To Virgos, love means surrender of the self, a mystery they prefer not to solve.

The Virgo Love Mystery

The youthful Leo soon senses that summer is ending – and regretfully steps into his first awareness of the coming harvest, through the Indian Summer soul expression of Virgo.  The negative feminine Night Forces return again, reminding the Virgin (whose deeper self has remained untouched by the fleeting romances of youth) that maturity brings stern duty and responsibility.  “I ANALYZE”, says Virgo defensively, striving for perfection.

Now the evolving soul has, for the first time, become an Adult, frustrated by being forced to comply with society’s rules and restrictions, yet submitting gracefully, with innate courtesy.  These men and women have discovered that to receive their own needs they must serve others in some way.  The Virgo vibration teaches that one must work and earn money – be of service – in order to be free to play.  In this, the second experience in the Earth Element, also the second experience as a Mutable Communicator, clocks and schedules assume great importance.  The first job is disappointing.  Both ideas and ideals must be shelved under the demands of work or schooling.  No time now to dream.  The Virgo attention is centered on scholastic excellence, on keeping up with the fierce competition of the business world.  Learning and competing are both mandatory – surviving has become a near obsession.

Like the actual young adults they symbolize, Virgo souls see much to criticize around them, secretly resenting the loss the childhood innocence, having no certain ideas of what lies ahead.  Is it only more work, more study and more responsibility?  If so, then life is serious indeed and must be faced realistically as soon as possible.  It is getting later.  Human flaws and imperfections assume exaggerated importance on this Virgo level.  For, unless Virgo brings in a fruitful harvest, Life cannot continue for themselves and others.  It is the end of summer, the beginning of autumn, and cold winter is just around the corner.  Why are all those people still laughing and playing out there?  Virgo frets and worries, wondering how to warn the irresponsible that the season of pleasure is drawing to a close.  The heart is still pure and filled with silent hope, but the mind is now in control.

Earlier Leo enthusiasms have been replaced by resignation and quiet dreams.  Virgo is driven by the fear of dependence into dogged determination not to waste time or shirk duty, the consciousness ever watchful and waiting, yearning to be something better.  Although once again ruled by Mercury, the soul has by now learned not to scatter the vital forces as on the Gemini level.  Like the symbolic Virgin, Virgo hovers on the edge of awareness, soon to answer the thunderous call of Virgo’s true ruler, Vulcan, not yet “discovered” by astronomers, but sufficiently near discovery to have already commenced to faintly beam its pulsing influence to all Virgo-Virgin souls.

Virgo’s positive qualities are clarity of thought, discrimination, courtesy, service to others, practicality and self-honesty.  Expressed in their negative form they become criticism, crankiness, timidity, pessimism, inferiority and hair-splitting.

The Virgin soul has reached its narcissus aspect, half-remembering the heated fires of youth, but as yet unawakened, only vaguely sensing the passion that lies ahead, soon to be revealed by Vulcan.  To Virgos, love means surrender of the self, a mystery they prefer not to solve.  So they channel its energy into excellence in work……and although these men and women offer gentle devotion, love’s true meaning still sleeps within the Virgin heart.

Life is all sunlight, the gloomy Past is behind, the miracle of the Future still ahead...

The Leo Love Mystery

The Cancerian Adolescent soul is transformed with brilliant suddenness into a symbolic Teenager, brought by the Leo vibration into the first expression of self-confidence and pride in individuality.  Now the soul knows (or assumes) who he is – or who she is – as Leo feels an even stronger pull of the masculine positive Day Forces and the Fire Element than was felt on the Aries level.  The world belongs to the Lion – or the Lioness – and so the Leonine “Teenager” gazes at his or her image in the mirror, admires what is seen and makes the noble vow “I WILL.”  Summer has come into full bloom of furious beauty with lazy afternoons and bright sunshine as Leo moves into SELF consciousness from the polarity meaning of Cancer’s self-consciousness.

