Stefan Zweig – Confusion – Comment.

 

Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was primarily a writer of the novella and short stories. The man’s popularity reached its peak in the 20’s and 30’s. Most famous is his auto-biographical text, The World of Yesterday, (1942) describing his life as an Austrian man during the fall of the Austrian Hungarian Empire. This period was a hotbed for creativity, writing, art, science and a sway towards upheavals in the political zeitgeist leaning towards fascism in the form of the Nazis in Germany. Zweig was forced to flee his home, and travel across Europe, ending in Brazil, where he and his young wife committed suicide. Confusion was first published in 1927, to be translated from the German in 2009. Mainly the text is a psychological study of the intense intellectual relationship between student and teacher, and through a blurred passion, deep secrets threaten to destroy everything in their cloistered world.  

A troubled student from Berlin is forced by his father to attend a small college outside the temptations of the big city. On his first day, he stumbles upon a lecture in progress that consumes him and inspires the boy to a passionate level of desire to gain knowledge. The lecturer’s words touch the boy igniting an obsessive admiration for the teacher, but there is a veil of darkness around the relationship. This “darkness’ comes in the form of perceived secrets, some underlying one’s real nature, something unmentionable in early 20th century Germany.  

The student is invited to live in the home of the professor and his young wife, in a room upstairs, where the walls are paper thin. Over a short time, the boy’s intellectual love for his teacher sparks an academic force for both, and the boy begins to take dictation for his teacher on his long-abandoned thesis. The boy is so enthusiastic that immediately after the dictation session, he returns to his rooms, edits and forms the day’s work. Like a young son desperately wanting their father’s approval, though late in the night, shows the professor his work. Expecting praise, the professor is curt and dismisses the boy’s eagerness. This only confuses the lad.  

The professor’s wife is twenty years his junior; a thin, attractive woman of athletic prowess, as the young man swims with her one afternoon though doesn’t recognize her to be his mentor’s wife. There is a connection between them, thus creating a confusing situation.  

The novella ends with a somewhat heart wrenching confession from the teacher to his student. Ironically this ‘secret’ is known throughout the town and university on one level or another. The novella ends somberly yet with the narrator expressing his admiration and love for his teacher. 

Zweig touches the many psychological issues: to thwart one’s desires of the heart; confusion in relationships when secrets underly one’s true intentions. The loneliness of forbidden love.  

A wonderful story of our daily battle between head and heart, that is at the essence of the human condition.  

Dore – The Fall of Lucifer – Comment

 

Gustave Dore was a prolific artist if nothing else; though he had the gift to draw and make an adequate living at it, supporting himself and his family. Why this French sketch artist, illustrator and lithographer has continued to be of great interest was his choice of subject matter: myth, legend, poetry, and scripture. He managed to capture a moment in a myth or specific biblical story, for example, and make the viewer believe in the written tale. 

 In present time we label this profession, illustrator; and in the 19th century he was not considered an “artist” but a gifted person who had the skill to draw, (artisan) however, as his work spread in popularity, certain publishing houses clamored for his work. 
 
Despite certain opinions, Gustave Dore is an artist; his interpretation(s) of legend and poetry, particularly Scripture, reveals true imaginative insight. 
 
This illustration of the fall of the Arch Angel Lucifer captures the angel's ambivalence, who, as a favorite of God, had never “really” wanted to choose the side of Satan, (thus he is experiencing second thoughts) therefore the drawing, he holds on, about to fall into Hell. 
 
Lucifer is the Angel of Light and Beauty, who was tempted by Satan to go against God and His creation of the Human and instigate a War in Heaven, ending in the Fall of the Celestial and the Fall of man. 
 
This drawing is part of the "Paradise Lost" epic poem by John Milton. 
 
Excellent…

Rants on our War. “First casualty of war is the truth.”

During times of global conflict, it’s necessary to take all news reports with a grain of salt. What is that adage, “The first casualty of war is the truth.”? In the heat of war, the propaganda machine on both sides ramps up relentlessly. So, it’s important to find sources you can trust, simultaneously, bringing aboard all the critical thinking skills one may possess. I have found that once you take the emotional component out of the equation, the task of finding the truth is much less complicated. The present war with Iran, particularly over the last two weeks, one can deduce that the aggressor, those that initiated the war, is Israel and the US. The UK and the US have supplied the weapons, and Zionist Israel are manically pulling the trigger.

