Sunday, June 28, 2009
On The benefits of the Elixir according to Cyliani
Friday, May 22, 2009
The valley of the Dead Dry Bones
Friday, March 27, 2009
The Two Paths to Freedom
The Old Masters of the Grand Way recognized Four main paths to Freedom, as clearly stipulated in this fragment from the Chemical Marriage of Christian Rosenkreuz (second day):
*****************************************
Hospes salve: si quid tibi forsitan de nuptiis Regis auditum.Verba haec perpende. Quatuor viarum optionem per nos tibi sponsusoffert, per quas omnes, modo non in devias delabaris, ad Regiamejus aulam pervenire possis. Prima brevis est, sed periculosa, etquae te in varios scopulos deducet, ex quibus vix te expedirelicebit. Altera longior, quae circumducet te, non abducet, planaea est, et facilis, si te Magnetis auxilio, neque ad dextrum,neque finistrum abduci patieris. Tertia, vere Regia est, quae pervarias Regis nostri delicias et spectacula viam tibi reddetjucundam. Sed quod vix millesimo hactenus obtigit. Per quartamnemini hominum licebit ad Regiam pervenire, ut pote, quaeconsumens, et non nisi corporibus incorruptibilibus conveniensest. Elige nunc ex tribus quam velis, et in ea constans permane.Scito autem quamcunque ingressus fueris: ab immutabili Fato tibiita destinatum, nec nisi cum maximo vitae periculo regredi fasesse.
God save thee, stranger! If thou hast heard anything concerning the nuptials of the King, consider these words. By us doth the Bridegroom offer thee a choice between four ways, all of which, if thou dost not sink down in the way, can bring thee to his royal court. The first is short but dangerous, and one which will lead thee into rocky places, through which it will be scarcely possible to pass. The second is longer, and takes thee circuitously; it is plain and easy, if by the help of the Magnet, thou turnest neither to left nor right. The third is that truly royal way which through various pleasures and pageants of our King, affords thee a joyful journey; but this so far has scarcely been allotted to one in a thousand. By the fourth shall no man reach the place, because it is a consuming way, practicable only for incorruptible bodies. Choose now which thou wilt of the three, and persevere constantly therein, for know which soever thou shalt enter, that is the one destined for thee by immutable Fate, nor canst thou go back therein save at great peril to life. These are the things which we would have thee know, but, ho, beware! thou knowest not with how much danger thou cost commit thyself to this way, for if thou knowest thyself by the smallest fault to be obnoxious to the laws of our King, I beseech thee, while it is still possible, to return swiftly to thy house by the way thou camest
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I shall only contemplate here the two main ones, known as the DRY PATH (Via Sicca) and the HUMID PATH (Via Humida), as the other two are mixed ones (the third is the Amalgamated path, and the last one is the Royal Path, the fastest but also the most dangerous). Also, I shall confine myself to their image in the human domain, which is paramount.Both ways tackle the problem of WILL. How can I manage to go beyond my petty self, and escape from my own trap?
The two ways bifurcate.
The Dry Path says: from now on , TAKE FULL CHARGE AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL YOU DO. LEARN TO WILL. STOP COMPLAINING, FINDING EXCUSE.SELECT, INVESTIGATE, CHOOSE, AND , STEP BY STEP, BECOME THE MASTER OF YOUR OWN LIFE
The Humid Path says: from now on, RELINQUISH YOUR PETTY LIKES AND DISLIKES, DECIDE NOT, GIVE IN, GIVE UP. THOU SHALT NOT CHOOSE. JUST SAY: LET THY WILL BE DONE, AND LIVE
Striving for full control, striving to lose any control..... what could be more different? Yet, the Sages assure us that the two paths, Fire and Water, both lead us to ultimate perfection.
Two characters: one, the Magician & Doer, the other, the Mystic & Poet.
They shall meet again at the end...
Sunday, March 1, 2009
A sentence by Emile Cioran
Cioran was a consummate master of lapidary aphorisms.
Here is one, dear to my heart:
On ne réfléchit que parce qu'on se dérobe à l'acte.
Penser, c'est être en retrait.
We reflect for no other reason than to avoid doing.
To think, is to be in withdrawal
It is true. I have pondered enough. To me, now, there is nothing else but Doing.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
A sentence by David Lindsay
A couple of years ago, after stumbling upon Colin Wilson' s pronouncement that " Voyage to Arcturus is the greatest novel of the XX Century", I rushed to read David Lindsay's masterpiece, and other works of this neglected master. Lindsay was also a philosopher of sort, and some of his aphorisms are truly sparkling. Here is one, which I shall use in my own autobiography:
The conditions for extreme mental suffering are these; a strong will, a tender heart, and a clear intellect.
A strong will, a tender heart, and a clear intellect. Three pieces, with the middle one loose.
A sure recipe for pain..
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Musical Rambling XI: Eivør Pálsdóttir 's vocal magic
After the mesmerizing photos of the brave Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir I feel like indulging a bit more in this country of sagas, this last speck of Dreamland, the far north....
