Walcott on Love

"The traveller cannot love, since love is stasis and travel is motion."

By Derek Walcott, Nobel Prize winning poet from St. Lucia.

Featured Poem

The white man killed my father
Because my father was proud
The white man raped my mother
Because my mother was beautiful
The white man wore out my brother in the hot sun of the roads
Because my brother was strong
Then the white man turned to me
His hands red with blood
Spat black his contempt into my face
And in his master's voice:
"Hey boy, a pastis, a towel, some water."

Author: David Diop
Title: Le Temps du martyre

Terrorism

Groups like Eta, Al Qaeda, FARC, Tamil Tigers, and others around the world are labeled "terrorist groups" by the European Union, the United States, and other countries and governmental organizations. But what qualifies as terrorism? NATO operations in Afghanistan, for example, continue to kill countless civilians, yet is NATO labeled a terrorist organization? China continues its long history of human rights abuses, yet has any nation had the courage to label it a "rogue state" or accused it of terrorism? The answer to both questions is no, and one has to beg the question as to why.

Truth, History, & Hate

As to the Laws of the New Love Movement, we refuse to hate anyone, proclaim hate for anyone, or assume violence upon anyone. But this does not mean we ignore the truth, are afraid to tell the truth, or have short term memory loss when it comes to human history.

On Communism

Communism is first and foremost an economic theory. Because of the powerful systems of propaganda in place in the United States, many people do not, and cannot accept this fact. Communism does not dictate political relationships, it does not claim a political system, and it does not seek to create and control government. Communism is solely a theory of capital, an idea for the best system of economics for a nation.

In the United States, we see quite clearly that the government does not mirror the economic system (formally) and vice-versa. If you think of the concepts of Representative Government, voting, Democracy, and Republicanism, it is hard to see this visible in the economic system of the country. Are corporations democratic? Is a C.E.O. elected? Do workers get to vote for their supervisors? The answer to all three of this questions is frankly, no. That is because the system of economics in America, Capitalism, is not the same, and is in fact an entirely different subject from the governmental one, Democracy.

It should be clear, then, that just as in the United States, where an economic system exists apart from the governmental one, the same is true of Communism. Democracy and Communism are not opposed to one another. They can co-exist side by side, one being the effective political process, and one being the economic one.

[A further post on the intertwining of government, politics, and economy will be posted in the future]

Insignificance

No people are insignificant.
Not because of:
religion
country
place
region
color
creed
race
hair
eyes
politic
strength
weakness
music
or art
or history
or lack.

All people are within love for all live within the warmth of this mother we call earth.

Names?

What's in a name? Why is the concept of New Love called "new love"?
The concept of New Love is exactly that, to re-define, or re-conceptualize, love, in that sense then, the new definition/conceptualization is a new idea of love, distinct from our former and what has already been asserted, erroneous ideas of love. That love is dead, and if we are ever to try to achieve anything within our conditions as human beings living on this Earth, we need a New Love. But I'd like to be wary with this word "New" as I don't presuppose that this New Love has not existed before, perhaps the mission of the New Love Movement is to re-discover that which has been lost, to re-capture the True Love which our world and existence is in terrible need of...

The New Love Movement

I have been involved in this movement for sometime, along with close friends, at least for some years now. It involved replaced anger with sadness, hatred with love, and the ability to enter wholeheartedly the realm of Non-Judgment.
Over my, the author's, stay in Europe over the past 5 months, along with some visionary insights from the writer Friedrich Nietzsche, I have impulsively come up with a list of 10 principles for the New Love Movement.
I believe many can benefit from these Principles, but I admit they are Principles most assuredly from my mind, and therefore may be only applicable to me, my lived experience, and the associations with people I now have.
Here are the Principles:

New Love Movement
1. accept your weakness, only then can you become strong, and accept the weakness of others, so you can help them become strong

2. never judge

3. accept pain as a side effect of love and close relationship, if you only want to be made to feel good, you are only loving yourself, but if you can love another even if they cause you pain, you show that you love them for who they are

4. it is not natural to be isolated, isolation only exists in isolation, without friendship, our minds weaken, as does our heart and soul

5. deny the self's longing for self-love, learn balance and reciprocation, recognize we yearn for pleasure and for ourselves to be happy, but also recognize seeking these things is not our destiny.

6. respect yourself, then respect others, come to terms with yourself, then you can accept others

7. be rid of childish things, to crave attention is natural, recognize this impulse, and funnel it in a positive way. do not stoop to losing yourself to gain it or anything else, such as pleasure.

8. love asks nothing in return, so ask for nothing. but respect and honesty asks for something in return, and thats to be respected and given honesty.

9. be free, and allow others to be free, never try to possess another, never allow yourself to be possessed. but to give yourself to another, and for another to give their-self to you, is a different matter.

10. true love is for the Other to be free, and still to Love Them.

