Day 2429, close.

You hold me close
with your sharp claws 

and I love you for it
even the closeness

Day 2428, mist.

Daily picture, Poetry

A mysterious fog hung over the sea today, and I took this lousy phone picture of it, but I guess you get the idea. Like a nice sunset or landscape, most of us also like a good mist hanging In a valley. I don’t know why we evolved this way, but at least it is something we all appreciate.

Day 2427, thought.

Daily picture, Poetry

My young thought peaked over the side
thinking she could fly

the depth scared 
but the wings felt real

climbing on the side
she reflected in her mother's eyes
the colors of her wings were there

it was not the last thing she saw
but for sure the only thing 
that mattered

Day 2426, obstacle.

Daily picture, Poetry

I walked around the obstacle 
as if to find a solution
but I only found a problem

Day 2425, neighbor.

Daily picture, Quotes

Friedrich Nietzsche

Daybreak

118 What is our neighbor! – What do we understand to be the boundaries of our neighbor: I mean that with which he as it were engraves and impresses himself into and upon us? We understand nothing of him except the change in us of which he is the cause – our knowledge of him is like hollow space which has been shaped. We attribute to him the sensations his actions evoke in us, and thus bestow upon him a false, inverted positivity. According to our knowledge of ourselves we make of him a satellite of our own system: and when he shines for us or grows dark and we are the ultimate cause in both cases – we nonetheless believe the opposite! World of phantoms in which we live! Inverted, upside-down, empty world, yet dreamed of as full and upright!

Day 2424, from behind glass.

Daily picture, Poetry

We often look at our own nature
in awe  
from behind a glass
barrier

 because we still want to 
step away 
ignore 
and look back at its howl

Day 2423, came across.

Daily picture, Poetry

Today I was thinking
I thought in one direction
till I came across 
a thought coming from the left
and a little later
one on the next lane 
speeding towards me

I thought I still knew what I was thinking
but then another turned around
and I remembered that I didn't

Day 2422, missing.

Daily picture

Have you seen the one legged thief?

Day 2421, walls of your childhood.

Daily picture, Poetry

When your idols are burned out
and only hang on the walls of your childhood
you can finally look in the mirror
and see someone you want to know

Day 2420, Lame Deer.

Daily picture

John Fire Lame Deer

“All Creatures exist for a purpose. Even an ant knows what that purpose is–not with its brain, but somehow it knows. Only human beings have come to a point where they no longer know why they exist.”

“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn’t have any kind of prison. Because of this, we didn’t have any delinquents. Without a prison, there can’t be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn’t afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn’t know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white man arrived and I don’t know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.”

“Sickness, jail, poverty, getting drunk—I had to experience all that myself. Sinning makes the world go round. You can’t be so stuck up, so inhuman that you want to be pure, your soul wrapped up in a plastic bag, all the time. You have to be God and the devil, both of them. Being a good medicine man means being right in the midst of the turmoil, not shielding yourself from it. It means experiencing life in all its phases. It means not being afraid of cutting up and playing the fool now and then. That’s sacred too.”

Day 2419, scenery.

Daily picture, Quotes

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Gay Science

Even the most beautiful scenery is no longer assured of our love after we have lived in it for three months, and some distant coast attracts our avarice: possessions are generally diminished by possession…

Day 2418, to know.

Daily picture, Poetry

On this picture you see
something you have used
without knowing 

this is probably 
one of the many things you have used
without knowing

Day 2417, your path.

Daily picture, Poetry

You would think that a straight line is the best
to get from here to there

but once you make a mistake
a slight distraction
a deviation

you will always
pass that place again
on your return
or next year
slightly distracted
the same

Day 2416, open up.

Daily picture, Poetry

Don't forget
ones you're opened up 
and enjoy the view
to look inside

Day 2415, cages.

Daily picture, Poetry

I see different cages
from the inside or outside
every year

every year they change
and also stay the same

Day 2414, translation.

Daily picture, My thoughts

I attended a lecture about how we, as humans and groups, make choices. Part of the discussion afterward was about the different ways we make decisions.

Because I didn’t want to spend too much time on my post, I looked for a fitting quote by my favorite philosopher. The funny thing is that I found two versions of the quote that I wanted to use, and they translated the German word empfindungen into sensations and feelings. Feelings are sensations, but a sensation is not always a feeling… I don’t know if that makes sense.

For me, as a non-English speaker, they seemed to be slightly different. You can decide for yourself, but the quote’s meaning changes quite a bit for me, depending on what translation I use. I guess that the translators used their knowledge of what Nietzsche might mean because you can use both words to translate it according to the dictionary. It depends on the sentence which one you use. In the Dutch translation, they used the word ervaringen, which is usually translated to English as experiences, I guess that covers both the other translations.

I just wanted to share this experience of finding a quote about how we come to our thoughts and stumble on different thoughts about translating the text.

The quote is from: