Polonius:

What is the matter, my lord?

Hamlet:

Between who?

Polonius:

I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

Hamlet:

Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men

have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging

thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful

lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all which, sir, though

I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty

to have it thus set down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if

like a crab you could go backward.

Polonius:

[Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.

*****

Thinking vs. Feeling

Is it possible to be perfectly reasonable, logical, coherent, and yet make no sense?

I'm going to Madrid tonight. The main reason for this trip is to see Goya's paintings in the Museo del Prado where I will go everyday except on Monday, when it is closed. But it is open on Sunday all day, and free, so... that's where I'll be, not Mass. (Btw, are these two things really so different? This is really an aside from the main points in this post but for future comment-- is art the only religion which can now be practiced without any 'shame' among the intelligentsia?--)

Goya: because his paintings give me, in a v quick though deep way, in a flash, the sensation that there might be something in what I said above (about logic and senselessness, not museum opening days...) To me, Goya knew that no matter how well-argued a point can be, if it doesn't make sense in one's gut, it doesn't make sense at all. Of course, it can make intellectual sense, moral sense, personal sense, but what is all that without belief? Faith in one's own point? Not much. Feel free to disagree but isn't it the case that having the courage of one's conviction is a v important element in any debate or contention but, as Saint Paul said:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become [as] sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Corinthians 13:1

And how can one even have convictions solely through endless rationalizations? For example, the "trickle-down" theory may even make sense if explained by someone who's apt enough at that sort of sophistry. I know plenty of people who are. Any argument, position, opinion, can make sense, provided it's well-reasoned. Where does the conviction that one is right and another is wrong come from in that case?

My opinion is that it comes from one's gut, one's core. This is not to say that one's gut ought to be the only lighthouse guiding one through a storm at sea. A compass clearly helps.

However, in a v real sense, there are no two ways about it: we either feel it to be true. It is how we have come to evolve from Neanderthals all the way through to Homo sapiens sapiens. Perhaps we should stop adding 'sapiens' to the end of another sapiens ad queaseum and consider how we can remain beings who feel and create, which is I think the only thing that makes us different from a cow or a flea, while also thinking and trying to make sense of the world around us.

Luìs de Camões, arguably the greatest Portuguese poet of all time, said, in intertextual communion (as opposed to cheap, common plagiarism which, btw, is an idea that didn't even exist in the XV century...) with St Paul's sentiment:

"Ainda que falasse a lìngua dos homens, e falasse a lìngua dos anjos, sem amor eu nada seria."

When have feelings ever made a lot of sense? Perhaps in poetry, in good poetry, they can. Even in novels they don't always resemble anything we might understand intellectually, so why should one expect to make any sense of them with one's mind even while one sees they're often in direct contradiction with one's 'sensible' considerations?

This is then where Goya comes in. When I first saw this drawing sometime in the past two years, this idea struck me at once. It is possible to understand the "message" of the painting-- insofar as there is one and provided I have in fact been able to grasp it correctly-- once one stops to consider the implications of the caption. Goya, embodiment of true avant-gardism, knew even then the power of a good phrase that makes one think combined with a powerful image. Marxists and fundie materialists: are we really automatons?

Think about the reasons why the Cuban Revolution is still far more popular (and still in place) than the Red October Revolution. Could it be because the Cubans did not attempt to deny humans their humanity?

"The Sleep of Reason produces monsters."