Ethereal Insights

Peter Paul Rubens' The Rape of Proserpina ( ἁρπαγή τῆς Περσεφόνης ) Why are Most People Ugly? Sunday – May 17, 2026 I n our disturbed times ugliness seems to permeate every corner of the world, and yes people are truly ugly, loud, self-centered, and offensive. Why is this? Well, there are many reasons, but I would be remiss if I, again, did not once again assert that individualism is the main cause for this, but then again, individualism is just the most exoteric expression of the deviation, and must therefore be understood in the context of the cyclical order, but of course for most modern men, even the ones who claim to oppose individualism, everything is always compartmentalized and each problem is supposed to be solved in some kind of superimposed isolation, because these people lack skills and above all they lack knowledge ; when a man lacks skills, when he lacks knowledge, he does become truly ugly.      It is also the case that people are physically uglier these ...

Hindu ( ॐ ) painting of Indra ( इन्द्र ) on his elephant mount, Airavata ( ऐरावत ) State & Religion | Saturday – May 15, 2026 I n our times there is a lot of talk about the state and religion as if they represent two different worlds, two different points of views, two different entities...      This schism is a fairly recent development, from a historical point of view, and is really the trademark of liberal humanism , but the supposed need for a "separation" between the church and the state, read " Clarifying Notes on the United States ", was the first major step towards compartmentalization and material segregation of all kinds, read " The Problem of Borders ". Prior to this modern deviation, there was no such thing as a " state " apart from religion, religion being the exoteric form of some revealed tradition peculiar and particular to some region and/or people, for what is today conceived and conceptualized as "the state" wa...

Monju Crossing the Sea ( 絹本著色文殊渡海図 ) Gravitas | Friday – May 15, 2026 G ravitas is one of those things that require time and proper development, a little bit like fine wine and really if forced it almost never works. Yes, it could be that on occasion an actor, maybe two actors, are able to pull of the role of being the man with gravitas but this is a rather hard act and for the most part I would expect those actors to have a lot of gravitas on their own, read " Directing Films ". Truly, anything that has grown into its domain, anything of quality that is, has a kind of gravitas to it or about its presence, read " Traditional Forms ", such as a Divan in the right context. But gravitas is perhaps something that people mostly associate with humanity and in particular men; this is why I believe that it is helpful to distinguish between the concept of traditional forms and gravitas, not that such a distinction is strictly required in my view. Of course, since gravitas ,...