Palestrina’s Missa Hodie Christus Natus Est is a delight to sing. (This piece is the Agnus Dei.) We shall perform the Mass in its entirety along with 10 Romanian Carols on 5 December at the museum of Art…
Singing is one of the most holy things in my life. I feel a reverence come over me and all I can do is bow my head and be thankful.
“’One can’t love man without hating most of the creatures who pretend to bear his name. It’s one or the other. One doesn’t love God and sacrilege impartially. A person who loves everybody and feels at home everywhere is the true hater of mankind. A pig is [his] symbol of love for humanity – the creature that accepts anything.
He expects nothing of men, so no form of depravity can outrage him…. He who has the filthy insolence to claim that he loves the clean, steady, unfrightened eyes of man looking through a telescope, and the white stare of an imbecile equally… he is the true hater of mankind.’
‘ What will you say if I give you the answer people usually give… that love is forgiveness… or that love is pity?’
‘ It is bad enough to hear things like that. To hear them from you is revolting—even as a joke…. Love is reverence, and worship, and glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores…. Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who’ve never felt it. They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassion, contempt and general indifference, and they call it love. Once you’ve felt what it means to love as you and I know it—the total passion for the total height— you’re incapable of anything less.
… So, if you seek a glimpse of greatness, if you want exaltation, if you ask for God and refuse to accept the washing of wounds as substitute – you’re called a hater of humanity… because you’ve committed the crime of knowing a love humanity has not learned to deserve.’”
– The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
Plato’s lesson on love and marriage
One day, Plato asked his teacher, “What is love? How can I find it?”
His teacher answered, “There is a vast wheat field in front. Walk forward without turning back, and pick only one stalk. If you find the most magnificent stalk, then you have found love.”
Plato walked forward, and before long, he returned with empty hands, having picked nothing.
His teacher asked, “Why did you not pick any stalk?”
Plato answered, “Because I could only pick once, and yet I could not turn back. I did find the most magnificent stalk, but did not know if there were any better ones ahead, so I did not pick it. As I walked further, the stalks that I saw were not as good as the earlier one, so I did not pick any in the end. “
His teacher then said, “And that is love.”
On another day, Plato asked his teacher, “What is marriage? How can I find it?”
His teacher answered, “There is a thriving forest in front. Walk forward without turning back, and chop down only one tree. If you find the tallest tree, then you have found marriage.”
Plato walked forward, and before long, he returned with a tree. The tree was not thriving, and it was not tall either. It was only an ordinary tree.
His teacher asked, “Why did you chop down such an ordinary tree?”
Plato answered, “Because of my previous experience. I walked halfway through the forest, but returned with empty hands. This time, I saw this tree, and I felt that it was not bad, so I chopped it down and brought it back. I did not want to miss the opportunity.”
His teacher then said, “And that is marriage.”
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“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” —Bruce Lee
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Yo como tú
amo el amor,
la vida,
el dulce encanto de las cosas
el paisaje celeste de los días de enero.
También mi sangre bulle
y río por los ojos
que han conocido el brote de las lágrimas.
Creo que el mundo es bello,
que la poesía es como el pan,
de todos.
Y que mis venas no terminan en mí,
sino en la sangre unánime
de los que luchan por la vida,
el amor,
las cosas,
el paisaje y el pan,
la poesía de todos.
—Roque Dalton
I, just as you
love love,
life,
the sweet enchantment of things
the sky-blue landscape of days in January.
My blood boils too
and I laugh with eyes
that have known the buds of tears.
I believe the world is beautiful,
that poetry like bread,
is for everyone.
I believe that my veins do not end in me,
but in the unanimous blood
of those who struggle for life,
love,
things,
the landscape
and bread,
the poetry of everyone.
