Firewalking at Universitate Alternativa, Plaiul Foli

A good firewalk is what it takes to ignite your life!
A nice experience with a lot of bright young people of #universitatealternativa, past week at Plaiul Foii, Romania.

Sense of Flying

Pure orgasm. I have to do it, even if it were the last thing I’ll do …
(Meglio un giorno da leone…)
I’ll let you know when…

What they can’t get from you

A sensational moment from a sensational movie.

“It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.”

“That’s the beauty of music. They can’t get that from you… You need it so you don’t forget.
…that… there are places in this world that aren’t made out of stone. That there’s something inside… that they can’t get to, that they can’t touch. That’s yours.”

Guilt, forgiveness, redemption,…

Guilt, forgiveness, redemption, …
They are all nothing more than decisions.
What is the burden you are dragging on?

What is money at its essence??

“Money is not peace of mind. Money’s not happiness.
Money is, at its essence that measure of a man’s choices.”
Ozark, opening monologue.

Scratch.
Wampum.
Dough.
Sugar.
Clams.
Loot.
Bills.
Bones.
Bread.
Bucks.
Money.
That which separates the haves from the have-nots.
But what is money? It’s everything if you don’t have it, right? Half of all American adults have more credit card debt than savings.
25% have no savings at all.
And only 15% of the population is on track to fund even one year of retirement.
Suggesting what? The middle class is evaporating? Or the American Dream is dead? You wouldn’t be sitting there listening to me if the latter were true.
You see, I think most people just have a fundamentally flawed view of money.
Is it simply an agreed-upon unit of exchange for goods and services? $3.
70 for a gallon of milk? Thirty bucks to cut your grass? Or is it an intangible? Security or happiness.
Peace of mind.
Let me propose a third option.
Money as a measuring device.
You see, the hard reality is how much money we accumulate in life is not a function of who’s president or the economy or bubbles bursting or bad breaks or bosses.
It’s about the American work ethic.
The one that made us the greatest country on Earth.
It’s about bucking the media’s opinion as to what constitutes a good parent.
Deciding to miss the ball game, the play, the concert, because you’ve resolved to work and invest in your family’s future.
And taking responsibility for the consequences of those actions.
Patience.
Frugality.
Sacrifice.
When you boil it down, what do those three things have in common? – [grunts and pants] – Those are choices.
Money is not peace of mind.
Money’s not happiness.
Money is, at its essence that measure of a man’s choices.

What is the disease of the mind?

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against.
The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind.

Hsin Hsin Ming (the Book of Nothing)
by Great Zen master Seng-ts’an

W.A. Mozart – Requiem K626 for Soli, Choir and Piano 4 hands

Oratorio di S. Erasmo, Sori (Genoa, Italy)

W.A. Mozart – Requiem K626 for Soli, Choir and Piano 4 hands (arr. C. Czerny)

Sandra Terrile – Soprano
Elisa Lagutaine – Contralto
Daniele Buttafava – Tenore
Andrea Lanzola – Baritono

Coro Polifonico Luigi Porro – Genova

Piano: Sara Marchetti – Bruno Medicina
Conductor: Marco Simoncini

Are you sure you understand the problem?

alan

“The question ‘what shall we do about it?’ is only asked by those who do not understand the problem. If a problem can be solved at all, to understand it and to know what to do about it are the same thing. On the other hand, doing something about a problem which you do not understand is like trying to clear away darkness by thrusting it aside with your hands.” – Alan Watts

Je connais des bateaux…

Un beau poème de Jacques Brel, interpretee par Mannick

Je connais des bateaux qui restent dans le port
De peur que les courants les entraînent trop fort,
Je connais des bateaux qui rouillent dans le port
A ne jamais risquer une voile au dehors.

Je connais des bateaux qui oublient de partir
Ils ont peur de la mer à force de vieillir,
Et les vagues, jamais, ne les ont séparés,
Leur voyage est fini avant de commencer.

Je connais des bateaux tellement enchaînés
Qu’ils en ont désappris comment se regarder,
Je connais des bateaux qui restent à clapoter
Pour être vraiment surs de ne pas se quitter.

Je connais des bateaux qui s’en vont deux par deux
Affronter le gros temps quand l’orage est sur eux,
Je connais des bateaux qui s’égratignent un peu
Sur les routes océanes où les mènent leurs jeux.

Je connais des bateaux qui n’ont jamais fini
De s’épouser encore chaque jour de leur vie,
Et qui ne craignent pas, parfois, de s’éloigner
L’un de l’autre un moment pour mieux se retrouver.

Je connais des bateaux qui reviennent au port
Labourés de partout mais plus graves et plus forts,
Je connais des bateaux étrangement pareils
Quand ils ont partagé des années de soleil.

Je connais des bateaux qui reviennent d’amour
Quand ils ont navigué jusqu’à leur dernier jour,
Sans jamais replier leurs ailes de géants
Parce qu’ils ont le cœur à taille d’océan.