And what could be better than the voice of Eivør Pálsdóttir? There was a time in which music was magic, conjuring the elementals, and the voice was the wand which commanded the unknown..
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Labels: Eivør Pálsdóttir, icelandic music, musical ramblings
Monday, November 10, 2008
Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir's Fairish World
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Poetry Readings VIII: Stef Grassi's Frosty Trap
A minimal metrical editing has been done by myself.
Sapesse
ricalcare
E il fuoco
starmi
Preparerei
cumuli
per farlo
Ingoiando
dalla bocca
Ma troppo
è stato
per poter
e vedere
ciò che
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Labels: contemporary poetry, poetry readings, Stefania Grassi
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Musical Rambling X: Libre Vermell

The Libre Vermell found in the monastery of Monserrat is a magnificent example of sacred music with an underlying profane texture.
It is precisely this mix of religious and secular, holy and earthly, that fascinates me to the extreme.
Here is one of the 10 surviving songs, Cuncti sumus conanentes, in the magisterial direction of Jordi Savall.
Earth and Heaven are not that far, if our hearts are open..
Friday, September 26, 2008
Poetry Reading VI: From Daumal to Pradal
Rene' Daumal was no minor fellow: in his brief life he managed to be a mountain climber, a writer, an orientalist, a poet, and most important of all, a Truth Seeker.
Recently I have found a small poem of his which left an indelible impression when I first read it, years ago. Here it is:
Je suis mort parce que je n’ai pas de désir,
Je n’ai pas de désir parce que je crois posséder,
Je crois posséder parce que je n’essaye pas de donner.
Essayant de donner, on voit qu’on n’a rien,
Voyant qu’on n’a rien, on essaye de se donner,
Essayant de se donner, on voit qu’on n’est rien,
Voyant qu’on n’est rien, on désire devenir,
Désirant devenir, on vit..."
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I have died because I do not have desires,
I do not have desires because I think that I own,
I think that I own because I do not try to give.
Trying to give, one see that one has nothing,
Seeing that one has nothing, on tries to give oneself,
Trying to give oneself, one seer that he is nothing,
Seeing that he is nothing, one desires to become,
Desiring to become, one lives...
(poor translation is mine)
*********************************
Now comes the funny part: after I posted it somewhere on the Social Web, Caroline Pradal, a french artist and a contributing member of AristoKracy, wrote this small poem in reply (she of course retains the copyright of this delicious creature), which I found witty and lovely (and I am sure Daumal, were he still alive, would forget her little "impertinence"):
Je suis en vie parce que je n'ai que des désirs,
J'ai des désirs parce que je les possède,
Je les possède parce que je les donne.
Essayant de donner, on voit que l'on a tout,
Voyant qu'on a tout, on essaye de ne rien donner,
Essayant de ne rien donner, on voit que l'on est Tout.
Voyant que l'on est Tout, on ne désire plus Etre,
Désirant ne plus Etre, on meurt...
***********************************
I am alive because I have only desires,
I have desires because I own them,
They are mine because I give them.
Trying to give, you see that you have everything
Seeing that you have everything, you try not to give
Trying not to give, you see that you are All.
Seeing that you are All, it no longer wants to Be,
Desiring not to Be, you die ...
(translation by Caroline Pradal, all rights reserved)
Saturday, September 6, 2008
The Theological Dream of C.S. Lewis
The same friend who prompted me to look into Chesterton is the motor behind my current reading: I am happily finishing The Great Divorce, by Clive Staples Lewis.
It is a small book, so small one can easily carry it in a pocket. Nevertheless, it is filled with wisdom, and uncanny insights. One wonders if it is only the product of a fertile fantasy, or something more..
What I found ironic here is that it was written as a response to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, by William Blake. And yet, as different as their vision of the beyond is, these two bright fellows agree on one thing: the door to Heaven are in forgiveness.
Nay, not just forgiveness, that has been repeated ad nauseam.
Forgetfulness is the right word. Forgetting the evil we received and we imparted, that is the key.
Hell remembers, Heaven forgets..
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Poetry Readings V: Lispector's Dangerous Clarity
Scouring Youtube for a recitation of Clarice Lispector 's A dangerous Clarity I found these two videos. Which one to choose? The first one energetic, vigorous, almost dry, the second more intimistic, introspective, refleshingly humid. I feel a tad like Buridan's ass. Well, there is a way out: I shall not choose. They are both right. A poem, a real one, has many identities, it supports an almost endless number of interpretations. A poem is reborn each time is recited. Always the same, always different.
Hear the voice of the most dangerous clarity.
A Lucidez Perigosa
Estou sentindo uma clareza tão grande
que me anula como pessoa atual e comum:
é uma lucidez vazia, como explicar?
Assim como um cálculo matemático perfeito
do qual, no entanto, não se precise.
Estou por assim dizer
vendo claramente o vazio.
E nem entendo aquilo que entendo:
pois estou infinitamente maior que eu mesma,
e não me alcanço.
Além do que:
que faço dessa lucidez?
