"Strive to become the true human being:
one who knows love, one who knows pain.
Be full, be humble, be utterly silent,
be the bowl of wine passed from hand to hand."
"Some people make you feel better about living. Some people you meet and you feel this little lift in your heart, this 'Ah', because there's something in them that's brighter or lighter, something beautiful or better than you, and here's the magic: instead of feeling worse, instead of feeling 'why am I so ordinary?', you feel just the opposite, you feel glad. In a weird way you feel better, because before this you hadn't realised or you'd forgotten human beings could shine so."
â Niall Williams, History of the Rain                               [exhaled-spirals]
What exactly happens in the body when you press your tongue against your palate, as advised in Qi Gong, Tai Chi and Taoist literature?
In Qi Gong, Tai Chi and Taoist practices, pressing the tongue against the palate, specifically the area behind the upper front teeth, is believed to close a circuit, connecting the Conception and Governing Vessels (Ren and Du Channels) and facilitating the flow of Qi (vital energy). This action is thought to initiate a specific energy flow, potentially leading to a sensation of energy, tranquility, and even a connection between earth and heavenly energies.
Here's a more detailed explanation:
Closing an Energy Circuit:
The tongue acts as a switch, connecting the Ren and Du channels, which are considered part of the body's meridian system. This connection is believed to be crucial for the Micro-Cosmic Orbit (also known as the Small Universe) to function correctly.
Qi Flow and Sensation:
By completing this circuit, the practice is thought to allow Qi to flow more smoothly and powerfully, potentially resulting in feelings of energy, relaxation, and a sense of connection.
Subtle Energy Flow:
Some interpretations suggest that this tongue position can redirect subtle energy upwards, potentially promoting higher consciousness, aiding concentration, and stimulating intuition.
Practical Applications:
Beyond the perceived energetic benefits, some practitioners believe this tongue position can also improve focus and breath control during practices like meditation and Tai Chi.
Potential Physiological Benefits:
Some proponents also link this practice to potential physical benefits like increased tongue strength and improved facial muscle tone.
Here some the Answers and explanations:
1. This is pretty high end stuffâŚwhen you press the tongue to the roof of your palate, twist/tighten your anal sphincter and gently roll out your lower back (ming men) you are connecting governing(back) and conception(front) channels of your energetic body.
This is a secret that is only orally shared with senior students after many years of dedicated training.
Energetically and Spiritually you are connecting the grounded energy of the earth (below)to the heavenly energy of the cosmos (above you) within your body.
For practical purposes, this produces the much desired result of silencing our constantly chattering âmonkey-mindâ. Try it and experience the calm void left behind when the primative mind is silenced.
Obviously, this is benefical to any student of meditation.
2. This closes a meridian so Qi can flow in a particular circuit. Much like a light switch touches metal together, and closes a circuit so electrical current can flow.
In Chinese medicine (Qigong practice being a part of) there is a meridian or conceptual energy pathway in the body often seen on diagrams or posters on acupuncture points. This major pathway forms a virtical circle along the front and back of the torso, split into the governing channel and the conception channel respectively. These two channels have a âjump pointâ between the palate and the tongue.
By placing the tip of the tongue gently and precisely where the tongue touches the palate if one says âtâ, effectively closes the circle, as in an electrical circuit.
In the beggining of my Qigong training (spanning 6 years now) I was not sceptical about itâs effectiveness, but I was in doubt of the precise theory of the different maridians and also of the nature and meaning of Qi. Nontheless, I carried on with my training because it worked pragmatically, and at this moment closing the circle, though I did not understand at the time, now produces an incredible sensation of energy, Qi flow and tranquility, along with a warmth in my Dan Tien, among other things. Turned out, itâs not bullshit. It is just the nature of fundamentals that they deepen over time and require a little faith, and a little doubt.
