paris

Notre Dame de Paris (French for Our Lady of Paris), also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France.

On the spot where this majestic cathedral now stands, the Romans had built a temple to Jupiter, which was followed by a Christian basilica and then a Romanesque church (the Cathedral of St. Etienne, founded by Childebert in 528).

The building is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. The first period of construction dates from 1163 to 1345. 

Notre-Dame has had an eventful history over the centuries. Crusaders prayed there before leaving on their holy wars, and polyphonic music developed in the cathedral. Notre-Dame was pillaged during the French revolution, as were a number of other cathedrals throughout France. Citizens mistook statues of saints above the portals on the west front for representations of their kings, and, in the midst of their revolutionary fervor, took them down. Some of these statues were found in the 1970s, almost two hundred years later, in the Latin Quarter. Many of the cathedral's other treasures were either destroyed or plundered — only the great bells avoided being melted down. Revolutionaries dedicated the cathedral first to the cult of Reason, and then to the cult of the Supreme being. The church interior was used as a warehouse for the storage of food.

Pictures taken in 2008 when  I had the pleasure of visiting Paris

During the 19th century, writer Victor Hugo and artists such as Ingres called attention to the dangerous state of disrepair into which the Cathedral had fallen, raising a new awareness of its artistic value. Whereas 18th-century neoclassicists had virtually ignored the creations of the Middle Ages — and had even replaced the stained glass at Notre-Dame with normal glass, the 19th-century romantics saw that remote period with new eyes and greater appreciation.

In his restoration of the cathedral (begun in 1844 and lasting 23 years), Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc reinstated the triforium and small clerestory windows in the eastern bay of the nave. The sculpture on the west facade, badly damaged during the French Revolution, was also restored during this period.

Besides bringing new life to the windows and the statues, Viollet-le-Duc combined scientific research with his own very personal creative ideas and designed Notre-Dame's spire, a new feature of the building, and the sacristy. Also in the 19th century, Baron Haussmann (Napoléon III's urban planner) evicted those Parisians whose houses cluttered the Cathedral's vicinity. The houses were torn down to permit better views of the edifice.

During the Commune of 1871, the Cathedral was nearly burned by the Communards — and some accounts suggest that indeed a huge mound of chairs was set on fire in its interior. Whatever happened, Notre-Dame survived the Commune essentially unscathed.

Yet it is the art of Notre-Dame, rather than its history, that still awes. The west front contains 28 statues representing the monarchs of Judea and Israel. The three portals depict, the Last Judgment; the Madonna and Child; St. Anne, the Virgin's mother; and Mary's youth until the birth of Jesus. The interior, with its slender, graceful columns, is impressive — there is room for as many as 6,000 worshipers. The three rose windows — to the west, north, and south — are masterful, their colors a glory to behold on a sunny day.

Just magnificent ... unforgettable ...  

The thoughts that change ...

“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.”

 Buddha 

Moonrock - Ill street blues

Kecak - Balinese Monkey Chant

Kecak was originally a trance ritual accompanied by male chorus, has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance. Wayan Limbak in collaboration with the German painter and musician Walter Spies who became deeply interested in the ritual while living in Bali in the 1930s, worked to recreate it into a drama. The Kecak tells the Indian story of Ramayana Rama, a warrior and heir to the throne of Ayodya, is exiled with his wife Sita to a faraway desert. There, an evil king spies Sita, falls in love with her, and sends a golden deer to lure Rama away. Sita is captured, and Rama rounds up his armies to defeat those of the evil king and rescue her.

Ramayana and Sita 

The men are both the choir and the props, providing the music for the story in a series of constant vocal chants that change with the mood of the actors. They don't sit still, either, they wave their arms to simulate fire, and reposition themselves around the stage to represent wind and fire, prison cells, and unseen hand of protection from the gods.

Free your soul ...

“Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be ...

Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before.”

 Erich Fromm  

Clannad - Hunter

Inner Peace ...

"People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves." 

