The wise Confucius

Even Google gives importance to the person of Confucius:(Chinese: 孔子; pinyin: Kǒng zǐ; Wade-Giles: K'ung-tzu, or Chinese: 孔夫子; pinyin: Kǒng Fūzǐ; Wade-Giles: K'ung-fu-tzu), lit. "Master Kong,"(traditionally September 28, 551 B.C.E. – 479 B.C.E.) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese thought and life.

His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism (法家) or Taoism (道家) during the Han Dynasty(206 B.C.E. – 220 C.E.). Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism (儒家). It was introduced to Europe by the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first to Latinise the name as "Confucius."

His teachings may be found in the Analects of Confucius (論語), a collection of "brief aphoristic fragments", which was compiled many years after his death. Modern historians do not believe that any specific documents can be said to have been written by Confucius,[citation needed] but for nearly 2,000 years he was thought to be the editor or author of all the Five Classics (五經)such as the Classic of Rites (禮記) (editor), and the Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋).

Here are some of his wise quotes:

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

Chose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

In a country well governed poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated.

To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness.

We take greater pains to persuade others we are happy than in trying to think so ourselves.

Do not be desirous of having things done quickly. Do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.

What is your favorite quote?

art is my life

It's time to wake up!

On Monday, September 21, Avaaz members and TckTckTck Campaign partners sent a deafening wake-up call on climate change to world leaders--with 2632 events in 134 countries, tens of thousands of phone calls crashing government lines, and an unbelievable creativity and diversity of events... directly reaching heads of state and cabinet ministers from Australia to Europe. Words can't describe it. This video comes close.

Charles Ray was born today

When Charles was born his mother was very happy. She had a tragedy in her family and then another one because his son Charles got blind. But she was very strong and that's the reason why Ray Charles was so great...

"We do not see the world the way it is.

We see the world the way we think it is."

Nick Owen

Personal responsability

A Sultan invited a mullah to go hunting with him and his entourage. But he gave the mullah a camel that was very slow indeed. The mullah said nothing about this. Soon the hunt had left the mullah far behind and after a short time was completely out of sight. Then it began to rain. It rained very hard indeed.

All the members of the hunt got completely soaked. The mullah, on the other hand, quickly dismounted, took off all his clothes, folded them into a neat pile, and sat on them under the camel for the duration of the storm.

When the storm abated, he dressed himself and returned to the Sultan’s palace for lunch. The Sultan and his entourage were amazed that the mullah was completely dry, for even with the speed of their camels they had been unable to find any shelter on the plain. They looked at the mullah with suspicion.

“It was because of the camel you gave me,” he said.

The next day, the mullah was given the fastest camel, and the Sultan took the slow one. Once again it rained. The Sultan, stranded in the middle of the plain, on a camel that moved at the speed of a tortoise, got absolutely drenched. The mullah, on the other hand, repeated the same procedure as the day before. When he returned to the palace he was as dry as a bone.
“This is all your fault,” sneezed the Sultan, “for persuading me to ride this snail of a camel.”
“Perhaps,” replied the mullah, “you took no personal responsibility for the problem of staying dry.”
General source: Sufi tradition

Storytelling

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning, while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hang the wash outside.

"That laundry is not very clean", she said, "she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap".

Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look! She has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."
The husband said: "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows!"And so it is with life: "What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look. Before we give any criticism, it might be a good idea to check our state of mind and ask ourselves if we are ready to see the good rather than to be looking for something in the person we are about to judge. (from Stitching the world together)

A beautiful voice

Do you like her voice?
Whose is it?
Do you know any changes in her life?

Oh, my life is changing everyday,

In every possible way.
And oh, my dreams, it's never quiet as it seems,
Never quiet as it seems.

I know I've felt like this before, but now I'm feeling it even
more,
Because it came from you.
And then I open up and see the person falling here is me,
A different way to be.

Ah, la da ah...
La...

I want more impossible to ignore,
Impossible to ignore.
And they'll come true, impossible not to do,
Impossible not to do.

And now I tell you openly, you have my heart so don't hurt me.
You're what I couldn't find.
A totally amazing mind, so understanding and so kind;
You're everything to me.

Oh, my life,
Is changing every day,
In every possible way.

And oh, my dreams,
It's never quiet as it seems,
'Cause you're a dream to me,
Dream to me.

Ah, da, da da da, da, la...


W.H.Davies (1870-1940) in his Songs of joy (1911) expresses another idea of life. Compare it with the previous one.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long, as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars like skies st night.

No time to turn at Beauty 's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

As homework leave a comment about Davies' poem

International Gothic

International Gothic is one of those expressions relating to the late period of the gothic art involving different countries in Europe united by the same style.

In painting it is famous the Wilton dyptych (1395-9) typical for the representation of religious and secular details at the royal courts, the good taste for the beauty of the well-educated classes. This new tendency is also expressed in the use of refined objects such as jewel caskets, tapestries from the Flanders and cards.
In architecture Gothic perpendicular is what we find in England from the second half of the XIV century with the building of the highest towers and roofs never seen in order to wonder public and to reach the hights of divinity.
Westminster Hall in London, King's College Chapel, in Cambridge, HenryVII's Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey in London, Bath Abbey and Winchester Cathedral nave are just an example of such marvellous views.
The new style involved not only the religious but also the secular works as you can se in Westminster Hall

                                                                                                                                      

London, 


Westminster Abbey,

                                                              

Henry VII Lady Chapel, 

                                                                            

1502-1509, 

Fan-vaulting ceiling 

September Eleven 2001

What remains of that day is Ground Zero, the big
space where nobody wants to do anything but

remember the many falling victims, dead without
knowing why.

We all remember the passenger's last mobile call to his wife from the crashing plane.

We all cannot forget.


We all do not accept the true truth about that day.

The USA want to remember in silence to be respectful of all those people directly involved in that tragedy and towards themselves.

Here you can see the pictures taken from the official
photographer Gary Suson.

Teaching Skills: What 21st Century Educators Need To Learn To Survive

It is time for school, but what kind of school? Is teachers' class ready to face the new kids?

The first question is : are teachers digital users? because the new students are digital natives and just some of their teachers are digital immigrants.

What does it mean? The way of learning has changed in the new students and they get bored with ancient methods of teaching, I mean, chronological reading, page after page. They prefer jumping from a content to another one connected to it using the same tool that is personal computer.
So it is very hard to communicate with people who do not use pen and pencil while studying.
It is really another world.
But try to experience that kids' world and you'll enjoy yourself, you'll feel nearer to them and then they'll be able to learn what you teach.

Freedom of the Press

The essential element for a democracy in a state is freedom. How can you see it living in a country?
The main basis is the freedom of the word, the possibility citizens can speak up their own thoughts, opinions, critics about politics, economics, government, health care and so on everywhere without any fear of being arrested. The following step is being able to write opinions and critics on newspapers. Press represents one of the pillars of a democratic constitution that generates the so called Freedom of the Press.
It is very interesting to notice that in year 2007 Italy was ranked at 64th position and it was declared completely free, but in 2009 it has slipped down at 73rd position and declared partly free. What has happened in two years? What is the reason why something has changed?

A piece of History

It was 70 years ago, 1st September 1939, when Hitler ordered to invade Polen and the II World War started.


50 years later Solidarnosc was born to fight against communism whose result was the Fall of the Wall (November 1989) that divided Western Europe countries from the Eastern ones.

Gdansk was the town for starting the II World War and the start of the revolution that ended up the Cold War to build that Europe, we now should begin to know meeting people from the eastern countries and trying to learn their history.
Today the celebrations to tie up relationships between West and East again and build Europe as a whole country of different people.