"The truest of all men was the Man of Sorrows, and the truest of all books is Solomon's, and Ecclesiastes is the fine hammered steel of woe. "All is vanity." ALL. This wilful world hath not got hold of unchristian Solomon's wisdom yet. But he who dodges hospitals and jails, and walks fast crossing graveyards, and would rather talk of operas than hell; calls Cowper, Young, Pascal, Rousseau, poor devils all of sick men; and throughout a care-free lifetime swears by Rabelais as passing wise, and therefore jolly;- not that man is fitted to sit down on tomb-stones, and break the green damp mould with unfathomably wondrous Solomon.
"But even Solomon, he says, "the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain" (i.e. even while living) "in the congregation of the dead." Give not thyself up, then, to fire, lest it invert thee, deaden thee; as for the time it did me. There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar. -Melville, Moby Dick - The Try-Works
Dal tema del film "The Mission"
Ennio Morricone e Dulce Pontes
Video eseguito da BACIRUBATIDINOTTE
And what if the eagle has two heads?
yikes
Is this the same Van der Leun who ate a tomato right in front of me in Haymarket Square, salted, peppered and all? (Note the comma after "Square.")
My daughter Jen found your blog, but was too shy to ask if it was you.
Do you still own yellow socks?
Margaret
Posted by: Margaret Dickson at November 9, 2008 1:20 PMMargaret,
Did your daughter, Jen note a cigarette dangling from the lips or tightly held between fingers?
ChiefTestPilot
Posted by: ChiefTestPilot at November 9, 2008 2:57 PMI'm sure she did.
Hi Margaret. Nice to hear from you.
Socks? Yellow? Nope I'm onto crimson now.
Posted by: vanderleun at November 9, 2008 4:13 PMHi, Gerard.
Are you smoking? You stop that right now.
Jen can cure you of it, you know. RE: chief: dangling from the left or the right?
Margaret
ps: what ails the woman in the picture, do you think?
Margaret
Posted by: Margaret Dickson at November 10, 2008 6:13 PMIn late 2001 the following from Chapter 1 of Moby Dick asserted itself in my twisted brain:
"Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States.
"WHALING VOYAGE BY ONE ISHMAEL."
"BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN."
I knew that it was a sign, and I re-read the novel, that I had last read 30 years before. My brief report is that either I had gotten much gloomier in the intervening years, or that I had not sufficiently understood the theological basis of the book in my first readings.
Posted by: Fat Man at December 20, 2009 6:56 PMEcclesiastes is a perfect example of the wisdom of men which is seperated from God. It seethes with despair - yet it is also true, for life is meaningless without G_d. Perhaps when the Atheist drinks of this world to the dregs will they know what I mean. But then, Perhap not.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1&version=NIV
The New Testament also touches on the Wisdom of Solomon in this manner also:
If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=NIV
Wisdom is a powerful tool, Gerard. Yet without G_d, it is useless.
Thanks again Gerard. Very nice. Food for the soul. My cup runs over.
John
Posted by: Cond0010 at December 21, 2009 2:47 AMI didn't remember this post till I saw the comment about the socks.. I must have appreciated it as much then as I do now. Not much storage space left between my ears. Two things are constant in my memory though, that without Love, I have nothing and the admonition that all is vanity.
I don't think one lifetime is enough to even scratch the surface. Where ever the next one is I hope they still have Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
Posted by: Dennis at December 22, 2009 12:05 PM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.
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