Paulo Coelho

The Ballistic Brothers - Uschi's Groove

Past is the ultimate delusion ...
Past is the reason why nobody can read my eyes anymore ...
Sometimes we need to kill part of ourselves to be able to evolve ...
We cannot escape from the pain as it is part of the process, but as anything else in this world ... pain is temporary ... 

The power resides in your thoughts, they will set you free ...
I have found my real self inside of my inner solitude ...
I walk around and I smile in the dark ... it makes me feel alive ...
I live this remarkable moment of my life on my own ... just the way it is supposed to be ... 

It is all about acceptance ...

If you want know where I am, you will find me smiling in the dark ...

We Can Fly by Rue Du Soleil

"We sometimes feel that we have been really understood, but it was always long ago, by someone now dead."

Mignon McLaughlin

Narcissus by Caravaggio

“All mortals tend to turn into the things they are pretending to be.”

C.S. Lewis 

This painting was completed in 1599 and it is currently exhibited at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome.

About the myth of Echo and Narcissus 

According to the myth, a young girl named Echo falls in love with a vain youth named Narcissus. He was the son of a woman that the river god had encircled with the windings of his streams, thus trapping and seducing her. Worried for her son’s welfare, she consulted a prophet regarding his future. The prophet reports: Narcissus "will live to a ripe old age, as long as he never knows himself."

One day when Narcissus was out hunting, Echo follows him through the woods, longing to address him but was unable to speak first (to avoid repeating Narcissus words). When Narcissus finally heard her footsteps he shouted "Who is there?" Echo answered "...is there? ...is there?" And so it went, until finally Echo showed herself and rushed to embrace Narcissus. He pulled away and vainly told her to leave him alone. Narcissus left Echo heartbroken and she spent the rest of her life lonely and pining away for the love she never knew. Only her voice remained.

Eventually Narcissus became thirsty and went to drink from a stream. As he saw his reflection, he fell in love with it, not knowing that it was him. As he bent down to kiss it, it seemed to "run away" and he was heartbroken. He grew thirstier but he wouldn't touch the water for fear of damaging his reflection, so he eventually died of thirst and staring at his own reflection. The narcissus flower is closely identified with the boy and was said to spring from the ground around the pool where Narcissus died. 

The only love he ever knew was the echo of his own voice ...

The mysterious Count of St. Germain

I accidentally came across this figure few days ago and since then I can't stop thinking about how interesting the human kind and their minds work. Minds that crave an explanation for things that cannot be explained. Minds that create myths and legends to fulfil the empty space of our existence.

I heard of St. Germain many years ago when I was still a teenager, this mystical character it is according to its followers the spirit of freedom and preservation of nations. Some have even compared him to Jesus. The violet flame is his symbol, the freedom flame. This is the image I remember seeing at the time when I heard about him for the first time.

But, curiously the St. Germain I stumbled into few days ago, looked a little bit different. He was man of the eighteenth century, but there are no record of his birth, death and his real identity. 

And this is how he looked like ... 

He was considered a genius in art, music, politics and alchemy. Very popular figure at the time and loved by all women. 

But what was so mysterious about him? What's the connection between these two men ?

In the 1760's even though he looked like 40 , many people believed he was 150 years old. So he became known as the man who would not die.

In Europe important people like Voltaire and King Louis XV of France were fascinated by him.

It is said he learned in India how to remove flaws of diamonds and change ordinary metals to gold. He was was also reputed to have the ability to produce the Elixir of Life (also known as the elixir of immortality). He spoke at least dozen languages so fluently that every country he visited he was accepted as a native.

He had a very special diet and never ate in public. He was also involved on secret societies. He  was very influential, and according to memoirs, he had a great knowledge about history, he was so convincing telling all the stories that made people think he had been part of the events. The eldest people in society claimed they met him for at least five decades, but he never aged. 

St. Germain never confirmed or denied anything said about him. 

Nobody really knowswho he was, but it is believed he was the third son of Francis II Rákóczi, the Prince of Transylvania, that travelled secretly to Florence after his father lost his power. There is also a theory that he was protected by the Medici family which would explain his extraordinary education and appreciation of the fine art.

After reading about St. Germain's story, I decided to look for any connection between the St Germain I heard about when I was young and this fellow. So I was surprised when I found out they were the same man. 

