Psalm

Past Prophets announced what is to be. Fear not Me.

Said it was we are born equal. We're unequal. Deceitful.

Aim at enlightenment. Perfect your environment. 

Love is pure. To keep it we must endure. Sure.  

Most oppressors were oppressed. Their brain's abscessed.  

You are invited to delight in LS' PSALM.

Is Peace Relative?

Peace is quietness, it is calm; it is related to love and prosperity; it lacks war yet it disguises turmoil.

An individual may display the appearance of being peaceful, serene. However our gut keeps telling us that there’s something off with that person…as if we were before a wolf disguised as a lamb. Psychopaths many times exude peace yet they may violently scythe our lives.

The members of a family may find its home to be peaceful because silence reigns; because the children play quietly; because quarrels dwell not there; because voices are never raised; because everything is so still…so dead.
Apparent peace may mask oppression, lack of interest, estrangement, abuse, fear.

A country may consider itself to be in peace because it is not at war with any other nation; because famine does not abound; because destruction is not blatant; because infrastructures are intact, because everywhere its citizens look everything is apparently quiet. However, this illusive peace conceals sub-wars: racism, domestic violence, serial killing, serial abortions; drug and human trafficking, urban hunger; AIDS, Cancer; corruption; assassination of political opponents etc...

We need to stop regurgitating the word peace: if true inner peace (that can only occur upon full knowledge and acceptance of whom we are) and peace within one’s family (despite the differences amongst its members) is not reached how can we believe that peace exists in society?
Politicians need to stop juggling the word peace: if governments and lawmakers cannot combat sub-wars how can they expect to generate real peace with other countries?

Peace, on earth, seems relative...

Image: Paradise and Hell by Bosch

The Myths ascribed to Artists...

It is a general thought that artists are special creatures who speak a special language; that can only be deciphered by the most sensitive.
Artists are viewed as geniuses; and, as such, tolerance must be practiced when witnessing their “occasional” erratic behaviour.

Below you’ll find some of the myths conferred to this class:

• Artists speak in a divine code: well, if Rap artists’ language reflects the Divine may God help us all. If some painters’ art express the code of God (or even the gods) then Heaven (or the Olympus) must be full of perverts and troubled people.
• Artists are all for peace and love: Picasso exerted psychological violence upon the women in his life; Edgar Degas became an anti-Semite; it is said that Clint Eastwood displays violent behaviour from times to times; Russel Crowe likes to punch the paparazzi; António Lobo Antunes (a Portuguese writer) insults people...
• Artists are sane individuals: Modigliani drank his art & life away; Antero de Quental (a Portuguese Poet & Philosopher) was constantly depressed and (after being disappointed at socialism) killed himself; Van Gogh cut his own ear; Marquis de Sade suffered from sexual perversion...
• Artists always have good taste: Versace’s house was horrible; Yves Saint Laurent’s flats were so packed with antiques and art objects that it bordered bad taste and vulgarity. Then we have those artists living in the midst of empty bottles, trash, and disorganisation who are deified; and their lack of taste, of organisation and order is extolled as eccentricity.
• Artists are always balanced: many are the personification of disequilibrium - Marilyn Monroe (poor soul); Ernest Hemingway; Jim Morrison; Sylvia Plath; Kurt Cobain; Sá Carneiro (a Portuguese writer who was unbalanced and killed himself); Amy Winehouse (blessed be her heart)...
• Artists are above politics: yeah...right. Picasso was considered the icon of communism and Wagner was an icon of the Nazi Party. Plus, nowadays it is trendy for artists to be political activists (in some cases they do an excellent job [Mia Farrow & George Clooney] and in other cases they occasionally make a fool of themselves [Vanessa Redgrave & Denis Glover, for example]).

One could on and on; however the point is: artists are people just like you and I. They may have a special gift; but guess what? You and I have our own special gifts too. They have problems just like every human being does. They are as Zen, or not, as the next individual...

Image: Apollo Belvedere by Leochares

Sons are cheaper than Daughters

A study has been made, in the U.K, proving that raising boys is €2,500 cheaper than raising girls. And as years go by daughters become more and more expensive.

So, what is this study supposed to mean exactly? It is supposed to take us back to the dark ages, when having girls was considered bad luck, or perhaps it is supposed to say that Indians (that have aborted 10 Million baby girls) and the Chinese (that have killed millions of baby girls and now face a social problem) are correct when they value their male progeny more?

Perhaps it’s none of the above (perhaps I am being paranoid). Maybe this study serves to back up some GM (genetic manipulation) programme.
A study like this comes out, parents’ emotions get stirred; those who cannot have children through natural conception (and wish not to adopt) rush into a fertility clinic to not only exercise their Nazi politics (x eye colour; y skin complexion; t hair colour etc) but also to make gender selection. Clinics make a bundle of money, parents practice their vanity, society suffers from a huge decrease in females (and thus incubators); future males will wage civil wars in order to get women and a solution is offered to appease tensions: artificial cells that generate androids – problem solved.

I’m so grateful that in Africa, at least, women are valued for their reproductive gift (if for nothing else). When a man wants a woman, he must pay “lobolo” (some kind of gift in form of cattle, pecuniary means and traditional cloth) to her family. He must show how valuable she is to him.
In Nampula (Northern Mozambique) women are the natural heirs of the land. Men can only own land (bestowed by their wife) after they contribute to reproduction and prove they can grow crops.

Daughters may be €2,500 more expensive, but since women are the keepers of Mankind, I am more than willing to investment in them.

Image: The Marsham Children by Thomas Gainsborough

New Teaching Models

I read a very interesting interview done to Professor Roger Schank. In it, he says that schools teach “stupid things like mathematics”. But he doesn’t stop here; he proceeds by saying that literature and history should be abolished too. My “favourite” part is when Professor Schank implies that grammar is a waste of time; since one “learns the language by speaking and making speeches”. According to him, the rules of grammar are already there, unconsciously.

Mathematics
If Prof. Schank would tell me that we need to review the level of math taught in schools, I’d agree with him. (I don’t know how math is taught in your country but in Portugal kids, in Junior High and High School, learn a college level math – no wonder they don’t understand it, and end up by not liking it).
However I cannot, I will not, agree that this science is stupid; for it is not. Math teaches us to reason, to think, to form a logical platform in our mind – how can this stupid?

Literature & History
If we do not understand our past, how can we better accept our present? For example, the Muslim world doesn’t understand its historic past, it hasn’t made peace with its past and thus it accepts not its present – is this what Prof. Schank wishes for the Western world?
Furthermore without history there’s no identity, no sense of belonging, no pride.
Now, why attack literature? Kids are not supposed to read either? How are they to learn how to write, how to properly speak, how to focus? Perhaps Prof. Schank suggests kids to read Playboy, Playgirl, sports magazines and newspapers only...

Unconscious grammar
Utter rubbish. Neo-Portuguese is the biggest proof of this statement: people do not conjugate properly the verbs any longer. They ignore what a conjunction means, they know not how to define and classify words, and this is reflected in the poor speech uttered by the people from North to South. Ah, and by instinct they counterfeit words as well – it’s an ear sore.

Do we need new teaching models? Yes, we do. But let’s be careful about irresponsible, and fallacious, speeches in order to achieve reforms.


Image: Night School by Gerrit Dou