In Passing

[poliphilo]

1. Zhaim-next-door must be teething. He woke us at seven, poor lamb (grrrr).  Ailz- who had been in bed (with breaks) since teatime yesterday got up but I stayed in bed for another hour and dreamed I was leafing through an anthology of extracts from little-known Elizabethan plays.

2. Michael Wood's History of India has reached the Moghul Emperors. Why are golden ages always so brief? What is it about a golden age that makes it unsustainable? The Emperor Akhbar was an extraordinary man who created- or started to create- a society remarkable for its justice and religious tolerance.  Elizabeth I- writing  from "these islands at the edge of the world" (is that really how she saw her England?)- commended his "humanity". How many rulers in any age have been commendable  for their humanity? His successors weren't up to the mark and the great enterprise slid into corruption and social division, leaving the door wide open for the people from the islands at the edge of the world to march in and institute their own age of iron. Wood will be dealing with them next week. 

3. My daughter's article about growing up around witches has been published and is available online here

Comments

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

2. Perhaps humans are so hardwired for competition that even in golden ages there are people striving to have more (money, finances, power, fame) than their fellow man? Maybe equity and balance are just too frustrating and boring for us.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That would seem to be the lesson of history.

People are funny buggers.

[happydog.livejournal.com]

re: your daughter's article: I can't seem to work out how to use "Page Suite" - big chunks of it are cut off. Can I download it anywhere?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I had that problem too.

I don't think a download is possible. I guess you could try printing it off.

[mokie]

I think it's a bit like being the kid in the middle of the blanket trampoline. Everyone lifts, and you're going upupup, and then for a glorious second you're just hanging in midair--and then you plummet to earth again.

I think societies push and push and push and hit a moment where it feels perfect and glorious and effortless, but it's really just the moment at the end of the ascent, just before gravity strikes.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I really love that image.