[WITI No. 76] Place as character, history of a place, a martyr, a Buddhist truth and Funkytown

Hello friends, another weekly installment of What is the Information? Thank you for reading, commenting and being a part of this tiny community. May what I write about spark a thought that creates a wildfire in your mind.

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Finished listening to The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley. It had Hollywood ending which means to say it was a happy ending (for the good guys, anyway) with a twist I wasn’t expecting. It got pretty dark there for a second.

I chose this audiobook with the intention of drinking up Paris but in this story, the city of lights is only a minor character, nothing like Mumbai portrayed in Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts where the city is ever-present and impossible to ignore. I started watching Youtube videos of Paris travel vlogs to satisfy that thirst. Man, I’m hungry for some jambon-buerre.

There’s a feeling about travel that I very much enjoy. I’m not sure if it comes from spending time in an airport. Pico Iyer talks about airports in The Global Soul where those who travel via airplane are mixed together in way that doesn’t happen outside the airport. Only the very wealthy travel via private plane. Those traveling first class who might try and escape the hoipolloi by hiding in lounge for bit must still board with those flying coach. The two groups don’t live in same neighborhoods and but the for equalizer of the airport, interact sporadically.

The airport forces them to buy their bottled water and magazines from the same kiosk. It makes them sit near each other at cramped airport restaurants.

The wonder of being in a totally alien place assaults all of your senses. When we arrived in Paris, we ascended into daylight through a mall where we exited our train station. I can remember pulling suitcases on the cobble and my hand vibrated. It was lunch time, people were on the street. I was not prepared to encounter the majesty of the Church of St. Eustache. It is a grand structure which took about 100 years to build. As a result, it has a few different architectural styles which make it unique. Also, it became the replacement site for the celebration of Easter while the church of Notre Dame is repaired.

St. Eustace has an interesting story. He was a Roman general named Placidus who had a vision of a golden crucifix appearing in horns of stag he was hunting. Recognizing it as a sign from God, he immediately converted himself and his family to Christianity when he takes the name Eustace. Later, another vision foretold he would have to endure trials. He loses all of his worldly possessions, his family is separated. Legend says his two young sons were lost in the wilderness, one raised by a wolf, the other by a lion. He exiles himself to Egypt.

Years go by. Eustace is recalled to Rome to quell an uprising. He is victorious. The emperor invites him to thank the pagan gods. He declines. He and his family burned alive in a brazen bull, making him a martyr. If you don’t know what a brazen bull is, I encourage you to google it. Man is so very creative on contemplating ways to hurt other men.

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I finished reading a very short School of Life book entitled Philosophy in 40 Ideas. I cannot get enough of their stuff! The ideas mesh nicely with Oliver Burkeman’s 4,000 Weeks. Here’s a quote from the chapter entitled: (in Japanese)

Mono no aware（物の哀れ）

… a heron flying low across a misty lake in autumn. We should see these things as symbols of a fundamental Buddhist truth: our existence is also brief; we too will wither, fade and die. This is no cause for despair; merely grounds to keep the brevity of life clearly in view and to value our time all the more for the short opportunity we have been granted.

Photo credit by Cedric Letsch

Word of the Week: Febrile

This is a word where knowing/studying other languages can help. In Spanish, the word for fever is fiebre and in German, the same work is fieber which kinda sounds like “fever” in English - the two languages are closer than they seem. I wish I would have realized this earlier in my life.

Find of the week: The Lucky Chops

Michael Warburton @MichaelWarbur17

This is what I call Busking. ‘The Lucky Chops’ hit the NYC Subway🍏🎷🎺

Funkytown & I Feel Good performed by Sousaphone, Trombone, Tenor & Baritone Saxes, trumpet and drums. These guys are too good! And they dance, too.

You can let me know about the other creative ways men have dreamed to hurt each other here:

or share the story of what Jaegermeister spirits - it might involve seeing Christian iconography in the antlers of a stag - the way to do that is by:

As always, thanks for reading! Have a great week, see you in seven days!

-George