aeljn's Friends
Saturday, July 5, 2008
5:04PM - "Who Lives It Then?"+ Can anyone identify a place I photographed?
Friends,
Last night I looked at a couple of highly acclaimed religious films
on dvd. One, which Judith Komline loaned me, the Color of Paradise
is an Iranian film about a blind boy and his father who loves the boy
well enough but still wants to abandon him to facilitate a new
marriage . I skipped most of it
as I do not like the feeling of identifying with a powerless little boy
as much as with someone like Conan the Barbarian ,say (of course the
original Conan author was inwardly a powerless little boy no doubt and
that is sad but anyway)... however the end of the film I watched and
is interesting and strong. Also began to watch Into Great Silence
the three hour film about Carthusian monks. Silence. water. snow. motes
in sunlight. What it seems to build into is an awareness of the presence
of God (cf Tarkovsky, Bresson, in contrast to Bergman's Winter Light
absence of God)...
Today at our little meeting of Transfiguration in New York, salad and
pizza, at the end. At the beginning prayer, we talked about
"The Messianic Secret" in the Gospels--how Jesus told people not
to speak of him publicly as Messiah etc. John Schneyder remarked
that of course it is allegorical and secondary to say
but the presence of God
at the depth of each of us is a secret we discover...
this fits to a little reading by Mark Lerner of Rilke...
and Peter Von Berg read a little from Hamlet and Comedy of Errors.
I know all of this sounds kind of intellectual but bear with me,it
is not really , but I want to say something ,if I can bring it
together a little and it needs a bit more space(and I will also
have a question about a place I photographed from the
train coming back) so please click to the right here. ( Read more... )
Tomorrow maybe something from Hamlet that Peter read...words of
King Claudius.
Could anyone identify the place I have wondered about many times
passing it on the train?
And today just these and I am yours ,as always inviting all your
response,
+Seraphim
.
Fred Arzola looks at book Mark Lerner(left) has
read Rilke from.
7:36AM - The Rocket's Red Glare
Well, we seem to have survived the night of the young pyromaniacs. Our town still allows people to buy and set off fireworks for the Fourth of July celebration, and so most of the evening is spent in a haze of gunsmoke and the sound of mortar rounds and screaming shells going off. Some of the displays were quite beautiful, but I at least get a little nervous about misfiring fireworks and the potential for accidental blazes. I managed to get nearly the entire lawn well watered yesterday, which helped a little and then kept an eye on the house and yard.
I finally figured out how to get photographs out of my iphone, so here is a picture taken on Wednesday of almost the entire span of the addition.
On Thursday the electrician arrived and began putting in the new electrical meter, circuit breaker box, and the supports for the power cables which will come in through the new roof. The electrician says the power supply will be enough to support power for a 3000 square-foot house, which is almost twice as big as what this place will be when it is finished. So I guess I don't have to worry about power issues for awhile, if ever.
The new breaker box which is on the interior wall of the pantry.
You can see the riser for the power cables above the box. This neighborhood was built in the late 1940s and so all the power comes into the houses from overhead cables rather than buried underground.
sleepyFriday, July 4, 2008
11:23AM - FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN+Charlie Daniels on the 4th and pictures by Meath Conlan
Friends,
For Independence Day, the remembrance of the first day,
as a Republic, of this land we love--and you may love it
not being of it as I then in turn will
love yours and likely do and long have already.(certainly if
you are Russian or Polish or Japanese or Israeli or or Italian
or Irish or of another land Ive been to and loved...)
Three things
(1)
FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN (this is not charlie daniels,for that
see within the post. but it is a Real fine version)
This is a favorite music of mine and well done here.
Remember that in the old Chinese book of Changes it is written
Fire on the Mountain. The Image of the Wanderer.
.
remember also the fire over Mount Tabor! over the Wanderer then.
(2)
Today there was some Revolution just up the road at Van Cortlandt Manor
and I drove up and took a couple pictures , one at the end and
another within.
(3)And third not for the day but just to put them up for myself
and anyone else interested some pictures from yesterday made
by Meath Conlan. For these click to the right. ( Read more... )
and you see we've thrown in some Charlie Daniels I love
his voice and his hat pulled low in outlaw style...
and note that Fire in the Mountain is the song that figures in
Devil in Georgia.
