Friday, May 15, 2026

Haiku Exemplar Two

grammar is the case
the case is or is not true
birds utter their song

Moving?  Please see "Haiku Exemplar One", click HERE.


Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Monday, May 11, 2026

Two photos of paintings from Newcastle

John Charles Dollman - study for 'The Unknown' (1912)







John Piper - Town from the Water Meadows, c.1935-38

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Oz Hardwick

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Vitasta Raina - Art and the 9-to-5 Life

"So here I am, working a 9-to-5 to support my own artistic inclinations. All around me, I see friends who have been able to break away from this life spliced into time slots. Some have moved out of the city to beach towns, some to mountainous rural terrains. A life I could lead, perhaps, if I was brave enough and ambitious enough, and if I had organized my works and wares better, kept on keeping on. But here I am instead, organizing a retirement plan, looking at completing side-quests and wondering if I could approach a library to host my books. Life, dreams, age old dilemmas..."

More
HERE.


Friday, May 8, 2026

Highbrow advice from Lucian

 


“Dreams are great magicians.” 



Thursday, May 7, 2026

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Neoplatonism in Three Minutes

Plotinus (205 - 70 BCE)

a) Mind (nous)--thought thinking itself, “the one” or “the good”: forms are contemplated in unity in a timeless way.
b) Soul (psyche): forms are contemplated separately and successively: space and time.
c) Nature (physis): forms are seen in a dream-like way, and which projects dreams as the material world.
d) The universe is a process of successive emanations:

Nous

Psyche

Physis

e) A human being is the microcosm of a process of successive emanations:

The ONE, the GOD

The Spirit

The Soul

Matter & Nature

Body/Matter/Nature—are farthest from the ONE, and are thus the most formless, shapeless and imperfect things.

“The supreme achievement of the intellect is to leave itself behind.”

 *

For now, one remark will suffice:

The Greek language uses the article "the" with greater frequency than does English.  This has the effect of reifying abstractions. Thus the existence of "The One" is enhanced in the conceptions of those speaking of it. Indeed, the abstract One (no definite article) is enhanced conceptually without the, insofar as the absence of the article underscores the "figurative", "speculative" and "tentative" nature of the ineffable subject One. If humans can indeed philosophically contemplate the one, it is properly done so from a position of an agnostic "nuanced intuition" (again, sans the definite article).  Compare viewing the Pleiades in our peripheral vision.  Here the stars of this august system are seen most clearly, while direct observation within the binocular visual field renders the Pleiades unclear and indistinct.