The idealism of youth stirs the Lion’s heart and sets the blood afire with the dawning knowledge of sexuality, two powerful urges that bring private inner doubts of worth, well hidden beneath outward vanity.  The Leo soul knows what to do with this second experience as a Fixed Organizer, using it wit apparent confidence to lecture others, take charge of his or her own life and rule over those who need Leo’s protection.  Yet the Leo man or woman, like the actual teenager, still seeks reassurance in the form of flattery, still cringes secretly when ridiculed, because he is not quite yet a man – she is not quite yet a woman – for all the surface sureness.

The soul has already passed through the painful experiences of infancy, babyhood, childhood and adolescence, so Leo leads with sympathetic consideration for those who are more vulnerable.  The soul in its Leo expression has no real desire to crush the helpless.  Generosity of spirit was carved into Leo’s memory by the tears wept through the Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer levels.  However, although Leos have learned to tolerate and forgive enemies, they have not yet learned to respect the wisdom of elders.  Like the real teenager, Leos think they know all the answers, and are impatient with those who question their new worldly knowledge.  The Leo soul worships the Sun, for the Sun is Leo’s ruler, the source of all Life – and of his or her Leonine strength.  Leo admires and is admired, loves and is loved.  As social life begins, the joys of romance begin to bud……then finally to flower.  Puppy love is warm and bright, bringing to the Leo “Teenager” both elation and disappointment.  The dizzy power of his manhood (or womanhood) gives to Leo a sense of personal dignity and importance – through the opposite sex.  No longer must the Lions and Lionesses be restricted by the stifling authority of parental guidance.  The bridge from childhood to adulthood has been spanned.  The responsibilities of maturity are sensed, but still haven’t become a burden.  Life is all sunlight, the gloomy Past is behind, the miracle of the Future still ahead — and the Present is a time for fun and relaxation.  Leo decides arrogantly that the world needs his newfound wisdom, and is more than willing to give it.  Only through exercising unquestioned command over younger children (the weaker and not yet liberated souls) can a Leo man or woman in this experience retain the necessary image of superiority and self-respect.

Leo’s positive qualities are warmth, generosity, nobility, strength, loyalty, leadership and a soothing, gentle tenderness – the protective charisma of the older brother or sister, of the strong toward the weak.  Expressed in their negative form they become arrogance, false pride, vanity, tyranny, haughtiness …and romantic promiscuity.

To the Leo in the symbolic Teenager stage of development, love is shimmering romance, the song-of-songs, the fulfillment of all ideals and beauty.  Leo is “in love with love” and with himself – herself.  Lions and Lionesses give affection generously only because it brings such pleasure to be so royally beneficent, demanding gratitude and respect, demanding gratitude and respect from the beloved, outraged if love requires that they humble themselves……as yet unable to comprehend its depth, or the beauty of its sacrifice of the “self”.

To tell or not to tell?

Source: http://vi.sualize.us/view/kallini2002/266be058e56ba32ebf7cb45c1f2c8242/

Source: http://vi.sualize.us/view/c14e68c72d7002f1f9485d1c3302ae6e/

 Source: http://www.phillwebb.net/History/TwentiethCentury/continental/Marxism/Fromm/Fromm2.jpg

Both dreams and myths are important communications from ourselves to ourselves. If we do not understand the language in which they are written, we miss a great deal of what we know and tell ourselves in those hours when we are not busy manipulating the outside world.

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.

Love is union with somebody, or something, outside oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and integrity of one’s own self.

Man always dies before he is fully born.

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.

Man’s biological weakness is the condition of human culture.

Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.

Most people die before they are fully born. Creativeness means to be born before one dies.

The most beautiful as well as the most ugly inclinations of man are not part of a fixed biologically given human nature, but result from the social process which creates man.

The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.