So today these,
and what have you?
But whatever you have else, have a good day!
+Seraphim
.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
7:13PM - A Day in the City
Friends,
Was in the City today. Fr David and I walked across town
through Greenwich Village to meet Jim Nicholls and Meath
Conlan for lunch. On way saw gardens and a cheese shop and
a church and a pub. Meath is leaving New York on Saturday
on his way back to Australia. He works in the heritage of
Dom Bede Griffiths of Shantivanam India. His website is
http://www.diversejourneys.net/ Jim is thinking to go
to West Australia next year to photograph aboriginal people
together with Meath. Then David and I went up to the Museum
of Modern Art. I saw a lot of paintings. Too many. Dali
exhibit including films..made with Bunuel, with Hitchcock.
There were Jackson Pollocks and Warhols and Seurats and
Picassos and many other lesser artists...
Tired. stopped and talked a little
then took train home. Good day.
Let me just post a couple of pictures today--here is one of
the museum garden and reflections of the city in the windows
of the museum rising above it. ( Read more... ) and hope your day was
good and I will post maybe some more tomorrow.
and I invite all that you have today in turn,
yours
+Seraphim
.
From left. Me,Fr.Dave. Jim. Meath.
5:30PM - Silly meme time!
Borrowed from ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
runenklinge:
You know the deal here. Pick ten characters, either of your original creation or ten characters from one of your favorite fandoms, and list them out 1-10. Then answer the following questions. DON'T LOOK AT THE QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU PICK YOUR CHARACTERS - you'll ruin the whole game.
My 10 characters:
1. The Top
2. Pyro
3. Trickster
4. Rainbow Raider
5. Avalanche
6. Captain Cold
7. Golden Glider
8. Weather Wizard
9. Heat Wave
10. Mirror Master
( Read more... )
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
2:03PM - Canada Day
Yesterday was Canada Day, and the weather was obligingly great for once. Stan and I spent much of the day outside, doing yard chores and vegging in lounge chairs (the balcony makes fine shade). But I had this strange itchiness all over, and actually ended up causing a gigantic bruise on my leg from scratching. I know I bruise easily, but that's ridiculous. I can feel the bruise hurting just by walking! Maybe it has something to do with the weird numbness in my leg/butt that I've had for a few weeks now.
Of course, the highlight of Canada Day in Waterloo is always UW's fireworks, and we headed down to see them as we do every year. This was the first year attending them from our new house, which is in a different part of the city and required a completely different route. We used to walk from north of the campus, but it's a bit far from the new house (which is south of the campus), so we biked. We found a good spot on the ground near other people, and much amusement was had when the guy two feet behind us freaked out as a mouse ran across his bare leg. He swatted at it, and it landed on a woman nearby. I guess it ran off after that.
The fireworks were good as always, and then thousands of people began the mass exodus back to their homes. Some moron left that flexible orange fencing up in the fields where people always sit/walk, which provided a delightful accident hazard in the dark. Stan almost walked into it (and I'm sure plenty of people did), but I pulled him away just in time because I see quite well in the dark (thanks to my very light-sensitive eyes). I didn't like the new route home, because there were uncomfortably large numbers of people on bike and foot packed close together, and feared there would be an accident in the dark. No accidents that I saw, but it made me nervous.
Anyway, a good day! I miss our old walk home, though. It was always pleasant, and there were never too many people once we turned onto the 'secret' path.
10:30AM - The Mad Hatter on Time.+ S.K. and G.K.C. +Playing with color of a garden.
Friends,
Last night fooling around at the computer, wasting time if
you will... but before I go further I am reminded that wasting
time is not a good thing, consider this from Alice:
If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter,
`you wouldn't talk about wasting it. It's him.'
`I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.
`Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head
contemptuously. `I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'
`Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: `but I know I have
to beat time when I learn music.'
`Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. `He won't stand
beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do
almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose
it were nine o'clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons:
you'd only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the
clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, time for dinner!'
Anyway last night I adjusted the color on two Japanese garden
pictures, one I posted yesterday and one I have not posted.
