Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.

Albert Camus, The Rebel

The acceptance of suffering as a proof of courage was the theme of primitive initiation rites in the distant past, and all such rites were at the same time ceremonies of death and resurrection. Men have by now forgotten the profound hidden struggle between consciousness and the body that exists in courage, and physical courage in particular. Consciousness is generally considered to be passive, and the active body to constitute the essence of all that is bole and daring; yet in the drama of physical courage the roles are, in fact, reversed. The flesh beats a steady retreat into its function of self-defense, while it is clearly consciousness that controls the decision that sends the body soaring into self-abandonment. It is the ultimate in clarity of consciousness that constitutes one of the strongest contributing factors in self-abandonment.

Yukio Mishima, Sun and Steel

The Alchemist,
Eduard Haaga, 1888

#redheadoftheday

il Guercino (It, 1591-1666) - La Madonna della Ghiara con San Pietro pentito, san Carlo Borromeo, un angelo e il donatore - 1618 - Pinacoteca Civica Il Guercino di Cento

“This house of mine is not haunted — it is very much alive. I fashioned it from splintered fragments, and it stands with a beauty both somber and steadfast, warm and watchful. Those phantoms you perceive are no restless spirits; they are but your own sorrows, stitched to the hem of your shadow, trailing you with the loyalty of grief wherever you may wander.”