Sunday, December 10, 2006

Sunday In Hell

Here is Rodins famous sculpture the Gates of Hell.

Note that at the entrance canopy sits Rodin's other famous figure; the Thinker.



Says something don't it. What though? Hmm have to think about it.

I got it! The Devil made me do it.


Of course the devil had something to do with it after all Aleister Crowley counted Rodin as a friend and a great artist. There were few great artisits in his opinion as great as himself. So this was rare praise indeed for Crowley. Who wrote a poetic paen to Rodin's sculptures; Rodin in Rime.

1902 Visits Bennet in Burma.
Leaves for Paris. In Paris meets Sommerset Maugham who mocks him in the character
of Oliver Haddo in one of his earliest novels, The Magician.
Collaborates with Auguste Rodin, and produces Rodin in Rime.

The Confessions of Aleister Crowley Chapter 42



In France one attains eminence by a less gratuitous Golgotha. Men of art and letters are respected and honoured by each other and by the public. Their final position in history is quietly assigned by time. It is only in very exceptional circumstances that a great man is awarded the distinction of a Calvary. Of course, Zola went through the mill; but only because he had butted into politics by his J'accuse; he was only denounced as obscene because any stick is good enough to beat a god with.

But, as luck would have it, I had arrived in Paris on an occasion which history in France can hardly duplicate; Rodin was being attacked for his stature of Balzac. I was introduced to Rodin and at once fell in love with the superb old man and his colossal work. I still think his Balzac the most interesting and important thing he did. It was a new idea in sculpture. Before Rodin there had been certain attempts to convey spiritual truth by plastic methods; but they were always limited by the supposed necessity of "representing" what people call "nature". The soul was to be the servant of the eye. One could only suggest the relations of a great man with the universe by surrounding a more or less photographic portrait of him with the apparatus of his life work. Nelson was painted with a background of three-deckers and a telescope under his arm; Wren with a pair of compasses in front of St. Paul's.

Rodin told me how he had conceived his Balzac. He had armed himself with all the documents; and they had reduced him to despair. (Let me say at once that Rodin was not a man, but a god. He had no intellect in the true sense of the word; his was a virility so superabundant that it constantly overflowed into the creation of vibrating visions. Naively enough, I haunted him in order to extract first-hand information about art from the fountain head. I have never met anyone --- white, black, brown, yellow, pink or spot-blue --- who was so completely ignorant of art as Auguste Rodin! At his best he would stammer out that nature was the great teacher or some equally puerile platitude. The books on art attributed to him are of course the compilation of journalists.)

He was seized with a sort of rage of destruction, abandoned his pathetically pedantic programme. Filled with the sublime synthesis of the data which had failed to convey a concrete impression to his mind, he set to work and produced the existing Balzac. This consequently bore no relation to the incidents of Balzac's personal appearance at any given period. These things are only veils. Shakespeare would still have been Shakespeare if someone had thrown sulphuric acid in his face. The real Balzac is the writer of the Comédie Humaine; and what Rodin has done is to suggest this spiritual abstraction through the medium of form.

Most people do not realize the power which genius possesses of comprehending the essence of a subject without the need of learning it laborously. A master in one art is at home in any other, without having necessarily practised it or studied its technicalities. I am reminded of the scene in Rodin's studio which I described in a sonnet. Some bright spirit had brought his fiddle and we were all bewitched. Rodin suddenly smiled and waved his hand towards "Oan et Syrinx". I followed the gesture: the bars just played were identical with the curve of the jaw of the girl. The power to perceive such identities of essence beneath a difference of material manifestation is the inevitable token of mastery. Anyone who understands (not merely knows) one subject will also understand any other, whether he also knows it or not. Thus: suppose there had also been present a great gardener, a great geologist and a great mathematician. If they did not understand and approve that signal of Rodin's, I should refuse to admit that they were real masters, even of their own subjects. For I regard it as an infallible test of a master of any art or science that he should recognize intuitively (Neschamically) the silent truth, one and indivisible, behind all diversities of expression.

