It would be impossible to put into words what a wonderous two days I have been blessed with. The visit from Jim Willie can only be described as a small appetizer of a multi course meal of knowledge and stimulation I have always sought.
It was an innocent mistake on my part to have projected a visit consisting only of Cup and Handles, Bolinger Bands, rants about Malloy etc. etc. etc. I feel guilty even having given even a nano second of consideration to such trivialities. Little did I realize the things of commonality that we both shared and even less did I realize the time we were blessed with would be so ephemeral.
In a span of two days and one night, it seemed we covered all of history, religion, philosophy, mythology, metaphysics, all the sciences and arts of man over all the periods of the world's history. Oh how I have underestimated the intellectual power and stimulative capacity of one Jim Willie.
Hours passed as we touched on the writings of Sanchoniathon, the Phoenician historian. We laughed and marveled at the charming historical romances of Xenophon as the thread itself was absorbed by the gender of North and South.
Speaking of our Jewish friends on the thread, we could not help but stop and discuss the style of Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, who wrote the complete history of his people in Greek. Having done so, how then could we not touch on the works of the two great moral teachers of the world: the two great pantheistic religions - Brahmanism and Buddhism, and thinking of the thread discussion on women could not but help and remark that it is the latter religion that affords women better treatment than any other Oriental religion. Jim just laughed as you can imagine.
Seeing the Global Economy Manifesting itself before our eyes, how could we not be carried back through all forms of government: patriarchal, autocracy, despotism, absolute monarchy, limited or constitutional monarchy, aristocracy, theocracy, hierarchy, pure democracy and of course representative democracy.
We both became pensive after a discussion on the antiquity of the Chinese Empire. Hard to believe that China was ancient before the Pyramids, fascinating.
We talked of our frailties and ambitions only to be reminded in our discussions of Alexander the Great conquering the world but unable to conquer himself, dying a young man from the effects of intemperate habits.
How could we talk about irrational history without the figure and actions of Mr. Greenspan being compared to the fiddling of Nero as I had to remind the impetuous Jim that Nero was a step worse, for he had murdered his faithful minister, had his mother murdered and killed his second wife, Poppaea, by kicking her in the side, maybe not as bad as twenty five basis points but bad none the less.
How could we talk of Literature without the mention of Geoffrey Chaucer, author of Canterbury Tales and the father of English poetry.
We talked of Michelangelo who towered like a prodigious giant in his day. He must have had a divine soul. He was a fountain of harmony. Michelangelo was as original as nature.
How could the Internet revolution be discussed without reference to the stone letters of Orpheus and how they had succeeded the leaden letters of Gutenberg. We both had to agree that the invention of printing was the greatest event in history. It was the primal revolution. It was the renewed and renovated form of expression of humanity, it is human thought laying off one form and assuming another.
The night could not go long before we were confronted with Jim's favorite topic and consumate hero, Shakespeare. One must admit he reaches as far as history and I so told him, he agreed. He spoke a universal language. To me Shakespeare was the verb of literature, to Jim he was God. In all of his awe, I had to remind him that his God was the student of Eschylus and our discussion of the Literary greats would not be complete without a separate place in it for the lesser known, from whom Jim's God received many of his mightiest lessons.
To Jim, Shakespeare is the anointed deputy of heaven. I had to agree that he seem to catch the music from the spheres and unlike a few on the thread including my visitor himself, he saw women with a chaste eye. The man's integrity stands without blemish. I then had to remind Jim I to had a great fondness for the bard, his power of description no greater illustrated than when he utters one of my favorite descriptions " What fine chisel could ever yet cut breath?"
My summation of his God was - "to him no star was dark".
And on the day and night went. I tried to speak of my namesake but he would have little of it and after a few moments the discussion raged. We talked of the works of the English philosopher Francis Bacon and touched on properties belonging to others of that era. The famous Panthiest, Spinoza, Galileo, who discovered the satelites of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and the moonlike phases of Venus. No discussion of genius could be undertaken without mentioning Newton and his greatest work Principia.
The music we discussed could have been interpreted as a holiday for Lyle Lovett and our Anthem. We both also agreed that Wagner was the Shakespeare of music. One must admit that the music of Wagner is filled with landscapes. His music seems to satisfy the heart and the brain. Wagner had to be considered a sculptor, a painter, in sound. When that man died, the greatest fountain of melody that ever enchanted the world ceased. Of course Schubert, the Austrian, Schumann, the German and Verdi and Rossini, the Italians added greatly to the music with their compositions.
It is difficult to remember detail but work upon work was discussed and discussed again. Finally ending the visit of a lifetime by just brushing by the greatest books of history. Rousseau's Social Contract, More's Utopia, Thomas Paine's works including The Right's of Man, Crisis, and Common Sense. Another that Jim was unfamiliar with and one of my favorites is Will Durant's works, including The Story of Philosophy. I may be a smidge partial because of the favorable light given my namesake Voltaire', oh yes, oh yes.
The night had passed and we were about to broach the subject of the great Russiam writers, Tolstoi, Gogol, Andreyev, Dostoevski and Chekhov when he realized he was late getting started for his further trip South and sadly we parted ways.
If I could have but one memory of my SI days, it would have to be the last 48 hours with our Cup and Handle friend, Jim Willie. Hopefully there will be more before the headstones thicken too greatly.
Selah,
Voltaire |
