Photo: R F

” by the Serpentine “

Songs of Travel

from

Songs of Travel by         Robert Louis Stevenson

… and pressed at home; and she will remember her own islands, and the shadow of the mighty tree; and she will hear the peacocks screaming in the dusk and the wind blowing in the palms; and she will think of her father sitting there alone. – R. L. S.]

FORTH from her land to mine she goes, The island maid, the island rose, Light of heart and bright of face: The daughter of a double race.

Her islands here, in Southern sun, Shall mourn their Kaiulani gone, And I, in her dear banyan shade,

There is a reason this moment is called the present — because every opportunity you get to pay attention to what’s going on is truly a gift. So if a circumstance is intense or feelings are running high, learn to focus on the reality going on in front of you rather than running away or trying to soften it with some illusion of your own making. Comprehending the totality of an experience is invaluable beyond words.

a glimpse of my heels

from

The Varieties of Religious Experience by     William James

… foregone conclusion, and I am ever too late to understand it. But at the moment of recovery from anaesthesis, just then, BEFORE STARTING ON LIFE, I catch, so to speak, a glimpse of my heels, a glimpse of the eternal process just in the act of starting. The truth is that we travel on a journey that was accomplished before we set out; and the real end of philosophy is accomplished, not when we arrive at, but when we remain in, our destination (being already there)–which may occur vicariously in this life when we cease our intellectual questioning. That is why there is a smile upon the face of the revelation, as we view it. It tells us that we are forever half a second too late– that’s all. ‘You could …

Amar a humanidade é fácil; o difícil é amar seres humanos.

Kalman Shulman

double was their love

from

Jerusalem Delivered by         Torquato Tasso

Their strength was double, double was their love.

XXXVI The noble lovers use well might you see, A wondrous guise, till then unseen, unheard, To save themselves forgot both he and she, Each other’s life did keep, defend, and guard; The strokes that gainst her lord discharged be, The dame had care to bear, to break, to ward, His shield kept off the blows bent on his dear, Which, if need be, his naked head should bear.

Reprendi l’amico tuo in segreto e laudalo in paleso.
Leonardo da Vinci

renaissance style artwork

um fragmento do livre universo

de

A Obra Ao Negro de Marguerite Yourcenar

A estrada plana, ladeada de choupos, apresentava à sua frente, um fragmento do livre universo. O aventureiro do poder e o aventureiro do saber caminhavam lado a lado.

– Vêde- prosseguiu Zenão. – Para lá desta aldeia, há outras aldeias, para lá desta abadia há outras abadias, para lá desta fortaleza há outras fortalezas. E no interior de cada castelo de ideias, de cada pardieiro de opiniões sobrepostas aos pardieiros de madeira e aos castelos de pedra, a vida empareda os loucos e abre uma fresta aos sábios. Para além dos Alpes, há a Itália. Para além dos Pirinéus, a Espanha….E, por toda a parte, vales onde se recolhem os simples, rochas onde se escondem os metais, cada um dos quais simboliza um momento da Grande Obra, engrimanços colocados entre os dentes dos mortos, deuses cada qual com a sua promessa pessoal, multidões em que cada homem se apresenta como centro do universo. Quem pode haver tão insensato que se deixe morrer sem ter dado, pelo menos uma volta à sua prisão?

La perfezione dell’uomo consiste proprio nello scoprire le proprie imperfezioni.
Sant’Agostino