I find by experience that any man well learned in a subject, but whose understanding of it falls short of the mastery I have described, will profoundly resent this doctrine. It minimizes the dignity of his laborious studies and in the end accuses him of inferior attainment. The more sophisticated victim can usually put up an apparently non-emotional defence in the form of a scepticism as to the facts, a scepticism those obstinate irrationality is plain to an outside observer, but seems to the victim himself a simple defence of what he feels to be truth. This type of Freudian self-protection is often entirely passion-proof even against direct accusation of intellectual pride and jealousy. It relies on the ability of the mind to confuse, when hard-pressed, the essence of a subject with its accidents. Nothing but a very pure aspiration to truth --- and experience (often humiliating) of such reactions --- is of much use against this particular kind of bondage.

While other defenders of Rodin were apologizing for him in detail I brushed aside the nonsense --- "a plague o' both your houses!" --- and wrote a sonnet, which is, in its way, to conventional criticism exactly what the Balzac was. It was translated into French by Marcel Schwob and made considerable stir in Paris. Even at this length of time, I attach a certain importance to it. For one thing, it marks a new stage in my own art.

BALZAC

Giant, with iron secrecies ennighted,
Cloaked, Balzac stands and sees. Immense disdain,
Egyptian silence, mastery of pain,
Gargantuan laughter, shake or still the ignited
Stature of the Master, vivid. Far, affrighted,
The stunned air shudders on the skin. In vain
The Master of La Comédie Humaine
Shadows the deep-set eyes, genius-lighted.

Epithalamia, birth songs, epitaphs,
Are written in the mystery of his lips.
Sad wisdom, scornful shame, grand agony
In the coffin folds of the cloak, scarred mountains, lie,
And pity hides i' th' heart. Grim knowledge grips
The essential manhood. Balzac stands, and laughs.

The upshot was that Rodin invited me to come and stay with him at Meudon. The idea was that I should give a poetic interpretation of all his masterpieces. I produced a number of poems, many of which I published at the time in the Weekly Critical Review, an attempt to establish an artistic entente cordiale. The entire series constitutes my Rodin in Rime. This book is illustrated by seven often lithographs of sketches which Rodin gave me for the purpose.



See

Art

Hell

Modernism

Devil

Satan

Lucifer


Church Lady


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Escaping Justice


Former Chilean dictator Pinochet dies at 91

Well at least he recanted, sort of....nah, he said he was justified.

The little twirp still escaped earthly justice.

Luckily being Catholic there maybe Justice in the afterlife.......cause he ain't going to heaven.....
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Hell

Lets see Pincohet has several destinations as his soul descends into Dante's inner circles of Hell

  • Circle Four: You don't hear a lot about avarice these days, but the medieval mindset classified it as a major sin. The greedy are condemned here to working for the man every night and day, doing pointless and menial tasks. Future residents include Bill Gates and Martha Stewart.
  • Circle Seven: Ah, violence! You gotta love violence! Dante classified three kinds of violence — against self, against others and against God. Inhabitants spotted by Dante included Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great. Since this category includes warmongers, George W Bush is a potential future inmate. Dante's definition of "violence against God" inexplicably includes sodomy, which he classes as a more serious crime than murder, so the Seventh Circle could potentially host Robert Mapplethorpe and Oscar Wilde, who would be flayed on burning sands, while Adolf Hitler would merely be turned into a tree for the crime of Suicide. There is no justice.
  • Circle Eight: If the Seventh Circle offended your sensibilities, the Eighth is simply baffling. In the next worst circle of Hell, the sufferings of the damned would be inflicted on those who have committed the following sins (all of which are deemed more evil than murder and warmongering). In order of increasing severity: Pandering, flattery, hypocrisy, fortune telling, theft, giving bad advice, instigating trouble, alchemy, impersonation, counterfeiting, lying, and being a giant.
  • Circle Nine: The Ninth Circle is for betrayers of every stripe, with all the big names in betraying thoroughly represented. Judas, Brutus, Cassius, Benedict Arnold, John Wayne Bobbit, Big Pussy from the Sopranos, Cain, Lando Calrissian, Jim Bakker, Richard M. Nixon, the Rosenbergs, Randy Savage, and finally, frozen in hell's center, Satan himself. Judas, Cassius and Brutus are actually being eternally chewed by Satan, who has an intense dislike for Shakespearean characters.
Of course Hell could be a party.



See

Pinochet

Chile


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Turning Off The Nile

Africa's Lake Victoria dropping fast; 'Such a large body of water, dropping so fast'

Not good news, since Lake Victoria is the source for the Nile.