Though you may be practicing something that does not produce results immediately, if you hold on to a scientific, curious and open mind you will eventually discover the secrets within your body, the feelings and gifts of sensation that Qigong attempts to develop in each individual and eventually, also, perceptual insight toward enlightenment.
3. I prefer to describe these things as Iâve experienced them first hand, over time, without resorting to foreign (âŚto English speakers) words or concepts. The TCM concepts are very precise and pragmatic, but the issue here is that âweâ have a reflexive tendency to question/doubt foreign words just because they sound weird. This mental reflex makes it harder to grasp the actual point, which has nothing to do with words at all.
You may have noticed that our physical structure is more or less âbilaterally symmetricalâ (i.e., left and right sides âmirrorâ each other in major respects, even though several internal organs donât). Check out the âearly pre-natal developmentâ drawings in an anatomy/physiology book, itâs cool how symmetrical and orderly things are from the outset, starting with the very first cells.
This symmetry means there is clearly a center-line, i.e., the plane that defines/separates the two sides. It is common sense to realize that this particular dimension is important/meaningful to our structural well-being, right? Stab yourself in the arm - ouch. Stab yourself in the center line - uh-ohâŚ.
We are physical structures that depend on movement, on muscles, on an incredibly complex web of fascia/muscles/bones/ligaments that can pull and twist us in an infinite variety of ways, ways that are often barely perceptible to our own consciousness (until youâve worked on it for a long time as a âpracticeâ). These distortions accumulate with the traumas of life, thatâs just the way it is.
When the physical integrity/vitality of our center-line is being overburdened or underused somehow, then our whole system suffers, at least a little bit, often a lot. Weâre less efficient in our movements, both internal (digestion/breathing/etc.) and external (shaking our booty, walking, flipping people off, etc.).
We âthinkâ and âlookâ too much, as modern beings, thanks to our screens and our incessant chattering. This tends to fuck up the natural/optimal connection of our center-line in the head/neck/upper chest region in particular. We tend to âgawkâ and jut our heads forward a bit, which creates extra tension in our necks (holding up our head as it sticks forward).
The front side of this neck tension is the âgapâ/deadspot in the front of our head/throat/chest. Weâre still talking about muscles and fascia here, simple and obvious. The tongue, it turns out, can be a big player in this part of the body, as a powerful muscle âin your headâ that connects right down into the front of your throat.
You can use your tongue intentionally to help âreconnectâ the front of your center-line and promote better structural balance. Press the tip of your tongue lightly against your palate, and keep it there as you do stuff (shuts you up for a minute, too) - thatâs all it takes. You wonât see fireworks or anything - think of it as one of many subtle but intentional âpatchesâ to help piece together a more efficient structural form, whether in motion or at rest.
4. Pressing the tongue against one of the points on the roof of the mouth connects the ren and du meridians. For people who do not practice qigong, they probably wonât notice anything. There will probably be a very slight and completely unnoticable increase in flow between the two.
For people who practice qigong, they may feel the movement of energy between the palate and the tongue. If their goal is to drain energy from the head, or to circulate energy, they may feel that energy move.
5. Pressing the tongue against the palate, a practice often recommended in QiGong and Taoist traditions, is believed to have several physiological and energetic effects on the body. Hereâs a breakdown of what happens:
Physiological Effects
Activation of the Tongue Meridian: In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the tongue is considered a vital organ that connects to various meridians. Pressing the tongue against the palate may help activate the tongue meridian, promoting energy flow (Qi) throughout the body.
Stimulation of Saliva Production: This action can stimulate the salivary glands, increasing saliva production. Saliva plays a critical role in digestion and maintaining oral health, and it is believed to help in the absorption of Qi.
Nervous System Response: The tongue is rich in nerve endings, and pressing it against the palate can stimulate the vagus nerve. This can promote relaxation and a sense of calm, potentially reducing stress and anxiety.
