there’s something happenning here

February 2nd, 2008

pgepps thinking …you’d have to think, wouldn’t you?

What’s in your mind, my dove, my coney;
Do thoughts grow like feathers, the dead end of life;
Is it making of love or counting of money,
Or raid on the jewels, the plans of a thief?
(W. H. Auden, November 1930)

(reading the rest of the poem would render the question academic.)
(of course, if you read the rest of the poem, you probably are. academic.)


dude, that house has total fortitude!

February 2nd, 2008

the usage below intrigued me. So I looked it up.

†1. Physical or structural strength. Obs.
1553 EDEN Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 15 A beast..excellinge all other beastes in fortitude and strength. 1591 SHAKES. 1 Hen. VI, II. i. 17 Dispairing of his owne armes fortitude. 1604 —— Oth. I. iii. 222 The Fortitude of the place is best knowne to you. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 50 Bonding of Brick-work..conduces very much to its Fortitude.
(OED online)

Apparently, once upon a time, “fortitude” was more concrete. More virtu than virtue, so to speak.

We have all been betrayed by the psychologizing of life.


id est

February 1st, 2008

pgepps and epee — get the point?  kanji for EPPS on my kendogi  pgetmctiny.jpg


dwelling on exile

February 1st, 2008

. . . that suffering for Truths sake
Is fortitude to highest victorie,
And to the faithful Death the Gate of Life;
Taught this by his example whom I now
Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest.

To whom thus also th’ Angel last repli’d:
This having learnt, thou hast attained the summe
Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the Starrs
Thou knewst by name, and all th’ ethereal Powers,
All secrets of the deep, all Natures works,
Or works of God in Heav’n, Aire, Earth, or Sea,
And all the riches of this World enjoydst,
And all the rule, one Empire; onely add
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add Faith,
Add vertue, Patience, Temperance, add Love,
By name to come call’d Charitie, the soul
Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
A Paradise within thee, happier farr.
Let us descend now therefore from this top
Of Speculation;
(Milton, PL 12)


credo ii

February 1st, 2008

I believe Jesus Christ, the Lord of all believers (we entrust ourselves to Him, agree to cooperate with Him, and know He will transform us), is the same Creator God as the Father and Spirit; yet He is the Son to the Father, Who sends Him to be the Lord of all Creation.


hot off the press

February 1st, 2008

Ars Techne

Some scanty image of a former day
Flits by my eyes in tandem with a thought,
And here you are, and I bewail my lot,
Who can recall you only in this play.
Thin words and memories put on display
Substantial wishes thought of and forgot,
Remembered, misremembered, like a plot
Awash in who we are and what we say.
Some word you left me saying still repeats:
As though a record still could sound each note,
Cascading harmonies of grace and cheats
Stride giddily down corridors of rote,
Producing this: some green growth reaching day,
Plucked up to cheer some traveller on the way.

PGE 2-1-2008

some green growth reaching day  more green growth reaching day  still more green growth reaching day


proceed with caution

January 31st, 2008
Mortals dwell in that they receive the sky as sky. They leave to the sun and the moon their journey, to the stars their courses, to the seasons their blessing and their inclemency; they do not turn night into day nor day into a harassed unrest.
(Heidegger, “Building Dwelling Thinking“)