l’amour
Sun 1.28.24
Valentine's Day, one of our grander illusions, is coming upon us shortly. The bullshit surrounding this holiday celebration of love could fertilize all of the planets of our universe. But . . . we have experienced bits of it. There is something about love that haunts our life through. Only fools spend their time talking about it and searching for it. Most keep the topic close to heart. Is it what one experiences with the opposite sex, with children, family? Is it how one gives of oneself through work, creating beauty? And always the question, am I capable of it? Have I fucked it up so bad? Am I completely unable to grasp it's meaning?
Then there are the sad books of advice, "He's Just Not That Into You", "Him Her Him Again The End of Him" "Kill The Competition", "Where is He Now", "How to Trap a Tycoon". There are no rules or guides; rules are for people who want to get married, or who want a companion to spend their life with.
As a mystery, love is not something one can plan, scheme, organize. It arrives without notice, and sometimes you're not even aware of it till it disappears. And it comes to the crassest, most corrupted as well as the naive and innocent. In our secret heart of hearts we wait for love's arrival always. It is the fuel that propels us through our fluttery, anxious life. As Oscar Wilde said to his vacuous and undeserving lover, "If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all of my life."
This thing we call "God" is tied to the mystery of love. Neither of which do we have the power to grasp, to decipher. Below is a story I found on the internet. Ponder the power of love which reaches beyond the grave.
PREHISTORIC ROMEO AND JULIET DISCOVERED
By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer
ROME - They died young and, by the looks of it, in love. Two 5,000 year-old skeletons found locked in an embrace near the city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale "Romeo and Juliet" have sparked theories the remains of a far more ancient love story have been found.
Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons dating back to the late Neolithic period outside Mantua, 25 miles south of Verona, the city of Shakespeare's story of doomed love.Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, because their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.
"As far as we know, it's unique," Menotti told The Associated Press by telephone from Milan. "Double burials from the Neolithic are unheard of, and these are even hugging." Archaeologists digging in the region have found some 30 burial sites, all single, as well as the remains of prosperous villages filled with artifacts made of flint, pottery and animal horns.
Although the Mantua pair strike an unusual and touching pose, archaeologists have found other prehistoric burials in which the dead hold hands or have other contact, said Luca Bondioli, an anthropologist at Rome's National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum.
Bondioli, who was not involved in the Mantua dig, said the find has "more of an emotional than a scientific value." But it does highlight how the relationship people have with each other and with death has not changed much from the period in which humanity first settled in villages, learning to farm the land and tame animals, he said.
"The Neolithic is a very formative period for our society," he said. "It was when the roots of our religious sentiment were formed."
Menotti said the burial was "a ritual, but we have to find out what it means."
Experts might never determine the exact nature of the pair's relationship, but Menotti said she had little doubt it was born of a deep sentiment.
"It was a very emotional discovery," she said. "From thousands of years ago we feel the strength of this love. Yes, we must call it love."
The couple's burial site was located Monday during construction work for a factory in the outskirts of Mantua. Alongside the couple, archaeologists found flint tools, including arrowheads and a knife, Menotti said.
Experts will now study the artifacts and the skeletons to determine the burial site's age and how old the two were when they died, she said. The finds will then go on display at Mantua's Archaeological Museum.
Establishing the cause of death could prove almost impossible, unless they were killed by a debilitating disease, a knife or something else that might have left marks on the bones, Menotti said.
The two bodies, which cuddle closely while facing each other on their sides, were probably buried at the same time, an indication of a possible sudden and tragic death, Bondioli said.
---------- Ω Ω Ω Ω ----------
MANHATTAN SEERESS NOW ON EBOOKS
Eight o'clock Sunday morning, the police arrive at her apartment in Greenwich Village, "How long have you been living here?" The roommate Elizabeth, after having accepted her half of the deposit money and rent for their new apartment, has called the police.
New York City doesn’t open its arms to welcome her, but she’s arrived and the adventure of her life is about to unfold. She’s come from Maine with an invitation from Sarah Lawrence College to participate in the graduate writing program.
How one becomes a seeress is what this memoir explores. Stories have been specifically selected to illustrate, from the sublime to the practical, a spiritual journey introduced in each chapter by an atout, the Tarot’s major archetypes. From the Fool, to The World, our human journey with its risk and folly unfolds. There is also an artist here alive to her new world seeking inspiration among artists on the Lower East side, learning the ways and foods of her Chinese neighbors, falling in love.
