“There are two fundamental ways in which man can exist. His existence can be authentic or inauthentic. An inauthentic existence is one which the self is lost and scattered in its immediate concerns with the world and in which its possibilities are decided for it by the collective depersonalized mass of mankind – “das Man”, (the masses). The individual’s responsibility is taken away from him, he is deprived of his potentiality for Being, he is alienated from his genuine self. Resolutely accepting his “thrownwess”, (thrown into a situation) man takes upon himself responsibility for his existence, is liberated from the tyranny of things and of “das Man”, and projects himself upon his genuine possibilities.”  – John Macquarrie on Bultmann’s philosophy and theology in thought.

 

 

 

 

“Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there.”  – Henry Miller

 

stereo-realism

Detail of  “Birth of Enlightenment ”78” x 36” acrylic and oil on canvas © 2010 Michael Arcieri

A tedious painting technique that when viewed, the painting disorientates the optic nerve creating a sensation of vertigo or similar effect; for instance excessive alcohol consumption or substance abuse. 

Mi brother, mi Pessoa

 

 

“The whole of human tragedy is summed up in this tiny example of how the people we think about are never the people we think they are.”    – Fernando Pessoa

 

 

“Your ships, Lord, didn’t make a greater voyage than the one made by my thought, in the disaster of this book. They rounded no cape and sighted no far-flung beach – beyond what daring men had dared and what minds had dreamed – to equal the capes I rounded with my imagination and the beaches where I landed with my ….. thanks to your initiative, Lord, the Real World was discovered. The Intellectual World will be discovered thanks to mine. 

– Fernando Pessoa