There is only one meaning of life: the act of living itself.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.” (Albert Einstein)

 

 

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” (Albert Einstein)

 

“For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity.” (Jean Dubuffet)

 

 

“In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.”  (Georges Clemenceau)

 

 

“The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four people is suffering from a mental illness. Look at your 3 best friends. If they’re ok, then it’s you.”  (Rita Mae Brown)

 

 

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”  (Friedrich Nietzsche)

 

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”  (Friedrich Nietzsche)

 

 

“We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.”  (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

 

 

“Some might think that the creativity, imagination, and flights of fancy that give my life meaning are insanity.”  (Vladimir Nabokov)

 

 

“Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences, daydreams and misunderstandings more thrilling than understanding could ever be.”  (Toni Morrison “Beloved”)

 

A poem about Winter Landscape.

Surprisingly enough, I was thinking what I could write about Winter Landscape.  That was my homework for January.  Yes, that one from the calendar.

And that is what I found.

A Russian romance “In the Moonlight the snow is sparkling”.

Because it is Russian Romance, it is in the Russian language.  Obviously, but that is not the point.  I had to look up the word romance because I was not sure if I used it correctly.  Apparently, I was right and one of the meanings of “romance” is “a short, lyrical composition.”

But then I looked at the origin of the word and that where I lost my conscience. (A joke!)  The word “romance” stems from the word Roma = Rome.  If I take things literally and I do it quite often, just for fun, then a Russian Romance is a contradiction of terms.

So, all these meanings: a love story, a literary genre, the aura of excitement and more simply come back to Rome.  Literally, all roads lead to Rome.  Or rather all ROMANCES originate in Rome.  Or?  Maybe that is the reason why my Italian friend is so amorous all the time.

Coming back to “In the moonlight the snow is sparkling”.  This romance is neither about winter, nor about landscape, it is about Love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yFfX-UK9PI&feature=related

В лунном сиянье

слова и музыка Е. Юрьева

Полный текст песни

слова и музыка Е. Юрьева

В лунном сиянье снег серебрится,

Вдоль по дороге троечка мчится.

Динь-динь-динь, динь-динь-динь —

Колокольчик звенит,

Этот звон, этот звон

О любви говорит.

В лунном сиянье ранней весною

Помнятся встречи, друг мой, с тобою.

Динь-динь-динь, динь-динь-динь —

Колокольчик звенел,

Этот звон, этот звон

О любви сладко пел.

Помнятся гости шумной толпою,

Личико милой с белой фатою.

Динь-динь-динь, динь-динь-динь —

Звон бокалов шумит,

С молодою женой

Мой соперник стоит.

В лунном сиянье снег серебрится,

Вдоль по дороге троечка мчится.

Динь-динь-динь, динь-динь-динь —

Колокольчик звенит,

Этот звон, этот звон

О любви говорит.

“And Your Point being?” versus “Do you have a sense of humour?”

“Mein Lieber A.” (a friend of mine) and I had a few conversations and most of them ended up by him asking the question “And your point being?” and me asking “Do you have a sense of humour?”

I know he does.  But sometimes it becomes a bit frustrating when my jokes totally miss the target.  Wait, do jokes have targets?  Like cannons?  They do and they don’t.

I looked up the word “humour”.  Apparently I did not know all of its meanings.

“A state of mind; mood; disposition” – does not seem to be far out.

“A fancy; whim”

“Any of various body fluids formerly supposed to determine a person’s health and disposition.  They were blood, phlegm, choler (yellow bile), and melancholy (black bile).”

Surprise, surprise!

If you have to think of it, it might seem funny – that our sense of humour is derived from bodily fluids.  The word “humour” itself means in its origin fluid.

Maybe because humour is fluid and elusive.  I doubt it, though.

Well, anyways, the most common meaning of “Sense of Humour” now is “the ability to see or show the funny or amusing side of things.”

Some quotes on the subject.

Humor is the harmony of the heart. (Douglas William Jerrold)

 

Humor is the affectionate communication of insight. (Leo Rosten)

 

What an ornament and safeguard is humor!