Facilitating the 'Microcosmic Orbit': In QiGong practices, pressing the tongue to the palate is often part of a technique called the Microcosmic Orbit meditation. This involves circulating energy through the Governing Vessel and Conception Vessel, which are two key energy channels in TCM.
Energetic Effects
Balancing Yin and Yang: The practice is thought to help balance the body's Yin (passive, receptive) and Yang (active, creative) energies, fostering overall harmony and well-being.
Enhancing Meditation and Focus: By creating a physical connection between the tongue and palate, practitioners may find it easier to enter a meditative state, as this action can help ground and center the mind.
Connection to the Body's Energy Centers: In TCM, the mouth and tongue are seen as gateways to the bodyâs energy centers (Chakras). Pressing the tongue against the palate may help align and harmonize these centers.
Conclusion:
Overall, pressing the tongue against the palate is believed to facilitate energy flow, promote relaxation, and enhance meditative practices. While these effects are rooted in traditional beliefs, many practitioners report subjective benefits, such as increased focus and a greater sense of calm
It is necessary to realize that technology itself is not the cause of our problem of [not having enough] time. Â Its influence on our lives is a result, not a cause â the result of an unseen accelerating process taking place in ourselves, in our inner being. Â Whether we point to the effect of communication technology (such as e-mail) with its tyranny of instant communication; or to the computerization, and therefore the mentalization of so many human activities that previously required at least some participation of our physical presence; or to any of the other innumerable transformations of human life that are being brought about by the new technologies, the essential element to recognize is how much of what we call âprogressâ is accompanied by and measured by the fact that human beings need less and less conscious attention to perform their activities and lead their lives.
The real power of the faculty of attention, unknown to modern science, is one of the indispensable and most central measures of humanness â of the being of a man or a woman â and has been so understood, in many forms and symbols, at the heart of all great spiritual teaching of the world. Â The effects of advancing technology, for all its material promise they offer the world (along with the dangers, of course) is but the most recent wave in a civilization that, without recognizing what it was doing, has placed the satisfaction of desire above the cultivation of being.
The deep meaning of many rules of conduct and more principles of the past â so many of which have been abandoned without our understanding their real roots in human nature â involved the cultivation and development of the uniquely human power of attention, its action in the body, heart and mind of man. Â To be present, truly present, is to have conscious attention. Â This capacity is the key to what it means to be human.
It is not, therefore, the rapidity of change as such that is the source of our problem of time. Â It is the metaphysical fact that the being of man is diminishing.
Democrats are having a rough week, but the question is, âCompared to what?â
July 8, 2026
Robert B. Hubbell
The political press is having a field day with Graham Platnerâs unresolved status as Maineâs Democratic Senate nominee. Conservative outlets are proclaiming that the Democratic Party is at war with itself. See, for example, WSJ, Graham Platner Succession Crisis Lays Bare Democratsâ Deep Divisions Ahead of Midterms and The Hill, Graham Platner debacle inflames factional turmoil among Democrats. Left-leaning outlets are already running the âWhat went wrongâ analyses before Platner has stepped aside. See Vox, Graham Platner allegations and campaign collapse: What should Democrats have done?
It is incontestable that having a Senate nominee withdraw a week before the general election filing deadline is bad, though it could have been worse. The Politico article could have been published a week after it became clear that Platnerâs place on the Maine ballot could not be undone.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party does not have a leader who is falling asleep at his own press conferences, threatening to take over the territory of a NATO ally, trying to relitigate an election loss in 2020 as the main issue in the 2026 midterms, raking in obscene crypto-profits while claiming that the affordability crisis is a hoax, or primarying incumbent members of his own partyâthereby threatening the partyâs slim margin of control in Congress. Nor are Democrats supporting a Senate candidate whom they claimed was unfit to hold office before he won the partyâs primary in Texas. Neither have Democrats failed to enact a single substantive bill in the last year despite controlling both chambers of Congress. And to the extent that Republicans do not have internal divisions, it is because their leader has exiled every dissenting voice, leaving only sycophants and cowards to rubber-stamp every crazy idea on his revenge-filled agenda.
