Arcadian Nights – The Greek Myths Reimagined by John Spurling - 9 out of 10

 

Arcadian Nights – The Greek Myths Reimagined by John Spurling

9 out of 10

 

 

These are some of the most overwhelming stories that one can read, and listening to them again is such a treat, however, this note is not really about The Greek Myths, or let us just say that I find them stupendous and this is all there is here about Arcadian Nights per se, and you could, should move on to other realms, maybe to The Lost Horizon https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/09/lost-horizon-by-james-hilton.html

 

The idea of the Greek Myths, which have been in the program of the TVR Cultural aka our Culture Channel, made me think of the polemic we have at the sauna Downtown, where we meet with Balaur aka Messi, from the footballer and the Messiah, a man who is not a god, or demigod from these legends, but has a special status

He is a very generous Renaissance Man, if this is not the wrong label, we see him as complex, accomplished in a few spheres, he has been a footballer, a couch, a manager, investor, trainer and Maestro, a role model, Maecenas, always ready to help, giving money and support to Ukrainian refugees and other

 

The latter might be a bit of a distortion, he does not like to talk about his generosity, hence we could not be sure of the extent of his philanthropy, but he is surely munificent (wait, we come to the dark side soon, albeit you are better off reading something interesting, as aforementioned) and has this Messiah complex, a little bit

He does help the under signed, that is a sure thing, and gratitude is not just natural, it is required, for he has supported, offered advice, even razors and a special meal at his exquisite restaurant, so this must be a letter of homage, that is if yours truly would be a sensible fellow, and he is not, according to Messi aka Bala…

 

Anyway, this in jest, and the means to avoid the dispute for the ball that we have at the sauna, where we are forced by circumstances to keep it ‘short’, you could not spend hours in a steam, hammam, or the hot place (no matter how dysfunctional these places can be, they have shut down a few clubs in the network)

We dispute the ‘ball’ in there, the spiritual one, I came to the conclusion that our Hero has been a player for so long, then a couch and manager, that he has to be ‘in control’ it is hard to put in a word, although that can be said about the under signed as well, he lives in an abode where he is told permanently that he has to shut up

 

This brings to mind the classic Games People Play https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/09/games-people-play-by-eric-berne.html by Eric Berne, where the most common game is IIWFY, If It Weren’t For You, which we play with our spouses, accusing them of standing in the way of some career, which we would not pursue anyway

 

Messiah helps a lot in that he keeps pushing me to be nice at home – again, that would be another classic to read The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-seven-principles-of-making-marriage.html by John Gottman - and he is right, in that a balance is restored, the Golden Mean of Aristotle

The temptation is to think of myself as a martyr – just like idiotic Orange Jesus, the republican candidate for the 2024 elections is pressing that he is the Navalny of the US, what a cluster fuck this moron, abject zombie is – and say that I spend nothing, while the budget is blown away by excessive, futile shopping that Seneca would condemn https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/despre-viata-fericita-aka-on-happy-life.html

 

One major dispute is over Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman – the one that has written Emotional Intelligence https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/08/emotional-intelligence-by-daniel-goleman.html noted on my blog (well, one of the blogs) eleven years ago, the conclusion is that Eq is more important than IQ, maybe twice as relevant

I stand accused that my Social Intelligence is feeble (or has a lot of road ahead) and found this not just puzzling, but something of an oxymoron – yesterday, I watched the last part of Navalny, the Oscar Winning Documentary about the late leader of the Russian opposition, and found myself crying, yet again…

 

I cried when I learned that he was killed by the Butcher in the Kremlin (I have no doubt about that) and after a few days again, which to my mind is not anti-social behavior, on the contrary, it proved to me that I get (too) emotional about some special people, for all his flaws, Navalny was a hero, courageous, generous…

The trouble is with the hoi polloi, and worse, with the villains that identify with The Kremlin Butcher and explain that he is a fine fellow, or in a variation on the same tune, Zelensky, Navalny, Putin and others are ‘all alike’, siding with the monsters, but under the guise that it is all the same shit, arrogance and infinite wisdom…

 

I feel that our Jason, Messiah, hero of the Greek aka Modern legends is wrong in wasting his time with many frauds, there is this Cyclops (to use again a reference to the legends of Greece), who is called ‘The Professor’, a rather abject creature, who keeps on with vulgar talk and insists that ‘this people is shit’, which excludes him

The ancient myth of Pygmalion applies to him, albeit in reverse, he does not believe in his students, the people, he despises them, and research has demonstrated that this can be devastating, the students become failures, because this ‘professor’ despises them, and well, our generous demi-god is so damn flamboyant with this ghoul, that, instead of making the Medusa keep to his cave, he gets encouraged and harms us…

 

 Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”