The Monk of Cappadoccia – Part II

This is the second part of the story of Kostas T, a Monk in Cappadoccia.

Part I ended when Elektra, the Alsatian French psychoanalyst had just arrived in Cappadoccia for a week’s visit, to recharge her batteries and, maybe rethink her life.

After laying his eyes on Elektra, Kostas felt for the first time since Iphigenie left him the desire for a woman to reemerge from the depths of his wounded manhood. The cell where he spent most of his time all of a sudden became his prison.

He felt strong carnal desire for Elektra. He had to have her at any cost.

Kostas left the monastery climbing the steep rocks in order to meet his lover.

It was a hot embrace from the very beginning.

The week of Elektra’s holidays was almost over.

Day after day the two lovers would meet and enjoy endless love making.

But she was now due to return to her home and regular life.

Kostas could not believe that he would lose her.

Endless discussions were fruitless.

At the end, Elektra decided to return to her home, and come to Cappadoccia  again after three months, hoping she would convince Kostas to abandon the monastic life and go to Alsace with her.  She told this to Kostas openly and promised to write to him every day.

Kostas became restless after Elektra went back to Alsace.

He would read her letters and write back to her the same day he read them.

In his mind he was ready to return to the ordinary life of people, and he started feeling guilty for not taking this decision earlier, when Elektra was still in Cappadoccia.

He spent endless sleepless nights, dreaming with his eyes open, that he was in Colmar, with Elektra, and the Monastery in Cappadoccia was just a dream.

To his surprise, one day he received a photo showing Elektra in New York.

She had attached a note saying that everything was wonderful, she went to New York for a three day conference,  and that next day she would visit an old friend of hers in Long Island.

On the next day, Elektra joined the legions of Angels, when she was shot when exiting her friends car in the parking lot of a Long Island Restaurant.

The local newspaper reported on the murder:

“Elektra Meyer, 30, of Colmar, France, died shortly after being rushed to a hospital after she was shot in the parking lot at the back of the La Cantina restaurant on Main Street.

Investigators believe Meyer had just gotten out of the silver Mercedes of Joe Bray, who was driving, when at least one gunman ambushed her as she arrived with Joe Bray at the restaurant for the day.

According to the Long Island business registry, Bray was a shareholder in the eatery through a numbered company.

The restaurant has for years been a popular destination for diners looking for a traditional Italian meal in Long Island.

But La Cantina was described, during the 2002 trial of a Manhattan lawyer charged with drug smuggling for the Rizzi clan, as a known hangout for drug traffickers. The lawyer, who was eventually acquitted, was barred from going to the restaurant when he was released on bail.”

Long Island Police collecting evidence in the parking lot

The police found Kostas’ photo and address in Elektra’s purse and notified him immediately.

Kostas could not come to terms with Elektra’s death.

Who was her friend?

Why did the criminals shoot Elektra and not Bray?

He swore to take revenge, no matter what it took for him to do that, and left the monastery for good.

His life was never going to be the same.

Kostas found refuge in a nearby town., where he became known as “the Monk”.

In order to make a living he started working as a barman in a bar.

One night he met Frank R.

Frank was an American, a marine veteran of the Afghan war.

He was tough and reserved, but gradually developed a liking for Kostas.

The two men would often chat and arrived at the point where they considered themselves to be friends.

However, things were not what they appeared to be.

Frank presented himself as a businessman, working on behalf of an American Corporation trading goods between Asia and the US.

In reality, Frank was the person responsible for the movement of opiates from Afghanistan through Turkey to Europe.

Frank preparing for work

He belonged to a criminal organization that controlled more than half of the traffic.

For the reader who founds herself in totally unknown territory, I offer the following as supporting information.

“The general route for smuggling Afghan-produced opiates from Pakistan goes overland from Pakistan’s Balochistan province across the border into Iran, then passes through the northwestern region, which is inhabited by Kurds, and finally into laboratories in Turkey, where the opium is processed.

The shipments from Pakistan may be broken down into smaller shipments once in Iran. Iran is both a transit country and a destination for opium products. Iranian domestic production is believed to be quite low and unable to supply domestic demand. Opiates not intended for the Iranian market transit Iran to Turkey, where the morphine base is processed into heroin. Heroin and hashish are delivered to buyers located in Turkey, who then ship the drugs to the international market, primarily Europe.”

Frank one day was visited by his wife, Ulrike, who was a diplomat with the German Embassy in Ankara.

Frank and Ulrike were a harmonious couple.

They shared most of things in life, among them a double life.

Ulrike was in reality working for the Turkish Military Intelligence Agency, using her diplomatic job as a cover.

Ulrike and two of her toys

Frank had already spoken to Ulrike about his new friend, Kostas, and his tormented life.

Ulrike felt sorry for Kostas and in order to brighten his day, she invited her friend Evita to join her in her trip to Cappadoccia.

Evita was the daughter of the Argentinian Ambassador in Turkey and was spending a few months with her widowed father before going back to Buenos Aires in order to take over the family business.

Frank and Ulrike were wondering how Kostas would respond to the presence of the attractive Latin American.

Would she be able to help him get out of the deep depression and become alive again?

to be continued….

The Monk of Cappadoccia – Part I

Cappadoccia (Kapadokya), a beautiful mysterious place.

In the 4th century AD it was the center of major developments in Christian theology and philosophy.

The tradition of the Christian Orthodox religion remains strong even today in the rough and mysterious landscape.

A lot of men are abandoning the life we know to become monks leaving in the caves carved inside the rocks centuries ago.

This is the story of one of them.

His name is Kostas T. He grew up in a city in the North of Greece.

As a Lyceum student he distinguished himself in carving names and hearts in trees, and there are a lot of them in the countryside around the city.

After serving in the Greek Army he started working as a model.

His success brought him a lot of female admirers.

As it usually happens, none of them captured Kostas’ heart.

The lucky ones got to experience his extra-ordinary love making for one night, or two.

No one seemed to be able to tame the young stud, until he met Iphigenie M, a beautiful heiress of a ship owning family of the island of Andros.

Happiness was knocking on their door.

But life was hard on Kostas.

Quite accidentally, Iphigenie met Sophie M, an Australian girl who was working in Greece as a waitress after having divorced her Greek husband.

They became fiends and she was introduced to Kostas.

