May29

Welcome to Love von Beauty von Love!

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In the beginning there was … Love, Beauty, Life, Light, Spark, Prosperity, Bliss, Happiness, Wonder, Joy, Courage, Vision, Solidarity, Freedom, Dream and Faith.

And at some point hatred, lust, death, darkness, poverty, plague, immorality, scandal, despair, expectation, sorrow, envy, blindness, ego, greed,  cynicism, grievance, hunger, terror, fear, bullies –  made room and started messing things up …

I started this blog from a purely egocentric need: a need to remind myself of beauty and love, which makes life worth treasuring, every single day, every single moment.

In the beginning there was … Love and Beauty and anything else we wish for.

May13

“Cilka’s Journey” by Heather Morris

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This is a novel about “amazing lives of ordinary people under the most unimaginable of circumstances.” It brings us a beautiful reminder not to judge: “Everyone affected by war, captivity, or oppression reacts differently – and away from it, people might try to guess how they would act, or react, in the circumstances. But they do not really know.”

In such circumstances there is always a Cilka. Cecilia Klein was “the bravest person” known to Lale, the tattooist of Auschwitz, whom we know from Heather Morris’ novel by the same name. “She was beautiful, a tiny little thing, and she saved my life” – Lalo’s testimony to Cilka, the 16 year old raped for three years by SS officers when and as they pleased, who found herself to be punished for this by another ideology which came to power. The novel made me think that it does not matter how you call a certain ideology, they bring suffering, regardless of their aim. To be released from rape in one camp, to suffer the same treatment in another, although under a different flag, it makes no difference to the victim. Still, the novel is not about ideologies, it is about stamina and resilience in beyond believable circumstances first in a concentration camp then in a gulag.

I will never understand how is it possible to make people suffer so much. Solzhenitsyn offers an answer: ‘To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good. Or else that it’s a well-considered act in conformity with natural law.’ What natural law is that, I wonder. Cilka and many others lived and battled not just to live but to retain their humanity. In most adverse circumstances, she put the needs of others above hers, and she expected nothing in return. This is a natural law, by me.

A warmly recommended reading. Thank you, Heather Morris!

May6

“Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan

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“So many things had a way of looking finer, when they were not so close.” is to me the light-motive of this novel. An estimated 30000 women were concealed, incarcerated and forced to labour in so-called Magdalene laundries run by the Catholic church with the tacit agreement of the Irish state. The last Magdalene house was closed down in 1996. The unanswered questions, the unseen lives of thousands of women and their children inspired the novel.

A work of historical fiction, it nevertheless seemed very realistic to me. The Irish way of speaking definitely helped me get into the atmosphere of the pre-Christmas period of 1985 in an Irish town. I looked at those laundries through the eyes of a father of five daughters, a coal and timber merchant, the main character of this book by the name of Bill Furlong. There is a very clear turning point in the otherwise steady life of this man when he asked himself the eternal question: “As they carried on along and met more people Furlong did and did not know, he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?” His rescue of a young woman from the Magdalene laundry triggered an insight into his own birth story. His mother and him could have had the same faith as these thousands of women if there would not have been for the big heart of their patron, who took care of them. And these are not small things at all when you think about it.

Apr29

“The Science of Storytelling” by Will Storr

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I enjoyed how the author paired the writting with neuroscience and psychology. If we want our stories to be reach minds and hearts these sciences are of great help. “Story is what brain does. It is a ‘story processor’, “ writes the psychologist Professor Jonathan Haidt, ‘not a logic processor’. “The storytellers and the scientists had started off in completely different places and had ended up discovering the same things.” The author’s hope is that his research “is of interest to anyone curious about the science of the human condition, even if they have little practical interest in storytelling. But it’s also for the storytellers. The challenge any of us faces is that of grabbing and keeping the attention of other people’s brains.”

If you recognise this as your need, then the book is a fantastic resource or even guide to working on your story. Creating a World (chapter 1) to The Flawed Self (chapter 2), The Dramatic Question (chapter 3), Plots, Endings and Meaning (chapter 4), and the technique of the Sacred Flaw Approach are inestimable for crafting stories.

And it is useful to humbly remember that “We’re all fictional characters. We’re the partial, biased, stubborn creations of our own minds. To help us feel in control of the outside world, our brains lull us into believing things that aren’t true. Among the most powerful of these beliefs are the ones that serve to bolster our sense of our moral superiority. Our brains are hero-makers that emit seductive lies. They want to make us feel like the plucky, brave protagonist in the story of our own lives.”

One more aspect which made me appreciate the book was that I found many intriguing recommendations for books to read. I also rejoiced when I found referrenced books I already read. Pat on the shoulder.

Apr16

Easter 2023

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Easter is amsoabout baking, as my grand mother has been doing for decades for our big family. I added chocolate tasting to create and maintain our own tradition. Thanks to chocolate makers of Lindt, Sprungli, Laderach and Martel.

Apr15

“Songbirds” by Christy Lefteri

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The themes of motherhood, female migration, racism, love and poaching intertwine as in a plea for us to see. The thorough research done for this beautiful novel paid off: I could follow the events and see the characters as if I was there.

Some readers are more sensitive than others and might find the description of birds poaching in Cyprus disturbing. I found the description of the faith of migrant women more disturbing. And sometimes, we need a bit of shaking up in our comfy world we interact with as if we wear white gloves on, while others do the work for us.