Obviously Envrionment Minister Rona Ambrose missed this part of the Global Warming is Killing Africa Tour, when she was in Kenya for the Kyoto II talks.

And Lake Victoria is not the only large fresh water lake in Africa suffering so is Lake Chad and Lake Tanganyika. The loss of fresh water is having a direct effect on a vast variety of animals in Africa.
Global Warming Could Doom Male Crocodiles

The Mountains of the Moon and other Glaciers are melting at record rates in Africa. A direct result of the carbon emissions increasing in the developed industrialized countries of the world since 1999.

Climate change melting fabled glaciers

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Climate change is melting a legendary ice field in equatorial Africa and may soon thaw it out completely, threatening fresh water supplies to hundreds of thousands of people.

The fabled, snow-capped Rwenzori mountains -- dubbed the "Mountains of the Moon" in travel brochures -- form part of the Uganda/Democratic Republic of the Congo border and are one of Uganda's top tourist destinations.

But warmer temperatures are melting the glaciers sitting on their peaks, with some scientists predicting the ice could be gone within two to three decades.

"Definitely, the glaciers are decreasing," James Magezi-Akiiki, a climate change specialist at Uganda's environment ministry told Reuters.



See

Africa

Environment

Ambrose



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Sunday Sermon 2

It is a great novel. A form of science fiction in the alternative hsitory/ future vien. Written in 1908.
Yet it predicts WWI and the real reasons for it.

Jack London The Iron Heel

Detailing of the rise of the "Iron Heel," a group of Capitalists, and the Socialist revolution that is crushed beneath it.



"It was the Plutocracy, weighing and balancing, that defeated us by dividing our strength. It was the Plutocracy, through its secret agents, that raised the cry that socialism was sacrilegious and atheistic; it was the Plutocracy that whipped the churches, and especially the Catholic Church, into line, and robbed us of a portion of the labor vote. And it was the Plutocracy, through its secret agents of course, that encouraged the Grange Party and even spread it to the cities into the ranks of the dying middle class.

The hard times at home had caused an immense decrease in consumption. Labor, out of work, had no wages with which to buy. The result was that the Plutocracy found a greater surplus than ever on its hands. This surplus it was compelled to dispose of abroad, and, what of its colossal plans, it needed money. Because of its strenuous efforts to dispose of the surplus in the world market, the Plutocracy clashed with Germany. Economic clashes were usually succeeded by wars, and this particular clash was no exception. The great German war-lord prepared, and so did the United States prepare.

The Oligarchy wanted the war with Germany. And it wanted the war for a dozen reasons. In the juggling of events such a war would cause, in the reshuffling of the international cards and the making of new treaties and alliances, the Oligarchy had much to gain. And, furthermore, the war would consume many national surpluses, reduce the armies of unemployed that menaced all countries, and give the Oligarchy a breathing space in which to perfect its plans and carry them out. Such a war would virtually put the Oligarchy in possession of the world-market. Also, such a war would create a large standing army that need never be disbanded, while in the minds of the people would be substituted the issue, "America versus Germany," in place of "Socialism versus Oligarchy."

Chapter XIII. The General Strike



* The Iron Heel (1908) [A concordance is available for this work]
A futuristic tale of facist tyranny and socialist revolution considered a classic work of American radical literature. Much admired by Eugene Debs, Leon Trotsky, and George Orwell.

See:

Sunday Sermon

Plutocrats Rule




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Lost Concrete Secrets

The discovery of an ancient secret for making concrete could aid the developing world and reduce Green House Gases.

Riddle Of The Great Pyramids Of Giza: Professor Finds Some Building Blocks Were Concrete



In partially solving a mystery that has baffled archeologists for centuries, a Drexel University professor has determined that the Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed with a combination of not only carved stones but the first blocks of limestone-based concrete cast by any civilization.

Michel Barsoum, professor of materials engineering, shows in a peer-reviewed paper to be published Dec. 1 in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society how the Egyptian builders of the nearly 5,000-year-old pyramids were exceptional civil and architectural engineers as well as superb chemists and material scientists. His conclusions could lead to a seismic shift in the kind of concrete used in construction and provide developing nations a way to build structures utilizing inexpensive and easily accessible materials.

