Hagia Filosofia

The word acropolis has great meaning within me. I chose this as a tagline based upon the personal writings of Marcus Aurelius, who wrote in Meditations:

“Therefore the mind which is free from passions is a citadel (acropolis), for man has nothing more secure to which he can fly for, refuge and for the future be inexpugnable.”

Emotions and passions are untamed in their severity. A quick embrace of anger easily bring about regrettable circumstances based upon non-rational decisions. Yet, characteristically it is important for a creative to be courageous in freely expressing such emotions. For example, Picasso was notable for entering a somber period of his work partly based on the suicide of good friend Carlos Casagemas. Sadness acted like a fuel for his blue period.

I gravitate towards Aurelius’ pronounced emphasis on virtue and emotional control. Could it be that such restraint precludes me from finding such fuel for expression? Perhaps. Yet I cannot remove my position from this hill, lest I become swept with unfettered thrashing waves. Whereas the body consents to pain, environment, fatigue… the mind is the only refuge that fundamentally changes the method in which all situations are framed.