PROMPT: Fears

Daily writing prompt
What fears have you overcome and how?

For example: being punched in the face and swimming in open waters.

As for how, to my knowledge there’s only one way to overcome any fear and that’s exposure to the fearful stimulus. e.g. One loses (at least greatly reduces) fear of being hit by sparring.

Five Wise Lines [May 2024]

Play is a state of mind, rather than an activity.

Stuart brown in PLay: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and Invigorates the soul

My sins are running out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I come to judge the sins of another!

From Sayings of the Desert Fathers
(A Senior Monk’s reply upon being asked to Judge a younger monk’s actions)

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth! But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 5: 38&39

I have no scepter, but I have a pen.

Voltaire to Fredrick the great

If a man is born to error, let us wish him virtuous errors.

Voltaire; ON Superstition

Countless Pieces of Hate [Free Verse]

Countless pieces of hate
Tumble through our days,
Clogging up our Flow --

Tiny bites of thought
Pit us against
Imagined adversaries...

But aren't all adversaries
Imagined adversaries?

Those who act badly against us
Are only adversaries
If we slide them into that
Mental basket.

BOOKS: “The Pass of the Persecuted” by Guram Odisharia

The Pass of the PersecutedThe Pass of the Persecuted by Guram Odisharia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Prospero’s Books

I picked up this book at Prospero’s Books in Tbilisi as part of my continuing effort to consume literature from every place I visit. It’s one of those books that’s small in page count (less than 100pp.) but massive in emotional impact. It tells of the author’s flight from Abkhazia (a contested region between Georgia and Russia on the Black Sea) on foot over a high mountain pass in the early 1990’s. It shines a harsh light on the refugee experience (though I don’t know that the term “refugee” is technically correct as Odisharia was both leaving from and going to a country to which he was a citizen.)

Besides being a visceral story of hardship, this thin book is weighty with powerful language, and it offers some vivid philosophical insights — e.g. “Miserable is the country where a bullet is valued more than a kind word, where hatred means more than love.” or “Mountains are like great love. Great love makes a kind man kinder, and a wicked man more wicked, a niggardly man more niggardly, a greedy man greedier, a cowardly man more cowardly, a naive man more naive…”

I found this book to be well worth reading.

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PROMPT: Work / Life Balance

How do you balance work and home life?

Live in the moment.

PROMPT: Leader / Follower

Are you a leader or a follower?

That’s a tough one because I think most people who would describe themselves as followers have failed to write their story boldly enough. Yet, the majority of people who describe themselves as leaders are more full of hot-air than of the capacity to inspire others to action.

I’d say, overall, I’m neither a good follower nor a good leader, but in varied contexts – as necessary – I can pull off either.

I think it might just be a false dichotomy.

PROMPT: Improvement

What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?

Realize you have no control of what happens in the world, but complete control of your perception of it.

PROMPT: Brands

What are your favorite brands and why?

The ones that offer the best value for the money at a given time. I have no brand loyalty, and — in fact — find it to be an absurd concept. It’s corporate hacking of humanity’s proclivity for tribalism in service of profit-maximization.

BOOKS: “Gothic Tales” by Marquis de Sade [Trans. by Margaret Crossland]

Gothic TalesGothic Tales by Marquis de Sade
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

Release Date: September 3, 2024

This collection of short fiction is an excellent entry point for the reader wishing to be introduced to the philosophy and literary stylings of the Marquis de Sade. It is less visceral and explicitly violent than the works for which Sade is most famous (i.e. Justine, 120 Days of Sodom, and Philosophy in the Boudoir.) While it does deal in libidinal issues throughout and has a few stories that are explicitly erotica (notably the last couple pieces,) it never ventures up to or over whatever thin line separates erotica from pornography.

While all the pieces share Sade’s signature philosophy and interests, it is in other ways a quite diverse collection of writings. The first piece, “Eugenie De Franval,” is a novella that takes up about half the book, and it is followed by a piece that, in today’s parlance, might be called flash fiction, “The Horse-Chestnut Flower.” Pieces such as “Eugenie De Franval” and “Florville and Courval” are tragedies while the comedies include: “Emilie De Tourville,”[granted with grim elements] “The Husband Who Played Priest,” “Room for Two,” and “The Self-Made Cuckold.” Those last three – as well as “The Horse-Chestnut Flower”– are comedic in a modern sense, not just the literary sense.

I can’t say how much of the difference in tone and intensity of these pieces from Sade’s other stories is owed to the selected source material and how much is owed to translation and editorial decisions, but it makes for a read that is more intriguing in story and less shocking and disturbing than many other translations of Sade’s work.

I enjoyed these stories. They had many clever twists and turns that I don’t recall experiencing in Sade’s novels. Several stories rely on a great deal of deus ex machina coincidences, but I think that works just fine — particularly in the more humorous stories. I’d highly recommend this for readers looking to ease into the work of the Marquis de Sade.

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“Renunciant’s Song” by Su Shi [w/ Audio]

The night is clear, even pristine --
A nightscape in silver moonlight.
"Yes, please! Pour me a bowl of wine.
Don't skimp! take it up to the brim."

And why should I chase wealth and fame
When it is sure to end in vain?
Events pass like a horse's sigh,
A spark on stone, or dream travel.
I can put out my ideas,
But who'll accept them as the truth?
Why shouldn't I just live happily
And innocently, like a child?
I could go back to carefree days
When life's trifles weren't torturesome.
Just me, my lute, a pot of wine,
And the stories drawn by the clouds.

NOTES: Song Dynasty Poet, Su Shi, was also known as Su Dongpo. The translated title of this poem also varies. In Deep, Deep the Courtyard, translated by Xu Yuanchong, it is entitled, “Song of Pilgrimage.”