So, sure, the Democratic Party has problems, but they are problems that arise from healthy debates over the direction of the party that center on policy differences, not on an obsession with enforcing the cult-worship of a megalomaniac. Have those disagreements become acrimonious and heated? Yes. But that is a state of affairs more generally known as âpolitics.â
The frenzy in the political press over Graham Platner is a classic case of false equivalency. Yes, the Platner situation is a mess. No, it is not the same as a party leader who is singularly responsible for an uptick in inflation due to an unpopular war, who demands that everyone in his party pretend the war is over and that it was a great victory.
There is only one meaningful political story in 2026, and that is Trumpâs vivisection of the Republican Partyâthe removal of its spine and conscience as GOP members look on in horror and resignation. Media pundits who do not offer that comparison in every story about the Democratic Partyâs alleged âdeep divisionsâ and âfactional turmoilâ are creating a profoundly misleading and asymmetrical political narrative. Complicit? Possibly, but inept and lazy at the very least.
The Graham Platner episode will sting, no matter what happens. We may lose ground that Platner gained, but with each passing day, Trump is further compromising the campaigns of every Republican on the ballot in November. So, yes, Democrats are having a rough week, but the real question is, âCompared to what?â For the answer, read on!
It sure looks like voter-fraud crusader Ken Paxton committed voter fraud.
Although international issues dominated the news on Tuesday, letâs start with the Republican Senate troubles. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is the GOP nominee for Senate after knocking off GOP incumbent John Cornyn. Paxton has more baggage than a luggage cart at Heathrow. He is universally reviled by the Republican political establishment in Texas, but his âno-holds-barredâ style of politics appeals to a certain segment of the Texas population.
Paxton has made a name for himself, in part, by running on an anti-voter-fraud platform that pledged to crack down on voters who use a registration address that does not match their actual residence. Guess which prominent Texas politician ran afoul of Paxtonâs claim of voter fraud based on a mismatch in registration and residence addresses? None other than Ken Paxton. See Texas Tribune, Ken Paxtonâs voter registration may violate Texas election law. (This article is based on a joint investigation with Pro Publica.)
Per the Texas Tribune, the guidance published by Paxtonâs office says, in part, âYou must register to vote using the address where you reside,â and âit is illegal to misrepresent your residence on election records . . . .â
The Tribune also reports,
Despite his own warnings, Paxton appears to have used an address where he did not live while voting in six elections in the past two years, including in Mayâs runoff that made him the Republican nominee for U.S. senator, according to records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.
State Sen. Angela Paxton said in a 2025 divorce filing that Paxton, whom she accused of adultery, moved out of their Collin County home a year earlier. But Paxton continues to list the homeâs address in the northern Dallas suburb on his voter registration. Angela Paxton declined to be interviewed. A source close to the Paxtons said the attorney general has not moved back into the home since leaving.
Paxton may have stumbled into a situation that is common for many Americansâchanging residences after a separation or divorce. That circumstance should not give rise to claims of voter fraud, but Paxton says it does, so he should be forced to explain why his actions do not constitute fraud, even as the actions of other Texans who innocently neglect to change a registration address are deemed fraudulent.
Paxton may be reluctant to assert that he intends to return to his former residence (current home of his wife) because that would suggest that his adulterous affair (a term used by his current wife) is temporary, and that he plans to dump his current girlfriend. Got that? Itâs complicated, I know. But thatâs the point. Paxtonâs life is a mess and will be front and center in James Talaricoâs effort to flip a Texas US Senate seat in November 2026.
Trump offends allies (again) at NATO summit in Ankara
As predicted, Trump is upsetting the NATO alliance with offensive and bellicose statements directed at the alliance itself. See Politico, Trump rips NATO allies, dashing European hopes for a kumbaya summit.