After a few days, a Ménage à trois (a French term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as “household of three”)  was formed, the two women and Kostas becoming entangled in a world of passion.

Days and months passed by.

One morning, Kostas woke up in a state of deep anxiety.

He went to his two lovers and declared that this cannot continue any more.

He was hoping to convince Iphigenie to dump Sophie and then marry her.

Alas! Iphigenie was caught in the nets of Sophie!

Sophie got so upset with Kostas wanting to break up the trio, that she started eating hamburgers one after the other, and then to burn the calories she was washing cars. The photo above is proof of her condition.

After doing this for fun she opened a car laundry serving the best hamburgers in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Iphigenie tasted the hamburgers and decided she was going to stay with Sophie.

A hamburger changed Kostas’ life!

Kostas became a wreck and started having visions of meeting Death.

Suicide was imminent.

And then things took a totally unexpected turn.

Kostas was spending a lot of time with his parents trying to clear his mind.

One evening, after dinner, he found a book in his father’s library, opened it and started reading it.

It was a book by Saint Basil on the Human condition.

Saint Basil writes,
“Examine what sort of being you are. Know your own nature, that your body is mortal but your soul is immortal, and that our life is twofold in kind. One kind is proper to the flesh, quickly passing by, while the other is akin to the soul, not admitting of circumscription. Therefore be attentive to yourself, neither remaining in mortal things as if they were eternal, nor despising eternal things as if they were passing. Look down on the flesh, for it is passing away; take care of the soul, for it is something immortal…

For when the body enjoys well-being and becomes heavy through much fleshiness, the mind is necessarily inactive and slack in its proper activity; but when the soul is in good condition and through care of its own goods is raised up toward its proper greatness, following this the state of the body withers.”

Kostas was struck by thunder.

He kissed his parents good bye and started the long journey to Cappadoccia.

His life was never going to be the same.

Once he arrived there, he enlisted in the Christian Orthodox legion of monks and started praying.

He never lifted his eyes above to see the sky.

He never breathed freely the fresh air.

His eyes were almost shut, open only enough for him to read and cry.

One day he lifted his face and looked up.

What he saw in front of him was like a vision.

A beautiful woman on a bicycle.

The woman on the bicycle was a psychoanalyst, who was visiting Cappadoccia for a few days.

She needed this break.

Her job was full of the joys and sorrows of the human affairs, and she needed to get away from all that.

Her name was Elektra, and was French from the region of Alsace. She lived and worked in the city of Colmar.

The woman noticed him. and responded enthusiastically.

to be continued….

Flying Words – Επεα Πτεροεντα

1. I emerge from the depths

From the cool of the ocean beds, back to the warm and painful sun.

I have to re-open my eyes and see  around me.

I have to face reality again, as painful as it is.

2. I am sad

Three people died for nothing.

and it is not enough anymore to accuse the hooligans.

I am sad

The country is in the middle of a huge crisis and most of the politicians are playing games.

I am sad.

The problems we are facing are enormous but it seems that no one in Greece is responsible for them.

And no one is going to be punished.

3. I am confused

“How can a hand made Molotov, or two, or three, burn a three story building to the extent that three employees suffocate and  die?

What about fire protection systems?

Why isn’t there any public statement about them? “

I cannot comprehend the facts

A proper fire protection system in the building would have been activated automatically seconds after the Molotovs were thrown in the building and the fire would have been extinguished almost immediately.

Why didn’t this happen?

It is easy to talk about the unknown hooligans who threw the Molotovs. but how is Justice served when the Management of the Bank has not answered some simple questions?

For example, were there or not sprinklers installed in the building?

4. I am angry

“The fire brigade had never issued an operating license to the building in question.

The agreement for it to operate was under the table, as it practically happens with all businesses and companies in Greece.”

Source: Void Network

Where is the Public Prosecutor?

When a strong Earthquake hit Athens in 1999 and buildings collapsed, there were inquiries about the extent to which the Civil Enginners and Constructors had followed the relevant regulations.

What is going to happen now?

5. I want to cry

For the three dead.

For the cover up that I foresee.

For the continuing decline of our society not only in financial but also in moral and cultural terms.

6. Best wishes to the mothers of the world

Happy Mother’s Day!

Painter Valias Semertzides – Ο ζωγραφος Βαλιας Σεμερτζιδης

Σημερα τιμω τον οικογενειακο φιλο και μεγαλο ζωγραφο Βαλια Σεμερτζιδη. Σε μερες δυσκολες που παραδερνουμε και βολοδερνουμε, χωρις οραματα, χωρις αξιες,  η δουλεια και η κληρονομια του Σεμερτζιδη αποτελουν σημειο αναφορας για εναν Ελληνισμο που μπορει να παει μπροστα.

Γεννημενος στον Καυκασο το 1911 απο Ελληνοποντιο πατερα και Καυκασια μητερα, ερχεται στην Ελλαδα το 1923.  Η οικογενεια της μητερας του ειχε τεραστια κτηματικη περιουσια, την οποια και εχασε μετα την Οκτωβριανη Επανασταση.

Στη δεκαετια του 1930 ο Σεμερτζιδης ειναι στη Σχολη Καλων Τεχνων του ΕΜΠ και γινεται μαθητης του Αλεξανδρινου Κωνσταντινου Παρθενη, που τον επηρεασε βαθυτατα.

Η ζωγραφικη του καρριερα στο ξεκινημα της σημαδευεται απο την συμμετοχη του σε μια μεγαλη εκθεση στο Παρισι το 1937, με το εργο “Βραχος στο Αιγαλεω”.

Πριν ξεσπασει ο Δευτερος ΠΑγκοσμιος Πολεμος και στην Ελλαδα, βρισκει την ευκαιρια να ζωγραφισει τον φιλο του Νικο Καββαδια.

Μετα την εναρξη του Πολεμου, ο Σεμερτζιδης εντασσεται στον ΕΛΑΣ και πηγαινει στη Βινιανη, στην Ευρυτανια, κι αργοτερα στα Αγραφα.

Εκει αποθανατιζει τους αγωνιστες και τη ζωη τους. Στην φωτογραφια του Σπυρου Μελετζη, ο Σεμερτζιδης ζωγραφιζει τον Λεοντα, ενω ο Αρης Βελουχιωτης παρακολουθει.

Ο Σεμερτζιδης απεικονιζει  την ανθρωπινη φιγουρα και το προσωπο με αδρες λιτες γραμμες και συνθεσεις.

Η πολυπλοκοτητα παραφυλαει, αλλα δεν παρεισφρυει.

Οι ανθρωπινες φιγουρες του Σεμερτζιδη ειναι σαν αγαλματα. Ακομη κι οταν κινουνται ειναι καπου αλλου, σε ενα αλλο κοσμο. Η δωρικη λιτοτητα και ισως και μια αυστηροτητα αγκαλιαζουν τις ανθρωπινες φιγουρες του Σεμερτζιδη.

Απο την αλλη μερια, στα τοπια του Σεμερτζιδη κυριαρχει το χρωμα και το συναισθημα.

Ο Σεμερτζιδης απο το 1963 εγκαθισταται στη Ροδο οπου και παραμενει μεχρι τις αρχες της δεκαετιας του 1980.

Ερωτευεται τα τοπια, με κορυφαιο ισως τον ορεινο ογκο του Ατταβυρου, του ψηλοτερου και μεγαλυτερου ορους της Ροδου, τον οποιο και απεικονισε πλειστακις.

Ο Σεμερτζιδης εκτος απο ζωγραφος ηταν και χαρακτης. Η ικανοτητα του να μεταβαινει απο τα πλουσια χρωματικα τοπια στα συγκρατημενα χαρακτικα τοπια ηταν μοναδικος.

Γνωρισα τον Σεμερτζιδη στη Ροδο, καθως ηταν φιλος των γονεων μου. Θυμαμαι εναν ιδιαιτερα ευγενικο σεμνο ανθρωπο, παντα με το χαμογελο, και μια ζεστη φωνη. Ειχε ενα σπιτι κοντα στο χωριο της Κρεμαστης, γεματο φως. Ακομη και τα χειμωνιατικα απογευματα που τον επισκεπτομαστε το σπιτι ειχε φως.

Ο Σεμερτζιδης ταξιδεψε το 1983. Το 1985 εγινε στην γκαλερι Νεες Μορφες μια πολυ ομορφη εκθεση εργων του, απο την οποια και αναρτω την συνοπτικη παρουσιαση με κειμενο της Τζουλιας Δημακοπουλου.

Greece will never die – Η Ελλαδα ποτε δεν πεθαινει

Η σημερινη αναρτηση ειναι εορταστικη.

Χαιρετιζει το ΔΝΤ, αναπολει και αναμενει με ανυπομονησια την Δραχμουλα, και ριχνει μια ματια γυρω στον κοινωνικο περιγυρο, για να μην ξεχνιομαστε κιολα!

Εξαιρετικες θερμες ευχαριστιες στον ανυπερβλητο Κωστα Μητροπουλο, που δεν χρειαζεται τα δικα μου λογια για να χαρακτηρισθει ως ο μεγαλυτερος σκιτσογραφος ολων των εποχων στην Ελλαδα.

Καλως ηλθε το ΔΝΤ!

Απο την εφημεριδα ΤΑ ΝΕΑ, 16 Απριλιου 2010

Επιτελους!

Μια αποφαση, εστω και στα μουλωχτα, μια πορεια, μια κατευθυνση!

Κουραστηκα να ειμαστε ακυβερνητο καραβι με διχως πανια.

Δεν υπαρχει χειροτερο πραγμα απο την αναποφασιστικοτητα και την θολουρα.

Και μην ξεχναμε:

“No pain, no gain!”

Ελλας – Γερμανια Συμμαχια – ή ο Δρομος προς τη Δραχμουλα

Απο την εφημεριδα ΤΑ ΝΕΑ, 16 Απριλιου 2010

Η μονη ρεαλιστικη διεξοδος ειναι η εξοδος απο την Νομισματικη Ενωση και η επιστροφη στην Δραχμουλα. Προβλεπω το 1 ΕΥΡΩ περιπου 700 δραχμες.

Να σταματησει ο ακρατος καταναλωτισμος!

Ας φορεσουμε κι ενα τζην που δεν κανει 300 ΕΥΡΩ!

Ας κρατησουμε και μια τσαντα που δεν κανει χιλιαρικο!

Ας φορεσουμε κι ενα ζευγαρι παπoυτσια που δεν κανει 500 Ευρω!

Κι ομως, δεν ειμαστε ολοι ιδιοι…

Και ας μην ξεχναμε τα λαμογια, τους διεφθαρμενους δημοσιους υπαλληλους, τους φοροφυγαδες ζαπλουτους, γιατι αυτοι ειναι οι πραγματικοι εχθροι του λαου, δεν ειναι η κυβερνηση. Που σε τελικη αναλυση κανει τωρα τη λαντζα.

Η Κυβερνηση ομως ελεγχεται γιατι δεν χωνει τους κλεφτες στην φυλακα!

Γιατι τους αφηνει να τριγυρνανε και να προκαλουν!

Τα καλα κοποις κτωνται

Εχουμε και καποιο λογο να ειμαστε αισιοδοξοι

Ερχεται καλοκαιρι!


θα παμε σε ωραια μερη

θα παμε και σε ενα νησακι

(“ο ιστορικος Μιαουλης”)

θα καπνισουμε ενα τσιγαρακι


(ο παμμεγιστος Μαρκος)

θα πιουμε ενα ουζακι

Απο το φωτογραφικο αρχειο Βαρβαγιαννη

και θα φαμε κι ενα χταποδακι

ε θα φαμε και λιγο παστουρμαδακι

ευτυχειτε

(μαλλον θα συνεχιστει)

The Greek Problem: aphorisms – Αφορισμοι για το Ελληνικο Προβλημα

   

αυτο το αρθρο αφορα την παρουσα κριση που ταλανιζει την Ελλαδα  

προεκυψε οταν εγραψα ενα σχολιο σε ενα αλλο αρθρο, και συνειδητοποιησα οταν εχω καποια πραγματα να πω εστω και ατακτως εριμμενα  

  

η κριση εχει κυριως οικονομικο και πολιτικο χαρακτηρα και διασταση  

δεν θα συμφωνησω με την “εθνικη” διασταση (βλεπε σημειωση 1) που επιχειρειται να αποδοθει στο θεμα  

