They know that I know that they know nothing!!!!!!
That was the famous answer that a friend, actually a very close friend, gave me a few years ago when I asked him why he suddenly was not being considered for an important position anymore, or for a new job, or for even for a guest appearance just when he was reaching his highest level of competence, the total control of his potential.
That was the famous answer that a friend, actually a very close friend, gave me a few years ago when I asked him why he suddenly was not being considered for an important position anymore, or for a new job, or for even for a guest appearance just when he was reaching his highest level of competence, the total control of his potential.
Some people turn their backs when they see them, or ignore them ,or act sometimes as though they don’t recognize them or even know them…
They are disturbing the new order of things, they are preventing the world from functioning according to new rules they have set up, they are pushed away from all possible important decisions…
It seems that today to get ahead in the new society, in politics, in business, or in the arts, you must know NOTHING for the terrible reason that you should not and will not bring with you an old world, old methods, or an old style.
They believe that the less you know, the more inventive you can be, the more creative and the more adequate you are in order to fit in with the surrounding mediocrity and that then you will bring new ways.
My friend may have been bitter or dissatisfied by the turn of events in his life or couldn't admit that a time comes when we have to accept to put our weapons on the table, look at the changing world with a smile of tenderness or with a wink meaning ” I know, I was there before”.
But recently his statement came back to me very vigorously, and I am asking the same questions because the world we are living in seems to be more and more in realm of his thoughts…
Or perhaps because I am becoming like him.
NOTHING!!!!
It seems that today to know or to have references based on history is obscene and against the new world…
We find individuals in key positions with no experience, no culture, no background, no desire to improve and they believe this is inventive, and that by acting this way, the followers, the ordinary men and women will feel safe and will accept their so called great ideas to reinvent the world and will even protect them.
We find individuals in key positions with no experience, no culture, no background, no desire to improve and they believe this is inventive, and that by acting this way, the followers, the ordinary men and women will feel safe and will accept their so called great ideas to reinvent the world and will even protect them.
I remember the time when someone who was a real leader in ANYTHING was the one who had the gift to surround himself with people who knew more in their department than he did. The leader knew enough about every aspect of his work to be able to discuss with his associates….and then the leader could make the final decision, have the last word and under his guidance everyone would go ahead in the right constructive direction…
It seems that now, too often, things function the opposite way, everything is filled by a crowd of people who know nothing led by somebody who knows even less, and everybody navigates floating in the mirage of appearance.
And these people with no experience or background or knowledge and worse without the desire to learn, lead other people…
This system has created the so-called new way of looking at things. We no longer try to understand human feelings, human souls, human hearts, social dramas and joys, relationships, we just disguise all this by a so-called new approach attempting to reveal a new way of understanding.
In my profession, this situation may be the worst…I sometimes find myself guilty of falling in this trap… and we see more and more, actually almost as a rule, some truly unbelievably silly things…
The child of Butterfly in the Puccini opera is a puppet, Scarpia is Mussolini or a Maffia boss from the suburbs of Palermo, the chorus of Manon is a bunch of people dressed in tuxedo instead of the popular crowd of Paris, the men in Rigoletto are disguised and made up as lady bugs and I have seen some operas set in toilets or in a subway or anywhere except where the story dictates … and the list is infinite…
In order not to be “passé”, in order not to be considered as a “routine”, they have to become irrelevant and even silly.
This system has created the so-called new way of looking at things. We no longer try to understand human feelings, human souls, human hearts, social dramas and joys, relationships, we just disguise all this by a so-called new approach attempting to reveal a new way of understanding.
In my profession, this situation may be the worst…I sometimes find myself guilty of falling in this trap… and we see more and more, actually almost as a rule, some truly unbelievably silly things…
The child of Butterfly in the Puccini opera is a puppet, Scarpia is Mussolini or a Maffia boss from the suburbs of Palermo, the chorus of Manon is a bunch of people dressed in tuxedo instead of the popular crowd of Paris, the men in Rigoletto are disguised and made up as lady bugs and I have seen some operas set in toilets or in a subway or anywhere except where the story dictates … and the list is infinite…
In order not to be “passé”, in order not to be considered as a “routine”, they have to become irrelevant and even silly.
When we go to the Louvres Museum in Paris, do they distribute special glasses at the entrance, so we can see the painting of LA GIOCONDA in red and blue, or in three dimensions?
Is The THINKER by RODIN dressed in a military costume in order to make him relevant to our times?
What if we were projecting on a Rubens painting the images of the red Sea?
What if we were translating a novel by Goethe in the strongest English slang?
What if we were listening to a Beethoven Symphony performed by some rappers?
What if pasta was cooked on a grill?
What if cars had 3 wheels?
