Great album covers, VIII

Great album covers, VII

Great album covers, VI

Leben heißt Leben

Das Wappentier der Stadt Laibach auf der Drachenbrecke

Wann immer wir Kraft geben
geben wir das Beste
all unser Können, unser Streben
und denken nicht an Feste.

Und die Kraft bekommen alle
wir bekommen nur das Beste
wenn jedermann auch alles gibt
dann wird auch jeder alles kriegen
Leben heißt Leben!

Leben heißt Leben
wenn wir alle die Kraft spüren
Leben heißt Leben
wenn wir alle den Schmerz fühlen
Leben heißt Leben
heißt die Mengen erleben
Leben heißt Leben
heißt das Land erleben.

- Laibach, Leben heißt Leben

Great album covers, V

Due to my friend Ensio Kataja's note (see his comment to Education, X) that some carnality would be nice after all these skeletons, I now present something in that spirit :-)

Education, X

I taught to some high school students about Pakanaverkko (Pagan Net) and paganism in general yesterday. It was good two hours of processing some basics involved and practising ability to view general media’s views on minority religions critically.

Bike

I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like.
It's got a basket, a bell that rings and
Things to make it look good.
I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.

I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.
I've got a cloak. It's a bit of a joke.
There's a tear up the front. It's red and black.
I've had it for months.
If you think it could look good, then I guess it should.
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.

- Pink Floyd, Bike

I am a lifestyle bicyclist. I have been bicycling throughout the years and their seasons, even here in Hyperborea. Those of you who have your bicycles in your garage, I tell you it is a perfect time to dig them out and to hit the road now! Nietzsche told us that some of the best thoughts occur while walking and I would like to add that some of the best thoughts occur also while bicycling!

Springtime ramblings

My study on the hidden curriculum is almost finished. Thank Pazuzu. The text should be ready by Friday. I might put it available to Voimasana’s pages later.

While having a break in writing, relaxing in front of a strong cup of Caffé Inferno and listening to Ovro’s Gegenduchgangenzeit, I realized that my birthday is right around the corner. How that happened? Being over 30 years old reveals some interesting aspects of a subjective nature of time. I am sure it gets even more interesting to follow the white rabbit in this wonderland after hitting 40 and beyond. Anyone here to tell about that?

Thoughts about age reminded me that apparently a good number of people who count themselves as ‘pagans’ have their birthday’s during spring. Does it somehow correlate to these people’s type of religiousness that their parents did the sacrament around midsummer? Do you think that the time of the year you were born does somehow resonate with your personality in some oddly profound way? Mine does. I am definitely a spring person.

As I’ve noted before, I am not too big on horoscopes. I think it would be more interesting to hear some speculation about one’s birthday season’s effect on one’s personality than some way too distant planet’s positions. Or how it has effected people if their mother’s listened non-stop to Kake Randelin, Abba, Barry Polisar or whatever during pregnancy.

Great album covers, IV

Great album covers, III

Education, IX

Education is life itself.
- John Dewey

Great album covers, II

Education, VIII

Let's start the day with a few new math problems -- what is five times two? Yes. Clyde? Clyde: Twelve. Okay. Now let's try and get an answer from somebody who is not a complete retard.

(…) No, that's wrong, Cartman. But don't worry. There are no stupid answers, just stupid people.

- Dialogue between Clyde, Cartman, and Mr. Garrison, a third-grade elementary school teacher at South Park Elementary.

Great album covers, I

Hope

Hope, when bold, is strenght. Hope, with doubt, is cowardice. Hope, with fear, is weakness.

- G.I. Gurdjieff

What is it like to be a degu?

I have lived with four pet rats and four degus. I share my home currently with three female octodon degus; Iina, Shimsa, and Friday. While getting them food today, I was thinking about the funniest and the most mysterious things about them.

Their quicksilverly and very social nature is fun to observe. I think they have run around the world quite a few times by now in their running wheel. It looks hilarious if they all jam themselves into it at the same time. The range of sounds they can make is amazing. The way they sleep upon each other in one big breathing pile makes me smile. But when it comes to the most funniest things they have done, I remember particularly well how they once fiercely protested against playing Devo’s Big mess. It must have been due to the electronic sounds of the song. I think the girls like ambient in its various forms the best. If you are interested in some great degu video -and audio files, click here.

No matter how much I have observed degu behaviour and tried to understand it, much of it continues to be a mystery to me. Among the most fascinating areas in this is their vocal repertoire. I have learned to “talk” to them a bit and to understand their “talk” to me and to each other a bit, but that’s naturally all very rudimentary. One of the most mysterious cases I have witnessed about them deals with Belle’s, Iina’s sisters, death. I found one morning that Belle had passed away during the night. The vet thought it might have been due to a heart problem. Iina needed to spend some weeks alone before Shimsa and Friday became part of the family. For some reason Iina spent lots of that time on the same spot where Belle had died. It made me wonder the reason for this. What went in this degu’s cognition back then? I have guesses, but no answers. The most mysterious thing about my little friends is the way they experience existence. I have only a vague idea what is it like to be a degu.