το “εθνος” δεν εμπλεκεται ως πρωταγωνιστης, αλλα ως απροσωπος παραληπτης σε μια γενικευση που βολευει τους υπαιτιους   

  

τα “εθνικα” τα λογια τα μεγαλα λεγονται στους πολιτες απο “επιτηδειους”, για να ζαχαρωσουνε το χαπι που θα καταπιουν  

οι επιτηδειοι αυτοι εχουν διαφορες γεωγραφικες θεσεις, εντος και εκτος ελλαδος (βλεπε σχετικα το αρθρο του δημητρη δανικα, για ενα τυπο επιτηδειων)  

  

 η χρηση και επικληση της Ελλαδος ως κοιτιδας πολιτισμου ειναι εξ ισου αστοχη και απρεπης, 

 

οσο και εκεινη που αφορα το “εθνος”  

τα γαργαλιστικα η προκλητικα δημοσιευματα διαφορων φυλλαδων της ευρωπης βεβαιως και χρησιμοποιουν οτιδηποτε θα κανει το θεμα πιο “καυτο” για τον αναγνωστη που θελει να βλεπει και δυο ολοστρογγυλα στηθια στην τριτη σελιδα  

  

η οικονομικη κριση της ελλαδος εξισωνεται ετσι με τα ημισφαιρια της ηδονης των κιτρινων φυλλων 

και μεσα στην παραζαλη της ηδονης των ημισφαιριων, ολοι οι ελληνες γινονται συλληβδην κλεφτες, ολοι οι γερμανοι ναζι, και δεν εχει τελος αυτο το κουβαρι

 

ανακεφαλαιωνω: το θεμα ειναι οικονομικο και πολιτικο, αλλα κατα βαση οικονομικο  

(καρλ μαρξ 1 – λοιποι 0)  

  

τα χρεη προεκυψαν απο την ιδιοτυπη χρηση οικονομικων πορων και για αυτο δεν φταινε ουτε οι γερμανοι ουτε οι ξενοι, ουτε οι ελληνες, φταινε συγκεκριμενοι οικονομικοι και πολιτικοι παραγοντες που δεν προσδιοριζονται ουτε εθνικα ουτε πολιτιστικα,  

αλλα εχουν σχεση με το ελληνικο Κρατος  

 τα τεραστια ελλειματα δημιουργηθηκαν απο την ασυστολη κατασπαταληση οικονομικων πορων απο οικονομικο-πολιτικες δυναμεις που ειχαν και εχουν τον ελεγχο του κρατικου μηχανισμου 

στο ΕΠΙΚΕΝΤΡΟ του φαινομενου βρισκεται το φαυλωτατο και σεσηπον ελληνικον ΚΡΑΤΟΣ και οι ηγεμονες του

 

 το ποιος θα πληρωσει την ζημια (που ειναι ταυτοχρονα τεραστιο κερδος για καποιους) πολυ λιγο ενδιαφερει σημερα τις δυναμεις που κινουν την αγορα το μονο που τις ενδιαφερει ειναι πως θα βγαλουν – αν μπορουν – ενα ζουμερο κερδος και απο αυτην την φαση του φαινομενου 

 σημειωνω οτι ουτε εκεινοι που δημιουργησαν το προβλημα ενδιαφερονται για την επιλυση του, παρα μονο για την επιπροσθετη αξιοποιηση των περιστασεων για επιπροσθετα κερδη και αποδοσεις   

  

  

 

 το επικαιρο κοινωνικο θεμα ειναι οτι στη διαδικασια της κατασπαταλισης των οικονομικων πορων του ελληνικου κρατους, οι ηγεμονες συσπειρωσαν και ολοκληρες στρατιες απο μικρομεσαια στρωματα στα οποια εριχναν ψιχουλα απο τα λαφυρα 

 

και αυτοι οι ενθουσιωδεις και θορυβωδεις μικρομεσαιοι ακολουθουσαν, φτιαχνοντας πισινες, αγοραζοντας το καγιεν και τη μερσεντε, πνιγοντας τους καημους τους μεσα στα μπουζουκολουλουδα και την σκυλοκαψουρα  

ειναι καθαρη ειρωνεια οτι οι περισσοτεροι απο αυτους τους ευκαιριακους οπαδους της καθε ατασθαλιας και λεηλασιας πλουτου βρισκονται στον πρωτη γραμμη των “κοινωνικων” αγωνων εναντια στα “μετρα”  

ελεος, ακομη και οι πετρες εχουν κοκκινησει απο ντροπη!

 

Σημειωση 1. Περι του εθνους, αξιζει κανεις να διαβασει το αρθρο του Αγγελου Ελεφαντη που ηξερε να γραφει καθαρα και καταληπτα.

The "Real" Greece – Part II: Philosophy and Poetry in Hoelderlin's Hyperion

“But then she [Gaia] did couple with Ouranos
to bear deep-eddying Okeanos,
Koios and Kreios, Hyperion and Iapetos,
Theia and Rheia, Themis and Mnemosyne,
as well as gold-wreathed Phoebe and lovely Tethys.”
(Hesiod, Theogony, 132-136)

“Hölderlin is one of our greatest, that is, most impending thinkers,” wrote Heidegger, “because he is our greatest poet. The poetic understanding of his poetry is possible only as a philosophical confrontation with the manifestation of being in his work.”

Today I continue with my quest to discover and present the “real” Greece. I strive to unearth the riches of Greece and Hellenism and based on this to determine what constitutes Greece and the Hellenism! It is a circle pointing to itself, and in order for it not to become a vicious circle, I have to break into it!

(η αποπειρα μου ειναι περισσοτερο να αναδειξω τον πλουτο που ενυπαρχει στην ελλαδα, στον ελληνισμο, και με βαση αυτην την αποπειρα να προσδιορισω και το τι ειναι η ελλαδα και ο ελληνισμος! ειναι μια κυκλοειδης διαδικασια, ειναι μια διαδικασια που για να μη γινει “φαυλος κυκλος” θα πρεπει να εισχωρησουμε στον κυκλο!)

I have chosen Hoelderlin’s Hyperion, as it is the perfect ground where poetry and philosophy cross each other, and because it opens the door to some very interesting considerations regarding the path of life. This topic in my view exemplifies what are some of the elements that constitute the “real” Greece. By necessity, I have used long quotes to get the basics of the story across, and then to convey some thinkers’ views and interpretations.  The reader who endures the difficult read will be rewarded.

