fanciful devices: The Alchemy of Happiness

A Stone Is Nobody's

A man ambushed a stone. Caught it.
Made it a prisoner.
Put it in a dark room and stood guard over it for the rest of his life.

His mother asked why.

He said, because it's held captive, because it is captured.

Look, the stone is asleep, she said, it does not know whether it's in a garden or not. Eternity and the stone
are mother and daughter; it is you who are getting old. The stone is only sleeping.

But I caught it, mother, it is mine by conquest, he said.

A stone is nobody's, not even its own. It is you who are conquered; you are minding the prisoner, which is yourself,
because you are afraid to go out, she said.

Yes yes, I am afraid, because you have never loved me, he said.

Which is true, because you have always been to me as the stone is to you, she said.

Russell Edson

FAQs

1. Are you a Southeast Asian dancing girl from the 1800s?

No, sorry to disappoint. My avatar and banner images are from an ancient book I found in the depths of my grandmother's cabinets. More on that here.

2. How do you make everything look so old?

First, you need a good oxidizer to brush on every bit of metal you can reach. I'll tell you all about it here.

Then there's this wax. I first mentioned it here. You'll have to scroll down a lot.

3. How can you be so productive?

I'm insanely obsessed and I have no offspring. I do nothing else- I don't have a day job, I don't clean my house or cook, I spend all day in pjs, often completely abandoning personal hygiene... I only interact with other humans when I walk my dog. And I like people! But I prefer dogs.

And I'm sloppy- but I make that sloppiness work for me.

4. Any tips you'd like to share?

No! Except for these 16 posts about techniques and this one about how to find your aesthetic.

5. Would you be offended if I took some inspiration from your designs?

Well, I'd be happier if you outright copied them.

No really, imitation is how we learn. I have enough ideas to go around. And even if I don't- please. No one's going to do this obsessively enough to threaten my business. (Probably.) I learned by copying others and I've seen others copy me as a step toward developing their own voice. So feel free. (I'd love if you tossed me a link in my comments, so I can feel like a proud momma.)

6. What do you look like?

Why, what have you heard? Really? Wow.

6/19/10

The Alchemy of Happiness

Abū Ḥāmed Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (1058–1111) was an Islamic theologian, jurist, philosopher,cosmologist, psychologist and mystic of Persian origin, and remains one of the most celebrated scholars in the history of SunniIslamic thought. He is considered a pioneer of methodic doubt and skepticism, and in one of his major works, The Incoherence of the Philosophers, he changed the course of early Islamic philosophy, shifting it away from an Islamic metaphysics influenced byancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophy, and towards an Islamic philosophy based on cause-and-effect that was determined byGod or intermediate angels, a theory now known as occasionalism.

(a favorite ingredient in my happiness recipe)

   Ghazali was responsible for formulating the Ash'ari school of atomism. He argued that atoms are the only perpetual, material things in existence, and all else in the world is “accidental” meaning something that lasts for only an instant.
   Al-Ghazali's criticism of Aristotelian physics and Aristotelian cosmology played an important role in the development of an independent astronomy over the next several centuries. From the 12th century onwards, Islamic astronomy began becoming a science primarily dependant upon observation rather than philosophy.
   His support for the study of anatomy and dissection was influential in the developement of modern medicine.

He also established the application of three types of logical systems in Islamic law and jurisprudence: reasoning by analogy, deductive logic, and inductive logic.
In psychology, Ghazali discussed the concept of the self and the causes of its misery and happiness. Hewas one of the first to divide the senses into five external senses ( hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch) and five internal senses: common sense, imagination, reflection, recollection (which remembers the outer form of objects in memory and recollects the meaning), and memory (where impressions received through the senses are stored).
Among his many writings are the following intriguing titles in no special order:

The Incoherence of the Philosophers
The Incoherence of the Incoherence (sic)
The Nature of Love
Median in Belief
The best means in explaining Allah's Beautiful Names
Friendship and Sincerity
Beginning of Guidance
The Unity of God
Methodology for the Worshipers
Deliverance from Error
Man’s Highest Happiness
The Alchemy of Happiness
The Niche for Lights
A Just Balance
The Book of Knowledge

("so sleepy")

This is the type of renaissance superman, akin to the our hemisphere's Leonardo DaVinci or Ben Franklin, which I'm amazed to discover existed so long ago. During the 'dark ages', which clearly weren't so dark for everyone. This is the stuff I like to put in my listings, cuz it's so bad-ass. Unfortunately, I don't think most of us gals will sit through such a long 'description'. That's why I have to pick through to the most poetic bits, like the title "The Alchemy of Happiness."