Pascal and the Hubble Deep Field

Pascal was frightened (Pensées 206) of the infinite spaces...
but do we see the "Hubble (Ultra/Extreme) Deep Field" as awesome,
or awful?
(aside from the psychological fact that such is only infinitesimally relevant to most humans in their lives, and the likely physical-ontological fact that we are only infinitesimally relevant to "it")

Heilsgeschichte?

Bildungsgeschichte?

Origen, Eusebius, Augustine, Orosius

in the direction of the history of meaning made or found in "History", the "allegorizing" of Origen, the interpretive flexibilities of Eusebius, Augustine and Orosius, reveal their dreamy assumptions of being able to speak of and for "God". a dreaminess that still continues with many today. they were not really awake.
perhaps interesting to read of Nietzsche on them; and to see how complexly Feuerbach considered their personal interpretive projections

post-historical contemplation of the mundane?

if, in deeper recognition, the varied traditional religions must be seen as anachronistic, passe and provincial -- if one cannot simply turn to their saints, startzi, holy men, gurus, hermits, for some "ultimate" evaluation of earthly life...what can be the inner (and outer) position of a contemplative, one who wishes to see the mundane world sub specie aeternitatis in a global age (which is, in deeper recognition, religiously plural, if not post-religious, and also post-modern)? from which position might they speak?

Emerson contra Faust

Depths of persons, perspectives, cultures and influences are revealed when Emerson said to Charles Eliot Norton in London (in April 1873 -- after RWE's trip in Egypt, and before returning to the Massachusetts with CEN): "I hate 'Faust'. It is a bad book." (Letter of Charles Eliot Norton, vol. 1, p. 488; Journal, London, April 20-May 10, 1873)

Transcendental Emerson < > Cynical Carlyle

after meetings with Carlyle, Emerson, Darwin, et al in London in April 1873, Charles Eliot Norton characterized the difference between Carlyle and Emerson in a letter so:
"They have grown apart; content with the world is the humor of one, discontent with it that of the other. Both, however, are alike in the underlying tenderness and sweetness of their souls. Emerson finds Carlyle too cynical, Carlyle finds Emerson too transcendental; daily intercourse is not delightful, but each recognizes in the other the highest gifts of nature..." (Letter of Charles Eliot Norton, vol. 1, p. 485-486; letter to J. R. Lowell, April 20, 1873)

an ideal life

few live by ideas, the others sleep

just another day?

try not

the missing half

that there is some ideal, completing 'other half' is a dreamy belief which current presence cannot be fully accounted for by a mere history of/and transmission of chivalric and romantic idea(l)s.

2013 anno...?

a way for many to count their age, if they have no idea it would indicate an Age.

belightening?

if one can be enlightened, why not be able to belighten some aspect of the world around

hear ye, hear ye!(?)

thinking to be able to speak about how poorly people in recent attempts at conversation had listened to what I wanted to say...found she couldn't listen either

"Are you s e e r r i ous?"

what, seriously, would be a serious person?
or a person to take seriously?

seriously? very few seem so, even in our history

beware of dog

if you handle the average Russian male as a barely trained dog, you will avoid being unexpectedly bitten.

Cathy...

...where in the world are you?

a history of ?s

a study of the stories of human questioning(s) in history

history sub specie aeternitatis?

is there some "history" which is a coherent story which endures the constant presence of  death, dearth and destruction?

idea environmental change

the history of changing idea environments and climates

herded

if smoking can be associated with being a herd act, the herd can be stopped from smoking

the vertical state of the union

if the US President's predictable "State of the Union" is a "horizontal" consideration of the USA, any real Steppenwolf would attempt to find the "vertical"

passive masses

no even their bad habits are their own

corruption?

being "corrupt" seems a true revealing of their character

how are you?

(ignoring much of the world's conditions: increasingly repressive politics here...ominously terrible air and water conditions in China...economic conditions due to human self-befoolments in the USA, Spain, Greece, Ireland...inept leadership in Europe, the US Congress and elsewhere...the growing disaster called Syria...the unsettled and unsettling, shaking and shaky social (dis)orders in eg Egypt, Libya, Tunisia...who remembers Fukushima already?...the many years of passionately-cheered deceits in sports in Europe, Australia...declining fish stocks...global warming,...) "Pretty (aside from the loneliness of a steppenwolf...unavoidable and persistent daily street-smokers...the deep sleep around me...) well. How 'bout you?"

history of the popular mind

by which ideas have people dreamed their lives

the misery of Les Misérables

a famous melody + two halves of others.
otherwise, for the thoughtless, heavy with unrealistic emotions.

merely "American"?

reflecting on an American...
"American" and individuality of person, in thought, word and deed, also in an era of history when "equality" is spread(ing) to all aspects of law, people, society, ideas, culture,...cannot but make a kind of common person(ality), which is determined by having been born (cf. natio-) in some particular family, neighborhood, socio-economic position, town/city, state, region, culture, education...in the USA which are all basically passive elements of one's personality, rather than one's active individuality being developed to surpass one's mere "nationality".
even as an idea this seems rarely present

facades people live by

not only the brazen self-righteous lies of the world 'hero' Lance Armstrong...or the widespread, years-long match fixing in European football revealed just days ago, but today's reports from sport-proud Australia of widespread, systematic drug use in sports...
the facades people live by and cheer for...
"what a least of work is man"

Goethe < > Nihilists

to discern contrasting limitations and mentalities in "Western man", it is revealing to compare Goethe and his ideas of post-mortem continuance to Nietzsche-influenced "nihilist" philosophers, for whom there is even neither a post-mortem, nor a pre-natal, void.

mis-timed

being in their mornings, most of my young friends here cannot understand my reflections on the day.

excellent!

here now few to no standards of excellence for the passive -- except material comforts with financial success.
the USSR, for better and for worse, enforced ideas of excellence in most all areas of human being.

cool, man

being cool as a way to hide their real lives from themselves

Polyglot, Historophile Cathy from the Netherlands

still looking for the Cathy 'of the Netherlands', a solicitor on sabbatical during 2012, who was in Beijing in July 2012 studying Chinese.
Talked in the Bookworm bookshop in Beijing.

RIP Russian Soul?

fill in the blanks...

RIP

"Russian Soul"

(possibly fictitious personality)

Born: ______

Died: ______

Russian soul in Mo$cow?

in prison in Omsk Dostoyevsky came to discover Christianity among even the prison's murderers.
can one still find some special aspect of "Russian soul" in the post-Soviet youth in the malls and cafes of Mo$cow?

lost

if man has no other home than this world, then it is truly lost.