According to the occultism, St. Germain is still very much alive and have reincarnated many times and one of these times he came back as the Count. His followers believe he has reincarnated previously as:

-> A ruler of a Golden Age civilization in the Sahara Desert

-> A High Priest of Atlantis

-> Prophet Samuel

-> Saint Joseph —Essene and protector of Jesus

-> Saint Alban

-> Proclus, the last major Greek Neoplatonic philosopher

-> Merlin

-> Roger Bacon

-> Christopher Columbus

-> Francis Bacon

The myths, legends and speculations about St. Germain began to be widespread in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and continue today. 

He seemed to be an extraordinary man, but no, I don't believe he is still alive. To me it is really just a legend, but it made me think how creative human beings are when they need to justify our existence, we create myths, legends and churches, we hear voices, we fool ourselves.

At the end of the day all we want is to make sure we are not alone in this world, and that I can understand very well, I feel the same. We all need something to believe in ...

“Myth is an attempt to narrate a whole human experience, of which the purpose is too deep, going too deep in the blood and soul, for mental explanation or description.”

D.H. Lawrence

Transfatty Acid by Lamb

“There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.”

Stop ... learn ... and return ...

“Like a morning dream, life becomes more and more bright the longer we live, and the reason of everything appears more clear. What has puzzled us before seems less mysterious, and the crooked paths look straighter.”

Jean Paul Richter

Art appreciation

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

This is a special post, it is based on one of William Kloss' lectures on European art.

How to look at art with understanding and pleasure ?

To be able to appreciate a work of art, we need to understand it, to be able to understand it we need to take in consideration five important elements:

* SUBJECT

* INTERPRETATION

* STYLE

* CONTEXT

* EMOTION

Every work of art has a subject. The way the subject is expressed, is the artist's interpretation of that subject. The artistic means of interpretation is the artist's style (which is not the same as the style of the period, but they are both related). The context is about the moment lived by the artist, it could be a particular moment of their private lives, it could be a political moment - like a revolution for example or a historical period. The emotion is instinctive, the feeling experienced by the artist and the viewer. To be able to understand the emotion, it is required that we test it against the other information collected by the study of the other elements.

Understanding the history behind the artwork, the myths, the facts is essential.

I have been moved by art for quite some time, I am not sure when exactly it started, I just feel like I was touched at some point and since then I have been intrigued by my own curiosity.

My favourite art movements are the Renaissance and Baroque, the context of the period was Christianity, consequently most of the artworks produced at that time were religious. Even thought I believe in God, I am not a religious person, but while studying the subject I realized that we don't have to believe to be moved by art the art expression, we just need to feel it, connect to it.

To illustrate a little bit of the elements Professor Kloss chose a very famous painting by Caravaggio - Saint Matthew and the Angel

This is the first version of the painting commissioned to decorate a church and rejected as improper.

This is the original Caravaggio's interpretation of the subject, he shows Saint Matthew as an illiterate, the position of the body shows focus on the mental challenge, the angel is holding his hand, writing the gospels for him. The angel does not look divine, he is solid physical, earthly. Saint Matthew looked like any dispossessed person of that time would look like.

Caravaggio wanted the viewer to identify themselves to St. Matthew's figure, because the poor people were the people that did not know how to read, they were the ones that needed painting to help them to understand the gospel.

This painting was destroyed after it was rejected by its commissioners.

The second version of the painting is called The inspiration of Saint Matthew, really beautiful, but its originality was lost. The artist's interpretation was removed as well the emotion.

This version shows St. Matthew well dressed and completely literate. The angel is in the air, there is no physical contact, it is just an inspiration. The figure of St. Matthew is painted further back, which gives an impression of distance from the figure to the viewer, like a suggestion that "we are not the same". The original painting shows exactly the opposite.

This painting is displayed at Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi (Rome, Italy), it was completed in 1602.

The new perfume by John William Godward

“The act of smelling something, anything, is remarkably like the act of thinking. Immediately at the moment of perception, you can feel the mind going to work, sending the odour around from place to place, setting off complex repertories through the brain, polling one center after another for signs of re recognition, for old memories and old connection.”

