jasmins heart J. C's blog

Two guys named Joseph

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:39:13 PST

One wanted to buy a computer for his son;
he was already far into his sixth decade of life
and his son was very young, just started elementary school.
The other Joseph wanted to buy a taxi, and drive it along the streets
of Port –au- Prince. And take care of his family.
The first one everybody called Papa, because of his mature age and
the fact that he was working on the ship for so long.
Our ship was an unusual one, full of glow and nice women.
Sailing to Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, Miami.
The Caribbean.
There were so many things that none of us knew about.
I remember I asked one of the Josephs why our ships never sail to Haiti.
I cannot recall what his answer was.
I only remember how after I asked that
his expression confronted the impossible.
Struggling with it.

Bukowski's Honesty

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:35:33 PST

John Martin, the Bukowski's publisher, about him:

He hated any kind of dishonesty. He hated deceit.

More about it all on Jim Murdoch's excellent blog post here.

Rants

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:56:25 PDT

Approaching the truth

A book by Carl Sagan that I read some decades ago, about cosmology and the survival of the planet, contained a particular passage I remember, a down-to-earth observation about the economy. While reaching for the stars, Sagan was always ready to make comparisons that brought us back to basic earthly preoccupations.

One passage in the book referred to the price of oil. Sagan observed how the turbulent market for black gold has the potential to turn the whole world upside down, as economists were suggesting and Sagan himself insisted. His speculations proved correct, as we now know.

In the course of devouring a whole host of popular science books, considering cosmological questions about the origins of the universe and the diverse theories of how it come into being, and reflecting on interesting facts like, for example, how everything in the universe spins –planets, galaxies, stars - but not the universe itself, I came to realise that it is somehow by immersing oneself in the current of different conjectures and theories advanced by the physicists that one comes close to an understanding of the truth. The truth about the importance of being attentive.

Image Problem

More than once, in my readings of books by leading Anglo-Saxon intellectuals and writers of popular scientific literature, like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennet, and their illustrious predecessor Carl Sagan, I have been saddened to come across the word “balkanization”. It has turned up in a variety of reference works and articles as well. Depending on the context, the word signified something that could be summed up as a combination of religious and nationalistic literalism, intellectual infancy and metaphysical chauvinism, reinforced by a thick-skinned resistance to the contemporary re-examination of ancient misconceptions. Saddened, I say, because I happen to come from the part of the world to which this lovely word refers. In all the various contexts in which the word was used, it had a much wider significance than the one offered by the Oxford English Dictionary: Balkanize, v. divide (a region or body) into smaller mutually hostile states or groups., Balkanization, n.

It is hard not to agree that there is far more grandeur and poetry in Cicero’s reason, or Descartes’s light, or the scientific facts and speculations of our own time, than there is in any of the world’s great dogmas of religious, nationalistic and market fundamentalism.

Carl Sagan once said something to the effect that science convinced us that everything that is not obvious, everything that is magical, gigantic, is scientific. After experiencing the bleak reality of life in the post-war Balkans I feel entitled to lay claim to a degree of expertise in the science of demonstrating how everything infused with prejudice, the marriage of political and religious manipulation is wretched, degrading and banal. And in hoping that no-one will ever again have need of this kind of expertise.

Late in the night

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:13:58 PDT

It’s late, already too late,
For things to be as they have should been.
The first illusion was the irresistible one,
The second one is saying
That the first one never existed;
it’s lost like the candles from Kavafis’ poem.

House in the Hills

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Sun, 16 May 2010 14:42:13 PDT

Anyone who ever owned
any kind of house in the hills,
knows what it is like to have the illusion
that everything is calm,
that everything is cool.
And what it feels like to pass
by the old witch’s house
and wonder if she is still alive,
that old witch you loved
only because she talked to you
once or twice,
and asked for an aspirin.

And you start to feel sorry
for any house
at any fucked-up crossroad.

Notes

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Sun, 23 May 2010 09:26:47 PDT

Here are just notes that may turn out into something one day, or not.

Until it hurts

Until it hurts, that’s the price of honesty, to say when or where to stop. It really takes bravery and certain philosophies, like aikido, for example, are encouraging it – for your own sake.

US&Bosnia Apatride

I have experience of California and the US, that’s what I know the best from what you may call “abroad experience.” It’s also in my name, because my last name is Caus. All the other places I had been to they were just a brief visits. Disregarding the fact that these brief visits include dozens of countries.

And to say anything, or to explain how it is in my view and according to what I know, I would say that what Bosnia and the US have in common is that both are the countries of permanent problems, and they both have similar kinds of freedoms; that I value a lot.
In both countries people were always cursing their governments, really freely and openly, in spite of all. And for sure I would not like to live in a country where is impossible to criticize, where another point of view may cost you your life, and, I would not even mention what else.
“Relax man, maybe something better it’s already on its way,” that’s what one Jamaican friend told me in San Diego, years ago.

Confusing knowledge

If anyone knows about a book on females, their real role and how they have been treated throughout the history – for sure I would like to read it. To clear up and fill in the gaps in my own confused knowledge.

Too Much

    Too much of the too-big, and mostly empty stuff

    like the war, nations, religions, life, death etc.

    I had to swallow,

    so I decided to devote myself to small things:

    I started blogging (on the blogspot)

    barely noticed by anyone.

Capable

    If you’re capable of lying about

    those things

    that doesn’t mean

    I never lied about them.

    That doesn’t have to mean anything, really.

    It’s nothing at all.

A Country

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:31:34 PDT

In the evening,

as the gold and dark rain falls, 

some are hungry, 

and some are starting to feast.

for some freedom, 

for some the beast.

Batch

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 08:10:49 PDT

Nihad Hasanović nihadhasanovic.com
The Art of Struggle, The Truth About Lies

Running

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:26:37 PDT

A song needs bones, a spine, windpipe, lungs and rib-cage; and you need preparation to develop structure. For once in my life I felt perfectly coordinated and it was like flying. I was running for years and playing basketball only to experience a few moments of elation – elevation, of that moment. Trying to achieve the resemblance.To reconcile myself, but only with my legs, not with where I am going to.

Mobile cell phones

noreply@blogger.com (J. C.) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:29:22 PST

There is nothing so enjoyable
As being someone else. But there are
Limits to it.
Your mobile is a bit expensive,
But still not worth the money that was paid.
Not even close.
The keyboard is ridiculous and it’s such a torture
To write on it.
I guess it was worth dreaming of
After all.