My wife mentioned that social distancing is expected to hold until the end of May.  Not sure what that means.  I doubt that I will be able to resume my past routine, trusting luck to hold out…..  Even if one recovers from such a serious illness, surely the experience must be life altering.

I have been thinking of Plato lately.  At his Academy, founded in 387BC in Athens, Plato patronized a ongoing research program in the meaning of “justice”, and other such topics critical to a healthy society.  The Academy was located in a grove of olive trees outside the city walls of Athens.  The site was dedicated to the goddess Athena.  The Ἀκαδημία (Akademia) was the first university.  The Roman dictator Sulla cut down the olive trees in 86 BC to build siege engines.  He destroyed the Academy.

What a difference a deeply felt respect for “the ideal” makes in the texture of a society.  I thought of the two years that I spent in Japan. There were so many experiences that were unapologetic explorations of the forms, infinite in number, which beauty and meaning can take.  The East coming from the altogether different tradition of Buddhism, yet finds a destination that is similar to the classical Greek quest for the ideal.  Is there is perfect form/expression of… (you fill in the blank)?  The ideal is a quest that is

worthy of pursuit, that is approached incrementally, energizing and filling the years with accumulating insight, more skill.  At least that is what I observed.

I remember spending a half day at the Tokyo International Auto Show admiring the design excellence of a Nissan engineered CanAm race car.  An Italian Ferrari on display remains in memory.  I was allowed to sit in the drivers seat of the Ferrari.  I was privileged to take part in a formal tea ceremony on another occasion.  The ritual was moving,

and the tea was bitter, astringent to the taste; just like life, bitter-sweet.  I remember visiting The Meiji Shrine, the garden resting place for the Meiji emperor.  At this time of year the iris beds will be in full bloom, the beauty beyond words.  I also remember standing at the base of Kegon Falls 318 feet below Lake

Chuzenji.  The falls is an infamous place for suicides of many youth.  I was struck by the juxtaposition of stunning beauty, and the darkness that life’s circumstances can present with ill fortune.

I will always pursue the ideal, — a perfect form of the projects, the subjects, the friendships, the dinner parties, the words and syntax that I am able to place on the page.

I am also sad, that we Americans, in the tradition of our rugged, pioneering individualism have more in common with the Romans than we do with the Greeks.

---

The Hanging Cloud Bridge print comes from the series Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces.  High above the valley, two pavilions are nestled among the clouds.  A bridge stretches out joining the the buildings on the mountainside and a lone building on a cliff.  The “Hanging Cloud Bridge” no longer existed in Hokusai’s lifetime.  He used the bridge’s name as inspiration for this ethereal image.