It should be obvious to many that Iran is defending its sovereignty against western imperialism. The “cat is out of the bag’ so to speak, where Israeli claims of defending itself is not entirely true, because their true intent is to expand their borders across west Asia up to Turkey encapsulating the majority of Saudi Arabia. This has been their intent all along. The Israelis fighting Hamas, battling for the hostages, and claiming everyone else is a terrorist is propaganda. The intent all along has been fulfilling The Greater Israel Project. The problem is Israel and US/UK forces are committing war crime after war crime to reach this goal. 

What is astonishing to many is western countries passing censorship laws banning any criticism of the state of Israel, labelling it “hate speech” or antisemitic. The US, UK, France and Australia have come down hard on antiwar voices and those outspoken on the genocide in Gaza and currently the war crimes committed in Lebanon. In Queensland, Australia, merely writing or announcing a specific line or catch phrase concerning Palestine will get you a five-year prison sentence. France is currently passing even more draconian laws regarding criticism of Israel. Since when has a sovereign western country passed laws preventing their citizens from criticizing a foreign nation? All this started with Gaza. You’re not allowed to recognize blatant genocide. What hold does Israel have over these once sovereign nations? Indeed, that’s the $64,000 question. 

Despite this harsh censorship, many governments around the planet have refused to join Trump and Netanyahu in their aggressive war against Iran. This is a war of aggression and choice. This is Trump’s and Netanyahu’s war, and as a result thousands of innocents have perished, and the world is facing an unprecedented economic disaster because of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. As many observers more expert than myself on such matters, it is likely better for Trump to declare victory and pull out of this war. 

It is difficult to predict where this war is headed. Considering the US and Israel, namely Trump and Netanyahu are the instigators, (both madmen) expect the worst.

Mindfulness and Serendipity – From the Travel diaries.

 

Journeying into the unknown, assuming the mental state of adventure and serendipity, can present the most interesting results. 

 All too often we are bogged down (without realizing it) in our day-to-day routines: bed by 9:30, rise at 6:30, drink coffee and take one’s vitamins; drive to work seeing the same people on the road because they leave at the same time you do; work hard and drive home, seeing the same morning drivers; drink the happy hour cocktail and eat dinner at the same time you’ve eaten for many years; back to bed, read and beg for sex but you know every Saturday night is a sure thing and has been a sure thing in your marriage for the last twenty years. Rise in the morning at 6:30 and…you get the point. 
 
Breaking the chain of habits is a difficult thing to do. For some, it can be almost physically painful because change of any kind means death. 
 
Many, including myself, find routine a type of security blanket, no surprises, and no sudden changes, just more of the same equal comfort. But is this so-called “comfort place” the place you really want to be in? 
 
Similar to the man who has the proverbial paper bag over his head, does not know the difference because he knows nothing else. For many, it takes courage to change and sometimes a tremendous amount of effort. 
 
Then, of course, life throws you a curve ball, change is thrust upon you without mercy, and there’s no choice; you must change and adapt. Some never recover and withdraw further into their self-created caves of desperate solitude. The again, some have the stamina to meet change head-on, like Jacob wrestling the angel. Life is designed to be engaged with, getting one’s hands dirty, so speaking, otherwise what’s the point? 
 
The reason I brought this topic up is my experience this morning. My friend and I decided to go to a different shopping center than the usual one to do a little clothes shopping. I bought a few items and then decided to have lunch. Rather than our places of secure habits, we decided to drive in the opposite direction, heading towards the countryside. We continued to drive admiring the landscape - olive groves and wineries abounded. 
 
Only about 15 miles from where we started, we came across a local pub. Walking into the place reminded me of the country's bars in mid-west America. It was if we transported back in time to circa 1970; live Blues music filled the air from an old guy on the stage who sounded like the country music and Blues artists of the fifties and sixties. He played that guitar like a third arm and had the perfect gravelly voice that gave his music an authentic quality like we were hearing the real thing…and we were. 
 
The lady tending bar, a middle-aged ex-hippy, suggested we try the local wine and set two glasses on the bar. Wow, it had to be the best tasting Cabernet I’ve had in many years. Her smile would melt the hardest of people, and you simply felt welcome. 
 
Our meals were excellent for a meagre price, and the wine alone, worth the trip. 
 
Although the sound of the Blues filled the air, everyone looked to be very happy, eating and drinking, enjoying the sunshine in the leafy open area out of the back. 

Unfortunately, it was time to go because of our habitual obligations and our daily routines. 
 
Returning to our “normal” lives, surprisingly, was not a let-down because we had journeyed forth into the unknown, breaking with the humdrum, thus feeling re-energized, more positive about the world in general. 
 
Change can be rewarding and necessary to merely stay awake and appreciate what one has and what one is mindful of the moment.