to see or not to see.

"Only with the heart can one see rightly. That which is essential is invisible to the eyes." Le Petit Prince.

devo ser a única pessoa no universo que não gosta do pequeno príncipe. and yet. encontro pequenos príncipes em todos os livros de fé. talvez esteja explicado o meu sentimento.

The elephant in the darkness
(from the Masnavi)

The Indians brought an elephant to a dark barn and wanted to show it to the public. A lot of people came together in the barn to see the elephant. However, the barn was so dark that it was impossible to see the elephant. So they started to touch the elephant with their hands. They were trying to understand what the elephant looked like. One of them touched the ear of the elephant and said:
- The elephant is something like a fan.
One of them touched its foot and said.:
- The elephant looks like a pillar.
One of them touched its back and said:
- The elephant is something like a throne.
Another person touched its tooth and said:
-The elephant looks like a gutter.
Every one of them tried to define the elephant according to the part they had touched. All of their ideas and words about it were different. Yet, none of them could understand the elephant completely. If they all had had a candle in their hands, there wouldn't have been any difference in their words.

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off-subject. a c. juntou-se ao clube dos muitos que 'escrevem' frases tão fixes ou tão fofinhas ou tão cool em inglês, títulos também, mas não são capazes de ler um livro naquela língua. são armadilhas da hegemonia, rituais de passagem, poses de ser, declarações de pertencer. ou ainda, parte da fachada que se julga necessária para viver os dias, tomando o exemplo da comunicação que nos rodeia. felizmente persistem criadores a criar disparates na sua própria língua, o que é tão necessário como a água ou o ar.

'os únicos que ganham com a globalização são as multinacionais', dizia o medina carreira ontem. tudo farinha do mesmo saco. remember tomorrow.


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ainda do Masnavi, talvez uma das que mais gostei até por defeito babélico:

A Persian, an Arabian, a Turk and a Greek had some money and wanted something to buy with it. The Persian said:
- I am going to buy 'engur' with this money.
The Arabian opposed him and said:
- No. I don't want engur. I want ineb.
- The third person who was a Turk objected to both of them saying:
- Neither engur nor ineb. I want uzum.
The Greek who was watching them said:
- No, no. I want istafil. I am going to buy istafil with it.
A man who knew all of the languages they spoke approached and said:
- Give me the money. I am going to buy all of the things each of you wanted.
He went and came back with some grapes. They were all trying to say the same in different languages. So that the nonsense fight was over.

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o mais divertido nestas histórias é que, muito involuntariamente, os homenzinhos que se desenham no meu pensamento a trocar estas breves palavras são exactamente os mesmo que surgiam quando eu era criança. a ingenuidade destas histórias descobre imagens que tínhamos já esquecido.

os olhos, se quiserem, podem ver tanta coisa.