Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 BCE–17/18 CE)’s “Amores” (The Loves) was first published in 16 BCE. It is a collection of witty erotic elegies, detailing Ovid’s tumultuous, but humorous, personal love affairs.
Spanning 3 books (first published in 5 books), “Amores” explores various themes of jealousy, secret rendezvous, and the joys and pains of love.
Culture makes us happy. Civilization makes our lives worthy and valuable. At least, a creator aims to create more joy for life all the time.
However, Georg Simmel (1858–1918) points out the tension between “objective culture” and “subjective culture” in modern society.
The vast accumulation of products, technology, and knowledge produced by society grows too large and too complex, and overwhelms the ability of individuals to internalize and utilize these developments for our own self-development.
Japan has four seasons equally, and each season is mild and temperate. Having lived in Ukraine for over a decade, I’m strongly convinced of it, and remember the beautiful nature of Japan in four seasons with sentimental nostalgia…
A Japanese traditional idiom, Kachofugetsu (花鳥風月), refers to a refined aesthetic sensibility that appreciates the beautiful scenery of nature in four seasons.
Georg Simmel (1858–1918) defines ‘fashion’ as a social form balancing the tension between individual differentiation and social imitation. It acts as a non-cumulative change mechanism, allowing individuals to conform to a group while distinguishing themselves from others.
Through fashion, you can belong to a society, and at the same time, express your unique personality.
Minimalism aims to declutter living spaces or your workplace to be tidy and orderly. For that, it's necessary to own less stuff. Throwing away garbage, junk, we can live surrounded by minimal essential things that are indispensable for daily life, in a Minimalistic way of Life.
“Bushido means to die.” — This is the famous declaration at the beginning of the book “Hagakure (葉隠; meaning ‘Hidden by Leaves’).” The “Hagakure” is one of the few books systematically expounding the Samurai’s code of conduct, written by a Samurai, Tsunetomo Yamamoto (山本 常朝; 1659-1719) in the Edo period as a spiritual and practical guidebook for Samurai.
Having said that, a Samurai was NOT mandated to give up his Life easily in vain. If so, a Samurai didn’t need to carry two Katanas (刀; Samurai swords) on his waist all the time to protect his own Life. Everyone, including you and me, is destined to die somehow at a moment in our lifetime, even though NO one knows When the end will come. NO human has ever lived without dying over millions of years without exception. So it’s the most important, How to die, and What for to die at any time when we MUST die anyhow.
Aesthetica - Ancient Roman Erotic Poems 01 Ancient Roman Erotic Poem - “ Amores ” (1) [Related Post] “The Love Poems: The Amores, Ars Amator...
