Oswald Spengler

Of Breath and Spirit of Time

Do we want to change and can we?

When a German philosopher Oswald Spengler published the first volume of his book The Decline of the West in 1918 and then the second volume in 1923, the book was a great success, but it also brought about a real intellectual shock and ruckus in various circles of Western European society. As it often happens in the lives of many great thinkers and prophets, it is only after their death – when time itself is shifted to a new time – that people slowly begin to discover the truth of their words and wonder at them.

Happy Birthday!

Fear

Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931)

Beauty and the Illiterate

Odysseus Elytis (1911–1996)

Often, in the Repose of Evening her soul took a lightness from
the mountains across, although the day was harsh and
tomorrow foreign.

But, when it darkened well and out came the priest’s hand over
the little garden of the dead, She

Alone, Standing, with the few domestics of the night – the blowing
rosemary and the murmur of smoke from the kilns –
at sea’s entry, wakeful

Otherly beauty!

The Cry That Takes Us Back to the Cradle

“The entire Metohija is my cradle – its winds intertwined with the sound of the bells coming from the monasteries of Zočište, the Holy Archangels, the Visoki Dečani, and the Patriarchate of Peć, sway me and prevent me from slipping into the dream of oblivion. They reawaken me and rock me gently from the Šar to Prokletije Mountains.” – Olivera Radić

Interview – Olivera Radić: Serbian Language and Literature teacher in Orahovac (Kosovo and Metohija), chronicler, journalist, humanist
Author: Nataša Dinić

In many different historical eras, just like in the Contemporary Era, numerous human kingdoms have done a lot of harm to peaceful peoples such as the Serbian people and their Church in Kosovo and Metohija.

The Battle of Kosovo is not over yet and all Serbian battles for the defense of Orthodoxy and Serbiandom are woven into it. All Serbs, wherever they lived, are appealed to and invoked to cherish the Kosovo Covenant – written by God’s hand – as their spiritual root, a gift and a pledge, and to treasure it as their cradle.

Sonnet VI

Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374)

I once beheld on earth celestial graces
And heavenly beauties scarce to mortals known,
Whose memory yields nor joy nor grief alone,
But all things else in cloud and dreams effaces.
I saw how tears had left their weary traces
Within those eyes that once the sun outshone,
I heard those lips, in low and plaintive moan,
Breathe words to stir the mountains from their places.
Love, wisdom, courage, tenderness, and truth
Made in their mourning strains more high and dear
Than ever wove soft sounds for mortal ear;
And heaven seemed listening in such saddest ruth
The very leaves upon the bough to soothe,
Such sweetness filled the blissful atmosphere.

Translated by Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1903)

Photo: Courtesy of Annie Spratt / Unsplash

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943)

Merry Christmas

To all Christians who celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian (New) Calendar we wish the very best for Christmas!

Wood

The most robust element, of the five basic ones, is Wood. The element of Wood shows its sturdiness in the growth of grass through a concrete slab, in the steadfastness of conifers on the top of a windy, icy mountain, and in the seeds that crack in the sun and heat and give new life.

Wood is a symbol of new beginnings and unwavering perseverance, but also flexibility.