Societate – Page 10 – Writer Between Worlds

Questions

Setting: Catholic religion class at school. Characters: New teacher – a man. A bunch of 9-year-olds. Open discussion about covenants. (Based loosely on recollection, don’t shoot the messenger!) Girl in my daughter’s class, with genuine curiosity: Why are all the priests men? Why are there no women priests? Teacher, gently: Well, you see, Jesus was…
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Spirituality, modernity and Brownian motion

Just a thought… So many of us feel depleted, drained, stressed out. Our beings flogged from within, our lives – our biggest gift – turned into empty chases. Pursuing a zillion things that we can grab and touch and display, but which aren’t real. We live in societies that prioritize task efficiency, competition, action, and the accumulation of stuff over…
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Discoveries

Venus – that ancient goddess of carnal desire – has a poisonous atmosphere that might, just might, hold the life of a microbe. Immediately, the microbes here on Earth began to show signs of restlessness. fighting each other for supremacy and claiming poison as their territory. Copyright A. Sepi 2020. All rights reserved
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River Revival

Trying to stay in shape during social distancing. A river, a grove, a few less trodden paths on a sun-flooded morning. Glimpses of real beauty. And a little piece of heaven. Copyright A. Sepi 2020. All rights reserved
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Ballad

We’re so fucking great Masters of our fate We’ll conquer the stars We’ll colonize Mars Make a million bucks Drive SUV trucks We’ll upgrade our lives We’ll get trophy wives Your pocket’s your Savior Be snide to thy neighbor C’mon, be a winner The pauper’s the sinner Forget all the ancients Make…
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The Days

Remember these days these brief days when we walked in groups of one we gave thanks to the ones who toiled and our lives touched each other even though our hands didn’t. Remember these days these brief days when daddy was no longer at work (yay!) because people mattered more than production: we discovered…
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Kala Alm*

Panta începe abrupt. Mușchii se opintesc. Se contractă, se întind. Înaintez anevoios în sus: dreptul, stângul, dreptul, stângul… La fiecare pas, talpa bocancului scârțâie, alunecă puțin în spate în zăpada moale, aproape zloată. Lanternele rămân stinse. În albastrul de cobalt al nopții, doar stelele licăresc, neverosimil de multe. Când lăsăm în urmă ultima casă, ne…
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(Post)modern obsessions

Have you noticed how the following themes keep popping up, almost obsessively, in contemporary discourse – in the media, in the public sphere and increasingly in ourselves? This obsession with sex – and complete devaluation of love and tenderness and commitment. This obsession with doing – and complete devaluation of being. This obsession with the…
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Behold the searing wind*

It is upon us. Its blistering tongues lurk behind the levee, They pounce like savage beasts Mercilessly they wheeze Blowing the tumbleweeds against my doorstep. A goodbye kiss, crackling dry. Deserted yards, howling. The yellow earth swelling and swirling, It is in my eyes, my nostrils, my teeth. Every time I spit, I…
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Ninge în Rosenheim

Cartierul e împăturit într-o tăcere mare, albă, stranie; se afundă în înserare până la genunchi. Lumea a devenit improbabilă, fără margini: prospețimea imaculată a zăpezii – și restul. Copacii sunt gheme încâlcite de bumbac alb, din cer se deșiră în tihnă pânzeturi orbitoare și reci. Cărări tăiate mai adineaori în pântecul feciorelnic al iernii, ninsoarea…
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The Darkest Hour

“În vremurile aspre și triste, oamenii liberi pot să se consoleze întotdeauna cu lecția de bază a istoriei, și anume că tiraniile nu pot dăinui decât printre neamurile slugarnice.” Winston Churchill, în Humes, J.C. – Vorbele de duh ale lui Winston Churchill, ed. Humanitas, București, 2008.
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Despre viața împlinită (The Stoics revisited)

“Se întâmplă un lucru curios atunci când cei deprinși cu o viață luxoasă ajung să fie greu de mulțumit. În loc să deplângă pierderea capacității de a se bucura de lucrurile simple, aceștia se mândresc cu handicapul nou dobândit, din cauza căruia nu mai pot fi satisfăcuți decât de <<ce e mai bun>>.” W.B. Irvine,…
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Category: Societate