Camus on the Spiritual

"Whatever we may do, excess will always keep its place in the heart of man, in the place where solitude is found. We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes and our ravages. But out task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them in ourselves and in others. Rebellion, the secular will not to surrender of which Barres speaks, is still today at the basis of the struggle. Origin of form, source of real life, it keeps us always erect in the savage, formless movement of history."

What does Camus mean when he marries excess and solitude in the church of the human heart?

Camus on Rebellion and Man

Camus introduces The Rebel:

"...the reasons for rebellion cannot be explained except in terms of an inquiry into its attitudes pretensions, and conquests. Perhaps we may discover in its achievements the rule of action that the absurd has not been able to give us; an indication, at least, about the right or the duty to kill and, finally, hope for anew creation. Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is. The problem is to know whether this refusal can only lead to the destruction of himself and of others, whether all rebellion must end in the justification of universal murder, or whether, on the contrary, without laying claim to an innocence that is impossible, it can discover the principle of reasonable culpability."

Let's hope he finds a solution.

Hamlet on the Subjugation of Beauty to Self

".... indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erchanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire: why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals; and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; nor woman neither...."

Forty-third day

And there, right where the lights filter
cigarette stench thick,
on plastic chairs, stuck in a blur,
common, alone, thinking

Alone; and then your mind your world,
cosmos and towers dark
towering in your head; yet still
unhurried, loneliness

In infinitude; don't ask what
is worth the time you have,
to make westing, chaos the womb
grave of Nature, a lone
nightingale floats life calmly,
quiet strings shiver, her song.

First day

This morning I had one of those rare feelings of excitement. Who knew that a good cup of coffee, a crisp bite in the air, and a cafe full of healthy, happy people could invest such a feeling of living in my vest? It could be the anticipation of a worthy challenge, or the open door of the future, or Goethe's worldly yet deeply personal verses expressed by Dr Faust that accompanied the cafe creme sitting in front of me and made me taste the very wind brushing over the cobbled streets and flying through the orange-tinted trees. despite the want of permanent lodging or any knowledge of tomorrow, i felt like grabbing the nearest violin and having my way with it. it was eternal youth that flowed through my veins just for an instant, grasping the very straws of permanence that are so often mistaken for real, live straws, straws that limit the intake of your preferred beverage; is it moderation that is so grotesque, or is it this one-sided conversation which lives without structure or direction that can turn any talk of rejuvenation into nonsense? with your best interests at heart, I will now relinquish the proverbial pen, pull up my socks and move onto my much-needed french lessons; wish me good mental health.

Bringing Higher Education back to Reality

Read Charles Murray's (Wiki) article in the Journal: College is a Waste of Time

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121858688764535107.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Should I call this one... pointless?

"Once, when I was about twenty-five and not yet entirely aware of the extremity of my unclubbability, I did try to go to a writers conference. Thirty minutes into the keynote address I had a migraine. It turns out I have an aversion to cooperative endeavors of all sorts. I couldn’t imagine making a play or movie, for instance; so many people involved. I don’t like orchestral music. I don’t like team sports. I love the solitary, the hermetic, the cranky self-taught. Make mine the desert saints, the pole-sitters, the endurance cyclists, the artist who paints rocks cast from bronze so that they look exactly like the rocks they were cast from; you can’t tell the difference when they’re side by side. It took her years to do a pocketful. You just know she doesn’t go to art conferences. Certainly not zillion-strong international ones, giant wheeling circuses of panel discussions."

says Kay Ryan (poets.org; wiki), our new poet laureate, in her article, I Go to AWP.

Assessing the new poet laureate.

Enjoy

Comment dit t'on...

What is there to say about l'Institut de Francais? Too many things of interest. I will come back to this topic later. For the time being I'll just mention something almost completely unrelated, that is, the most remarkable drawings to ever have been created. I'm sure you've read the article on the ancient cave drawings in Southern France and Northern Spain by Judith Thurman. If not, then its worth a read.

Read it here>>>

"Modern Life" in poetry

Interesting verse (examples from Joan Houlihan's review of Matthea Harvey's new book of poems Modern Life):

I put on my coat of pastilles and glass and hit the road
with a Phillips screwdriver. Dog Pants. The way out is in,
cried a newly promoted magpie. Look inside me, Trojan
the Horse said. Someone succumbed to a shape of stars.
Someone folded in like an Robo-accordian. Someone
smelled a herd of centipedes. Someone wondered why
poetry so publicly acclaimed could be so barren of life.

Read More>>>

Required reading

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (and Wiki). I like this guy. He speaks espresso-black, concrete blocks of Truth. This is a man with a ferocious ego. Read it.

A simple illustration:

He reads for 60 hours a week, but almost never a newspaper, and he never watches television.

“If something is going on, I hear about it. I like to talk to people, I socialise. Television is a waste of time. Human contact is what matters.”

But the biggest rule of all is his eccentric and punishing diet and exercise programme. He’s been on it for three months and he’s lost 20lb. He’s following the thinking of Arthur De Vany, an economist – of the acceptable type – turned fitness guru. The theory is that we eat and exercise according to our evolved natures. Early man did not eat carbs, so they’re out. He did not exercise regularly and he did not suffer long-term stress by having an annoying boss. Exercise must be irregular and ferocious – Taleb often does four hours in the gym or 360 press-ups and then nothing for 10 days. Jogging is useless; sprinting is good. He likes to knacker himself completely before a long flight. Stress should also be irregular and ferocious – early men did not have bad bosses, but they did occasionally run into lions.

Read more>>>