I wish I could tell to my furry four-legged friends how much they contribute to my happiness on a daily basis. I have learned things from them and they continue to inspire my interest in animal consciousness (Finns out there might be interested in my Finnish study about Dr. Thomas Nagel’s classic essay What is it like to be a Bat?). It might be that in some non-verbal ways I have managed to communicate something about that wish to them in their terms.

What are the most funniest and mysterious things about your pets? Do you think it is possible to have an idea what is it like to be them?

We have much to learn from the beasts - Dracula

A Bridge

Art by Roland Winkhart

Man is a rope, fastened between animal and superman - a rope over an abyss.

A dangerous going-across, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and staying-still.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal; what can be loved in man is that he is a going-across and a down-going.

I love those who do not know how to live except their lives be a down-going, for they are those who are going across.

- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Death penalty, II

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind - Mahatma Gandhi

I talked to some 9th graders about my correspondence with past Mr. Alan Jeffrey Bannister and several things related to death penalty in general today. I made several references to two documentaries Mr. Bannister is on: The Execution Protocol and Raising Hell: Life of Alan Bannister by Stephen Trobley. In addition to these documentaries I talked about Mr. Bannister's book Shall Suffer Death and I passed it on for the students to view and to read. Anyone interested in the case and death penalty in general is strongly recommended to get these pieces in their hands.

Education, VII

Suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural).

- Lewis Carrol, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The hidden curriculum is taught by the school, not by any teacher... something is coming across to the pupils which may never be spoken in the English lesson or prayed about in assembly. They are picking-up an approach to living and an attitude to learning.

- Roland Meighan, A Sociology of Education

I've been busy with some writing projects. One of them is a little study I am doing about a hidden curriculum. My special focus deals with an analysis of 9th graders books on religion. The subject is interesting but my schedule is tight. Because of the limited time available, I guess I will not be fully satisfied with the final version of the study, but I am sure it is going to be an interesting little project in any case. I hope I will open some new angles to the hidden curriculum I have been influenced with in my past.

The more far away one goes into the past the easier it often is to expose the touch of a hidden curriculum in one's life. In this regard I remember especially well a teacher I had from the 1st till the 6th grade. It wasn't that obvious back then, but looking at those years later I have noticed some obvious dimensions of a hidden curriculum. They deal with roles of men and women, approach towards military service, religion, and so forth. Realizing these things later has at times been hilarious, at times shocking.

Have you noticed how a hidden curriculum has touched your personal history?

Heroic

What makes heroic? To go to meet simultaneously one's greatest sorrow and one's greatest hope.

- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science

Death penalty

I was asked to talk about my correspondence with the past Jeffrey Bannister the next Monday to some 9th graders here in Turku, Finland. Who was this man, Jeffrey Bannister? If you ask from me, Alan Jeffrey Bannister from Missouri, U.S., was a victim of a terrible injustice (read: absolutely awful politics) who was executed with lethal injection on October 22nd 1997 CE by the state of Missouri.

I started correspondence with past Mr. Bannister soon after seeing the British documentary Raising Hell. I was truly shocked about the case. The stereotypical thought of a pathologically sick and wicked murderer just didn't match with Mr. Bannister. He seemed to me more like a person with an awfully bad social background and bad luck (in his case maybe especially under local U.S. elections). The more I started to study the subject and the general statistics and facts a pretty general pattern of injustice started forcefully to surface. The subject started to stink really awfully. It made me feel sick. The United Nations have lots to say about this subject in the case you are interested. And let me make it clear, this is a more universal problem, not just a problem of the United States. Statistics speak for themself.

The left hand path is often associated with a fiercely revengeful approach in certain dimensions of ethics. When it comes to the trancendental branch of the path, I think there are much more thoughful variations in many ways here. I want to be known as one of those exceptions to this stereotypical view of travelers of the path as strictly revengeful in their approach to the subject of death penalty.

In general, I am strongly against death penalty. There are some conditions that I see as exceptions to my general views on the subject, but they are rare. If you ask from me, you can flush Anton LaVey's points about "just hitting back" as fast down the toilet as you can flush the stereotypical Christian points of "turning the other cheek"-view. From my general point of view, they are both very simplistic and thus in their practical use in complex conditions often also pretty stupid views. Hitting back is most likely very smart for self-defence in extreme situations, but if hitting back is systematically used by a society it is another thing. Structural violence has never brought too good results anywhere.

I am curious about my blog's readers points of view on the subject. Are you pro or con regarding death penalty? Why this or that way? And in what conditions? In what conditions you would be ready to kill a person in the name of revenge or justice?

Be prideful and thoughtful of Being and in the name of the Highest of Life.

Will a self

Active, succesful natures act, not according to the dictum 'know thyself', but as if there hovered before them the commandment: will a self and thou shalt become a self.

- Friedrich Nietzsche, Assorted Opinions and Maxims.

International women's day

Happy international women's day!

Laughter

Art by Roland Winkhart

How much is still possible! So learn to laugh beyond yourselves! Lift up your hearts, you fine dancers, high! higher! and do not forget to laught well. This laughter's crown, this rose-wreath crown: to you, my brothers, do I throw this crown! I have canonized laughter: you higher men, learn - to laugh!

- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

On Poetry

Art by Roland Winkhart

"Yes, sir," Pitts said. He cleared his throat.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, / Old time is still a flying: / And this same flower that smiles today, / Tomorrow will be dying".

He stopped. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may," Keating repeated. "The Latin term for that sentiment is carpe diem. Does anyone know what that means?" "Carpe diem," Meeks, the Latin scholar, said. "Seize the day." Very good, Mr....?" "Meeks." "Seize the day," Keating repeated. "Why does the poet write these lines?" "Because he's in a hurry? one student called out as the others snickered. "No, no, no! It´s because we're food for worms, lads!" Keating shouted. "Because we're only going to experience a limited number of springs, summers, and falls." "One day, hard as it is to believe, each and every one of us is going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die!"

[...]

"This is battle, boys," he cried. "War! You are souls at a critical juncture. Either you will succumb to the will of academic hoi polloi, and the fruit will die on the vine - or you will triumph as individuals.

[...]

"I say - drivel! One reads poetry because he is a member of the human race, and the human race is filled with passion! Medicine, law, banking - these are necessary to sustain life. But poetry, romance, love, beauty? These are what we stay alive for!

[...]

"He paced in front of the class. "And don't limit poetry to the word. Poetry can be found in music, a photograph, in the way a meal is prepared - anything with the stuff of revelation in it. It can exist in the most everyday things but it must never, never be ordinary. By all means, write about the sky or a girl's smile, but when you do, let your poetry conjure up salvation day, doomsday, any day. I don't care, as long as it enlightens us, thrills us and - if it's inspired - makes us feel a bit immortal."

- From N.H. Kleinbaum's Dead Poets Society

Diotimalle

Ensio Kataja wrote well about myths and stories in his blog today. It strikingly reminded me of the power of poetry and a wonderful movie called Dead Poets Society. Good poetry is truly a language of the gods. I am not sure if I can claim to have much skills in it myself but I still consider that the two best books I have written thus far have been privately published poetry.

What works of poetry have moved you the most in your life thus far? Are there special stories about your life involved? In the Dead Poets Society's spirit of carpe diem I challenge you to grasp the moment and to write few lines of poetry for someone you love - right now.

Education, VI

We need to know whether or not people are learning. And if they are, there will be hallelujahs all over the place.

- George W. Bush, University of New Hampshire, Jan. 8th, 2002 CE

Education, V

I taught few hours of Plato´s philosophy for some high school students this week. The very basics of the subject: Historical and cultural context where Socrates and his pupil Plato operated and formulated their philosophy in. I combined The Matrix with the allegory of the cave in order to dig into Plato´s views on the hierarchy of being, the eternal forms, the nature and object of knowledge and belief, the general human condition. Also often very misunderstood topic of love in Plato´s philosophy was covered.

Later, while reflecting on the classes taught, I had a moment in the upper floors of my house of consciousness. For the first time in my life I had taken part in the act of passing the socratic spark to the next generation in a formal public schooling system. Becoming a chain in this link that reaches over 2300 years back in time felt noble. I wish those young minds got some sparks during those lessons towards remembering themselves in relation to the eternal ideas in the spirit of Meno. It all worked well for me that way. Aletheia - gnôti sauton!

Die Sonne, II

This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.

- Plato, Book VII/The Republic

Die Sonne

Die Sonne scheint mir aus den Händen / kann verbrennen, kann euch blenden / wenn sie aus den Fäusten bricht / legt sich heiß auf das Gesicht / sie wird heut Nacht nicht untergehen / und die Welt zählt laut bis zehn.

I thought to study some Plato's dialogues today, but eventually decided to dedicate some time to see Rammstein's Lichtspielhaus-DVD instead. Well, Plato followed me as something very platonic caught my eye from the band's videos. Video for Die Sonne (the sun) can be seen as a fine and rather humoristic interpretation of Plato's the allegory of the cave.

The guys of the band are working as miners in dark tunnels underground, which pretty well symbolically matches with the general semi-conscious slave-like human condition described in the allegory. Reality is very grey and only a poor reflection of full colors and wonders of what life is like outside of the cave. The Snow White who enters the cave brings with her bright light and colors of the world above. She can be seen as a personification of Plato´s idea of eros and her function in pursuit of the Truth, the Sun of the Good's idea (see more on this from Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus).

Snow White's appearance is not only mysterious, beautiful, and utterly inspiring but also painful for those who meet her (something the guys doesn’t seem to mind on the video…), just like what seeing the truth is like in the cave allegory. The miners mourn as their messenger from the Truth's Sun dies. At the very end of the video she resurrects, giving proof that she truly is a manifestation of an idea, and as such ageless and eternal.

Hmm. I guess this is all big time just my interpretation and that there was no such platonic symbolism intentionally put into the video at all. Or who knows? Anyway, die Sonne is a great video for a great song. Perfert for springtime in North Europe, where the sun is bringing more of its warmth every week.