25.1.10

Beyond mundane

Recenly I realized that there are parallels between these two totally seemingly unrelated texts:

One is from Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, Chapter 2, "Top Hat":

All mortals are born at the very tip of the rabbit's fine hairs, where they are in a position to wonder at the impossibility of the trick. But as they grow older they work themselves ever deeper into the fur. And there they stay. They become so comfortable they never risk crawling back up the fragile hairs again. Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off, but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink.
"Ladies and gentlemen," they yell, "we are floating in space!" But none of the people down there care.
"What a bunch of troublemakers!" they say. And they keep on chatting: Would you pass the butter, please? How much have our stocks risen today? What is the price of
tomatoes?


The other one is from Holy Quran, , by Muhammad Asad (Muhammed Esed in Turkish), 67 - AL-MULK, 22:

But then, is he that goes along with his face close to the ground (19) better guided than he that walks upright on a straight way?

19 - Lit., "prone upon his face" - i.e., seeing only what is immediately beneath his feet, and utterly unaware of the direction into which his path is taking him: a metaphor of the spiritual obtuseness which prevents a person from caring for anything beyond his immediate, worldly concerns, and thus makes him resemble an earthworm that "goes along prone upon its face".


To me both texts refer to our possible loss of direction in daily worries, mundane and transient affairs. The person who does it otherwise is described differently, but I feel that that isn't the point.

9.1.10

Painted On Water-Bravo Sertab and Demir

I am currently listenining Sertab and Demir Demirkan's new album Painted on Water. Amazing. I am speechless. A very good mix of styles and genres. Sertab's voice is at its best.

3.1.10

Happy New Year

This is 2nd morning, along the river I live near by.

River

No words are necessary, right?

Who is poor?

Many years ago Rudyard Kipling gave an address at McGill University in Montreal. He said one striking thing which deserves to be remembered. Warning the students against an over-concern for money, or position, or glory, he said: "Some day you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are."

A quote from Rev. Halford E. Luccock, which is on the first page of The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki