Them Niches

Food. Music. Poems. 

Food (local stuff), music (love songs and songs about simple life) and poems (love, sun, sky, sea, nature, languages-games etcetera) are the niches that remain for individual 'homo sapiens' when dictators - in their own Newspeak they call themselves "the real democrats" - take over control in a country. 

What is left ...

• when the going gets tough?
• when demonstrators (Newspeak: terrorists) go into jail, get tortured or be killed?
• when sentinel species stop to speak up (better: stop singing when a bird or stop swimming when a fish or stop living when a plant)?
• when a dialogue is no longer possible?
• when individuals are no longer able to distinguish between facts and fake news?

And books? All dictators have their own list of prohibited books. No safe haven!

And art? All dictators have their own definition of degenerated art. No safe haven!

A :E :AFIN :DO MUDO [upside down]

It's a 700 years old story of the impossible loves of Inês de Castro‎ and Peter I of Portugal. Their tombs are standing, feet against feet, in Alcobaça Monastery, Portugal.

On the left Peter

On the right Inêz

At his head is the Wheel of Life and Wheel of Fortune (inside the wheel)

 

At twelve o'clock in the Wheel of Life there is an inscription written upside down and from right to left: "A :E :AFIN :DO MUDO". Scientist translate this as 'A[té] :E[n] :AFIN :DO MU[n]DO', which is 'Até ao fim do mundo' (source). Portuguese for 'Until the End of the World'.

For the details of the Wheel of Life and Wheel of Fortune see Wikipedia article 'Túmulos de D. Pedro I e de Inês de Castro': here.

P.S. I am wondering why 'Until the End of the World' is written upside down and from right to left. Why did Peter not want direct access to this message for its readers? Why hidden inside a riddle?  

Please Ignore

"Even in modern times, the critics of Epicureanism continue to misrepresent it as a lazy-minded, shallow, pleasure-loving, immoral, or godless travesty of real philosophy. In our day the world 'epicureanism' has come to mean its opposite - a pretentious enthusiasm for rare and expensive food and drink. Please have the courage to ignore two thousand years of negative prejudice, and assess this philosophy on its own considerable merits."

P.S. Quote is from Hutchinson in: Inwood and Gerson, 'The Epicurus Reader. Selected Writings and Testimonia' (1994). The painting is from Rubens, 'The Feast of Acheloüs' (around 1615).

1

If I could chose one and one only this would be my list #Choose1List

• 1 kitchen: Italian
• 1 wine: Barolo
• 1 writer: Gavin Maxwell
• 1 musical genre: fado
• 1 tv show: - (I never watch TV)
• 1 place: Nijmegen in The Netherlands
• 1 novel: Oek de Jong, Cirkel in het Gras
• 1 movie: Top Gun
• 1 God: Sisyphus
• 1 number: 8
• 1 color: blue
• 1 drink: martini white
• 1 poet: Jan Twardowski
• 1 death: in bed reading a book (I hope it is a decent one)
• 1 piece Greek: Epicurus' fragments
• 1 insecurity: I am not smart
• 1 piece of Shakespeare: Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day)
• 1 fetish: I allways pick up money (regardless of currency or amount) I see on the ground. I think/ feel my good luck (not only financially) will end if I will not pick it up
• 1 sexual fetish: eyes - I want to see your eyes
• 1 fruit:orange
• 1 villain: Mafia
• 1 dimension: live like an earthworm
• 1 bus: - (I never travel by bus)
• 1 island: Corsica in France (I never went but I want to one day)
• 1 cabin: at a lake in Scandinavia
• 1 sport: flying a glider
• 1 animal: cat
• 1 camp taste: militairy fighters
• 1 prophet: Ton Lemaire
• 1 president: Maarten van Rossem as president for planet Earth
• 1 dance: tango
• 1 thinker: Epicurus
• 1 lie: I always tell that I've read 80% of the books in my library but I guess it's more like 40%
• 1 walk: West Highland Way in Scotland

What is your #Choose1List?

P.S. picture is from Maryann Townsley in Facebook-group ‎'Scottish Wanderlust'. Place: Ardnamurchan in Scotland.