Neither particularly interesting really. Likely it's just
me and my simplicity, but I thought the results were sort of
interesting and I thought I would share them...and perhaps also
a reflection on an interesting comment from a friend to yesterday's
that it is easier to take Chesterton seriously who apparently does
not take himself so, than Kierkegaard who always takes himself
rather seriously. These things then if you will click to the right
just here.( Read more... )
Today these, I don't know if anyone will have found attractive
these simple plays with coloring... and I invite all your comment
on these images and thoughts or on anything else at all and am
yours
+Seraphim
.
12:05AM - Framed-In
The building crew arrived and went right to work at eight o'clock. I left them vitamin water and cookies, and I came home to the result of their day's labors and took pictures. I'm very impressed. I can't believe how quickly it goes up and starts looking like a real house. My contractor says the roof trusses should arrive soon.
This side shows the pantry room door, and the picture window into the family room.
And this side shows the same picture window and the window into the office.
Click for interior shots of the rooms. ( Read more... )
The things you learn when working with contractors -- because I'm living in a World War II era house I'm permitted to put in windows of the same size as the original windows, they call it "grandfathered construction". Technically all modern construction should have windows that are even a size larger -- large enough to admit a fireman in full rescue gear. The windows certainly will be big enough to permit everyone to bail out if necessary. There are small homes in the neighborhood built in the same time period as my own with very small windows that probably would not allow an adult human to escape in the event of an emergency. I think if I was renovating one of them I would upgrade the windows for safety's sake.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
4:33PM - The Psychology of Rejection
Friends,
I mentioned, as of course I have from time to time,
Fr Michael Plekon yesterday. The only man I know who has
read Kierkegaard's journals in their entirety(6,000
pages give or take) and in Danish. Most of them do not
exist in English. Probably some Danes have read it all
but I dont know any . The only comparable feat among
my friends is perhaps John Schneyder having read
Barth's Kirche Dogmatik and the Soncino Press Zohar
both twice and mostly riding on subways years ago.
Anyway Fr Michael is an Orthodox priest and he has been
asked by the Ecumenical Studies Institute in Lviv,
the center of western Ukraine, to provide a correspondence
course for their advanced degree program in the area of
ecumenism and the subject proposed to him is "the
contemporary phenomenon of anti-ecumenism." Now ecumenism
is the movement towards unity among Christians and one
can be an ecumenist and a) believe that there is in essence
no divison of the churches except by our perception and
disorder creating the historical appearance of disunity.
or b) that there are real differences which are nontrivial
and need to be negotiated and worked through. Or something
on the spectrum of a-b.
To be antiecumenical means to have a deep distrust and
rejection of the process ,let alone of any idea of abiding
essential unity.
I suggest to Michael, and he thought it not a bad idea but
in any case let us set aside that course, but just as to the
opposition to the movement of unity, that the starting
point might be The Psychology of Antiecumenism
Why do people reject unity and prefer division? Quick thoughts:
1)In one aspect it is the tendency of the analytic as opposed
to the synthetic personality.
2)in another it is the human achievement of sense of self as
over against the other,the inner shadow externalized on the other etc
3)in still another modality, it is spiritual agoraphobia, fear
of what is not contained and defined...is not within the
small house one has built.
4)So it is seen that,in-as-far as ecumenism goes,
the opposition is not just some excitement of a few nuts
with computers who ought to 'get a life', but it is rooted
in the deep psyche of every person and we will find reflections
of rejection even,or in other ways perhaps no less, in ourselves.
5)So that the task of ecumenism becomes also grounded in
a spiritual and psychological practice and ascesis
(inner work or asceticism).
6)We understand the Lord's prayer "that they all may be one..."
as referring first to wholeness of persons who then out of
wholeness will not reject the others.
Well, what, not a very entertaining entry but today let it be
just this...Tomorrow I may receive my order of yesterday
of South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage which I spoke
of as among great diaries I had not read. Having for one thing
the basis for Eliots "who is the third who walks always beside
you?" etc as we quoted. the sense of an extra person during
the crossing of the ice fields of South Georgia.
anyway as always invite all yours on these or on anything else
at all, yours
+Seraphim
.
Just one more picture from the Japanese garden at the
Hammond Museum which I took on Saturday.
7:36AM - Framing Started
The framing-in was started yesterday, with the builders working in 103-degree heat. I gave them vitamin water and access to the house so they could get cold water and maybe cool off if they needed to.
