The Art of Climbing Mountains
René Daumal

My observations are those of a beginner. As they are completely fresh in my mind and concern the first difficulties a beginner encounters, they may be more useful to beginners making their first ascents than treatises written by professionals. These are no doubt more methodical and complete, but are intelligible only after a little preliminary experience. The entire aim of these notes is to help the beginner acquire this preliminary experience a little faster.

Alpinism is the art of climbing mountains by confronting the greatest dangers with the greatest prudence. Art is used here to mean the accomplishment of knowledge in action.

You cannot always stay on the summits. You have to come down again . . .

So what’s the point? Only this: what is above knows what is below, what is below does not know what is above. While climbing, take note of all the difficulties along your path. During the descent, you will no longer see them, but you will know that they are there if you have observed carefully.

There is an art to finding your way in the lower regions by the memory of what you have seen when you were higher up. When you can no longer see, you can at least still know. . .

Keep your eyes fixed on the way to the top, but don’t forget to look at your feet. The last step depends on the first. Don’t think you have arrived just because you see the peak. Watch your feet, be certain of your next step, but don’t let this distract you from the highest goal. The first step depends on the last.

When you take off on your own, leave some trace of your passage that will guide your return: one rock set on top of another, some grass pierced by a stick. But if you come to a place you cannot cross or that is dangerous, remember that the trace you have left might lead the people following you into trouble. So go back the way you came and destroy any traces you have left. This is addressed to anyone who wants to leave traces of his passage in this world. And even without wanting to, we always leave traces. Answer to your fellow men for the traces you leave behind.

Never stop on a crumbling slope. Even if you believe your feet are firmly planted, while you take a breath and looking at the sky the earth is gradually piling up under your feet, the gravel is slipping imperceptibly, and suddenly you are launched like a ship. The mountain always lies in wait for the chance to trip you up.

If, after climbing up and down three times through gullies that end in sheer drops (visible only at the last moment), your legs begin to tremble from knee to heel and your teeth start to chatter, first reach a little platform where you can stop safely; then, remember all the curse words you know and hurl them at the mountain, and spit on the mountain; finally, insult it in every way possible, swallow some water, have a bite to eat, and start climbing again, calmly, slowly, as if you had your whole lifetime to undo this bad move. In the evening, before going to sleep, when it all comes back to you, you will see then that it was just a performance. It wasn’t the mountain you were talking to, it wasn’t the mountain you conquered. The mountain is only rock or ice, with no ears or heart. But this performance may have saved your life.

Besides, in difficult moments, you’ll often surprise yourself talking to the mountain, sometimes flattering it, sometimes insulting it, sometimes promising, sometimes threatening. And you’ll imagine that the mountain answers, as if you had said the right words by speaking gently, by humbling yourself. Don’t despise yourself for this, don’t feel ashamed of behaving like those men our social scientists call primitives and animals. Just keep in mind when you recall these moments later that your dialogue with nature was only the outward image of a dialogue with yourself.

Shoes are not like feet—we are not born with them. Therefore we can choose them. Let yourself be guided in this choice first by experienced people, then by your own experience. Very quickly you will be so used to your shoes that every nail will seem like a finger, capable of testing the rock and gripping it firmly; they will become a sensitive and reliable tool, like a part of yourself. And yet you were not born with them; and yet, when they wear out, you will throw them away and remain what you are.

Your life somewhat depends on your footwear. Care for them properly, but a quarter of an hour per day will be plenty, for your life depends on several other things as well.

A climber far more experienced than I told me, “when your feet will no longer carry you, you have to walk with your head.” And that’s true. It is not, perhaps, in the natural order of things, but isn’t it better to walk with your head than to think with your feet, as often happens?

If you slip or have a minor spill, don’t interrupt your momentum but even as you right yourself recover the rhythm of your walk. Take note of the circumstances of your fall, but don’t allow your body to brood on the memory. The body always tries to make itself interesting by its shivers, its breathlessness, its palpitations, its shudders, sweats, and cramps. But it is very sensitive to its master’s scorn and indifference. If it feels he is not fooled by its jeremiads, if it understands that enlisting his pity is a useless effort, then it falls back into line and compliantly accomplishes its task.

