Beware of cheating

Weaker and weaker.
Week  by week.
Day by day.
Who cares?
Why?
As long as there are
such moments of joy ...

Would I know
there's not much time left
I might like to write
about veracity, tonight.

About manipulation,
about ethics,
(not only)
for journalists and photographers.

The peace of the night.

Nothing to share

(Even when you are longing:)

Sadness can not be shared.

You may talk about to one person, to ten, to hundreds.

Even if being empathic: No one will feel the same. None will (be able to) share your sadness.

Same goes for love, for any of your feelings. They are unique. 

You are unique.

I am unique.

Hoorah!

The peace of the night.

... 

And what is when they grow 232 kg of sweet corn to produce one litre of ethanol?

Now, that's organised stupidity / crime.

I am not willing to share.

 

Kestrel, not in need of maize/ethanol.

Bearable Lightness of Being

Rrrahh-rrrahh.
Here I come!

Nebulosity

'The markets are getting nervous.'
The markets are important?
Ha ha ha ha ... up til ... infinity ...

The photo's being taken by the astrophysicist on his recent (private) session.

Massacre, kind of a

And they did not do it for money.

Eyed like to know

Where will I go?
And when?

(Self-?) Portreye

(Self-?) Portreye

Acts of Humanity

See?

Understand?

Butterfly's Dream

Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things. (2, tr. Burton Watson 1968:49)

 

„Einst träumte Dschuang Dschou, dass er ein Schmetterling sei, ein flatternder Schmetterling, der sich wohl und glücklich fühlte und nichts wußte von Dschuang Dschou. Plötzlich wachte er auf: da war er wieder wirklich und wahrhaftig Dschuang Dschou. Nun weiß ich nicht, ob Dschuang Dschou geträumt hat, dass er ein Schmetterling sei, oder ob der Schmetterling geträumt hat, dass er Dschuang Dschou sei, obwohl doch zwischen Dschuang Dschou und dem Schmetterling sicher ein Unterschied ist. So ist es mit der Wandlung der Dinge."

"Schmetterlingstraum", published in Dschuang Dsï - Südliches Blütenland, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, p. 52

Zhuangzi / Zhuang Zhou

Just a question

Ought lawyers

who contrary to better knowledge

defend extremely evil criminals

to be considered extremely evil criminals themselves?

Why waiting another thousand years?

Imagine, already those approximately 6.5 billion human beings living today would behave and act accordingly ...

The Death of Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi was dying, and his disciples wanted to bury him splendiferously. Spake Zhuangzi: "Heaven and earth are my coffin. Sun and moon are my jade rings, the stars my pearls and gems, and the whole creation escorts me. Thus, I shall have a splendid funeral. What else would you add?" Spake the disciples: "We are afraid, crows and kites might eat the master." Spake Zhuangzi: "Unburied I serve crows and kites as nutrition, buried worms and ants. To take from the one to give to the other: why being such biased?

[Humble attempt to translate "Der Tod des Dschuang Dsï", published in Dschuang Dsï - Südliches Blütenland, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, p. 294]

The crooked Timber of Humanity

Many years out of print, on the occasion of Isaiah Berlin's 100th anniversary that marks today there's a new German edition of The Crooked Timber of Humanity available: Das krumme Holz der Humanität (Berlin Verlag, 430 S., 19,90 Euro).
And Suhrkamp published Der Igel und der Fuchs (105 S., 12,80 Euro), i.e The Hedgehog and the Fox.


Interesting reads I can tell you.

For those who got intrigued and would like to dive a bit deeper I commend The Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library.

Habermas on a "post-secular' society

“Tolerance” is of course not only a question of enacting and applying laws; it must be practiced in everyday life. Tolerance means that believers of one faith and another and non-believers must mutually concede one another the right to those convictions, practices and ways of living that they themselves reject. This concession must be supported by a shared basis of mutual recognition from which repugnant dissonances can be overcome. The required kind of recognition must not be confused with an appreciation of an alien culture and way of living, or of rejected convictions and practices (n18). We need tolerance only vis-à-vis worldviews that we consider wrong and vis-à-vis habits that we do not like. Therefore, the basis of recognition is not the esteem for this or that property or achievement, but the awareness of the fact that the other one is a member of an inclusive community of citizens with equal rights, in which each is accountable to everybody else for her political contributions (n19).

Extract from an essay* presented by Jürgen Habermas at the Istanbul Seminars organized by Reset Dialogues on Civilizations in Istanbul from June 2nd to the 6th 2008.

* A "post-secular" society - what does that mean?



On a personal note:
I intended to offer my Turkish readers a link, so that they could read this essay in their language. To my surprise and regret I could not find one.

It would make sense if the organisators of a 'Dialogue on Civilisations' taking place in Istanbul made the effort to let translate such contributions into Turkish, wouldn't it?