We had more thunderstorms and dry lightning last night, but I don't smell any more range fire smoke. Not sure if that means there weren't any new fires made, or if the breeze is pushing the smoke up the valley. 
This side will hold the office and the bathroom. A bathroom with a window, yay! 
The start of the family room wall. The large opening will hold a big picture window. 
The view of the work area yesterday noon. The power cords are fed through a hole in the wall around the old piping into the kitchen, which has modern grounded outlets. Heh, no outside power sockets on my house (yet). I think I asked for one on the new addition. More to come, the guys are just driving up.
Monday, June 30, 2008
11:47AM - Diaries: Quotes (from diaries I have not yet read)and a Quiz
Friends,
Happy to say that my knee seems to be back to its recent
normal after yesterday's problem...
I have Thursday and Friday free this week due to fourth
of July holiday. Transfiguration meeting Saturday.
Perhaps I could go somewhere for two days? Or form
some plan? Being at loose ends when everyone around
is having a picnic or something is not easy for me...
so wise to plan ahead.
I make reservation for flight to Lviw September 5th. I
will meet Antoine Arjakowsky (recently met in New York)
and also friends from Moscow with whom I will travel on
to Moscow.
In response to note on Dorothy Day, Fr.Michael Plekon
commends her journal and notes that journals, as of ones
he loves, Merton's ,Kierkegaard's, Day's, Schmemann's,
have a specific value.
" I am a great lover of diaries since in them you are
in effect in a place with the diarist, hear the same
voice over & over, about various things but then you
really get a sense for the personality, the reactions,
etc."
I am going to make a very small game out of finding
quotations(on line) from five journals I have not read,
or not more than glance through,
(one of them in fact is a memoir rather than strictly
a journal) but ones I could imagine reading with interest.
and I invite you (a) to
enjoy ,as in each case I did in some way,the
quotation. (b) to identify the author I will give the
list of authors to choose from after the quotes.
(c) I will provide link to answers and also
to which one of these I think I will take down and
read further in, which you might also have tried
guessing?, and of course you may wish to find and
read further in one or another or perhaps some still
other diary yourself.
So for these please click to the right here.( Read more... )
So today these, I don't know if anyone will have
found anything of interest but perhaps the full
sourcing of the Eliot quote which we end with can
be of interest at least...
and maybe there are diaries you have enjoyed which
we have not listed? I left out ones which I had read,
as mentioned...
as always your thought on these or on anything else
at all are welcome, yours
+Seraphim
Samuel Pepys, perhaps the most famous diarist(unless it
be Anne Frank)not included in our quiz. From ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif){kind=small}
pepysdiary
you may receive daily journal entries.
10:07AM - Yayz!
Managed to win one of those art pages in auction! Bid on the second one too, because it would have been terrible if somebody else had gotten it for only $53, but at the last minute the bidding went nuts.
Now I have my eye on one of the Countdown pages for sale online, depending on how much shipping is to Canada. Some sellers really gouge Canadian buyers.
Also, my strawberries and raspberries have started to grow :) Hopefully the critters don't eat them before I do.
In the slightly bummer news department, CFX's fella at Wizard World Chicago chatted with Geoff Johns at the show, and offered to ask for a sketch for me the next day. I suggested Captain Cold would be a good choice, because we all know Johns totally loves him. But then Johns had to leave early because his friend Michael Turner died, which is so sad :( So no sketch. But maybe that was for the best, because when the fella told me he hadn't been able to get it, he said "So I couldn't get Mr Freeze for you". That at least had me laughing...I can just imagine Johns' reaction if somebody asked him to draw Mr Freeze. He'd probably be like "Um, okay..."
Sunday, June 29, 2008
9:27PM - Coming Soon - Framing
Got a call midweek from my contractor saying the lumber for the framing would start to show up Monday or so and that the roof trusses were on order. Once the material arrives the framing-in will start and evidently that goes very fast. He said, "soon it will look like a house!" Cool. :)
This meant I had to make a decision on what color shingles were going to go on the roof. I took Friday off as a little minivacation, so Mom and I went down to the contractor's office and looked at samples of shingles and siding. We were torn between a color called "weathered white" and another color called "pewter". The weathered white looked like its name, while the pewter looked like a nice medium gray. I was leaning toward the pewter color because it would make a very lovely contrast with the pale siding we wanted. The very nice lady in charge of the office said there were two homes the contractor had just re-roofed, one with each color, so we could go and see how it looked in daylight. I got the addresses, printed out maps from Google maps, and then Mom and I went on a little drive around the area to find the homes. It turned out it was time well spent, the weathered white colored shingles actually look like a soft silver gray in daylight, which is a color I really like and so did Mom. The pewter shingles looked almost black -- very handsome -- but in this climate in the full sun they would really retain the heat. So we decided on the weathered white shingles and a siding color called "Pearl", which is a very pale warm gray close to what I have on the house already.