“The novel Hyperion presents different practical approaches to dealing with the bi-polarity of the “eccentric path.” This novel is a collection of letters, mostly written by the novel’s modern Greek hero, Hyperion, to his German friend, Bellarmin, in which he recounts his adventures, states of mind, and longings. The original unity which Hyperion was, from the outset, keen to recapture, is understood in different ways by Hyperion at different stages of his life. Ultimately, he will realize that none of these is satisfactory, but that they represented ways of approaching that which is the underlying unity, i.e. Being, throughout the course of his life.

These different representations of unity are of ancient Greece (also reflected in childhood), of modern Greece liberated from Turkish rule, and of aesthetic beauty. This trilogy is not random but corresponds to different temporal understandings of the idea of the fundamental unity of Being. It is first grasped as belonging to the past (Childhood/Ancient Greece), then the future (liberated Greece), and finally the present (immediacy of aesthetic beauty). Each way of life is exemplified by a character with whom Hyperion is connected, respectively through a master-pupil relationship (Adamas), friendship (Alabanda) and love (Diotima).

Symposium, Tomb of the Diver, Paestum

In each case, Hyperion attempts to fully adopt the corresponding way of being only to find its limitations and be confronted with the need to move on. Thus, with Adamas, Hyperion feels compelled to leave his master and seek another way of life because of man’s lack of contentment and constant desire to go beyond his current condition: “We delight in flinging ourselves into the night of the unknown, into the cold strangeness of any other world, and, if we could, we would leave the realm of the sun and rush headlong beyond the comet’s track” (Hölderlin, 1990, p. 10) [“Wir haben unsre Lust daran, uns in die Nacht des Unbekannten, in die kalte Fremde irgend einer andern Welt zu stürzen, und wär’ es möglich, wir verlieβen der Sonne Gebiet und stürmten über des Irrsterns Grenzen hinaus” (Hölderlin, 1999, p.492)]. After leaving home and learning about the world, his encounter with Alabanda is that of a soul-mate who has fought his way to freedom. Together, they plan noble and heroic deeds, but Hyperion’s world crumbles when he realizes the dark side of such purported moral ambition. Alabanda’s friends are ruthless revolutionaries who seek to overthrow the present powers by violent means: “The cold sword is forged from hot metal” (ibid., p.26) [“Aus heiβem Metalle wird das kalte Schwert geschmieden” (ibid., p. 510)]. Through this experience, Hyperion grasps something of the conflictual nature of human life: “If the life of the world consists in an alteration between opening and closing, between going forth and returning, why is it not even so with the heart of man” (ibid., p.29) [“Bestehet ja das Leben der Welt im Wechsel des Entfaltens und Vershlieβens, in Ausflug und in Rückkehr zu sich selbst, warum nicht auch das Herz des Menschen” (ibid., p.514)]? However, it is by encountering beauty in the person and life of Diotima (Book II of Volume I) that Hyperion believes he has found what he is looking for, i.e. the Unity he is after: “I have seen it once, the one thing that my soul sought, and the perfection that we put somewhere far away above the stars, that we put off until the end of time – I have felt it in its living presence” (ibid., p.41) [“Ich habe es Einmal gesehen, das Einzige, das meine Seele suchte, und die Vollendung die wir über die Sterne hinauf entfernen, die wir hinausscheben bis ans Ende der Zeit, die hab’ ich gegenwärtig gefühlt” (ibid., p.529)]. A period of bliss ensues, but Diotima understands that Hyperion is “born for higher things” (ibid., p.72) [“zu höhern Dingen geboren” (ibid., p.566)], that the simple harmony of her life is not for him. He must go out and bring beauty to those places where it is lacking. Having grasped this (Book I of Volume II), Hyperion answers Alabanda’s call to join him in battle to free Greece.

Hyperion’s departure for battle is followed by several letters addressed to Diotima and a couple of her replies. After initial success in the fight against the Turks, Hyperion’s men are delayed by the long siege of Mistra. Nonetheless, as they finally enter the town, they go on a]rampage, pillaging and killing indiscriminately. Rather than face the enemy, Hyperion’s army disperses once its lust for plunder is satisfied. This leads to the death of forty Russian soldiers who stood alone fighting the common foe. Hyperion takes his army’s dishonour to make him unworthy, in his eyes, for Diotima’s love: “I must advise you to give me up, my Diotima” (ibid., p.98) [“ich muβ dir raten, daβ du mich verlässest, meine Diotima” (ibid., p.597)]. In letters to Bellarmin, we discover more details of the battles fought by Hyperion and Alabanda. Their friendship flourished again, but Alabanda’s lust for battle eventually came to an end, thus pointing once more to the limits of his way of life.

In a letter from Diotima that arrives later, it emerges that she lost her will to live as her lover did not return, and she finally let herself die. In a development which reflects Hölderlin’s understanding of human life, the effortless harmony of Diotima’s world of beauty, once disturbed by the fire of Hyperion’s free aspiration to noble deeds, could not simply return to its original form. Rather, it became something to aim for, something Diotima thought Hyperion could achieve for her: “You drew my life away from the Earth, but you would also have had power to bind me to the Earth” (ibid., p.122) [“Du entzogst main Leben der Erde, du hättest auch Macht gehabt, mich an die Erde zu fesseln” (ibid., p.626)]. It is, thus, through its very destruction, that Diotima’s way of life ceases to represent that which Hyperion could have sought to take refuge in. Diotima’s words illustrate the whole problem of life as an “eccentric path,” but her death, apparently, only leaves Hyperion confused: “as I am now, I have no names for things and all before me is uncertainty” (ibid., p.126) [“wie ich jetzt bin, hab ich keinen Namen für die Dinge, und es ist mir alles ungewiβ” (ibid., p.632)]. At the end of the novel, however, the beauty of Nature once again fills Hyperion with joy, and this poetic sense of oneness reaches beyond separation and death to Alabanda and Diotima. Somehow, he has made some sense of his experiences. Thus, after all these tragedies, an overall feeling of unity prevails: “You springs of earth! you flowers! and you woods and you eagles and you brotherly light! how old and new is our love!- We are free, we are not narrowly alike in outward semblance; how should the Mode of life not vary? yet we love the ether, all of us, and in the inmost of our inmost selves we are alike” (ibid., p.133) [“Ihr Quellen der Erd! Ihr Blumen! Und ihr Wälder und ihr Adler und du brüderliches Licht! Wie alt und neu ist unsere Liebe! – Frei sind wir, gleichen uns nicht ängstig von auβen; wie sollte nicht wechseln die Weise des Lebens? Wir lieben den Äther doch all und innigst im Innersten gleichen wir uns” (ibid., p.639-640)]. However, the last words of the novel suggest an open ending: “So I thought. More soon” (ibid., p.133) [“So dacht’ ich. Nächstens mehr” (ibid., p.640)]. Thus, after all the ordeals that he has worked through in these letters, Hyperion’s life goes on. This seems to point to new experiences and the possibility of revisiting his interpretation of his life thus far.”

