a pair of contraries

Life is of course, for each of us, a fatal journey.

Looking at a couple of recent movies, I see two protagonists,
opposites in almost every way, with totally dissimilar philosophies,
in a union of contrary head-trips worthy of the ancient greek
philosopher Heraclitus.

*Venus* with Peter O'Toole, released in 2006 and now out on DVD is a
myth of hedonistic but urbane old tragedians.
http://movies.about.com/od/dvds/gr/venus051307.htm

*Into the Wild* with Emile Hirsch, due for theatrical release October
17, 2007, is a myth of idealistic youth, a 'coming-of-age story' based
on a fact-based myth.
http://movies.about.com/od/intothewild/a/intowild91907.htm

the actual Christopher 'Alex' McCandless myth:
http://outside.away.com/outside/features/1993/1993_into_the_wild_1.html

Pragmatic Philodoxy & Rhetorical Virtue

A contemporary overlook upon the daimon of Plato's Socrates and William James, David Hume, Immanuel Kant et al:

http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=11103

In *Human Goodness: Pragmatic Variations on Platonic Themes*, Paul Schollmeier explains that the Greeks define happiness as an activity that we may perform for its own sake.

Devil's Bible

Who would have thunk he had his own Bible?

The infernal book belongs to the Royal Library of Sweden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Gigas

http://libraries.theeuropeanlibrary.org/Sweden/treasures_en.xml

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/21/arts/EU-A-E-BKS-Czech-Devils-Book.php

Cave Skylights Spotted on Mars!

That doesn't sound like typical NASA, does it? At first I suspected a prank; but it appears to be a legitimate NASA release. Fuels a lot of wondering, doesn't it?

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/21sep_caves.htm?list138554

Heraklit und Sein Kampf

Heraclitus, ancient greek philosopher, maintained that War and Strife
are necessary to being: #25) "War is both father of all and king of
all...." #26) "It must be seen that struggle is the common condition;
that strife is justice; and all things happen according to strife and
necessity." #27) "Homer was wrong in saying 'Would that strife might
perish from among gods and men' for if that were to occur, the
universe would cease to exist."

Here's Prof. Harris' commentary on Heraclitus:
http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/Philosophy/heraclitus.pdf

http://members.aol.com/Heraklit1/heraklit.htm

The Titanomachy and Gigantomachy are archetypal greek myths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantes

http://www.gigantomachia.com/gigantomachia/2003/08/platos_sophist.html

p.s. It seems to me that people sublimate their war drives in such
things as watching action films, sports, and many types of television
viewing; political expression; competition of various types; aggressive driving;
commerce and litigation.

http://www.hypatia-lovers.com/AncientGreeks/Section08.html

Recite Homer's Iliad in Greek for Health

from "Heartbeat Poetry" by Nicole Garbarini,
Scientific American Magazine, October 2004 :

"Reciting the Iliad could have epic effects on your health.
German physiologists have recently shown that such poetry
[dactylic hexameter]
can get your heart beating in time with your breaths.

This synchronization may improve gas exchange in the lungs
as well as the body's sensitivity and responsiveness to
blood pressure changes.

Cardiovascular and respiratory responses are not normally in sync.
Rhythmic fluctuations in blood pressure take place naturally in
10-second-long cycles known as Mayer waves, whereas
spontaneous breathing normally occurs at a rate of
approximately 15 breaths per minute."

Are you hepcats really edgy?

"So you wanna dump out yo trick bag,
Ease on into a hip bag,
But you ain't just exactly sure what's hip.

"So you start to let your hair grow,
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe,
But somehow you know there's much more to the trip.

"What is hip? Tell me tell me, if you think ya know.
What is hip? And if you're really hip, the passing years will show,
That you into a hip trip, maybe hipper than hip.
But what is hip?

"So you became part of the new breed.
Been smoking only the best weed.
Hanging out with so-called hippest set.
Been seen in all the right places,
Seen with just the right faces.
You should be satisfied,
But still it ain't quite right.

"What is hip? Tell me tell me if you think you know.
What is hip? And if you're really hip.
The passing years would show,
That you into a hip trip, maybe hipper than hip.
What is hip?