The concrete is now hard as... well, concrete. I've been walking over it as I drag the hose and sprinkler from one end of the yard to the other in an attempt to keep the lawn alive. Summer is here with a vengeance -- it has been 105-107 degrees F the past few days, ugh. Looks like the weather may moderate toward the end of the week, but is IS July, and that means hot. This probably means the various builders may be showing up very early in the morning to beat the heat. Guess I should get to bed before 1 am, huh?
Here are two photos from last week.
The concrete slab all nice and set up. This is before a bunch of birds decided to poop on it after eating wild cherries. :P
The back of the house as it looks right now. The exposed wall doesn't look terribly nice, but it is holding up well despite the vagaries of the weather. As of this moment it is wind storming outside and there were big thunderheads on the horizon before the sun went down. Maybe if we are lucky we'll get a little free water out of the deal, but this time of year we are just as likely to get a dust storm rather than a rain shower.
The concrete folks very nicely strung the hose from the old washer faucet and nailed it up along the side of the house to keep it out of the setting concrete. Someone also turned on the exterior faucet on the front of my house which was a really big help since I'm now using that to run all my sprinklers. At some point, the plumber is going to replace all that old piping and life may get a little bit easier in terms of the water supply.
calm2:35PM - Pillows as dangerous. Stone Lanterns.
Friends,
A baseball player for the Detroit Tigers reported
he had injured himself in the process of adjusting the
pillow of this three year old son during the night.
This resulted in a good deal of derision, but last
night when I lay down and thought to put a pillow to
support the knee I have had some trouble with I had
a twinge in that knee and then woke up several times
with knee pain so perhaps I am also victim of an injury
from a pillow. I do not think emergency rooms are crowded
with people injured by pillows but still perhaps be a
little careful.
I call Dana Talley who has had really bad knees and he
reassures me that I am making too much of this little
pain. They are going to Venice for a month. I commission
him to get me a cheap Venetian mask if there is such a thing.
With my sore leg as no real excuse I am unpleasant to
people at Macdonalds who get my order wrong as so often
as I tell them. Resolution to be kind to fast food clerks
in a specail way for a penetential period at least.
Yesterday afternoon I stopped briefly in the Japanese
Garden of the Hammond Museum, I guess mainly to have
somewhere to go on a nice day. I did not take many
pictures--you have seen before a good many from there.
But I did take a couple of photos through the stone
lanterns, or 'toro'. They are not wonderful but
perhaps have a little interest in the maybe
momentary illusion of being passageways to a door.
So one at the end and three here.( Read more... )
So let that be my offering for today, and as always I invite
all your response on any subject at all and am yours
+Seraphim
.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
11:26AM - "THE LONG LONELINESS" +Waterlillies at Twilight.
Friends,
Well there is gravity as well as grace and so yesterday's
Yankee Met doubleheader was split. Continuation of a
riff from yesterday. enough on it. Today Andy Pettite
(Yankee pitcher for those uninitiate)
breaks the tie. a Delphic utterance. from the tripod.
like all Delphic sayings you will see it is true.
OK. Now two days ago I linked the prayer from
Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice I did so again and
with a transcribed text at ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
virtualdrones
stay through the film to the echo of the planes passing...
can you tell me you are unmoved...?
for that matter can anyone tell me they were moved?
oddly no single comment in these days either way.
(but as I think of it because likely most people are not
very sure of the film as a whole. but I think the part
can stand by itself to some extent)
at:
http://community.livejournal.com/virtua
It fits also to the previous thought on free prayer.
This seems an excellent example although in a
very specific situation and of course with paradoxical
elements.
Now the subject head The Long Loneliness is not about
me looking ahead to the Fourth of July weekend. Or to...