(Source: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

“…..The main work of this period is the novel
Hyperion oder Der Eremit in Griechenland (2
volumes, 1797-1799; translated as Hyperion; or, The
Hermit in Greece, 1965). Hölderlin had begun the
novel during his student days in Tübingen and
had revised it continually during his stays in
Waltershausen and Jena. In 1794 a preliminary
version was published under the title “Fragment
von Hyperion” (Fragment of Hyperion) in Friedrich
Schiller’s literary journal Neue Thalia. This version
of the novel is cast in the form of letters from
Hyperion, a young late-eighteenth-century Greek,
to his German friend Bellarmin. The letters depict
his constant struggle to attain the moment of
transcendent experience in which all conflict is
resolved and temporality is suspended: “Was mir
nicht Alles, und ewig Alles ist, ist mir Nichts”
(What for me is not All, and eternally All, is
nothing). In nature, in love, in a visit to Homeric
sites, Hyperion experiences momentary
intimations of his ideal, which constantly eludes
him, so that his aspirations remain unfulfilled.
The image of the “exzentrische Bahn” (eccentric
path), which constantly diverges from the center
of Being that it always seeks but can never
permanently attain, becomes a symbol of the
course of human existence.

Fichte

In Jena Hölderlin had revised this version, partly
in order to take account of his attempt to come to
terms with the philosophy of Fichte. In a metrical
version and a fragment entitled “Hyperions
Jugend” (Hyperion’s Youth), he abandoned the
epistolary format in favor of a retrospective
technique in which the older Hyperion looks back
on his youth. The narrator, relating his story to a
young visitor, acknowledges that the process of
reflection has made him “tyrannisch gegen die
Natur” (tyrannical toward nature), in that he has
reduced nature to the material of selfconsciousness.
This theme echoes Hölderlin’s
criticism of Fichte’s philosophy and its
preoccupation with the autonomy of the “absolute
ego.” Hölderlin’s new orientation finds expression
in the Platonic view of love as the longing of the
imperfect for the ideal, and in a new conception of
beauty, which emerges as the only form in which
the unity of Being, unattainable precisely because
it is the object of striving, is incarnated: “jenes
Sein, im einzigen Sinne des Worts … ist
vorhanden–als Schönheit” (Being, in the unique
sense of the word … is present-as Beauty). With
this subordination of self-consciousness to the
realization of beauty, Hölderlin establishes the
conceptual framework that he follows in
completing the novel.
The final version of the novel, the greater part of
which was completed during the period he was in
Frankfurt am Main, shows Hölderlin’s increasing
stylistic and formal mastery. He returns to the
epistolary form of the first version, but now
endows it with a particularly sophisticated
structure. Hyperion presents a retrospective view
of his life, beginning at the stage at which, after
having lost his beloved and his friends, he returns
bitterly disappointed to his native land, intending
to take up the life of a hermit. The main focus is
not the sequence of events but the act of narration
itself. The seemingly disconnected fragments of
his experience are integrated through the process
of reflective recapitulation and gradually assume
a dialectical structure in which union and
separation, joy and suffering come to be seen as
inseparable parts of a complex unity.

Heraclitus

….

The principle of “das Eine in sich
unterschiedne” (the one that is differentiated
within itself), which Hölderlin adapted from a
formulation of Heraclitus, defines at once the
essence of the Athenian and the nature of beauty–as opposed to the one-sidedness and
fragmentation characteristic of the Egyptians and
the Spartans, and, in Hölderlin’s view, also of
modern times.”

Source: Hoelderlin, Duke University

Gothe

“Like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Schiller, his older contemporaries, Hölderlin was a fervent admirer of ancient Greek culture, but had a very personal understanding of it. Much later, Friedrich Nietzsche and his followers would recognize in him the poet who first acknowledged the orphic and dionysiac Greece of the mysteries, which he would fuse with the Pietism of his native Swabia in a highly original religious experience. For Hölderlin, the Greek gods were not the plaster figures of conventional classicism, but living, actual presences, wonderfully life-giving and, at the same time, terrifying. He understood and sympathized with the Greek idea of the tragic fall, which he expressed movingly in the last stanza of his Hyperions Schicksalslied “Hyperion’s Song of Destiny”. (Source:  icompositions).

Hyperion’s Song of Destiny
by Fr. Hölderlin

Holy spirits, you walk up there
in the light, on soft earth.
Shining god-like breezes
touch upon you gently,
as a woman’s fingers
play music on holy strings.

Like sleeping infants the gods
breathe without any plan;
the spirit flourishes continually
in them, chastely kept,
as in a small bud,
and their holy eyes
look out in still
eternal clearness.

