{Left-Handers}[11th November 1990]

[Redbook8:110][19901111:1535b]{Left-Handers}[11th November 1990]

.1535

[continued]

*‘Older mothers have more left-handed babies’. Possibly because left-handedness has been shown to increase with birth-stress. There is also (the article records) ‘a range of problems which left-handers experience more than right-handers do – for instance, sleep disruptions, migraine, headaches and allergies. They also tend on average to reach sexual maturity a few months later than right-handers’; and ‘“overall, the left-handers run** about a half-inch shorter and about 3 pounds lighter than the right-handed....”’ The last feature could be due to the next-to-last. Unlike animals, nine out of ten individuals are right-handed.***

****

*N[ew] S[cientist] 19900721.127:1726

**[sic, apparently]

***[The paragraph ends with a closing quote mark ’ in the ms but it is not clear where that quote began]

****[The writer later discovered from his education file that at the age of about four he was discovered to be left-handed but was quickly re-educated into right-handedness]

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[Firewalking][11th November 1990]

[Redbook8:110][19901111:1535][Firewalking][11th November 1990]

.1535

(I am skimming through unread copies of New Scientist for the 3^rd quarter.)

(Note. N[ew] S[cientist] 19900714.127.1725:64:* S Blackmore ‘Playing with fire’ – the scientific explanation for firewalking)

*[sic; ‘127’ inserted in ms. cf next entry ref]

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{Egyptian Symbols [continued]}[11th November 1990]

[Redbook8:109][19901111:1123c]{Egyptian Symbols [continued]}[11th November 1990]

19901111.1123

[continued]

‘Representations of the king as a powerful lion or * a strong bull are often repeated in [Egyptian] Dynastic times.’**

***

*{U~,J~}

**[ie c3100bce to (presumably) 30bce]

***E[ncylopaedia of] V[isual] A[rt] 29

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{Egyptian Symbols}[11th November 1990]

[Redbook8:109][19901111:1123b]{Egyptian Symbols}[11th November 1990]

19901111.1123

[continued]

On the Stela of Mentuhotep, [Middle Kingdom Egypt] c2050-1750bce, Mentuhotep is shown gazing into a lotus of the perfect 8-petalled form.*

**

*{☼}

**E[ncylopaedia of] V[isual] A[rt] 26

[continued]

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[Wagner’s Aliens revisited][11th November 1990]

[Redbook8:109][19901111:1123][Wagner’s Aliens revisited][11th November 1990]

19901111.1123

(Watched Wagner ‘Sigfried’ Act II,* BBC2TV [19901110]1940)

(I also watched ‘Aliens’ afterwards, which was a mistake, as I have been struggling to suppress a mild dose of ’flu: and during a hot, restless and uncomfortable night I relived, and varied, the film in unpleasantly realistic detail....)

*[See [Redbook8:87][19901104:2348]{The Ring Cycle (3)}[4th November 1990]]

[→ [Redbook8:115][19901117:2216]{Divine Giddiness}*[17th November 1990]]

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{The 19th & 20th Century Artist}[10th November 1990]

[Redbook8:109][19901110:1128b]{The 19^th & 20^th Century Artist}[10th November 1990]

19901110.1128

[continued]

‘A characteristic feature of artistic activity in the 19^th & 20^th Centuries* is that no generalisations about the status of of the artist can be made. Trends are divergent and often completely contradictory.’**

*{512A~→R~

2048R~→C}

**– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 14:113]

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{Low Drama}*[10th November 1990]

[Redbook8:109][19901110:1128]{Low Drama}*[10th November 1990]

19901110.1128

‘Only** in the France of Louis XIV did the dramatist attain the status of an honoured man of letters, and then only by adhering to the rigidly defined neoclassical standards of dramaturgy.’***

(On the other hand, Rubens, Bernini and Velázquez seemed to have achieved equivalent status without equivalent adherence to formulae.)****

*[cf last previous entry title]

**(ie with reference to the Renaissance & Baroque periods)

***– ibid, [Encyclopaedia Britannica 14:] 113

****per ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 14:113]

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{High Music}[8th November 1990]

[Redbook8:108][19901108:2233e]{High Music}[8th November 1990]

.2233

[continued]

‘The musician of antiquity. Much is known about the musician in antiquity, although practically none of the music itself has survived. There is considerable testimony to show that music itself apparently was considered amongst the highest of human accomplishments; in fact, of divine origin. The legend of Marsyas, the human being who dared to challenge Apollo to a musical contest and was flayed for his pains,* was a favourite subject of Hellenistic sculpture. The myth of Orpheus, ** whose playing on the lyre could move even inanimate things to wonder and delight, reveals the almost superstitious awe in which the Greeks held the power of the musician. Musical theory, with its close relationship to mathematics, was regarded as a branch of philosophy. The philosopher Pythagoras (flourished c530BC[E]), who saw the whole universe as a harmony of the spheres, was only one of many who gave the highest intellectual ranking to the study of music. The special status given to music in antiquity continued into the Middle Ages, when music alone, of all the arts, was ranked among the seven branches of learning.’

***

****

*{G~-R~

(cf T.XII-TXIII)}

**[Marginal sub-heading in ms, presumably from source:]’Music as the highest art’

***– ibid, [Encyclopaedia Britannica 14:] 112

****(ref Vol... (earlier)? [[Redbook8:17][19901010:1121]{The Seven Liberal Arts}[10th October 1990]])

[continued]

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{The Floating Bard [continued (4)]}[8th November 1990]

[Redbook8:107][19901108:2233d]{The Floating Bard [continued (4)]}[8th November 1990]

.2233

[continued]

The Plato-Aristotle divergence * here is easily accounted for by their opposed circle degrees:

**

Plato knew what the Poet ought to be; Aristotle knew what the Poet then was.

