Freud is not really my choice for a good book to read, but a good book can transport you away from all of your troubles into another world of possibilities.
Category Archives: Moment of Zen
Moment of Zen: Thumbs Up
The Latin phrase pollice verso is used in the context of gladiatorial combat for a hand gesture used by Ancient Roman crowds to pass judgment on a defeated gladiator. However, the type of gesture described by the phrase pollice verso and its meaning is unclear in the historical and literary record.
In modern popular culture, it is assumed that “thumbs down” was the signal that a defeated gladiator should be condemned to death; “thumbs up”, that he should be spared, a view popularized by a widely reproduced painting by the 19th-century artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, whose Pollice Verso (usually known in English as “Thumbs Down”) depicts a triumphant gladiator looking up into the stands for the verdict of the crowd.
To see the painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, click to see more below and go to the second part of the post.
Moment of Zen: Body, Remember….
Body, Remember….C.P. Cavafy
Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds you lay on,
but also those desires that glowed openly
in eyes that looked at you,
trembled for you in the voices—
only some chance obstacle frustrated them.
Now that it’s all finally in the past,
it seems almost as if you gave yourself
to those desires too—how they glowed,
remember, in eyes that looked at you,
remember, body, how they trembled for you in those voices.
(C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992)
Moment of Zen: The Kiss of Life
Rocco Morabito won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Spot Photography for this photograph – “The Kiss of Life.”
Apprentice lineman J.D. Thompson is breathing life into the mouth of another apprentice lineman, Randall G. Champion, who hangs unconscious after receiving a jolt of high voltage.
Morabito was driving on West 26th Street in July 1967 on another assignment when he saw Champion dangling from the pole. He called an ambulance and grabbed his camera.
Champion recovered.
Moment of Zen: The Key to Life
This picture is of a Corbin Fisher model, Nick. When they asked him in his interview why he wore a key around his neck, he stated that it was a blank key and it was to remind him of all the possibilities in life. He said that this key was to remind him that he could open any door to opportunity. I always found that a beautiful idea, not to mention that he is a beautiful guy.
Moment of Zen: Blue Plaid
His beauty just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, and he looks so comfortable and content.
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The Closet Professor 