Poems, Prayers and Promises

Something impressed me about Roger Scruton: he was throughout his life a man searching for an ANSWER. He says that he felt himself quite apart from others. You can sense that this longing to arrive HOME, makes him a vulnerable man, someone sensitive and almost an unprotected child looking to rest in his mother's womb (he speaks about a divided and broken house, when he was young, much discussion and misunderstanding). There seems to be honesty in his dialogue: he opens himself and exposes his vulnerability - this is not normal in most adults. You understand that he made a long journey, most of it by himself, lonely, struggling to feel comfortable in his skin and in the world around. It is a testimonial. You don't get better after hearing and seing it. It may open some wounds. All this is because he goes through so many difficult subjects. To have FEAR of living, fear of abandoning a career for instance, or fear of having friends (!), or even of having enemies. Consolation co...

For Suzannah Reuben, How to get there?  I know you like to travel by train. If you arrive in Lisbon, one of the best ways to get to Oporto is by taking the "Alfa Pendular" in Santa Apolónia or Estação do Oriente. It takes about 2h40 to arrive - this train is comfortable and the landscape is interesting. the train stops in Santarém and in Coimbra and in some other cities and towns along the way. When you are about to arrive in Oporto the train will cross the Douro River by "Ponte D. Maria", where you have a magnificent view over the city and then you will arrive at your destination (Campanhã Station).  Another option to get to Oporto is by plane. Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport is really very modern and has flights  from the whole of Europe. Where to stay? I have some nice places where I like to stay in Oporto, depending on my mood! 1. If you want to be really close to the core of the city (Baixa), stay in the Grande Hotel do Porto ( https://www.gr...

In a most passionate tone  George Steiner  elaborates about memory in an interview done for the dutch documentary series "Of Beauty and Consolation". Born as a jew, he is especialy sensitive to the idea that memory is the ultimate salvation of Mankind against tirany. No chains could hold a free mind flying with the richenesses of the human spirit conquests. The problem is that we no longer foster the heritage of Mankind and have no longer a common grammar of western civilization. So, we conclude that our societies are now much weaker vis-à-vis tirany than before.  This brilliant and fascinating cultivated man speakes about the quest for knowledge, his insatiable curiosity since childhood, trying to understand everything and making encyplopedias's-like lists of things. What remains of this conversation is an inspirational way of looking to things, a wisdom that comes from the taste of reading good books; an enlightment of life in general. He presents this pai...

Regressado a Lisboa após uns dias em Arraiolos com o Nuno, a Guiomar e o Bruno, parti para S. Miguel nos Açores. Os dias passados no Alentejo foram repletos de boas conversas.  Sentávamo-nos no terraço e as palavras vinham como cerejas. Não me lembro já bem de que temas falámos. Uma das coisas de que falámos foi sobre o que faz de uma pessoa um bom matemático e o Bruno disse-me que uma das características é a persistência em resolver problemas. Disse-lhe que me lembrava de "ter perdido o pé" quando tivemos um professor no Planalto que não era lá muito exigente (o "Paizinho") e depois apanhámos um professor bem diferente no 8.º ano (o Vítor Cunha).  Um advogado é uma pessoa que resolve problemas também. O Bruno e a Guiomar falaram da descoberta dum livro de Arquimedes, da descoberta também dum instrumento no fundo do mar dos romanos  que funcionava tipo relógio.  Falámos sobre muitas coisas, até sobre o Pecado Original...imagine-se! Um dos temas de ...