Sei também que esta minha lucidez
pode-se tornar o inferno humano
- já me aconteceu antes.
Pois sei que
- em termos de nossa diária
e permanente acomodação
resignada à irrealidade -
essa clareza de realidade
é um risco.
Apagai, pois, minha flama, Deus,
porque ela não me serve para viver os dias.
Ajudai-me a de novo consistir
dos modos possíveis.
Eu consisto,
eu consisto,
amém.
my translation:
The Dangerous Lucidity
I am feeling a clarity so great
that erases me as a real and common person:
it is an empty clarity, how to explain?
like a perfect mathematical calculation
which, however, is not needed.
I am as, it were,
seeing clearly the void.
Nor do I understand what I see
for I am infinitely greater than me
and I do not reach myself.
Besides:
what do I do with this clarity?
I also know that this clarity of mine
can turn into a human hell
- it happened to me already-
Thus I know that
- in terms of our daily
and permanent arrangements
resigned to unreality-
this clarity of reality
is a risk.
Quench, God, my flame
for it doesn't help me to live the days.
Help me to consist
of the possible modes.
I consist,
I consist,
amen.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Musical Rambling IX: Sainte Colombe's pensive viola da gamba
I owe to a great friend the lucky discovery of the austere delights of music for viola da gamba. Amongst the greatest practitioners one must number the Sieur de Sainte Colombe, whose aloofness in life is magnificently reflected in his impeccable music.
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Labels: baroque music, musical ramblings, viola da gamba
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Ibsen's oxymoric farewell message

Recently I have been taken by the fancy of writing a play. As I have absolutely no precedent to rely upon, I decided to follow the old adage: climb on the shoulders of giants. There is hardly any giant in the world of modern playwriting larger than Henrik Ibsen (just look at his stately face, it tells volumes about the man).
So I have spent a few days reading some of his late plays. It would be quite tempting to indulge in some impromptu ramblings on these monumental works, particularly because I have watched Master Builder in the 1960 interpretation starring E.G. Marshall and Lois Smith, a truly outstanding performance.
I shall leave Ibsen's plays and characters to another time. Reading bits of his biography, I found out about his senile love for the young Emilie Bardach, with whom he corresponded for a while, and to whom the impetuous character of Hilde in Master Builder is perhaps inspired.
Here is his last message to Emile, dated September 20, 1889:
Hohes, schmerzliches Glück , um das Unerreichbare zu ringen
which translates:
High, painful luck, to struggle for the unattainable
Dear old Ibsen....
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Aldo Andreotti's Math Lesson
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Poetry Readings IV: Gerard De Nerval's Divine Enchantress
Je pense à toi, Myrtho, divine enchanteresse,
C'est dans ta coupe aussi que j'avais bu l'ivresse,
Je sais pourquoi, là-bas, le volcan s'est rouvert...
Depuis qu'un duc normand brisa tes dieux d'argile,
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Labels: mediterranean landscape, Myrtho, Nerval, pagan gods, poetry readings
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The Grail of Java Web Development
I am a java fellow, not too keen on web programming (yes, I have done J2EE, servlets, a bit of Spring, and all that jazz, but my core interest is algorithms dev, not web architectures, plus patience is most definitely not my chief virtue), thus I needed something that would get me going real fast.
Rails? yes, but I had no time to learn Ruby well enough, and moreover I had some java code I wished to reuse, without any further ado.
Is Grails scalable enough for a true enterprise app? Some say yes (I tend to believe them), some say no, but fact is, I do not know yet for sure (I''ll tell you in a while). What I do know is, if you want to develop some web prototype at the speed of light (almost), and you do not want to go out of your familiar java turf (why should you?), stick to Grails.
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Labels: Grails, Lucene, metaprogramming, web programming
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Stephen Jay Gould on Deep Time

Stephen Jay Gould's book Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle is dominated by a grand theme:
Deep Time
In our age of computers, we talk of billions of years with nonchalance. The fact that we can compute these huge expanses of time fools us into believing that we can grasp them. But, is it so? Can we genuinely understand even, say, a period of mere 100 years? I would answer in the negative. Our entire life experience is confined to a few decades at best, and the age of our grandads is already mythology.
No, we cannot understand Deep Time, beyond a sense of awe. It is thus sobering to realize that this notion is quite new in the history of ideas. Only a few hundred years ago the world was young. Then, Deep Time appeared to hunt us forever.
We are not just microbes in space, our life is ephemeral in time as well. Let us never forget how ephemeral....
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Labels: deep time, philosophy of time, stephen jay gould, time perception
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Musical Rambling VIII: Sonny Rollins' Healthy Madness
Someone once said: Energy is the Eternal Delight.
He most certainly knew what he was talking about. There are moments where you just need this one: sheer, unmitigated, unbridled energy.
When I do need it, I have a single stop to make: Sonny Rollins. Here the old powerful man is playing Tenor Madness. And madness it is, just a bit, but of the most healthy type.
Feel the vibes and be happy