No it is not ,but it is the title of the autobiography of
Dorothy Day. I picked it up at Graymoor yesterday
evening and on the way took pictures of waterlilies.
For thoughts on The Long Loneliness and for what Dorothy
finally says and for the lillies at dusk please click to
the right here.( Read more... )
As you see we have added also birch trees...
As always I invite all your comments on these, baseball, The
Sacrifice, the long loneliness , lillies in dark water,
or on whatever else you have today and I am yours(and I am
making today use an underused userpic today so dont be alarmed
if one on some response of mine seems absurd)
+Seraphim
.
3:39AM - Ways to spend money
Ack, why does original art I'm interested in all go up for sale at the same time? There are four pieces I've currently got my eye on...well, more than four, but only those ones are really in my price range. Anyway, buying four at once is really a bit much...especially considering I just bought two pages a little while ago.
Got on my bike this morning to see the new gyno. I like this one a lot more than the last one, and he actually seems helpful. More on this as I make a decision.
Looking at my ultrasound results from a few weeks ago, he noted my gallbladder is very swollen. No wonder the ER doc and my GP are so keen for me to see a surgeon. They'd given the impression this was just about gallstones (which I knew I had). Well, the appointment with the surgeon is in mid-July, so we'll see what he/she says.
Edit: Wow, what a crazy thunderstorm we're having...
tiredFriday, June 27, 2008
10:02AM - A "mystical" photo from New Skete+ Tarkovsky. wind in the grass. words in the mind.
Friends,
Staff picnic today at university. note to self
only one burger and one hot dog.
Later today Yankees Mets double header. Natural Law
requires two Yankee victories.
Brother Stavros from New Skete sends a photograph taken on
the eve of Pentecost at New Skete which as he says is sort
of 'mystical'. I am assuming that the cloud swirling around
in the foreground is not ectoplasm, or something of that sort,
but incense. Anyway here is the picture.( Read more... )
I wonder a little about the diagonal rays towards the top
which would be light at first thought but it is evening.
well we can give the photo to Otto, the postman of Sacrifice
who collects and is sensitive to the inexplicable. Looking at
Leonardo's Adoration of the Magi he finds it "very sinister" and
confesses "I have always been terrified by ...Leonardo"...
Well, with that as segue here is another clip (the only other
really good one on youtube) from The Sacrifice, I hope
that you watched yesterday's as it has apart from the prayer
some wonderful composition and camera work. In today's note
perhaps...
1)wind moving grass
2)the grass the boy "little man" carries in his mouth
3)that at end Alexander, the father, who has been talking to
his son,who has never spoken, reacts with the instinctive
reflex of defence he speaks of at beginning.
4)the question of 'words' being relative, is illustrated
isnt it in the remark that 'sin is what is not necessary'--
this depends on usage of necessary, for Plato it was
distinct from the Good, and yet in another way ,as used
by Tarkovsky, only the Divine is Necessary etc so we come
to limits of words. This to the side.
The thought of Alexander is of course Tarkovsky's.
5)To his son "we could study the problem together ,seek
a solution...it is too late for that,altogether too late."
the film is dedicated to Tarkovsky's son. the director
died months after completing film ,of lung cancer,in 1986.
perhaps enjoy the interplay of words and images...
and I invite all your comment on these or on anything else
at all, yours
+Seraphim
Alexander of 'The Sacrifice' acted by Erland Josephson
also of Tarkovsky's Nostalgia, Bergmen's the Magician etc.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
10:06AM - Live Journal Anniversary Post. Leonardo,Tarkovsky and the mystery of the "incomplete."
Friends,
I began this live journal six years ago. I don't know what day
exactly, the entry is gone, but it was the end of June or early
July. It was at the suggestion of Daria Gavrilkin, then
nashadasha. She suggested it would be a good place
for our little group 'Transfiguration', and some others signed
on although I think the only other active journals now are those
of arisbe, jjostm and johnchico.
In fact Dasha herself
deleted her own journal almost immediately after but anyway she
had showed me how to post pictures and my very first post included
a picture--Leonardo's Adoration of the Magi and something on
the film The Sacrifice by Andrey Tarkovsky. The connection is
that the picture is a central image of the film...
