Please check out our friends websites on our LINKS page. If you have any comments our questions, please EMAIL US
© Artists I Love LP. All rights reserved.
ALL THE MUSIC AND ARTWORK ON THIS WEBSITE IS DISPLAYED UNDER A
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
© Artists I Love LP. All rights reserved.
ALL THE MUSIC AND ARTWORK ON THIS WEBSITE IS DISPLAYED UNDER A
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
I give you an apt and solemn phrase for the tribulations of the
good people of Haiti. I give you this phrase as an exercise in
communication and spiritual convergence, because, as
everyone knows, there are no words for the tribulations of the
good people of Haiti. There are no explanations, either. There
are salient observations that the terrible difficulties of daily
life in Haiti make the earthquake particularly calamitous, and
there is the valid, if somewhat sanctimonious observation that
modern seismology could and did predict that something awful
was in the offing, but there are no explanations that any
human mind could fathom, or that any human stomach could
accommodate, for why the earth under these particular feet
quaked at this particular time.
In my humble opinion, it is the height of impiety to suggest
otherwise.
The Greek philosophers before Socrates believed in four
elements - earth, water, fire and wind, - and they believed
that all creation was created out of them. Aristotle postulated
that there had to be a fifth element: a “pure essence” that
permeated all things, and formed the heavenly bodies. He
referred to this element as “ether”- “the upper air” - and the
Greeks called it “pempte ousia” . This is “quinta essentia”,
“the fifth element”, in Latin, and from Latin come the words
“quintessence” and “quintessential”. When we say that
something is “quintessential”, we are saying that it is both
fundamental and formative: that it is not only part of the
essence of all things that are real, but the very element that
holds reality together .
continued>>
good people of Haiti. I give you this phrase as an exercise in
communication and spiritual convergence, because, as
everyone knows, there are no words for the tribulations of the
good people of Haiti. There are no explanations, either. There
are salient observations that the terrible difficulties of daily
life in Haiti make the earthquake particularly calamitous, and
there is the valid, if somewhat sanctimonious observation that
modern seismology could and did predict that something awful
was in the offing, but there are no explanations that any
human mind could fathom, or that any human stomach could
accommodate, for why the earth under these particular feet
quaked at this particular time.
In my humble opinion, it is the height of impiety to suggest
otherwise.
The Greek philosophers before Socrates believed in four
elements - earth, water, fire and wind, - and they believed
that all creation was created out of them. Aristotle postulated
that there had to be a fifth element: a “pure essence” that
permeated all things, and formed the heavenly bodies. He
referred to this element as “ether”- “the upper air” - and the
Greeks called it “pempte ousia” . This is “quinta essentia”,
“the fifth element”, in Latin, and from Latin come the words
“quintessence” and “quintessential”. When we say that
something is “quintessential”, we are saying that it is both
fundamental and formative: that it is not only part of the
essence of all things that are real, but the very element that
holds reality together .
continued>>
QUINTESSENTIAL ANGUISH - When the Earth
Quakes
J.R. McCarthy
Quakes
J.R. McCarthy
"I loved this site. It was so
much fun to look at all the
different artists and their
varying styles. Great, site,
keep up the good work!."
The Book Buff
much fun to look at all the
different artists and their
varying styles. Great, site,
keep up the good work!."
The Book Buff
Your Opinions Count
Tom's Comment :
"I miss Jane Jarvis."
An old favorite to help get through February
OUR FAVORITE BLOG POST
Yes, we read lots of blogs. Sometimes there's posts so good,
we need to share them.
Read this months blog favorite...more>>
Yes, we read lots of blogs. Sometimes there's posts so good,
we need to share them.
Read this months blog favorite...more>>
The Wright Stuff And How We Got Here
Peter McDermott
Listening to National Public Radio a couple of months back, I
heard a promo for a TV program about the 4.4-million-year-old
hominid whose discovery in the 1990s was revealed to the
public just recently. Its tagline was: “Thinking about who we
are and how we got here.”
I thought: “Enough already! I have a headache.” This has
added a dizzying 1.2 million years to the previous record held
by the bipedal “mother of man” who came to light in 1974.
Now, Lucy must take a backseat to Ardi.
Personally, I’d rather think about how humans developed
wings than how they came to make fire -- but more on that
later.
Might it not be better to reflect on the 100,000 years, or
whatever it is,since modern humans first ventured out of
Africa? Yes, it’s that veritable blink of an eye in evolutionary
terms, but it’s more than enough for me -- more than enough
time to contemplate who we are and how we got here. And
even more manageable, if you’ve got roots in the Atlantic
Isles, are the 7,000 years or so since some folks came up by
boat from the Iberian Peninsula and settled in Ireland and
then Britain. The experts tell us that despite the Celtic
incursion from the Continent and, later, the various Anglo-
Saxon, Viking and Norman invasions the Iberians remain the
major genetic influence on those islands, nowhere more so
than along Ireland’s western seaboard. And what about the
more than 1,500 years since St. Patrick? Isn’t that a big
enough block of time to reflect on those weighty issues, at
least metaphysically?
Where the famous saint himself came from, however, and how
he got to Ireland have long been considered settled issues.
Everybody who’s gone to school there knows (or did know and
has forgotten) that a guy called Niall of the Nine Hostages
captured and enslaved the young Patrick, a Roman Briton, on
a raid into Wales.
continued>>
Peter McDermott
Listening to National Public Radio a couple of months back, I
heard a promo for a TV program about the 4.4-million-year-old
hominid whose discovery in the 1990s was revealed to the
public just recently. Its tagline was: “Thinking about who we
are and how we got here.”
I thought: “Enough already! I have a headache.” This has
added a dizzying 1.2 million years to the previous record held
by the bipedal “mother of man” who came to light in 1974.
Now, Lucy must take a backseat to Ardi.
Personally, I’d rather think about how humans developed
wings than how they came to make fire -- but more on that
later.
Might it not be better to reflect on the 100,000 years, or
whatever it is,since modern humans first ventured out of
Africa? Yes, it’s that veritable blink of an eye in evolutionary
terms, but it’s more than enough for me -- more than enough
time to contemplate who we are and how we got here. And
even more manageable, if you’ve got roots in the Atlantic
Isles, are the 7,000 years or so since some folks came up by
boat from the Iberian Peninsula and settled in Ireland and
then Britain. The experts tell us that despite the Celtic
incursion from the Continent and, later, the various Anglo-
Saxon, Viking and Norman invasions the Iberians remain the
major genetic influence on those islands, nowhere more so
than along Ireland’s western seaboard. And what about the
more than 1,500 years since St. Patrick? Isn’t that a big
enough block of time to reflect on those weighty issues, at
least metaphysically?
Where the famous saint himself came from, however, and how
he got to Ireland have long been considered settled issues.
Everybody who’s gone to school there knows (or did know and
has forgotten) that a guy called Niall of the Nine Hostages
captured and enslaved the young Patrick, a Roman Briton, on
a raid into Wales.
continued>>
 | |  |
PETER MCDERMOTT