Among Trumpâs choice comments,
Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and [NATO is] not there for us? Weâve always been there for [NATO].
I was very disappointed with NATO, and frankly, if it werenât held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, itâs possible that I wouldnât have attended.
Greenland doesnât help Denmark . . . [and] should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.
Trump also said he was considering selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, currently prohibited by US law. A confidential source in the administration suggested that Trump would work with Turkey to remove Russian-made air defenses from Turkey so the sales could go through. Turkey, of course, would return the Russian air defenses to Turkey as soon as it has the F-35s in hand.
In public, of course, leaders of NATO countries try to avoid conflict with Trump. But it does not take a rocket scientist to know that those leaders are chafing under Trumpâs insults and threats.
While the US president is given deference even when he is a buffoon, Trump is the first US president ever to start a war of choice and then surrender in short order. The fig leaf covering his surrender is the Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran. That fig leaf is in tatters on Tuesday, as the US has resumed attacks against Iran for the second time during the first month of the temporary ceasefire. See CNN, US hits more than 80 Iran targets, reimposes oil sanctions.
As a result of the renewed hostilities, oil prices spiked again. See CNBC, Oil jumps as U.S. âpowerful strikesâ against Iran risk unraveling fragile Mideast truce. Oil prices had effectively returned to their pre-war prices on Monday of this weekâbefore the latest round of attacks. If sustained hostilities renew, it is possible that oil prices will return to their wartime highâapproximately $120 per barrel.
That possibility is becoming more likely by the minute. Late Tuesday evening, Iran announced it had attacked 85 US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. See NYTimes, Iran Launches Attacks Across Gulf After Latest U.S. Strikes. (Gift article, accessible to all.)
Per the Times,
Iranâs armed forces said they had targeted 85 U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. The U.S. said its strikes were in response to what it said were Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump will be unable to end the hostilities against a newly emboldened Iran, which is using force to control the flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
By comparison, the question of which Democrat ends up challenging Susan Collins in the midterm elections pales in comparison to Trumpâs massive self-inflicted wound on the economyâthe issue that ranks at the top of nearly every poll of votersâ concerns. As I said, Democrats are having a rough week, but the real question is, âCompared to what?â
Concluding Thoughts
Be prepared for another round of news stories warning of the passage of the SAVE America Act, stories that will fail to mention that the Act is subject to the filibuster in the Senate and will not pass.
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo notes that congressional Republicans are becoming so weary of Trumpâs incessant demand for passage of the SAVE America Act that they will pass a bill called the SAVE America Act that does include the voter suppression provisions of previous versions of the SAVE America Act.
Why would Republicans do something like that? Because they want to placate Trump and believe he is too ignorant to notice the difference. See Talking Points Memo, SAVE Act Switcheroo, Pt. II.
Per Josh Marshall,
Trumpâs allies in Congress seem to be betting the president wonât have the attention to detail to distinguish between his signature bill (which cannot get through reconciliation) and something that is very much not his signature bill (which can). Getting Trump off congressional leadersâ backs seems to be the animating objective.
Be prepared and educated. Just because a bill is titled âSAVE America Actâ does not mean it contains the provisions of the SAVE America Act that the Senate Parliamentarian rejected last month. If you receive urgent text messages that say, âThe sky is falling because the House just passed the SAVE America Act,â check out what the bill says before jumping to panicked conclusions.
