1 January 2000
Material (en)

Material

Compare the phenomen of thought with the phenomen of burning. Does npt fire, the flame, appear enigmatic to us? And why the flame rather than the table? - And how do you explain this enigma? Adf how should the enigma of thought be solved? - And that of the flame? (Ludwig Wittgenstein) Stop your chattering. How would it be if the fixed stars were not even fixed, how could you then say that all truth is true? (Georg Christoph Lichtenberg) Concerto for brain solo - Sometimes I savour, with a tide of energy to the head, the pleasure of thinking for thinking's sake - pure thought -- thinking comparabale to the relaxation and concentration of a swimmer, moving freely through water of body temperature - (Paul Valéry) Apologia I cannot be a specialist. People may smile. You are neither poet, nor philosopher, nor geometer - nor anything else. You have explored nothing thoroughly. Waht right have you to speak of that which is not your lif's work? Alas, I am like the eye which sees what it sees. Its least movement changes the wall to clouds; cloud to clock; the clock to letters that speack. - Perhaps this is my specialitiy. (Paul Valéry) - What are you doing all day long? - I'm inventing myself. (Paul Valéry) In the brain there are compartements labelled: to be dealt with on the right day. - Not to be thought about. - More thorough research unnecessary. - Contents unchecked - useless matter. Recognized treasure but only to be explored in another life. - Urgent - Dangerous - Sensitive - Impossible - Abandoned - Reserved - For others! - My special strength - Difficult etc. - One might imagine that a further, connotative, thought is attached to each thought - an index card indicating, more or less, its age (of development), its relation to the present, its relation to reality, its estimated utility etc. - (Paul Valéry) A physical experiment which bangs is worth more than a silent one; one should always, therefore, pry that if Heaven allows us to discover something, it may be something that bangs. (Georg Christoph Lichtenberg)

on: Max Black (Music Theatre)