The folk tale is not afraid of greatness. It believes that humanity is not a drab collection of mediocrities, but that nearly everybody has some poetry in him, and that it can flower at times into something which leaves the earth altogether and strikes the stars. Because it believed in human nature it believed that human nature could transcend itself [...]
- John Buchan, The Novel and the Fairy Tale
We're living in a time that likes to emphasise the wounds that mankind deals to nature. Many people feel they have an easier time dealing with inanimate matter than with other people; - which makes this almost a century old sentiment nicely refreshing. It's good to be reminded every now and then that everybody is special in their own way, and you only need to take the time to discover their singularity (the "greatness of little things in others", as the Book of Tea says). I like to lament the self-destructive way of mankind myself quite often, but if All of Humanity was really that bad, I think we wouldn't be here anymore. Most of the people we encounter are inherently good.
The quote also reminded me of one of my teachers in my first year of uni, who made us learn a poem by heart. He said that in several years' time we probably wouldn't remember the poem anymore (he was right), but that a small part of the poem would remain within us and make us more beautiful.
This also ties in with something that Takuan writes about education:
Menschenliebe ist die natürliche Gesinnung des Menschen. Pflicht ist der natürliche Weg des Menschen. Wie traurig ist es, wenn einer seinen Weg verlässt und nicht darauf wandelt, wenn einer sein Herz verloren gehen lässt und nicht weiß, wie er es wieder finden kann!
Wenn einem Menschen ein Huhn oder ein Hund verloren geht, so weiß er, wie er sie wieder finden kann; aber sein Herz geht ihm verloren, und er weiß nicht, wie suchen. Die Bildung dient uns zu nichts anderem als nur dazu, unser verlorengegangenes Herz zu suchen.
- Zen in der Kunst des kampflosen Kampfes
Which makes poetry one of the means to find our heart and the love within us, in order to transcend ourselves and reach the stars. People should read more.
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Last week I went to a cabaret. The media was there, so now here's a short video of the music that was played there with an interview of Leonding-based band Rhiannon.
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Tehehe :->
(Apologies for only posting these small, silly comic pictures recently. There's not much time to work on the big illustrations.)