"Hipness is what it is
Sometimes hipness is what it ain't

"You done went and found you a guru,
In an effort to find you a new you.
And maybe even managed to raise your conscience level.

"As you're striving to find the right road,
There's one thing you should know:
What's hip today might become passe'.

"What is hip? Tell me tell me if you think you know.
What is hip? And if you're really hip, the passing years would show
That you into a hip trip. Maybe hipper than hip.
What is hip?"

from "What Is Hip?" by Tower of Power (1973)

Discursive Strategies

'Discursive strategies' are powerful attitude-shaping techniques used by journalist and other media that escape the notice of most of us. I have been amazed at the political usage of this in America for many years now. I quote a professor's message, regarding this, below. nekkid


"Jonathan Hall's two books on ethnicity in antiquity are splendid, but
also a bit hard to teach. This is not because Hall's argumentation
is loose -- it's not -- but because he uses some concepts and terms
that college sophomores find novel and a bit alien.
"An example: chapter three of _Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity_ (a
book reviewed by a procession of heavyweights in Cambridge
Archaeological Journal, 1998, but completely unreviewed at
Amazon.com). Hall builds his case, that Greek ethnic thought in the
fifth century was oppositional or dyadic, on a series of oppositions
or dyads, one of which is 'historical positivism' vs. 'discursive
strategies.' The students I saw yesterday rolled their eyes at the
second term, but were completely unable to say what it might mean.

"All that changed when they started thinking about the sports pages.
Until this week, the noun perhaps most often associated with Bill
Belichick, football coach of the New ENgland Patriots, was 'genius.'
The pairing has occurred at least 60x in the NYT since 1987. But now
we know Belichick cheated.

"The 'genius' label was perhaps justified. But it was a discursive
phenomenon, perhaps a 'strategy,' fostered by the press. So much so
that for many American football fans, the word 'genius' came to mind
at once on hearing Belichick's name. With this in mind, students had
a much easier time returning to Jonathan Hall's case that myths of
ethnic formation were just that, myths, and elements in the
discursive strategy that shaped Athenian and Spartan thinking about
their pasts.
Best,
Dan Tompkins" [pericles@TEMPLE.EDU]

'choux pastry heart

What sort of heart is a " 'choux pastry heart "? Corinne Bailey Rae sings exquisitely of it in the 2006 movie, *Venus*. The song, " 'choux pastry heart' " was composed by Teitur Lassen.

http://music.yahoo.com/Corinne-Bailey-Rae/Choux-Pastry-Heart/lyrics/40291907

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6869925

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809424624/cast

http://www.annamariavolpi.com/pate_a_choux.html

"Trust me. I'm a doctor."

...famous line of Dr. Benway, William Burrough's inner evil doctor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Lunch

http://www.inter-zone.org/presentation.html

http://www.interpc.fr/mapage/westernlands/Interzone-links.html

Angelic Doctor

Thomas Aquinas redux. It was his secretary that reported in a biography that Thomas concluded his theological career with "All that I have written seems like no more than straw."

http://www.opwest.org/sap/library/st_thomas.htm

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/aquinas1.html

Have some edgy mutton?

"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Woof? We Chicken Littles rule the
rostrum... Mutton, anyone?"

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~bgzimmer/

http://www.askoxford.com/oec/mainpage/oec04/?view=uk

http://www.snopes.com/humor/misxlate/mutton.asp

Yippee ti yi yo, git along little doggies!

Yeah, and I always liked and occasionally sing other traditional cattlepoke songs like "I ride an old paint". The Guthries, Woody and Arlo, kept that 'un alive into the late 20th Century. But the meaning of 'hoolihan' in it was kinda lost.

But, the latest "American Slang Word of the Week" in the Oxford University Press blog is 'hoolihan' meaning, so they say: "1. (among cowboys) a backhand thrown loop for roping horses.
2. an exciting or extraordinary event.
In phrase: throw the hoolihan [fr. sense of (1), above] (among cowboys) to celebrate riotously."

http://www.geocities.com/nashville/3448/paint.html Woody Guthrie

http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/ride-old-paint.shtml

Greek Dance

Investigating the meaning of the ancient pyrrhic dance, I came upon this excellent site:

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Dance.htm

The pyrrhic dance was said to be invented by Pyrrikhos for the funeral of Patroclus. It later became a popular entertainment for Athenian festivals.

garos

My ancient greek word for the day is 'garos', a second declension masculine noun which LSJ defines as "a kind of sauce or paste made of brine and small fish". Too bad they didn't also say it is fermented like the modern Thai anchovy sauce and British Worcestershire sauce.

http://www.business-standard.com/lifeleisure/storypage.php?leftnm=5&subLeft=2&chklogin=N&autono=295796&tab=r

'Original Sin' and the 'Select Elect'

'Original Sin' would mean all humans are evil, bad to the bone, from birth; sharing the guilt of some very far removed, mythological ancestors.
Not the sort of thing an equitable god, but only a whimsical despot would hold to. Seems a cruel culture-bound orientation native to the Levant and Middle-East.

Some philosopher wrote something to the effect that systemic philosophy was intrinsically misleading. I think it may have been Nietzsche or Heidegger. The same, it seems to me, applies to theology. Most of the evil in religions appears to stem from institutional systemic theology. Perhaps they ought to keep it simple like most of the truly holy people appear to.

Was 'original sin' a metaphor misinterpreted to be doctrine or dogma? I suspect so. And the same for many other dogmates, and other barriers set up by collectives and legalists . Jesus spoke to this sort of thing during his public life (Luke 11: 46 & 52).
Much suffering and misery are attributable to the 'original sin dogma'.

Stefan Stenudd on Plato as lyric poet

"In his youth, Plato trained gymnastics, with such prowess that he entered a public contest. He studied painting and music, but his favourite was poetry. He made attempts in heroic verse, lyric poetry and dramatic composition. He wrote a tetralogy, consisting of three separate tragedies and one satyric drama, but a short time before the festival of Dionysus, when his pieces were to be performed, he happened to hear Socrates, and was so captivated that he abandonded poetry, and turned to philosophy. Reportedly, he threw his poetic writing to the fire.
There are some few fragments remaining of Plato’s lyrical efforts, written well after Socrates made him change his path. Diogenes Laertius mentions a fellow student of astronomy, named Aster, which means ‘star’, something that Plato played with in an affectionate verse to him: 'Thou gazest at the stars, my star; would I were Heaven, that I might gaze at thee with many eyes!' Equally passionate are these words to Agathon, though they may be Plato personating Socrates, like in the dialogues: 'When I kiss Agathon my soul is on my lips, whither it comes, poor thing, hoping to cross over.'
To his mistress Archeanassa, he wrote with a daring reference to the marks of ageing: 'My mistress is Archaenassa of Colophon, on whose very wrinkles there is bitter love.' Ageing is also a central theme, if not an argument, in the words to another lady: 'I am an apple; one that loves you casts me at you. Say yes, Xanthippè; we fade, both you and I.' Similar arguments of seduction are also shown in: 'I cast the apple at you, and if you truly love me, take it and give me of your maidenhood; but if your thoughts be what I pray they are not, then too take it and consider how short-lived is beauty.'" excerpt from online Aristotle bio by Stefan Stenudd
http://www.stenudd.com/myth/greek/aristotle/aristotle-04-athens.htm

http://www.stenudd.com/bio.htm

Stefan Stenudd's latest book, *Cosmos of the Ancients: The Greek Philosophers on Myth and Cosmology* was published in 2007 by BookSurge Publishing and is available through Amazon.com.

les affrèrements

hmm...seems there were same-sex contractual relationships other than religious communities in Europe historically that were considered compatible with family values.

http://www.livescience.com/history/070827_civil_unions.html

Here's a no-punches-pulled discussion of the story:

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887352/posts

Deus Londinii estne?

http://eclassics.ning.com/photo/photo/show?id=727885:Photo:3805

Art and Poetry of War

Just some quick notes and links:

http://www.musee-moreau.fr/pages/page_id18781_u1l2.htm Art of War circa 625 B.C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrtaeus

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/7849/tyrtaios.html an English translation of his songs

http://www.jmr.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conJmrArticle.22/viewPage/3
Pye, influenced by Tyrtaeus, rouses the British patriotism

http://www.gottwein.de/Grie/lyr/lyr_tyrt_gr.php? Greek Tytaeus Texts (with German translations)