Outside and Inside

Last week I was outside.

 Yesterday I was inside.

Its owner paid for a couple of archeological expeditions and in return recieved some replicas of findings. E.g. replica of Nefertiti her head.

Couple of ancient Egypt inspired objects in his house.

Everywhere pictures, drawings and paintings.

Over 4,000 books in the house. Couple in french, mostly german and a notable amount in English.

Now I am curious for his:

• Travel schedule. He was travelling 10 out of 12 months a year.  Owned 60 houses and a big yacht
• The languages he spoke
• What he read. An analysis of his library
• To what amount he felt in exile in The Netherlands

P.S. He is: here. House is: here.

18:11

Yesterday at 18:11 hours - I remember looking at the clock because I promished to start cooking dinner at 18 sharp - I finished my book on the Cape Verde Islands. After three years this transcription and translation of 17th century Dutch documents reached its end.

My foreword ends with this. In a nutshell it tells it all:

"The main goal of this annotated translation is to unlock this unique and beautiful 17th century Dutch treasure to humanity. To remove the veil from the Cape Verde Islands. In a time that information and products floated over the seas with – take a deep breath and try to visualize – the speed of a sailing ship. With sailors on them of whom roughly 25% would never see the harbour again they started their voyage from."

What is left is checking foot- and endnotes and editing. It will be published as a print-on-demand book.

Where Philosophers End

Her YES. Where did Clarice Lispector's (1920-1970) yes come from? Was she a tabula rasa? Did she not read anything?

Moser in 'Why This World. A Biography of Clarice Lispector' (2009), page 227-228: 

"She was widely and deeply read, as the numerous allusions in her writing and correspondence prove  (...). Clarice's higer education, her work as journalist, her experience in the foreign service, her knowledge of languages, and her practice in living on three continents made her, apart from her own artistic achievement, one of the most sophisticated women of her generation, and not only in Brazil."

On the other hand she was deliberately a "self-thaught" writer, like a "primitive painter". She placed no value on learnedness or sophistication. She was interested in a different kind of knowledge, that had nothing to do with advanced reading or learnedness. Where philosophers end does Clarice begin.

Let me repeat, was Clarice a tabula rasa? Partly yes, as in the image of a discoverer/ student who erases the slate (tabula) by heating the wax and then smoothing it. 

What was Clarice pointing at? At that part of "reality" that can't be said and is a mystery and has to be discovered. At that what she is truly writing, that is neither bad nor good.  At the state of grace. At ... unio mystica.

Christ was Christ for others. Who was Christ for Christ? According to her analyst Azulay (page 327): Clarice for Clarice carried a lot of anxiety; full-time self-centered because she had a difficulty in connecting; she couldn't turn herself off and when her anxiety reached overpowering levels living was a torment for her; at those times she couldn't stand herself and other people couldn't stand her.

Y..e.s

Embrace life! Say yes to yourselves! Don't dream of an elsewhere in the past or future! 

It's an invitation ... nothing less. I know it's easily put but is there any other way? If not, you will hurt yourselves more than you need to. Some get hurt by nature. Some get hurt by nurture. Some recieve both. Life isn't fair.

For me, embracing life is the psychological equivelant of physical huging. A hug is an image for embracing, yes-saying or affirmation.

In German it's the Nietzschean concept of Verneinung and Bejahung (more). Nein = no or nay. Ja = yes. Nay-saying versus yes-saying. What a sharp observation of Nietzsche. Was Clarice Lispector influenced by this philosophy? (She lived some time in Bern, this is a German-speaking part of Switserland.) Her last sentences in her book 'The Hour of the Star' (1977): "My God, I just remembered that we die. But - but me too?! Don't forget that for now it's strawberry season. Yes."

Bejahung or yes-saying is a healing activitity. It makes sweet and sour whole. It repairs what is broken with gold.

Y..E.S

P.S. You saw this picture before in post 'Literally Illuminated in Gold' (2017).
P.P.S. Next to that just be you.