***

*[On poets/creative artists: see specifically last previous entry but one, & generally [Redbook8:106-107][19901108:2233]{The Floating Bard}[8th November 1990]ff ]

**[Arrows are red in ms, ie added later]

***ref {V. [[Redbook5:171][19880618:1855]{The Metaphysic of Metaphysics}[18^th June 1988]] 171} (earlier)

‘The Metaphysic of Metaphysics’

{

<19910202>

- - - - - - - -

<19910203>

}

[continued]

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{The Floating Bard [continued (3)]}[8th November 1990]

[Redbook8:107][19901108:2233c]{The Floating Bard [continued (3)]}[8th November 1990]

.2233

[continued]

The answer* has a lot to do with the type of society and the extent** to which it extends** (or attempts to extend) its hierarchy from the merely social into all types of differentiation.

It is perfectly possible, for a ‘classical’ culture especially, to formalise the arts, with varying degrees of thoroughness, so as to redefine the meaning of the artist for the purposes and values of that society: anyone who practises outside the accepted definition, simply is not considered to be an artist.***

It is equally possible in theory for a society and the individuals within it to reach such an advanced level of inner-circle harmony that the arts and the Artist are truly integrated within themselves and into the society.

To a limited extent both these conditions can probably co-exist; but I do not know enough about Classical Greece to decide in this case.****

*[Presumably, the answer to the contrast between the position of the primitive bard (see last previous entry but one) & of the artist in the great age of Classical Greece and, later, of Rome (see last previous entry)]

**[sic]

***[or perhaps a ‘proper’ artist?]

****[ie whether they did co-exist in Classical Greece, presumably]

[continued]

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{The Floating Bard [continued]}[8th November 1990]

[Redbook8:106-107][19901108:2233b]{The Floating Bard [continued]}[8th November 1990]

.2233

[continued]

‘In the great age of Classical Greece and, later, of Rome, the artist lost some of his legendary quality as seer, but he gained considerably in the area of social acceptance.’

‘Sophocles, in the fifth century before Christ, was no blind beggar but a respected citizen, a soldier and politician, as well as a tragic poet. Above all, the intellectual role of the writer was recognised and his claim to respect was validated by the celebrated dictum of Aristotle that poetry is more philosophical than history. Aristotle’s defence of poetry was perhaps a deliberate response to the celebrated attack by Plato in “The Republic” on the creative artist as a potential threat to the stability of the state.’

*

* – ibid, [Encyclopaedia Britannica 14:] 111-112

[continued]

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{The Floating Bard}[8th November 1990]

[Redbook8:106-107][19901108:2233]{The Floating Bard}[8th November 1990]

.2233

‘The primitive bard seems to have occupied an anomalous position, held in awe because of his seemingly divine powers but without a fixed place in the social hierarchy – existing as a dependant of a tribal ruler or as a wandering beggar.’

– E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 14:111

*

(Note that as usual there is no fixed position for the Priest, who might be ‘smooth’ (eg a type of Elder) or ‘hairy’ (a type of Bard).)**

*ref Vol... [] (earlier)?

**{Actually I think most Priests are smooth....}

[continued]

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{Accelerating Cycles}[8th November 1990]

[Redbook8:105-106][19901108:1417g]{Accelerating Cycles}[8th November 1990]

.1417

[continued]

Another* possibility is of an accelerating rate of development to date:

ie

Paleolithic	Holocene bce	Modern ce
32,000 [years]	8192 [years]	2048 [years]

[–] reducing by a factor of 4.

The next 512 years could be interesting.

*[See last previous entry, & [[Redbook8:104-105][19901108:1417]{Travelling Cycles}[8th November 1990]]]

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{Travelling Cycles [continued (6)]}[8th November 1990]

[Redbook8:105][19901108:1417f]{Travelling Cycles [continued (6)]}[8th November 1990]

.1417

[continued]

This* sort of notional pattern is even less clear in relation to the spread of Neolithic culture across Europe from Itan/Iraq;** but than, I have few dates; and cultural boundaries are less marked in time, at least that long ago, than political ones.

*[See last 6 previous entries, [Redbook8:104-105][19901108:1417]{Travelling Cycles}[8th November 1990]ff]

**[[Redbook8:104-105][19901108:1417]{Travelling Cycles}[8th November 1990]]

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{Travelling Cycles [continued (5)]}[8th November 1990]

[Redbook8:105][19901108:1417e]{Travelling Cycles [continued (5)]}[8th November 1990]

.1417

[continued]

The Beaker folk arrived c2300/2000bceff; [but]* it is quite true that the Celts arriving from c8thC[entury]bce** were (also?) conquered by the Romans and then driven out*** and ruled by the Saxons.

I am not quite sure where that gets us.... ****

*[See last previous entry]

**[But cf recent suggestions that “Celtic” might describe a culture (& its migrations) rather than a people]

***[But quaere how much of the native Romano-British ‘Celtic’ population was actually driven out of what is now England by the Anglo-Saxons – apart from their defeated leaders, who would have written the subsequent histories of defeat. Welsh continued to be spoken in many parts of what are now England for centuries after the arrival and dominance of Anglo-Saxons, and in some areas even after the Norman Conquest.]

****[But see fns=** & *** above]

[continued]

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