(excerpt)

It was almost exactly a year since I'd seen Stacy last at my apartment in Atlanta.
She thought she wasn't going to be able to come to Canada, she tells me through a message...I laugh, a few encouraging words and one evil plan later...on her way to Indiana she was and then straight through to Canadian customs! Armed with her Tim Horton's gift certificate (which she would not give up so easily), Stacy was Toronto-bound! I met her in the parking lot....wait...I ran shreaking through the parking lot to greet her and after a long hug, yes Stacy, the kind that start to embarass you a little after too long, I was given 12-15 dresses and skirts to carry to the apartment. It felt like we had just rolled out of Pisgah and were getting ready for another weekend of debauchery!!! 45 minutes later, it was easy for Stacy to see, not too much had changed...she was dressed, ready, running on little sleep and food, helping me dress appropriately so we could make it to yet another social function! IT WAS GREAT. Partners in crime reunited on Canadian soil! Alas, unbeknownst to Stacy, she would soon be surrounded by...........a crap load of engineers....who were....VERY FUN!! hahaha WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST SUMMER NIGHT IN TORONTO STACY, SO GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK!!!...to be continued....

FÁBULA DE POLIFEMO Y GALATEA
Góngora
...
Donde espumoso el mar sicilïano
El pie argenta de plata al Lilibeo,
Bóveda o de las fraguas de Vulcano
O tumba de los huesos de Tifeo,
Pálidas señas cenizoso un llano,
Cuando no del sacrílego deseo,
Del duro oficio da. Allí una alta roca
Mordaza es a una gruta de su boca.
...

When I was little, bedtime was prized because I loved to be read to by my parents. I also loved reading to them. We'd put on my bedside lamp (I'm sure they hoped I'd fall asleep quickly...I was what you call a 'high energy' kid), and read. They're effort at the end of the day to read with me is probably why I'd always raise my hand in class to read aloud, even in french class.
Thanks Mum and Dad.

PS- ohhhh Enricooooooooooo.......

Top childhood and still 'now'hood favourites:

-Alice in Wonderland
-The Velveteen Rabbit
-The Chronicles of Narnia
-Beatrix Potter series
(...with Dad, Stephen King)

The Mock Turtle (Alice in Wonderland)
"We called him Tortoise because he taught us"

"A tiny bud of a smile on our lips nourishes awareness and calms us miraculously. It returns to us the peace we thought we had lost" Thich Nhat Hanh
--------

I read these points for the first time when Joy posted them and I enjoyed re-reading them today...

Instructions for Life in the new millennium from the Dalai Lama:

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, respect for others and responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of our values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go some place you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

As once the winged energy of delight

As once the winged energy of delight
carried you over childhood's dark abysses,
now beyond your own life build the great
arch of unimagined bridges.

Wonders happen if we can succeed
in passing through the harshest danger;
but only in a bright and purely granted
achievement can we realize the wonder.

To work with Things in the indescribable
relationship is not too hard for us;
the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
and being swept along is not enough.

Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two
contradictions...For the god
wants to know himself in you.

-R.M.Rilke

"there are no shortcuts to any place worth going" carmela toninelo

will elaborate on:
1.bus ride next to/conversation with hungarian teenage girl on St. Clair Ave. Is there a 'simple' person?
2.you complain that I steal covers, big smile and evil grin. perfection is overrated.
3.which books to bring? anybody going to italy and got a spare suitcase?
4.carmela. in my thoughts almost daily. "why the world has to be so big?"

