What Elytis , Chocolate and Philosophy Reveal

What if growth tasted like chocolate, moved like poetry and curved like a spiral? We tend to think of life in straight lines past, present, future but underneath the surface- movement is richer, let’s explore this !

Nature and Philosophy

Truth said – I love nature ~~

I often visit the park next to my flat here in Brussels and I stay still to tune in to the surroundings. I have noticed that, some times, there is a tiny breeze but if I stay attentive long enough there is tremendous speed underneath the apparent half stillness. When it gets really interesting however is that If I stay tuned long enough it gradually dissolves into a calming sense of peace and silence .This makes me ponder about the high levels of order underneath apparent chaos, or the vast complexity of our universe ~~~

To delve into these questions, I will start by a related premise.

Types of movement  

Heraclitus famously stated that “everything flows” This in turns gives rise to a question :

What kind of movement are we talking about? There is not only one type of movement.

To simplistically state 3 such ones, there is cyclical movement which has the following sequence :

a>b>c >d>

It is the sequence of seasons and natural cycles.

There is also linear movement

a>b>c>d>e

This is associated with time in the Western world past>present>future.

On a higher level, there movements which are more complex, out of the them I will use the spiralling movement

a>b>c>a

In this case a is revisited but it is altered after it has passed through stages b and c –

This spiral of motion is not only in nature-it finds echo into poetry ~~~

Poetry and Odysseas Elytis

As I believe, images are more powerful than words, I will use sunflowers and the so called notion of heliotropism to exemplify motion. Heliotropism refers to the orientation of plants towards the sun. This movement is cyclical. But is it really only cyclical in the skilled hands of a magician?

Truth – said

I have always liked poetry. Recently, I have started studying Odysseas Elytis, a Greek poet  famous for his heliotropic writing . His Light is not just Greek literal Light, it is also Truth, Justice, Moral Clarity. To refer to it he uses the imagery of Sun, Eros, Woman, Olive Tree, the Aegean Sea.

Unlike sunflowers which move cyclically however, Elytis goes one step higher. He spirals :

.

To exemplify this,

I will use just one tiny extract

Mην καταφρονάτε την ποίηση

ενός ήλιου που ανατέλλει

μέσα από τα πιο σκοτεινά  σπλάχνα

Don not disdain the poetry

of the sun that rises

from the darkest entrails

Το trace the heliotropic movement :

A begins in skepticism rejection of poetry born on darkness

B Light emerges from that very darkness

C Fusion of gold and ashes are both essential to darkness

A revisited : the original scepticism is no longer error but part of the sacred spiral, it gets transmuted into grace.

Without limitation there is no incentive for personal growth , without uncertainty, ambiguity, paradox there is no poetry.

Flavours and sensory Imagery

But is poetry only poems? In fact it isn’t. It is flavour, it is a way of life, it is the park experience. Best chocolate, cocktails, recipes of the world follow, partly at least, a spiralling heliotropic movement and so does personal growth.

In the beginning when you taste a fine dark piece of chocolate you taste bitterness, which comes as a little flavour shock. This corresponds to Elytis earth bound imagery as he traces light ascension.

But then?

What happens then? Then poetry emerges deeper, flavors start to flirt and dance.

As the chocolate melts, acidity fruit flora or spice notes emerge, something which you experience in waves.

From cacao you experience, crash of citrus or violet of salt Gradually layers of flavour resolve as they stop competing each other and in the end you enter a state of flow , an inner coherence where bitterness it revisited but it is light, wisdom, poise. What unites them all is that they spiral , they echo just like the after taste of the chocolate experience I have just mentioned. After richness and complexity, pureness emerges as an after taste similar to the park experience after glow of my introduction to this post .

And as with chocolate , so with  the soul – flavours dissolve into growth

Personal growth layer

Personal growth is also poetry. It is never cyclical, I believe it is spiral. You revisit emotional states like sadness, fear, joy but each time- if you do the inner work required- you revisit them from higher states of lyrical consciousness. Sadness doesn’t disappear, it is just with practice and the necessary work on your behalf it becomes softer.

But there is a catch. Like Elytis light it is not sentimental, it has an edge^, * . Personal growth never reaches ultimate light, perhaps only in elevated momentary experiences, it is getting closer each time but its destination cannot and should not be possessed. Like the Muse, Beauty, Eros, the Wind, the Stars , the Universe, a Baby, Waves and everything that is inherently beautiful, it lingers, like a flicker ~~~

.Try to smell a white rose: If you do it subtly- it is divine;  if you insist the flower withers – it is true ~

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Fragnance card

World: Eternal

Note: Main Greek-luminous , spiral, heliotropic clarity

Echo: Hebrew- hidden structure rooted depth

Mood : Bittersweet growth like dark chocolate in motion

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