Anyway last night I watched the dvd of The Sacrifice, the first time
since that first post that I have watched the entire film. I have
something further on the deep connection, as it seems to me,
of Tarkovsky and Leonardo through these works, and I think it is
worth saying --the trick will be to say it in such a way that it can
be interesting and understandable if one is not familiar with the
film. I will try. Also I will link a youtube 9 minute
cut. DO watch it perhaps!! Please click to the right here.( Read more... )
So these notes. I do hope you may have considered them because
they are serious and I think I have been able to give enough
with the youtube and the reproductions of the painting to
create these two vortexes drawing down into mystery...
So having seen again the film, this return to my first post six
years ago. There are now, though of course it ebbs and flows,
990 enrolled here...far more than at the start to be sure...
well... greeting today to all, blessin's as we say in the trade,
and as always I welcome all your response on these or anything
else at all, yours
+Seraphim
.
Daria Gavrilkin who inspired this journal. to her right
son Andrew and husband Konstantin. Photo at Christ the Savior
Church New York.
9:08AM - Soon the demon-children will be out of school.
Some pretty roses are growing in the yard! All thanks to the efforts of the house's previous owners (I don't know how to look after roses). In fact, there are all sorts of lovely flowers growing on the property, and somebody was a very skilled gardener; they've got varieties of flowers staggered so they grow at different times of the year. Way better than my puny garden-fu.
Heh, this morning I saw a posting on Freecycle from our previous next-door neighbours (at our old house). It sounds like they might be moving. Maybe I should email them to say hi, I kind of miss them. I actually saw the previous occupant of their house (from before they moved in) at the pharmacy a few weeks ago. She looked sort of familiar, but it'd been years since I'd seen her, and we kind of stared at each other. When she said "I know you...", I realized who it was, because I recognized her voice. I'm very poor at recognizing people's faces -- like many Aspies -- but recognize voices well (perhaps as compensation).
For anyone who didn't catch SVI but wants to read my entries, I put them up at flash_rogues.
Oh, and somebody at CXF made an adorable Raider smiley for me! So cute!
calmWednesday, June 25, 2008
12:08PM - Something less than fully serious+ Malcolm Boyd
Friends,
Nothing much today. Well I'll tell you a secret, or it
may be obvious, most days I have no idea what I'm going to
write here. This morning Bill Samsonoff sent me an email
titled "Quiet Conversations with Jesus" which sounds pietistic.
It is not simply that, I suppose one might say it is a joke,
and I think you may join me in being at least gently
amused by it. If you will.( Read more... )
That puts me in mind of the old book(from the 60s) by Malcolm
Boyd, a hip sort of priest, Are your running with me Jesus?
Which was a collection of informal prayers. I will put a couple
that I find immediately on the internet up here.( Read more... )
I recall Fr.Schmemann, dean of our seminary and author etc, expressing
disdain and ridicule for this book. His literary taste was fairly
aristocratic, Julien Green ,Andre Gide, E E Cummings get high marks, Boyd
or Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint I recall as being objects of disgust.
It seems to me however the prayers are,as far as they go, very
fine and are an expression in words(which become very many to
take in a simple thought) of a movement of thought in prayer.
In free prayer we do just that, use a good many words to express
our fleeting thought and give it form as well as we can. I do
myself find free prayer the center of prayer as I know it(not
reading prayers from a book). Further he seems aware of God
as outside of himself which in fact not everyone who prays
really is, and in that unawareness closes a door. Does it a little
tell God about things rather than raise questions in openness
to new understanding? Perhaps one can say that it lacks
certain elements of reaching down (or up) in offering ,in adoration,
in saying Deus meus et omnia(my God and my all)...Perhaps
this would be at the core of Fr Schmemann's visceral response.
But I think the book was helpful to many people who imagined prayer
was a reading out or remembering of some phrases.
Well enough on that. Perhaps you enjoyed the little joke we
began with? Perhaps you have some thoughts on prayer...
for a minute I think of a poll. I pray mostly set prayer/
mostly free prayer/ mostly a mantra or prayer word/not at all etc
but decided not, for one thing there are permutations,
for mee perhaps free+mantric+a little set etc. Anyway
I will end with one more picture taken last Saturday.
and I am yours
+Seraphim
.
Navigate: (Previous 20 friends)