Yesterday, friday, the Rabbi was away so they gave me his Hallah bread, which is the braided loaf baked for shabbat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challah). I used it for toast this morning!
Then, last night I went with Joan and Isabelle, Genevieve and Simon to the Italian consulate gardens to watch "Una moglie bellissima"...a comical life-gone-wrong-then-levelled out type movie. I had seen the signs for the movie back in January with Enrico in Firenze and been interested since then. There were so many people in lawn chairs last night though that it made it near impossible for us to read the subtitles. Thank God my level of italian combined with the humour of the movie allowed me to enjoy it, and the rest, well, they peeked in and out of chairs...and at times, even umbrellas as it sprinkled rain a bit.
I've included also a pic that I found through facebook of the Priceville footbridge from 1946! The year my Dad was born, wild!

ITALIA
Highs and Lows

High: Our bathing suit gifts from Enrico

High: Getting into the subway washroom...for free...

Low: Having water jet out at my feet and almost ruin my shoes, in the dark, in the subway washroom because I tried to enter 'for free'...and then having an attendant look at me as i exited, soggy shoes and all...

High: Having a new pair of flip flops to change into after the subway-escapade

JULY 13, 2008

FELIZ DIA DE TU SANTO!!!!!

AUGURI ENRICO!!!! tanti baci!!!

ecco amor...la tua maglia 'GO BLUE JAYS'!!!

Stacy and Kate. enter subway. order sub. you know when you get that s-t-r-a-n-g-e feeling that sooooooomeone is looking at you? ya. I turn to the couple behind me and the older man starts stating, your Irish and British aren't you....I can tell from your ear pattern, there are only 42 ear patterns...and you are a professional, and....he continued to talk about my past and what I'm like....and....THAT IT IS LIKELY I WILL HAVE TWINS....whoa. He got some things right, and the rest...pretty obvious...Stacy told me this is a pseudo science called phrenology...judging characteristics based on physical features...wildness. And that was the start of our day!
HA!

ITALIA
Highs and Lows

High: coming out from baggage in Roma and seeing Enrico (con wild hair)

High: our very late night art party with our art maestro, Amanda

Low: the loss of Amanda's arm warmers (known to some as, donkey socks)

High: Ludovica LOVED her bubble machine

High: Signor Pietro always bring oodles of fruit and dessert!!

High: Giorgio (mio fratellino e nostro fotografo personale) and Fabio (instant confidant, what a gaze...)

High: taking pictures in the CRAZY PASTA AISLE with Fabio and Amanda!

High: Enrico's matrix-like maneuvers about the soccer ball on the field

High: Amanda and Kate, digging through a trash can...then laughing hysterically and confusing the locals...we're very busy

Low: banging my head into a wall

High: what came before banging my head into a wall

High: having a BBQ with friends and Enrico's parents

High: getting to do the morning 'stretch' work out with the soccer team

Low: hearing more about the break in at Alessandro's and Maria Giulia's

High: Gaia telling me she loved me

High: spooning with the scemo

High: hanging out with Amanda, my door locking/drinking team mate


I've got more....piano piano...let your highs and lows roll please

It was fun that during Father Ken's sermon he mentioned having met a charismatic southern Episcopalian pastor and I immediately thought of Benno, the pastor at the Church I attended in Atlanta, Georgia.
Father Ken spoke of how this Pastor's personality shone and his way to speak invigorated.
Effectively, Benno:
Talk of existentialism, a swear word every now and again and a passion for outreach. I thought after hearing Benno a few times, yep, we will get along.

Below is the link to the Sermon Father Ken gave when my Mum and I visited St. James in London July 6th.

It was great to see Father Ken again. I couldn't believe it as I sat there with my Mum...it had been about 9 years since we'd last seen him. Not only did I get to spend a few quality hours with my Mum on a gorgeously bright Sunday but we got to catch up with Ken and meet Mark, hear of Hillary and Richard....

http://www.saintjameswestminster.ca/sermons/080706.pdf

A mirror never lies, Kate, and neither does time and space as a reflection of what you're thinking.
If you put it out there, it has to come back. No matter how much it weighs, glitters, or costs.
It's the law -
The Universe

You can have, do, or be anything, Kate: the fairest in the land, fearless at sea, popular among natives, capable of pulling ability to be realistics out of a hat... Why are you making that face?