Kevin, you've got a beautiful heart, like a sakura flower. Thanks for the ever thoughtful reminder about human nature, and the photos of a heavenly place.
I'm really intrigued with this idea of beauty and horror being brought together through time, Kevin. It seems like the whole of human existence has been some kind of fusion between the sacred (the koi pond) and the profane (the severed head of the samurai). How do we reconcile the two? Or do we even need to? Or is the reconciliation seen in such texts as poetry?
Thanks for your comment, Nancy. I don't know if we can reconcile, or if we need to. Or, maybe all aspects of human behavior are already reconciled in that they are inevitable. At one point touring around the tombs of the Pharoahs I realized we were hanging out with oligarchs. So instead of looking at the decoration and seeing how marvelous it all is and leaving it at that, I tried to keep in mind the priests who wrote the texts on the wall, the artisans who carved and painted, the slaves who lugged the heavy stones, the off-season farmers who did the manual labor. And then the Hittites being smited (smote?) and their whole societal structure. Is 'it was ever thus' a copout or just so plainly true that it can serve as a launchpad (into poetry)?
The ones who work the hardest -- it seems -- are rarely recognized. So the fact that you were thinking of all those who sweated and slaved to bring about such beauty, Kevin, is hugely significant. Most people never give those lives a second thought.
Kevin, you've got a beautiful heart, like a sakura flower. Thanks for the ever thoughtful reminder about human nature, and the photos of a heavenly place.
Thank you, Portia!
‘People’ indeed. Lovely photos.
I'm really intrigued with this idea of beauty and horror being brought together through time, Kevin. It seems like the whole of human existence has been some kind of fusion between the sacred (the koi pond) and the profane (the severed head of the samurai). How do we reconcile the two? Or do we even need to? Or is the reconciliation seen in such texts as poetry?
Thanks for your comment, Nancy. I don't know if we can reconcile, or if we need to. Or, maybe all aspects of human behavior are already reconciled in that they are inevitable. At one point touring around the tombs of the Pharoahs I realized we were hanging out with oligarchs. So instead of looking at the decoration and seeing how marvelous it all is and leaving it at that, I tried to keep in mind the priests who wrote the texts on the wall, the artisans who carved and painted, the slaves who lugged the heavy stones, the off-season farmers who did the manual labor. And then the Hittites being smited (smote?) and their whole societal structure. Is 'it was ever thus' a copout or just so plainly true that it can serve as a launchpad (into poetry)?
The ones who work the hardest -- it seems -- are rarely recognized. So the fact that you were thinking of all those who sweated and slaved to bring about such beauty, Kevin, is hugely significant. Most people never give those lives a second thought.
Thanks, Kevin! I enjoyed the article and the photographs.