Italian cognitive dissonance (apie vieną gurmanų klubą Vilniuje)

Est ardalionum quaedam Vilniuje natio, trepide concursans, occupata in otio, gratis anhelans, multa agendo nil agens
(Phaedrus)

Užupis, a district of Vilnius - the so-called Republic of Artists. There is a restaurant right there, in the centre of the little central square – a magnificent place, very close to the bridge that you incontrovertibly must cross arriving from Onos Bažnyčia.
This restaurant is well known in the Italian community of Vilnius, famous for illustrious gourmands. Big bellies, bad breath, satisfied faces, bright and vivid eyes yearning for food. They have the most elaborated possible philosophies regarding their stand with regard to traditional recipes, each of one consisting in a different universe: pasta alla puttanesca, carbonara, spaghetti alla amatriciana (one of the most vexed question: which is the original way to prepare the real pasta alla amatriciana? Eternally unsolved question, since are many heretical positions about it). Which wine with which course? How the right pesto alla genovese has to be done? They are ruthlessly fighting, opposing one dogma to another dogma. No jokes. Those are real problems, where no minimal oversight is allowed.
There is also a famous Facebook group, called Italian Gourmets in Vilnius, where scholarly talks and discussions about the above-mentioned themes are regularly held.
The tone of philosophical discussions is very high. One of the most recent debates in the posts of the group was “Does free will exists in elaborating recipes or is there any compatibilism?”

A detached observer (is it, anyway, possible a detached observer?) who randomly were sitting under the obelisk adjacent to the restaurant entrance should have the chance to watch them swarming back and forth from and to the restaurant would probably be under the impression to see a swarm of obnoxious insects aligned with the hope of food when waiting, with benign smiles on their visage after leaving.
Once I had a chat with one of the members. I realized how impeded he was to distinguish the world around him (Vilnius) and the world he left behind many years ago (Italy). They lived in one world but they still thought to live in the one they used to live before.

- You know this is my dividend of being excluded from Italian life.

Those words reminded me of other words: "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense?”
Inconsequential platitudes. Just inconsequential platitudes. That was the way those people were. Meaningless expression of platitudes.

I was a martial artist, I was not interested in food. Food for me was just a way of supplying my need for energy. I didn’t feel any particular pleasure when I ate.

But Italians in Vilnius, because of their persistence in their credo, reminded me of a philosophical distinction. The distinctions between hedgehog-thinkers and fox-thinkers.
Fox-thinkers without a unitary inner vision, hedgehog-thinkers with a unitary inner vision.
Italians were bearers of a single, universal message. They confined themselves to that exclusive activity. Eating.
They probably were foxes by nature but saw a better chance in being hedgehogs.

(To be continued...)

Poetry dwells near the divine light's breath

The comparison between poetry and divine light that we have proposed HERE finds its perfect explanation in Saint Paul, Epistle to the Romans 1:19: τ ὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ φανερόν ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς, ὁ θεὸς γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐφανέρωσεν — “that which may be known of God has been made manifest in them (in men), for God has manifested it unto them”. Poetry unveils within the human being the need to be human, that is, the need for Beauty, the need to feel Beauty within oneself and alongside oneself; and this feeling is sustained by divine light. Since we are influenced by the Augustinian idea of saeculum , we hold that poetry belongs to the saeculum and therefore comes to a halt upon the threshold of divine light [I] without crossing it, though perceiving the light that lies beyond that threshold. We are led to that threshold by the human feeling of Beauty that dwells within us and guides us to that point: to that door which cannot be crossed in our human condition. And yet, the mere act of stan...

Similarities between Lithuanian, Sanskrit and Ancient Greek: the sigmatic future

by Fabrizio Ulivieri Lithuanian is the most archaic among all the Indo-European languages spoken today, and as a result it is very useful, indeed, indispensable in the study of Indo-European linguistics. The most important fact is that Lithuanian is not only very archaic, but still very much alive, i. e., it is spoken by about three and a half million people. It has a rich tradition in folklore, in literature, and it is used very successfully in all walks of modern life, including the most advanced scientific research. Forced by our interest for this piece of living archaism, we go deeper in our linguistic survey. One of the most noticeable similarities is the future (- sigmatic future -). Lithuanian has preserved a future tense from prehistoric times: it has one single form, e.g. kalbė-siu 'I will speak', etc. kalbė-si kalbė-s kalbė-sime kalbė-site kalbė-s This form kalbėsiu is made from the stem kalbė-(ti) 'to speak', plus the ancient stem-end...

L'ombra del dharma

Può qualcuno nascondere la verità per tutta la sua vita e ingannare sé e tutti gli altri? Vi sono demoni nell'uomo, che vengono di lontano - per linee di sangue e generazioni che, se li ascolti, si fanno tuo dharma Se cerco di spiegare quello che eri Devo l' oltre e il prima guardare Dove cause ignote e foschi criteri Erano il karma del tuo andare. Di lí andavi larvato di nulla E mai il volto sincero mostravi. Di silenzio vivevi in una bolla Eppure libero a me sembravi. In pubblico e privato ti scindevi E disprezzavi me a te non pari Ma santo mi apparivi e tu sapevi. Del tuo dharma che adesso appari Eri schiavo - di quel lontano demone Tara remota e senza memoria Che nel sangue ti seguiva epigone E segnava immemore tua la storia.

Fabrizio Ulivieri - Content Creator

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