Discouraging day.  Discovered a plumbing problem in the rental in the AM, which might have been running sewage through the shower drain for some time now, went out for a Sunday hot chocolate ($2.50), did some reading (Peirce, Wolff biography (couldn't focus), Jaeger's Paieda (could focus)) at the cafe and at some parks around the city, caught a bit of the Mass of the Faithful at the local parish church, but arrived later than planned, as I mis-timed the vespersII mumbling and the crosstown walk.  (Have avoided the cathedral since the tourist/massgoer confusion that ended with my walking in despite the fact that the old fellow was grabbing onto me and trying to pull me back.)  Then to the theatre for an hourlong piece that the English-language website listed an hour later than the (apparently correct) time on the local version.  Perils of data entry.  

Eavesdropping on a slightly tape-delayed Carmina Burana from the east now, quite good, especially the soli.  Heard an excellent version in Bucharest earlier in the year from the back balcony no-view.  (Intentional, as I didn't want to be distracted by the staging.)

Some sabbaths one survives, rather than finds the triumph.  Boldly on to the other six days.

 

 "To set forth thy true and lively word..."  

(UK BCP)

 One result of the interesting paths of late, and long, is having remarkably little tolerance for the "All is lost, I ordered my latte without foam" line of thinking.  It's a social and historical fact that in a world without consciousness of the divine, and people even unable to imagine the possibility of their own experience of eternal time, that in the game for social power, people cultivate habits of conspicuous consumption and learned incapacity.  And to be rather obvious about it.

The game is at least partially to 'get a rise' out  those around you. This is the part that gives an advantage in the social game.  When you become angry at a person, group, or conceptual belief, it's the first step to being controlled by the question of them.  A complicated formulation, but follow it.  Anger at the night draws us into the question of day and night, as the two are the same question.  Heraclitus, I think.

So when a conspicuous consumer appears before you, cultivate dispassion, and look as closely as you can, and try to understand.