Far better than wit for a poet and writer.

It is a genius itself, and so defends from the insanities.  (Sir Walter Scott)

What is humour for me?  Everything.  Salvation. Absolution.  State of mind (absolutely!).  My style of communication.  And without a sense of humour there is no mutual understanding.  Humour is my life.  My anchor. Or my wings? Oh, well, maybe a painkiller once in a while.  Whatever it is, of whatever quality (right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, light, dark), it is mine and mine only, it can never be taken from me.  Well, unless I lose my mind.

And what is my mind?

What I mean is

It is very much a rough draft, but there won’t be a final version.  This is my diary, my writing space, and my attempt to get to the Point Of Things.  For that, I have to get out of the mess, I had got myself into.

So free writing in a free style.  Flying Free…………

I have been told and admired and complimented on the clearness of my thinking and the ability to express myself.  But sometimes when I get to be too clear, people get offended, so I have to learn how to use the words to do the opposite.  Cloud and disguise the meaning or just say something and mean nothing.  The best thing is, of course, to remain silent, but it is not always possible and that, too, might be regarded offensive.  Moreover, I have to work on my ability to resist temptation to react to whatever is around me.  Maybe just hold it for a while and take it to a different place and then go ahead with self-expression.  The best place is where nobody is around!

And then SCREAM: “What the F-CK!”  or “What a F-cking Day!”

I wish I had a screaming place, but I don’t.  Well, moving on.

Apparently, we miscommunicate quite often.  If not always.  We misunderstand.  Each other, ourselves.  We don’t bother to check once in a while if we use words in its proper meaning.  What are the dictionaries for?  Who cares?  I do.

Sometimes, I ask people to define or explain.  Not for fun, but to get to the core of things.  So we get closer to mutual understanding.  My words are balance and harmony, not f-words (like Frustration).  But mutual understanding more often than not turns out to be “mission impossible”.  “Definition Game” can be funny, ridiculous, or downright depressing.  People are offended when they realize that they cannot define even the most common words on the spot.  I know it is not such an easy task, to begin with, but it should make us think, find out, analyze, do some cleaning in our minds.  Clean our language.  Believe it or not, it is doable.

Cleaning

Let me call it Spring Cleaning.  But it is January, I have been told.  So?  Do you have a sense of humour?  What is sense of humour?  Whose?  Mine, yours.  Or mine is definitely or definitively of a wrong type.  That I’ve been told, too.  What is right? What is wrong?  Do you have an idea of conversations I sometimes get myself into?  But I am clearly out of my mind.  So is everybody else, by the way.  Out of my mind, that is.  Do I have a point?  There you go.  So, we have something in common, collectively being out of my mind.

You can relax, I am just playing with words.  The point is…  The point is Point Zero. 

That was one of my posts in the very beginning.

http://www.altrealm.com/english/conversations/2008-08-30/what-is-your-point/

What I mean is…  Isn’t it the hardest things to explain, what the hell we mean, when we ourselves have no idea.  Well, most of the time.

So, I am doing some cleaning in my room, in my life and at the same time, I just keep notes.

Let’s play a definition game.

Let’s define a…  Wait, what is a definition?  Why don’t I start with the definition of a definition?

I will make it short.

A definition is an essence an explanation.

Definitive is conclusive, final. Or.  Limiting, defining, distinguishing.

So, every definition is limiting by its nature.

Going back to the root of the word:  definire <de – from + finis – boundary>

Problem solved.  Define means to set or settle limits.

And there is example from the dictionary.

Perseverance usually defines success.

Reframing è Perseverance usually limits success.

I will not be defining now “perseverance”, “usually”, or especially “success”.  What an thankless task!  I am not quite sure if I made things clearer, or messed them slightly up, but at least I can laugh at it.  That is one of the ways I can entertain myself with.