Featured Painting

The Garden of Earthly Delights (or The Millennium), is a triptych painted by the early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516), housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Dating between 1503 and 1504, when Bosch was about 50 years old, it is his best-known and most ambitious work. The masterpiece reveals the artist at the height of his powers; in no other painting does he achieve such complexity of meaning or such vivid imagery. The triptych depicts several Biblical scenes on a grand scale and as a "true triptych", as defined by Hans Belting, was probably intended to illustrate the history of mankind according to medieval Christian doctrine.

Gabriel García Márquez

A Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. García Márquez, affectionately known as "Gabo" throughout Latin America, is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He pursued a self-directed education that resulted in his leaving law school for a career in journalism. From early on, he showed no inhibitions in his criticism of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha; they have two sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo.

He started as a journalist, and has written many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best-known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magical realism, which uses magical elements and events in otherwise ordinary and realistic situations. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo, and most of them express the theme of solitude.

Dokkōdō

The precepts

1. Accept everything just the way it is.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11. In all things have no preferences.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
21. Never stray from the Way.

Resentment

Resentment against others is always resentment against oneself.

Search

Look before asking. If you look, you are likely to find, but if you ask, you find nothing yourself.

BachxDalixYoYo Ma

Featured Painting: Haydn

Joseph Haydn Playing String Quartets.

Chopin Ballade No 1 in G Minor

The Rich and the Poor

A rich man is hated, a poor man is despised.

Self Love

Attachment to life is usually attachment to ego.

Self Help

If you're in a self help aisle, you can't help yourself, that's why you're looking for help.

New Featured Paintings Series

This series will include some of the great painting I've seen at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. These paintings succeed in expressing the great virtues of the working people not only in Puerto Rico, but all over Latin America. The first painter is the greatest of the contemporary artists from the Island, Luis Hernández Cruz.

Danza Ritual [1989]

The First Question of Philosophy

Is it love, or death? The stimulus could be, why has this person disappeared, or is it rather, what is this feeling I have for another? Perhaps it is both.

Hegel

The Kantian-Hegelian-Marxist tradition has proved extremely influential up to our present time. This post will focus on the middle of these titans of German philosophy, G.W.F. Hegel. Here are Hegel's thoughts on "Universal History":
"The German spirit is the Spirit of the New World. Its aim is the realization of absolute Truth as the unlimited self-determination of Freedom....The destiny of the German peoples is to be the bearers of the Christian principle...of Spiritual Freedom."
[Hegel, Philosophy of History]
Hegel views history as the "development of the idea of freedom." Here, he is intertwining his idea of history with the destiny of the German people.

Featured Painting

I apologize for my neglect of this blog of late. Here is the featured painting, and painter, of the week:

Transfiguration
by: Raphael [1520]

Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone (in Italian Raffaello; April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520) was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. [courtesy Wikipedia.]

Goethe

"There is nothing more terrible than the succession of fair days."

Is unhappiness a necessary part of the human condition? Is it our nature? Maybe, it is the exterior forces around us.

Pain

What is pain? Rather, what does it mean to say, "I feel pain." Does anyone actually understand when we make these statements? I don't know, but I think, understanding could be the wrong approach. Perhaps, only by accepting our inability to understand the pain of others, or even the word "pain", can we then begin to understand.

Virtues

"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."
-Leo Tolstoy

Status Quo

"I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it."
-Niccolo Machiavelli

The Gaza Conflict

In this time, it is important to say some words about the current situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Recently, Hamas militants began to fire rockets into Israel, some striking as far as 40 kilometers away. In response, Israel has begun a bombing campaign that has left over 300 people dead. The idea of all of these people being militants is illogical, as one needs only to look at history to know that civilians die at a much higher rate in any sort of armed conflict. Unfortunately, we, outside of the Conflict, have no reliable sources to inform us as to what is really happening in Gaza. Why has Hamas began firing rockets into Israel? It appears to be madness, but is actually a calculated step by Hamas leaders to gain an Ideological Victory against Israel, just as Hezbollah did in 2006. Because of this, it seems a ground campaign into Gaza by the IDF seems imminent. Who is and will be paying the price in this conflict? It most assuredly will be the civilians of Gaza, but also the people of Israel and throughout the Arab World. On each side, the people are trapped in an Ideological Conflict which they themselves had no hand in creating. There has been one Israeli man killed. In response Israel has killed at least 300 men. Ambitudo a Mortis declares both Israel and Hamas to be wrong, as each are killing in the name of Ideology at the expense of its civilians. Ambitudo a Mortis and the Revolution it advocates stands only for the People, throughout the world, and dismisses all Ideology, and damns all Conflict created for and because of it.

-AAM

Living Without a Why

"He who lives in the goodness of his nature lives in God's love, and love has no why."

- Meister Echart

Ideology

They do not know it, but they are doing it.
-Karl Marx on Ideology in Das Kapital