Protected: On remembering

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Fugue for electric guitar (Yngwie Malmsteen)

Brilliant, it is so over the top, just like Baroque music.

A

My special place (Michael)

The British Museum, and in particular, the Greek exhibit; represents literally the Areopagus to me. The ancient Greeks were the vanguard of humanity, so much so that we still learn from Aristotle today; they taught us what is beautiful, what is good, what is true. They taught us democracy, and the proper meaning of aristocracy. The Greeks taught us to admire the beauty of femininity, and not to hide it, they taught us what masculinity was; masculinity is contemplative wisdom, the aged leaders who are skilled at the art of words, and of swords.

Most of all, Aphrodite represents the eroticisation of perfect femininity to me. I’m sure that Antisophie is chastise me for saying this; but I think Aphrodite represents the peak of feminine beauty, her voluptuous curves as if to say I don’t care what you think, I am beautiful and you WILL adore me! Athene’s wisdom, her access to the world of intellect so powerful that men pale in comparison to her; yet she holds a shield and spear; Athene, perfectly wise, yet modest in dress, but fierce in battle, she is the true Athenian Idol, she is my idol; oh, how could we all be like her!

Aphrodite represents the height of attractiveness; she is sly and manipulative (as Venus, to Aeneas); she is tricky and clever, typically male characteristics, and most of all, she expresses this raw lustful beauty and eroticism about her; she’s so beautiful and sly, that no mortal can ever achieve her, no mortal man is ever worthy of her perfection. You will get burned by the claws of the Aphrodites of the world; but I don’t care…she’s worth it!

The Parthenon exhibit represents the appreciation and deference to the Greeks, it is almost as if seeing the same world that Socrates walked into as an Athenian. It is from the home of the true Areopagus; and the Acropolis. The Greeks represent the idols of my childhood, the civility that maintains my present, and the Areopagite future of a new.

The Greeks exhibit both beauty and wisdom, from Praxiteles to Plato, through Sophocles to Homer; Pausanias to Homer; they were the golden age of humanity; the stuff of dreams, the hope for the future.

The Greeks represent a passing fancy to a deep seated project for the future. They encapsulate every facet of human ideal from sexual desire to the life of contemplation. From the barred to the endorsed; they are the rose-tinted fantasy. and it is the British museum that facilitates my ridiculous fantasies; my longing to be close to those greats like Aristotle. My longing to live in a golden age of human development.

Michael

[minor eds. Sinistre]

My special place (S)

For me, the Royal Festival hall represents my love for music. This was where I discovered Rachmaninov, Brahms, Rimsky-Korsakov, and even Philip Glass. This is a place of beauty, and a place of friendship. It was during those nights when I spent during the summer with Michael, that we looked over the bridge that overshot London, that we found such immense beauty in the industrial jungle; we cound such beaty in the moment; the water passing through in the Thames; the closeness we felt, between ourselves as friends, and the intimacy and merging we felt in the embrace of the music. This place was going to be the place where I was going to meet my first love. It never worked out that way, but I still adore this location.

Sinistre

Protected: Reasons I like Stephen Fry…(On cultural archetypes)

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Protected: Two bugbears

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My special place (D)

Chelsea old church. When Michael comes to visit and we meet up in London; we find this place very special. More is a man dressed in unassuming scholarly robes; yet had the constitution and courage to challenge the King. More is a man whom which we are both named after; and whome which we admire most greatly. A scholar, and a moral-political dissident. He is an Areopagite in our eyes

Destre

The Islander (Nightwish)

This was a very moving song when I saw it live. Nightwish certainly have changed of late; and here is one of the ways: Marco getting more creatively involved…just imagine, he’s in Tarot, too!

M

Black Tears

When I'm in this state of mind
I'm wishing I was blind. Sometimes life is
more than pain, to me
I feel the power of my grief. Death would be
such a relief. All the secrets that I hide
would die, with me.

Depression is my only friend. Will this
torture never end? Let me carry on to
the dreamers sky.

I keep crying in my dreams.
Can you hear my endless screams?
When I fade away I fade, away.

Chorus: THIS FLUID ON MY CHEEK, IT DRAINS ME
I GET WEAK. MY HEART IS COLD & BLEAK
BLACK BLOOD. BLACK TEARS.

Life is like a masquerade. In debt to myself,
but I can't pay. Soon I'll call it all a day, away.
I've never felt what you call guilt.
I still believe "Do what thou wilt"
My sorrow will destroy the world I've built.

(Chorus)

Edge of Sanity

Edge of Sanity’s original song is quite a statement; released in 1994; the album, Purgatory Afterglow was in the memory of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. I think there is a certain Gen X bleakness about it, the disillusionment of youth. This is really, what, I would deem, is at the heart of heavy metal, and the nature of good music itself; the introspective mindset, the exploration of one’s own inner states and feelings; and also, an evokation of our current times. How Romantic [or, should I say, Modern...)...

One thing I find particularly curious is the major key tonality!

Antisophie

[Editorial] I also want to add this appendum; it’s an Eternal Tears of Sorrow ‘cover’ version, because, I think they are a great band.

Michael

Is there an answer to every ‘why?’

If we are to posit a notion such as if there is a thing to be explained, it must be explainable. Let us call this (for now) explanatory rationalism. At first sight, it may seem like a very harmless principle; but when I think about iti, it seems very strong; but when I come down upon judging it as a good principle, I think it’s a very good principle if you can work it.

Explanatory rationalism is one of the starting points of Leibniz (and Spinoza)’s metaphysics. For some reason, I have this intuition that nothing is immune to examination; part of this is a socio-political norm; but as a rational principle as wello, it is a bit stronger. Two questions I bring up:

1. Is everything really subject to rigorous and systematic analysis in the way explanatory rationalism purports to; is there an answer to every ‘why’ question?

2. Explanatory rationalism is a motivation for metaphysics being built up; but, do we have to make a metaphysical system where we posit that weird things have to exist; or can we just have an analysis? I was quite taken aback when I was in a discussion with someone who maintained that conceptual analysis and metaphysics are fundamentally distinct.