A place to rest
isn’t given to us.
Suffering humans
decline and blindly fall
from one hour to the next,
like water thrown
from cliff to cliff,
year after year,
down into the Unknown

We have no footing anywhere,
No rest, we topple,
Fall and suffer
Blindly from hour
To hour

like water
Pitched from fall
To fall, year in,
Year out, headlong,
Downward for years to the vague abyss

“Philosophy then, is not born out of the nostalgia for an absent unity, nor out of the exile from the All, but out of an accord with that which is in the difference of its multiplicity. For what is thus achieved is a concept of beauty different from that of Platonism and from that of the classicism of Goethe and Winckelmann: no longer the becoming-visible of the idea, but the harmony of opposites, no longer the static concept of an atemporal beauty, but the dynamic one of a living beauty that Plato himself, citing Heraclitus, has not perhaps ignored, as Hoelderlin implies in the preface to Hyperion, when he exclaims, after having alluded to the already realised presence of being as beauty:

Plato

I think that in the end we will all cry out: saint Plato, forgive us! We have gravely sinned against you!
For it is on the basis of such a sensible presence of beauty and of the effective presence of the union of the infinite with the finite that Greece is defined in Hyperion as the homeland of philosophy, in opposition to Egypt and the North:
Do you see now why the Athenians in particular could not but be a philosophical people too? Not so the Egyptian. He who does not live loving Heaven and earth and loved by them in equal measure, he who does not live at one in this sense with the element in which he has his being, is by his very nature not so as one with himself as a Greek, at least he does not expewrience eternal Beauty as easily as a Greek does.
It is, in fact, only Greece that is capable of this harmony with the sensible and with exteriority which procures it the harmony with the intelligible and interiority: neither the Oriental (the Egyptian), subject to an exteriority which appears like a “terrible enigma”, nor the Nordic (the German), enclosed in an interiority without an outside, are capable of such a harmony and can be open to a beauty at the same time “human and divine”. Must Greece, then, be resurrected?” (Source: Francoise Dastur: Hoelderlin and the Orientalisation of Greece)

“Oh! were there a banner … a Thermopylae upon which I could spill my blood with honour, all that solitary love for which I can have no use.”

“Hölderlin’s glory is that he is the poet of Hellenism. Everyone who reads his work senses that his Hellenism is different, more sombre, more tortured by suffering than the radiant Utopia of antiquity envisaged during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. But his vision of Hellas has nothing in common either with the tedious, trivial, academic classicism of the nineteenth century or with the hysterical bestiality with which Nietzsche and the imperialist period envisaged Greece. The key to Hölderlin’s view lies then in the understanding of the specifics of this conception of Hellenism.”

Georg Lukacs, Goethe and His Age, 1934

Real Greece – Part 1: Thermopylae by Cy Twombly and Konstantinos Kavafis

This is the first post in a series of posts on Real Greece,. The events of the last few months have shed a very negative light on Greece, and I feel the need to  share with you the “real” Greece, which is the Greece I know.

Today I present sculptures made by Cy Twombly, an American artist who I like very much. The sculptures are named “Thermopylae”, after the narrow passage where the Greeks fought the Persions back in 480 BC, and are paired with the poem of Constantinos Kavafis.

The bronze sculpture is on display at the Brandhorst museum in Munich, Germany.

There is also a sibling plaster sculpture, on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

I quote from Jessica Stewart’s text:

The work is inscribed with lines from modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, who was similarly inspired by the illustrious battle. Twombly often makes bronzes of his “white originals,” and particularly in its cast rendition Thermopylae relates closely to a fifth-century BC battle helmet. The mounded dome from which four tulips rise calls to mind another ancient association, an Etruscan tomb with burgeoning vegetation.

spacer As poet and critic Frank O’Hara suggested in 1955, Twombly’s sculptures are both “witty and funereal”; they are also elegant and coarse, fragile and monumental, visual and literary, and above all, ancient and contemporary. Metamorphosis is an essential aspect of Twombly’s works, and these dualities highlight the depths of meaning contained in their often quotidian forms. Twombly’s spare wooden constructions–or their bronze surrogates–distill archaic sources and present them in a uniquely modern language of form.”

Thermopylae

Translated by Edmund Keeley & Philip Sherrard

Honor to those who in the life they lead
define and guard a Thermopylae,
Never betraying what is right,
consistent and just in all they do
but showing pity also, and compassion;
generous when they’re rich, an when they’re
poor,
still generous is small ways,
still helping as much as they can;
always speaking the truth,
yet without hating those who lie.
And even more honor is due to them
when they foresee (as many do foresee )
that Ephialtis wil turn up in the end,
that the Medes will break through after all.

Costantinos Kavafis

1000 reasons for PAOK to win the football league – 1000 λογοι για να κερδισει το πρωταθλημα ο ΠΑΟΚ


Ειμαι Βαζελος και το ξερετε οσοι με διαβαζετε και με πειραζετε γι αυτο.
Ομως φετος το πρωταθλημα θελω να το παρει ο ΠΑΟΚ!
Γιατι; Να μερικοι λογοι, και γραψτε κι εσεις κι αλλους.
1. Γιατι ειναι ωραιο να κερδιζει το πρωταθλημα μια ομαδα που πρακτικα ειχε χρεωκοπησει στην αρχη του πρωταθληματος.
2. Γιατι ο ΠΑΟΚ δεν σταματησε με τιποτα να κυνηγα μια διακριση.


3. Γιατι η Θεσσαλονικη ειναι μεγαλη Πολη και το αξιζει να εχει Πρωταθλητες!


4. Γιατι ο Ζαγορακης ειναι ωραιος, ενω ο Πατερας ειναι μοιραιος! (οπως λεει η Ρουλα, μεχρις οτιυ παρουμε οι βαζελοι την κουπα ο Πατερας μας θα εχει γινει Παππους)


5. Γιατι μωρο μου σου πανε πολυ τα μαυρα: “φορα τα μαυρα φορα τα γιατι σου πανε τρελλα, και με τα μαυρα κουκλα μου στην αγκαλια μου ελα”.


6. Γιατι ο Γκαρσια ειναι κλαδευτηρι μεγαλο και μαγκας και καραμπουζουκλης


7. Γιατι ο Σαντος ειναι προπονητης με αρχιδια και καπνιζει και πεντε πακετα στη διαρκεια του αγωνα


8. Γιατι η τουμπα ειναι σκετος οργασμος στη διαρκεια του αγωνα.

Η κερκίδα της Τούμπας χωρίζεται σε δυο ημιχόρια:

Α’ημιχόριο:Δικέφαλε αρρώστησα θέλω γιατρό
Δικέφαλε για πάρτι σου θα τρελαθώ

Β’ημιχόριο:Για σένα έχω κάνει κρατητήριο
Και σκότωσα για ένα εισιτήριο

Α’ημιχόριο:Ποτέ σου δεν θα παίζεις μόνος να το ξες
Στα αρ…α μου οι μπάτσοι και οι κάμερες

A και Β εν χορώ:Θα αφήσω την ζωή μου σ΄ ένα πέταλο
Που θα φωνάζει ΠΑΟΚΑΡΑ Σ’ΑΓΑΠΩ

(ευχαριστω τη Ρουλα για το παραπανω τραγουδακι)

9. Γιατι ο λαος του ΠΑΟΚ ειναι και γαμω τα παιδια
10. Γιατι τα πρωταθληματα θελουν ψυχη, και η μονη ομαδα που εχει φετος ψυχη ειναι ο ΠΑΟΚ
Σταματω εδω και σας καλησπεριζω.
ΥΓ. Η αρνηση της τεχνητης πραγματικοτητας ως πραγματικης πραγματικοτητας ειναι προυποθεση για να δουμε οι βαζελοι μιαν ασπρη μερα. Στο μεταξυ ας απολαυσουμε την ΠΑΟΚαρα!

