classics digests, reflections and reviews
Then he no longer spoke. He would step forward, then retreat, look at the figure in a mirror, mutter and utter unintelligible sounds, make changes and corrections. His eyes, which at table had been amiably inattentive, now flashed with strange lights, and he seemed to have grown larger and younger. He worked, worked, worked, with the entire passion and force of his heavy body; whenever he stepped forward or back […]
Read more“The wicked rule by the cowardice of the ruled.” The Artist’s Approach to the Problem of Evil In works of art, there is variety, gradation and contrast, e.g., counterpoint and harmony in music; In creation, there is “unity in diversity”, and if the pattern doesn’t encompass the opposite extremes, it would not be the unity of the All. There are innumerable acts in the great Play, but we only participate in […]
Read moreA group of men gathered together for a feast and started a discourse on the nature of Love. Everybody presented their own notion of love one after another. The dialogues were half playful and half serious, but always entertaining and fascinating. Every speaker seemed to best the one preceding him, and Socrates gave the climatic, noble speech. Just when one thought that he couldn’t be topped, a drunk came in […]
Read moreAs someone with a biology and computer science background and no creative power whatsoever, I’m fascinated by Dr. Alexander’s notion that the creative process is essentially the same as the genetic process (seen in the unfolding of an embryo or the growth of a seed). Both processes are subclasses of the Living Process, which is defined in this book. The Creative Process “The whole system of order we observe is […]
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