“When I see, I see them. I see them not for what they seem, but for what they are. And I want the world to know through my eyes. Eyes that don’t just perceive with hypocritical prudence, but with rigor of a lifetime.” - Hour-Chasers
The most recent time I went into civilization, it took me a while to incorporate a few best practices recommended to survive according to story tellers for beginners. If not for my objectivity towards general conceptions, it is not that difficult to merge when you are on the verge of wanting to dissolve and like a cocktail of mix, still care to look, smell or feel different in the smog of soul bearers. If not for an era of practice, I am still not as blunt with my opinions as mob takes me for one. And that offers me with ample windows to throw at, my stones of surprise.
Though the thing I’m trying to throw here is a prologue of what comes before any planned or unplanned voyage over the currents of time, and that current for me is the year of 2014. What gives away my visible excitement is temperament of a pre-planned trip to the land of drunks, drowns, daisies, damsels, dangers, dismals, droops & drapes, i.e. Greece.
Just so the journey is lucid & coherent with the title, Gustav(e)’s have also a mention from time to time with relevance. (Let patience be our trait & virtue in this journey, and trips thereafter).
“There is no self portrait of me.” - Gustav Klimt
When we are inside our inspiration, the world is not the same reality. My inspiration is my imagination, & my imagination is Gustave. Gustave travels for me places where realms don’t exist, & so do I. The unconquered territory he visits for me is the stimulus of his drive force. The power to conceive is the muscle for my final form to shape up. All those realms collectively form the Greece of my imaginings. And that form of portrayal characterizes piece by piece, my complete entity.
Till then I ramble with you and travel with corporeal bonds. Till when, I am free to fancy again…
“It is strange how one feels drawn forward without knowing at first where one is going.” - Gustav Mahler
We always keep destination in our mind, but what is presented before us is the journey. And even before reaching the terminus, we have vessel full of excitement for whatever is there to be achieved at the end of it. But what we every so often consider and seldom remember is the story hemmed with the same journey we have sidelined.
Gustave felt there is a need for a thought experiment (He’s a thought, & that’s what’s thoughts are supposed to propose). As we generally tend to keep a checklist before going on a trip, this sympathizes with the psychology of travel, scratching a pinch of philosophy over dos & don’ts (Too much free time is prone to too many thought experiments. And too many thought experiments lead to this rambling). In place of keeping it shut, shunting of ideas is often necessary to avoid stagnation & further decay. Bearing with the fantasies, let’s see what music will resonate through our ears before we descent to slumber.
“Mankind advances only through struggle.” - Gustav Stresemann
How late before we decide that whatever we fought for has left its meaning long before we started to make sense out of our own interpretations. Our hopes tussle between what we desire & what desire is provided with. The gap between supply and demand is the air of struggle. It’s easier to survive in a known territory, but it takes time and strength to conquer unknown terrains. And every trip is the preparation step towards a higher goal of pleasure.
Ease clues to lethargy. Lethargy clues to tiredness. Tiredness clues to boredom. Boredom clues to monotony. Monotony clues to indifference. Indifference clues that something somewhere has been going horridly out of place. Remember, someone once said that change is the only constant. If it is not in case of an expedition, then you are going way off the mark with terrible company or weary attitude.
Transform that outlook which takes you on the lower path. If being underground was the soul & goal of an outing, then there is no difference between that that place below the office table or the library of mud-bloods. The breakaway we get after running away and bending the never-changing ever-hanging timetable, must have a percentage of adventure.
Where there is adventure, there is struggle. Where there is struggle, there is experience. Where there is experience, there are stories. And where there are stories, there are memories.
I wonder If Gustave had the blessings of Artemis before leading such skirmish of unending philosophy while he walked through the Halls of Valiant in Greece.
“Always ask for advice but never take it.” - Gustav Holst
Theory never decides a truth. Individual doesn't decide a truth. Society cannot decide the course of your reality. Though truth is a phenomenon which assists course correction through the means of revelations and realizations, is habitually stated as experience. And the efficacy of others makes us the dwarf over their shoulders to look farther in this context. We need both eyes to see in perspective. We need broader thinking to assess a situation, to cover all tracks inculcating useful advice, experience & perspective. Thoughts are free, advices are too, until you ask for a consult (Just keep your pockets warm & heavy in that case). You can always gain, at least stay stagnant, if not lose anything by listening to others. Also, it gives them a feel of being an important and functional individual, for human nature is to be purposeful & serviceable at all costs, at all times.
At the same time, own your entity. That is, keep your track your own. As logically as it can be put, two trains can’t go in the same direction on the same track at the same time. More than one person can’t occupy the same space at the same time. Similarly, by mathematical simplicity (keeping the laws of Physics and beloved Newton deep in our heads), conflicting thoughts cannot stand in one mind (Brain i.e., if you have one) at the same time. The key is to keep every other advice in parallel, while course correcting the blueprint of your own master plan. Remember, not all who wander are lost.
I wonder if Gustave had it in his head or filled with arbitrariness of the universe while he concerted in losing himself in the streets of serpents in Greece.
“Ride your horse forward and straight.” - Gustav Steinbrecht
Yep! Whatever that fellow said. Those who look down often miss the surroundings as it is. The view they have is of the ground below. The image they miss is the sandwich between the gust of crunch ground & the endless span of fluffy nothingness sky.
Be a horse and be a sport. Let your mind be the leash and your plan be the track. Let you be the racer and your horse be your hurries, flurries & urgencies (Priorities to be precise). And let time be your judge, because only time will tell (although, it will certainly not, as the whisper is too low and too slow, but quick with answers). Ride while you can, and the fall will be worth it.
As Greeks personified nature has Gods, and their dwelling as a temple, let your surroundings be visualized the same and every mountain you cover be the Olympus of those Gods. If you are not a Zeus, doesn’t mean Hera is not the content you are seeking around. And remember always to keep Dionysus in and around you at all times, if you are in quest of a blameless night.
I wonder if Gustave had his eyes open while he raced through the track leading to answers inside the Parthenon porches of Greece.
“I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.” - Gustave Flaubert
Don’t be afraid of your beliefs, but accept it as a sublime product of your expectations mixed with accepting veracity of dreams as it is. The influence of surreal impersonation over deemed standards can abate their control over the tedium of most mundane escapades. You don’t have to keep an eye on your back to assure yourself of the capabilities lying deep inside, but let it gaze outside and graze over the negativities of all around you, & illume them with fire out of ice. This is the true meaning of having wings.
Though, at the end of the day, keep your mind open to the virtue of acceptance. Expecting can end you in tears, but accepting will bring you cheers.
I wonder if Gustave had wings, or did his imagination. Because if he did not, he travelled too far to come back with questions, answers & deeper enquiries. And if he did have a pair, why couldn’t he travel not just through space, but time as well to find answers to everything. Gustave has seen the aim for perfection, and drive for errors, & he still has his trust in the kingdom of Greece. Therefore, succumbing to the soul of my soul & keeping my sanity in grasps, so do I.
“I think the curves of the four pillars of the monument, as the calculations have provided them, give it a great sense of force and beauty.” - Gustave Eiffel
The pillars are your Athena, viz. patience, decisiveness, enthusiasm and imagination. The monument is the array of sequential experiences & how one reflect themselves over the same. The calculations are forethought of an individual of keeping past as a present for future with providence. And all of this combined with a reflection of surrounds, similar to a blend of sanity over chaos, on self will offer a magnificence to your Gustave’s excursion thereafter. Keep the wheels turning & Bon voyage…