Lewis Thomas

My past safely resides inside of my olfactory memory ... it is like a book full of pictures ... pictures that move, weep and shout .... 

This artwork was completed in 1914 and it is part of a private collection. 

Equilibrium ...

“To find the point where hypothesis and fact meet; the delicate equilibrium between dream and reality; the place where fantasy and earthly things are metamorphosed into a work of art; the hour when faith in the future becomes knowledge of the past; to lay down one's power for others in need; to shake off the old ordeal and get ready for the new; to question, knowing that never can the full answer be found; to accept uncertainties quietly, even our incomplete knowledge of God; this is what man's journey is about.”

Lillian Smith 

Magic solitude ...

“Solitude is such a potential thing. We hear voices in solitude, we never hear in the hurry and turmoil of life; we receive counsels and comforts, we get under no other condition . . .”

For some moments in life there are no words ...

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam ... 

And for a brief moment its glory and beauty belong to our world
But then it flies again ... and though we wish it could have stayed...
We feel lucky to have seen it.

Ulysses by Dead Can Dance

"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf."

Metamorphosis ...

"It may seem paradoxical to say that we have been expelled from the present, but it is a feeling we have all had at some moment. Some of us experienced it first as a condemnation, later transformed into consciousness and action. The search for the present is neither the pursuit of an earthly paradise nor that of a timeless eternity: it is the search for a real reality.

We pursue it in its incessant metamorphoses yet we never manage to trap it. It always escapes: each encounter ends in flight. We embrace it and it disappears immediately: it was just a little air. It is the instant, that bird that is everywhere and nowhere. We want to trap it alive but it flaps its wings and vanishes in the form of a handful of syllables. We are left empty-handed. Then the doors of perception open slightly and the other time appears, the real one we were searching for without knowing it: the present, the presence."

Octavio Paz

I have finally found myself ....metamorphosed ... but still ... myself ... I am ready for the questions that don't have answers. I am ready to continue my journey.

Between Hope and Fear by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema

I finally found the right place for my spirit, now my body is ill ... what a funny thing life is ...
I guess this is just a small price to pay for all the lessons I have learned. I am sure tomorrow is going to be a better day, the day to celebrate the fact that life always goes on ... bodies are easier to fix than souls ... 

"As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others."

Robert Schuller

Hopefully it won't last until tomorrow ...

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

Lance Armstrong 

St John the Baptist by Leonardo Da Vinci

“There is nothing as mysterious as something clearly seen.”

Completed between 1513 and 1516,  it is now exhibited at the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France. Derived from a lost Leonardo painting of the Angel of the Annunciation, St. John proclaims the arrival of Christ directly to the spectator, exuding an air of cosmic mystery. 

The atmospheric mood of the work is largely due to the impressive use of sfumato, or “smoky” effect, achieved by Leonardo through technical experiment and the scientific study of light and shade during the final years of his career. By applying layers of thin translucent varnish, the artist created a wide range of shadows, blurring the contours into soft transitions between light and shade to achieve an unprecedented plasticity in the figure.

St. John appears to be illuminated by an unknown light source outside the painting, as gentle shadows imbue his skin with a soft and delicate appearance.

Recent discovery about Leonardo's technique 

Scientists have discovered how Leonardo managed to achieve his trademark smoky effect, known as sfumato, on the painting - by applying up to 40 layers of extremely thin glaze.

Using X-rays to study Leonardo's paintings, the researchers were able to see how the layers of glaze and paint had been built up to varying levels on different areas of the picture. With the drying times for the glaze taking months, such effects would have taken years to achieve.

The scientists also suspect that he used his fingers to apply the glaze as there are no visible brush marks or contours.

Da Vinci is known to have employed the sfumato effect to seamlessly blend shading and blur outlines, but the exact techniques used have long intrigued art experts. 

I am just another stranger ...

“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.”

 Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Mercy Street by Peter Gabriel

"Life takes us by surprise and orders us to move towards the unknown even when we don't want to ... even when we think we don't need to."