ΥΓ2. Αφιερωμενο εξαιρετικα στη Μεγαλη Ρουλα, τη Βορεια, που εμπνεει και παρασυρει και οδηγει προς νεους δρομους και λεωφορους.

Ode to Olympiacos – Ωδη στον Θρυλο

Δεν ζωντανευουν οι νεκροι

Δεν ζωντανέυουν οι νεκροί
όσο κι αν κλαίς δεν ωφελεί
την τόση αγάπη που είχα για σένα
εσύ την έθαψες μην το ξεχνάς

εσύ την πρόδοσες εσύ την σκότωσες
εσύ είσαι ο δράστης κι ο φονιάς

Δεν ζωντανέυουν οι νεκροί
όσο κι αν κλαίς δεν ωφελεί

Δεν σε λυπάμαι κι αν πονάς
φύγε λοιπόν τι με κοιτάς

είσαι για μένα τώρα μια ξένη
κι αν ξαναγύρισες είναι αργά

εσύ πληγώθηκες εσύ ζημιώθηκες
και σενα δέρνει η συμφορά

Δεν ζωντανέυουν οι νεκροί
όσο κι αν κλαίς δεν ωφελεί

Και ο υπερμεγιστος Στελλαρας τραγουδα αυτη τη μνημειωδη συνθεση του Μπαμπη Μπακαλη σε στιχους του Γκουτη σε ζωντανη ηχογραφηση του 1958.

Ωδη στο Θρυλο

(στιχοι Παναθηναιος, ψαχνω ακομη για μουσικοσυνθετη – ατιμη κενωνια!)

Σημειωση του στιχουργου: Προκειται περι ασματος ηρωικου και πενθιμου, σε μορφη διαλογου,

αναμεσα στους διασημους πλεον περαστικους και τον αιμοτοβαμενο και καταξεσκισμενο Θρυλο.

Η δραματουργικη ελευθερια και εκφραση επιβαλει την χρηση γλωσσας αμεσης, και για το λογο αυτο το ασμα ειναι ακαταλληλο για τα γαυρακια, και τα μικρα παιδακια.

ΠΕΡΑΣΤΙΚΟΣ 1: Γεια σου Θρυλε αλανιαρη

γιατι εισαι λυπημενος;

ΘΡΥΛΟΣ: Εχασα τα σωβρακα μου

κι ειμαι ταλαιπωρημενος

ΠΕΡΑΣΤΙΚΟΣ 2:Που τα’ χασες βρε Θρυλε φοβερε

τα εσωρουχα και κλαις ωρε;

ΘΡΥΛΟΣ:Στο Φαληρο στο Φαληρο

χωρις να χασω ταληρο!

Εβρεθηκε ο αητος

και με ραμφησε ορθος!

Εκει μπροστα μου σταθηκε

με θωρησε, με γ..μησε

Το ραμφος του μπηκε βαθεια

μεσ’ του Φαληρου τη γωνια

ΠΕΡΑΣΤΙΚΟΣ 1: Κλαψε κλαψε Θρυλε,

εγω μαντηλια θα σου φερω,

τα κοκκινα επηγαν στη Σεληνη,

κανενα πρασινακι θα προσφερω

ΠΕΡΑΣΤΙΚΟΣ 2: Τα δακρυα του Θρυλου ειναι καυτα

μου εκαψαν τα μαντηλια

σταλαγματια σταλαγματια

στερεψαν τα καντηλια.

Παει εφυγε το τρενο!

Μουσικη: Μανος Χατζηδακις, Στιχοι: Νικος Γκατσος

Σβήνει τ’ αστέρι του βοριά
στην ανηφοριά
και κάποιο αστέρι φωτεινό
κυλάει στον ουρανό
Κοιμούνται ακόμα τα παιδιά
κάτω απ΄τη ροδιά
Και μ΄ένα δάκρυ μου θολό
τα μάτια τους φιλώ

Πάει έφυγε το τρένο, έφυγες κι εσύ
σταλαγματιά χρυσή
πάει χάθηκε το τρένο, χάθηκες κι εσύ
σε γαλανό νησί

Πήρες απ’ το καλοκαίρι στο μικρό σου χέρι
το λαμπερό τ’αστέρι και πήγες σ’άλλη γη
μ’ όνειρα κι εγώ πηγαίνω να σε περιμένω
νερό σταματημένο σε δροσερή πηγή

Πάει έφυγε το τρένο έφυγες κι εσύ
σταλαγματιά χρυσή

Σβήνει τ’ αστέρι του βοριά
στην ανηφοριά
και κάποιο αστέρι φωτεινό
κυλάει στον ουρανό
Κοιμούνται ακόμα τα παιδιά
κάτω απ΄τη ροδιά
Και μ΄ένα δάκρυ μου θολό
τα μάτια τους φιλώ

Πάει έφυγε το τρένο, έφυγες κι εσύ
σταλαγματιά χρυσή
πάει χάθηκε το τρένο, χάθηκες κι εσύ
σε γαλανό νησί

Πήρες απ’ το καλοκαίρι στο μικρό σου χέρι
το λαμπερό τ’αστέρι και πήγες σ’άλλη γη
μ’ όνειρα κι εγώ πηγαίνω να σε περιμένω
νερό σταματημένο σε δροσερή πηγή

Πάει έφυγε το τρένο έφυγες κι εσύ
σταλαγματιά χρυσή

Η Ζωη Φυτουση ερχεται να μας θυμισει αυτην την δραματικη κατασταση ανθρωπων και γαυρων.

Και κλεινω αυτην την αφιερωση με το βαλς των χαμενων ονειρων του υπερμεγιστου Μανου Χατζηδακι