on books, by the great incite
ed. 01
title: call me by your name
author: andre aciman
While the selection quoted below is a particularly beautiful rendering of this point, Aciman’s entire work herein is a reminder - equally comforting and haunting - that we are multi-dimensional, layered, non-linear beings. From where I stand, the value of bringing this realization into view is the potential for it to inspire connection and empathy. If we’re all a little deeper than we know, and if we all have a level of darkness that permeates our many layers, we also have a level of light that does the same. How can we get closer to seeing our sameness? Thoughts welcome.
“Today’s Basilica of San Clemente is built on the site of what once was a refuge for persecuted Christians. The home of the Roman consul Titus Flavius Clemens, it was burnt down during Emperor Nero’s reign. Next to its charred remains, in what must have been a large cavernous vault, the Romans built an underground pagan temple dedicated to Mithras, God of the Morning, Light of the World, over whose temple the early Christians built another church, dedicated — coincidentally or not, this is a matter to be further excavated — to another Clement, Pope St. Clement, on top of which came yet another church that burnt down and on the site of which stands today’s basilica. And the digging could go on and on. Like the subconscious, like love, like memory, like time itself, like every single one of us, the church is built on the ruins of subsequent restorations, there is no rock bottom, there is no first anything, no last anything, just layers and secret passageways and interlocking chambers”
PURCHASE CALL ME BY YOUR NAME AT THIS LINK
