Hoje

Hoje o sol espreitou.
Não, minto.
Hoje o sol não espreitou.
Hoje, o sol entrou sem bater, desafiante a todos os cidadãos e transeuntes descrentes.
Hoje, o sol abriu os braços, rebolou, charfurdou como uma criança nos céus de Madrid.
Hoje, o sol despertou de um coma invernal, fazendo cair agasalhos e expressões cinzentas.
Hoje, o sol cumprimentou o brilho tímido do lago do Retiro e o verde imberbe dos castanheiros.
Hoje, o sol estendeu a carpete vermelha para a Exma. Primavera.
Hoje, o sol tocou velhos, novos, mulheres, homens, homos, heteros, pouco convencionais e ortodoxos com o seu calor saudoso e familiar.

Hoje, sorri com ainda mais paixão pela vida.

...

Today I realized how beautiful the power of synthesis really is.

It is good to be reminded of that every once and a while.

Sphere Theory: Kotler meets Darwin

In the world of personal development, socializing plays a fundamental role, nothing new. Its importance lies not only in the building of the society integration skills - even if you think of yourself as a rebel fighting capitalism! and society!, it is likely that you are finding strength in an also rebellious group! but also as a key part of who you are.

Personally, all social gatherings are but a public plateau where personality traits go down the unconscious catwalk before you. Like a fashion critic apprentice, you observe, you absorb, you collect whatever traits you find most interesting. And then you make your own show. Of couse, you have to get the approval of your peers...even if you have to try different audiences. But oh well, if it isn't the posh of Milan the beggars of the suburbs will do just fine (these are more likely to buy you a drink!)

If you think I'm talking about the exclusive, mind and stomach revolving world of adolescence, think again! Later on, when an established career gives you many things that money can and does buy for you, you still continue to look for a point-of-difference. Just like a bird that doesn't have any singing abilities seeks refuge in nature's mercyful ways to get a beautiful coloured feather coat, also men and women look for distinctive forms to being pinpointed in the social map.

Now think of this map as a sphere. Think of it as a perceptual map sphere (this is where I believe all sciences intertwine!) that represents how and where people position themselves.. It isn't bi nor tri-dimensional. Theoretically, it should be an extremely complex figure which matrixes all the traits of personality, but we can simplify by grouping them (intelligence vs beauty is the simplest). The way I like to see it, as they watch and learn from others, people simply choose their quadrants according to what they'd like to be known for (more intelligent than the average, not as intelligent but definitely more interesting than the average, funnier than the next guy...etc) and try to be isolated. Its marketing "establishing your point of difference vs competition" together with "nature's survival skills", basically...Kotler meets Darwin!

But there's more: because it is a sphere involving an enourmous amount of attributes (x-dimensional, with x the number of attributes), there is more than enough room for differentiation, the combinations are a plenty. And being a sphere means that there are no rights and wrongs in your choice. Because you simply choose where you want to stand. Because others will look at you according to their preferred attributes, on what they feel is important; someone that rates highly intelligence rather than physical look or wityness is more likely to get along with someone he reckons stands on that same area.

So what starts as defining your stronger traits is what keeps defining the main line in your relationships and social dealings.

Ahh…Now THAT’S what I call a good mental masturbation!

Have a nice weekend...as I'm off to the snowy lands of Andorra!

Sphere Theory - Introduction

There's something about the human nature that's simply fascinating. I do not know what it is about it that draws my interest, whether the unpredictability of our behaviour, the mysteries of our minds, our unconscious dealing with our surroundings...or all of it together. I guess that is why all social sciences typically find some space in my list of interesting reading.

Out of all the possible relations one has with the surrounding environment - be it other people or even non organic things - the one that strikes me as most interesting is of course that of human relationships. There is much said already on the topic, as others find it just as I do a good subject to write on. But no matter how much the scholars dictate their scientific bla bla, its oh-so-much funnier to create your own theory, your own reasoning & perspective. You don't even have to be coeherent!

This is the boring introduction (cannot avoid the "2 minute background on this"). Read next post!

Did you know that...?

• During the crusades, the christian army, apart from being extremely strong and pityless, was also carnivorous

"The inhabitants of the region of Maarat witness, during this disturbing winter, to a behaviour that cannot only be explained by hunger. They see waves of fanatic frany (occidental invaders), that scatter across the country claiming to want to eat the meat of the arabs". As one european historian put it "To our own, it didn't repugnate them to eat the turquish or arabs they killed, or even dogs!"

• The biggest advantage the christians had was the apathy of the entire Middle East sultans and cadís, especially when they had something to gain from the european conquest.

"Behold with what obstinacy they fight for their religion, while we, the Muslims, show no enthusiasm for waging holy war."

• Today's common designation 'assassin' derives from an arab political-religious sect that took down prominent politians in public squares. Volunteering to be part of these events meant death most of the times, as the population usually raged against the perpretator. But the serenity and the willingness to kill and die of the members who volunteered led experts to claim they were under the effect of drugs as "hashishinyun" or "hashashin" (same as saying 'assassin' with a pencil in between your teeth).

Amazing the stuff you learn in the books! Or how another friend of mine would put...I'm flabbergasted! (british accent needed!)

The Crusades through Arab eyes

Recent controversial events have got me interested in the theme East vs West, where does it come from and how it got to this point. In order to fully understand the origins of such discomfort and hate of historical proportions, I decided to dig into a book a dear friend of mine had told me about - The Crusades through Arab Eyes (Amin Maalouf).
Admittedly, I haven't read enough to be able to conclude anything more than experts already have, and not even reading it completely will help me on that quest. But it has undoubtedly opened my eyes (and fascination) to the world that was so much richer, so much knowledgeable, so much more experienced but capitulated to a beast-like force because of internal divergences...
The best thing about this book is that the author builds the plot on arab historians' descriptions, which allows you to have a first hand testimony of what happened at the time.