Barsoum, whose interest in the pyramids and geopolymers was piqued five years ago when he heard theories about the construction of the pyramids, says that to construct them with only cast stone builders would have needed an unattainable amount of wood and fuel to heat lime to 900 degrees Celsius.

The type of concrete pyramid builders used could reduce pollution and outlast Portland cement, the most common type of modern cement. Portland cement injects a large amount of the world's carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and has a lifespan of about 150 years. If widely used, a geopolymer such as the one used in the construction of the pyramids can reduce that amount of pollution by 90 percent and last much longer. The raw materials used to produce the concrete used in the pyramids -- lime, limestone and diatomaceous earth -- can be found worldwide and is affordable enough to be an important construction material for developing countries, Barsoum said.


See:

Pyramids

Ancient World

Science

Technology

Ancient civilizations



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Stinkin Rich

Somethings never change....ever.....

Pioneering Study Shows Richest Two Percent Own Half World Wealth

A recently issued report by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University found that America is second only to the banking center of Switzerland in the percentage of wealth owned by its top 10%. And the gap is narrow, with Switzerland’s top 10% wealthiest owning 71.3% of the country’s assets, while in America the figure is 69.8%.

And in Canada, well its worth repeating; there are now over one million households with over a million dollars in net worth. These households, 8.2% of families, hold 46.5% of the total net worth. Overall, the top 20% had 69.2% of total net worth

And if the world is a global village, and that village had say a thousand people in it would look like this.



See

Productivity


Taxes

Wealth

Plutocrats Rule




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Branded

Despite being a Government of Canada webpage, the PM's page could easily be confused with the Conservative Party Homepage Since the message is the same.


The image “http://www.pm.gc.ca/grfx/eng/bannermain_e.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

The image “http://www.conservative.ca/media/templateElements/randomimageelement/2768/20060925-Banner_new.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.



See:

Canada Has Been Branded Tory

Branded

Brand

PM

Harper


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Rideau Hall Blog

It's a new blog, on a new web page from the GG. All about her groundbreaking Africa trip.

And her courtiers tell their stories of attending the Great Lady.


by Jean-Marc Mongin, Member of the Delegation
Executive Director
CUSO

Saturday, December 09, 2006
The fight for freedom continues...

Words fail me in describing the inspiration and hope in mankind brought by the last few days in South Africa. Days filled with meeting some of the humble giants of the liberation struggle, visiting Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, the Apartheid museum, Constitution Hill, the most beautiful, value-laden and people friendly court that I have ever seen, and everywhere singing and music that feed the soul.

I enjoyed the sweet irony of being part of a Canadian delegation greeted at Union Buildings, an imposing symbol of the apartheid regime in Pretoria that has been wonderfully reclaimed by the new South Africa in all of its colors.

And without a hint of irony it's called Citizens Voices. Welcome to www.citizenvoices.gg.ca Subtitled Breaking Down Barriers. The site has live online chat with th GG, forums, blogs, you can register, the whole nine yards of interactive web communications.

Imagine that, the representative of HRH is more open, transparent, and engaging in dialouge than the democratically elected representative minority government and it's PM.

Imagine that.


A tip o' the blog to Tyrone Warner



See:

GG

Africa


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See She Does Speak


CTV Newsnet Live: Environment Minister Rona Ambrose 4:35

Rona Ambrose re-announcing the PM's Toxic Chemical Ban Announcement. See she is more than a pretty prop. She speaks too.


But she has a problem with long names of toxic chemicals as do most of us...
which like John Kerry she tries to make a joke of..... so I always pronounce them phonetically...Flor O Hex A Thane... that is why they are called six syllable words as the Minister noted in her speech..

See

Environment

Ambrose



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RH Kermit the PM



In a deseperate move to look Green, as in keeping up with the Dion's across the way, the PMO made sure RH SH was photographed with some Green backdrop.

Of course the Green was somewhere else.

Despite this photo op sop to environmentalism the PMO stuck to their tired tried and true... blue, New Conservative Government of Canada backdrop official colour.


Which is well...blue....And blue ain't about the environment, its green....

Someone get that message to the PMO for the next environment announcement.....

Since the next election campaign is already on.........

it's the environment, stupid.

For those who place the most weight on "green" issues, only four per cent of those surveyed said the Conservatives are the party best able to deal with them.



See

Environment

Ambrose



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