In Ankara, TĂźrkiye, for a two-day summit of the countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), President Donald J. Trump told reporters he was âvery disappointed with NATOâ because it had not backed its war on Iran. âWe werenât treated well because we did something in Iran,â he said. âWe donât need anybodyâs help. I didnât even want their help. They said they wouldnât be there. And weâve invested trillions of dollars in NATO. Why? To protect European countries and others, Canada, et cetera, but to protect people, countries from generally speaking, it used to be the Soviet Union, now itâs Russia, and I say thatâs fine, but you would think that theyâd be very willing to do something to help us, and they really werenât.â
Trump went on to claim his beef with NATO began over Greenland, which he wants âbecause Greenland doesnât help DenmarkâŚbut itâs an important part for the United States. And itâs surrounded by China ships and Russian ships And thatâs not going to happen. The ships is, itâs not going to happen. It was Greenland that, in my, and it continues to be, that should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark. And when they wouldnât go along with it and with all the money we spend to help them with Russia and we donât have to spend any money, we could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe because as you probably noticed, Europeâs a very different place than it was 20 years ago. A lot different. Much different. Itâs a much different and they better be careful with immigration and energy. If theyâre not careful with those two things, youâre not going to have a Europe anymore. Okay. Thank you very much everybody.â
NATO is the most effective alliance in human history. It is also a defensive, not an offensive, alliance.
Representatives from the the United States and eleven other nations in North America and Europe came together to sign the original NATO declaration on April 4, 1949. The alliance guaranteed collective security because all of the member states agreed to defend each other against an attack by a third party. At the time, their main concern was resisting Soviet aggression, but as Trump noted, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Russian president Vladimir Putin, NATO resisted Russian aggression instead.
The alliance is effective because it calls for collective defense. Article 5 of the treaty requires every nation to come to the aid of any one of them if it is attacked militarily. That article has been invoked only once: in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, after which NATO-led troops went to Afghanistan.
On the day NATO went into effect, President Harry S. Truman said, âIf there is anything inevitable in the future, it is the will of the people of the world for freedom and for peace.â In the years since 1949, his observation seems to have proven correct. NATO now has 32 member nations.
Crucially, NATO acts not only as a response to attack, but also as a deterrent, and its strength has always been backstopped by the military strength of the U.S., including its nuclear weapons. Trump has repeatedly attacked NATO and said he would take the U.S. out of it in a second term, alarming Congress enough that in 2023 it put into the National Defense Authorization Act a measure prohibiting any president from leaving NATO without the approval of two thirds of the Senate or a congressional law.
But as foreign policy specialist Anne Applebaum noted in The Atlantic in 2024, even though Trump might have trouble actually tossing out a long-standing treaty that has safeguarded national security for 75 years, the realization that the U.S. is abandoning its commitment to collective defense would make the treaty itself worthless.
In place of the powerful NATO alliance that has protected all nationsâ sovereignty, Trump appears to want the sort of world called for by Russiaâs president Vladimir Putin, in which great powers carve up the globe into spheres of influence.
In January, Robert Kagan warned that Trumpâs destruction of the order that has underpinned global security for the past 80 years was creating the most dangerous world since World War II. With the end of open access to global resources, markets, and strategic bases and without reliable friends or allies, the U.S. will need more military spending than ever.
âAmericans are neither materially nor psychologically ready for this future,â Kagan warned. They are accustomed to the âbasically peaceful, prosperous, and open worldâ and have come to think it is âthe normal state of international affairs, likely to continue indefinitely. They canât imagine it unraveling, much less what that unraveling will mean for them.â
Everything will be up for grabs, Kagan wrote, with myriad âflash points for potential conflict.â âIf Americans thought defending the liberal world order was too expensive,â Kagan wrote, âwait until they start paying for what comes next.â
Kagan published his article just two weeks after Trump had sent troops to Venezuela to seize the nationâs president and his wife and take control of the countryâs oil fields. Since then, as Simon Romero of the New York Times reported yesterday, the Trump administration has taken an estimated $8 billion in oil revenue out of the country, although it has refused to say how it is using the funds.
In the wake of the devastating earthquakes that hit Venezuela on June 24, Romero reports that the U.S. has so far pledged only $300 million in aid. U.S. officials destroyed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), through which it would have distributed aid in the past, so the assistance is being funneled through the Red Cross, the United Nations, and religious organizations. The top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela, John Barrett, told Romero the U.S. will continue to prioritize using Venezuelaâs oil resources to rebuild the nationâs economy.
