Verano Monumental Cemetery and the photograph as a means of remembering someone.
reparto israelite
cross and foto Pincetto Nuovo
shell and cemetery rose
nuns at the Quadriporticato
Rampa Caracciolo Verano…note use of ivy motif on left, cross
shell motif
Giacomo Balla family tomb, Bassopiano Pincetto, riquadro 139…see more Balla’s tombstone for Mario Gambetta‘s wife
WW I soldier
eternal flame
It’s taken some effort but I’m getting better at floating. Floating is a form of suspension, a vacation from stimuli, a conservation of energy.
Avicenna was an Islamic Golden Age philosopher. He invented the “floating man experiment”—asking one to imagine themselves as disembodied men without a sensory connection to the external world just floating around. The idea was to prove that self-awareness is not contingent upon experiences and that the soul is not dependent upon the body. He came up with this theory while in prison.
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Jules Léotard knew how to swing. Not only did he invent the trapeze, he also invented the leotard, a one piece knitted suit that facilitated his acrobatics. At the height of his career, Jules married the actress, Silvia Bernini. But when on tour, he’d tell everyone that Silvia was his mistress, not his wife. The humiliated Silvia, not a swinger, attempted suicide by throwing herself in the Seine. Luckily, she survived and it was Jules who died a short time later of smallpox.
Holding on is a matter of choice.
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So why have I put swinging on my list of affirmations? Let me explain.
A swing is static until, by disrupting its equilibrium, you get it to move. Since motion obliterates inertia, knowing how to swing means knowing how to give motion to motionless situations. In other words, knowing how to swing means knowing how to actualize change.
But once you start swinging, you need to keep up the momentum. And this is a problem so many of us have—we begin projects then, because we lose momentum, don’t finish what we’ve started.
Birds, trapped in a cage, are forced to substitute swinging for flying. It’s the only motion they’re permitted. Their instinct is to fly and, maybe, the swing’s back and forth swaying gives birds the sensation of flight.
Freud said that “civilization is built up on the suppression of instincts”. I wonder if the birds would agree.
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They say positive thinking is powerful!
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The Narrative Within 