Once a friend of mine, Oleg, told a joke and nobody was laughing, but him.  Being young and not always considerate, I asked him quite bluntly, why do you laugh alone?  Is it not a sign of stupidity?  He simply said, “so what, if nobody laughs, why should I refrain myself?”  Not only have I remembered this story for so long, but now I can see his point.  If nobody entertains me, I can do it myself.  And I had become an expert in it by now.

So, was it my perseverance that defined (limited) my success?

But what is success?  Especially mine?

Victor Pelevin “The Sacred Book of Werewolf”

‘I’m so happy for you, darling!’ I said.

Not many were-creatures know what it is t feel happy for someone else.  And tailless monkeys know even less about it, all they know how to do is smile broadly in order to boost their social adaptability and increase the volume of sales.  While imitating the feeling of happiness for someone else, the tailless monkey actually experiences envy or, in the best case, remains indifferent.  But I really did experience that feeling, as pure and transparent as the water in a mountain stream.

‘You can’t imagine how happy I am for you,’ I repeated and kissed him again.

This time he didn’t move away.

‘Really?’ he asked.  ‘But why?’

‘Because after all this time you’re in a good mood.  You’re feeling better.  And I love you.’

His face darkened a little.

‘I love you too.  But I keep thinking that you’re going to leave me.  You’d probably be better off if you did.  But I won’t feel any happiness for you.’

‘In the first place, I’m not planning on going anywhere,’ I said.  ‘And in the second place, the feeling you speak of isn’t love, it’s a symptom of egoism.  To the male chauvinist in you, I’m merely a toy, a piece of property and a trophy status symbol.  And you’re afraid of losing me in the same way a property owner is afraid of being parted from some expensive item.  You can never feel happy for someone else that way.’

‘So how do you feel happy for someone else?’

‘For that you have to want nothing for yourself.’

‘You’re telling me you don’t want anything for yourself?’ he asked suspiciously.

I shook my head.

‘But why?’

‘I told you that once already.  When you look inside yourself for a long time, you realize that there’s nothing there.  How can you want something for that nothing?’

‘But if there’s nothing inside you, there’s nothing inside anyone else either.’

‘If you think about it properly, there’s nothing real anywhere,’ I said.  ‘There’s only the choice with which you fill emptiness.  And when you feel happy for someone else, you fill emptiness with love.’

‘Whose love? If there isn’t anybody anywhere, then whose love it?’

‘That does not matter to emptiness.  And don’t you get hot and bothered about it either.  But if you want a meaning for life, you’ll never find a better one.’

Victor Pelevin “The Sacred Book of Werewolf”

‘The real super-werewolf is a heavenly being.  A heavenly being never loses her connection with the heavens.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘In this world there is nothing but dust.  But when a heavenly being sees the dust, she remembers the light that makes the dust visible.  While a tailless monkey only sees the dust on which the light falls.  That’s why when a heavenly being dies, she becomes light.  But when a tailless monkey dies, he becomes dust.’

‘Light, dust,’ he said, ‘so there is something there after all!  There is some kind of individual personality.  You’ve definitely got one, Ginger.  I’ve felt that pretty strongly just recently.  Or will you tell me I’m wrong?’

‘This personality, with all its quirks and stupidities simply dances like a doll in the clear light of my mind.  And the more stupid this doll’s quirks, the clearer the light that I recognize over and over again.’

‘Now you’re saying “my mind”.  But you only just said it’s not yours.’

“That’s the way language works.  It’s the root from which infinite human stupidity grows.  And we were-creatures suffer from it too, because we’re always talking.  It’s not possible to open your mouth without being wrong.  So you shouldn’t haggle over words.’

‘All right.  But the personality that dances like a doll – that’s you, isn’t it?’

‘No.  I don’t think of this personality as me, because I’m very far from being a doll.  I am the light that makes it visible.  But the light and the doll are only metaphors, and you shouldn’t clutch at them.’