A friend sent to me recently a copy of this letter sent by Beckett in 1973
Beckett was not always the genius we believe he was…
While he was my god, my inspiration and my intellectual guide in the sixties, I met him in 1967 in Paris, and it turned out being the most incredibly disappointing experience of my life.
I spent 2 hours with him and another friend, the actor Lucien Raimbourg who created the part of Estragon in Waiting for Godot….
I have related this encounter in my book “The Shattered Sky”. It was indeed a low moment, but life taught me later that Beckett was just a man and should not be put on a pedestal, there is Beckett the writer of genius and Beckett the man.
The following words are screamed by Faust before he called Satan…
Is The THINKER by RODIN dressed in a military costume in order to make him relevant to our times?
What if we were projecting on a Rubens painting the images of the red Sea?
What if we were translating a novel by Goethe in the strongest English slang?
What if we were listening to a Beethoven Symphony performed by some rappers?
What if pasta was cooked on a grill?
What if cars had 3 wheels?
A friend sent to me recently a copy of this letter sent by Beckett in 1973
Beckett was not always the genius we believe he was…
While he was my god, my inspiration and my intellectual guide in the sixties, I met him in 1967 in Paris, and it turned out being the most incredibly disappointing experience of my life.
I spent 2 hours with him and another friend, the actor Lucien Raimbourg who created the part of Estragon in Waiting for Godot….
I have related this encounter in my book “The Shattered Sky”. It was indeed a low moment, but life taught me later that Beckett was just a man and should not be put on a pedestal, there is Beckett the writer of genius and Beckett the man.
The following words are screamed by Faust before he called Satan…
RIEN… EN VAIN J’INTERROGE EN MON ARDENTE VEILLE LA NATURE ET LE CREATEUR, PAS UNE VOIX NE GLISSE EN MON OREILLE UN MOT CONSOLATEUR.
NOTHING…
IN VAIN I QUESTION IN MY SLEEPNESS NIGHTS NATURE AND THE CREATOR, NOT ONE VOICE WHISPERS IN MY EAR A COMFORTING WORD.
And He adds: “Nothing…I see nothing, I know nothing, nothing, nothing.”
He tried all the good ways and the purity of asking questions, he tried the innocence of Knowledge, and he tried to be respectful of his culture and his belief...
and the result was… HIM screaming:” nothing “
So, he turned the other way, and called in the devil…
So, he turned the other way, and called in the devil…
Can we say that we are living in a similar period? We have to try Satan in order to continue to exist?
But of course we will use a new way of calling Satan …reinvent everything, recast the basics of our world, recreate human relations, political order, artistic values?
And should we believe that the silly and dangerous period we are living is only a moment, hopefully a transition?
And soon, we will be ourselves again….I don’t know what anymore.
But we need to try to live in these surroundings and with these new laws of our society.
But of course we will use a new way of calling Satan …reinvent everything, recast the basics of our world, recreate human relations, political order, artistic values?
And should we believe that the silly and dangerous period we are living is only a moment, hopefully a transition?
And soon, we will be ourselves again….I don’t know what anymore.
But we need to try to live in these surroundings and with these new laws of our society.
THEY KNOW THAT I KNOW THAT THEY KNOW NOTHING…
Do we have to lie?
Do we have to lie?
Do we have to fake?
Do we have to disguise ourselves in order not to be transparent and then play the games?
Can we be transparent and show what we know and be ignored and lose all opportunities of making progress in our profession or in life?
Can we be transparent and show what we know and be ignored and lose all opportunities of making progress in our profession or in life?
Can we spend our entire life denying the changes, negative for us, to protect ourselves?
Until when are we going to ask questions about this and that because we do not understand the mechanism of the new society?
Will we perpetually wonder why this one or that one is more successful when we believe we are better, we know more, we are more talented, more dedicated, more anything and everything?
How can we deal with those who are pushing us aside because we know?
What choice do we have?
Should we lie to ourselves?
Will we perpetually wonder why this one or that one is more successful when we believe we are better, we know more, we are more talented, more dedicated, more anything and everything?
How can we deal with those who are pushing us aside because we know?
What choice do we have?
Should we lie to ourselves?
Should we decide that we know nothing!
Should we melt in the surrounding mediocrity and when we are in a position of power or when we reach the desired point of our life, be back to ourselves and show THAT WE KNOW??????
By doing that taking the risks of losing other possibilities of achieving more or even continuing in our successes?
Or should we persist in our truth and become a Pariah?
I LET YOU DECIDE.
Should we melt in the surrounding mediocrity and when we are in a position of power or when we reach the desired point of our life, be back to ourselves and show THAT WE KNOW??????
By doing that taking the risks of losing other possibilities of achieving more or even continuing in our successes?
Or should we persist in our truth and become a Pariah?
I LET YOU DECIDE.