Less than six weeks after The Atlantic published Kaganâs article, Trump attacked Iran in strikes he appeared to think would mirror the strikes against Venezuela, enabling him to replace Iranâs leadership with men willing to work with the U.S. and perhaps enabling the U.S. to take a stake in Iranâs oil production.
Instead, Iran seized control of the Strait of Hormuz in the aftermath of the strikes, choking off about 27% of the worldâs globally traded oil and about a third of the worldâs seaborne fertilizer. Rather than a quick strike, Trumpâs war on Iran is now stretching into its fifth month, and attempts to end it, even on terms worse than when it began, are faltering.
Tonight, at 5:15, as NATO leaders met in TĂźrkiye, U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. forces had launched âa series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.â It said the strikes were a âresponse to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iranâs demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.â
His grandfather begged a Bavarian prince not to deport him. The prince said no. That rejected asylum plea is the only reason Donald Trump is
I Fucking Love Australia
So the Presidented of the United States had a rough weekend. His big 250th birthday bash for America played to a crowd smaller than a Bunnings sausage sizzle, in heat that literally evacuated the National Mall. And how did the poor bugger self-soothe? He posted the family photo album on Truth Social at one in the morning. Over a hundred posts. Grandpa. Daddy. Uncle John. Exclamation marks everywhere.
Mate. MATE.
He clearly forgot that every one of those sepia-toned faces comes with a paper trail. Court records. Senate transcripts. An actual royal decree from an actual Bavarian prince. There's a brothel in this story. There's a Klan rally. There's a grovelling 1905 letter begging NOT to be deported, written by the grandfather of the bloke currently running mass deportations, and I promise you the wording will make your jaw hit the floor.
He wanted a stroll down memory lane. What he posted was the prosecution's slide deck, colourised, for engagement.
I went through all three photos, piece by piece, receipt by receipt. Every word factually verifiable. Every word brutal.
âI propose a conspiracy of orphans. We exchange winks. We reject hierarchies. All hierarchies. We take the shit of the world for granted and we exchange stories about how we nevertheless get by. We are impertinent. More than half the stars in the universe are orphan-stars belonging to no constellation. And they give off more light than all the constellation stars.â
â John Berger, Confabulations
Tatsumi Hijikata training Korichi Tamano :: Tokyo, 1972Â :: Eikoh Hosoe
* * * *
"The states of mind or feelings that art can excite have been helpfully distinguished in Sanskrit aesthetics, where they are called rasas, from a word meaning 'juice' or 'essence'. A fully achieved work of art should flow with all nine of them: their names might be transposed into English as wonder, joy, sexual pleasure, pity, anguish, anger, terror, disgust and laughter."
when simone de beauvoir said âiâm reliving it, neutralizing it, and transforming it into an inoffensive past that i can keep in my heart without either disowning it or suffering from it. thatâs not easy. itâs at once painful and poetic.â
Ouroboros Der Siebente Ring Stefan George Illus. by Melchior Lechter Berlin: Blaetter fĂźr die Kunst, 1907.
* * * *
âHowever apparently insignificant the event, whether it be the ring of tobacco ash surrounding the table, the direction from which the wild geese first appeared, or a series of seemingly meaningless human movements, he couldnât afford to take his eyes off it and must note it all down, since only by doing so could he hope not to vanish one day and fall a silent captive to the infernal arrangement whereby the world decomposes but is at the same time constantly in the process of self-construction.âÂ
âHistory repeats itself. Somebody says this. History throws its shadow over the beginning, over the desktop, over the sock drawer with its socks, its hidden letters. History is a little man in a brown suit trying to define a room he is outside of. I know history. There are many names in history but none of them are ours.â
ellievsbear
germansingergirl
origamiaround
baratheonpilled
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