Simeon the Stylite

B. in Cilicia, c. 390; d. at Telanissus, 24 July 459; f.d. 5 January. The elder Simeon was the first and most famous of the pillar ascetics. He was the son of a shepherd, and from early youth subjected himself to ever-increasing bodily austerities, especially in fasting from food. For some twenty years he lived in various hermitages and monasteries in northern Syria. Then in 423 he began to live on a pillar, at Telanissu (Dair Sem'an). At first the pillar was low, but over the years its height was increased to some sixty feet; at the top was a platform, with a balustrade, which is calculated to have been about twelve feet square. There he spent the remainder of his life, thirty-six years. After his death a monastery and sanctuary were built over the spot, and amidst the imposing ruins the base of Simeon's column can still be seen.
The reason given for Simeon's adopting this extraordinary mode of existence was his wish to avoid the press of people who flocked to him for his prayers and advice (it has been amusingly put that, 'despairing of escaping the world horizontally, he tried to escape it vertically'). The contrary of course happended: many more people came to him, whether pilgrims or sightseers, from emperors downwards. Every afternoon he was at their disposal, teaching, exhorting, answering questions. He was full of kindliness and sympathy, and his discourses and instructions were marked by practical common sense and freedom from fanaticism.

Donald Attwater, The Penguin Dictionary of Saints; p.309. Penguin Books, 1965.

El que vuelve

La única vía para el descubrimiento de brahman es la revelación, en el sentido de levantar todos los velos de la existencia, incluido el del ego, es decir, el del mismo ego de quien emprende el ascenso, o más bien el descenso, en busca de brahman. En su camino hacia el descubrimiento del fundamento último, el ego no puede seguir las huellas hasta el final. Si lo intenta, inevitablemente desaparece; sólo permanece y sobrevive si se detiene en su camino. «El que vuelve, sólo vuelve porque no llegó más que a la mitad del camino...", escribió el místico al-Misrī, refiriéndose a la ascensión de Mohammad. Sólo el aham, el Yo, permanece absoluto, el uno sin segundo, el ātman.

Raimon Panikkar, La Trinidad. Una experiencia humana primordial. Ed. Siruela, 1998. p.58

Nuez de Adán

NUEZ DE ADÁN, s. Protuberancia en el cuello del hombre, sabiamente prevista por la Naturaleza para sujetar la soga en su lugar.

Ambrose Bierce, El diccionario del diablo. Ed. Valdemar, 2004. p. 191.

La triste verdad

La triste verdad es que la auténtica vida del hombre consiste en un complejo de oposiciones inexorables: día y noche, nacimiento y muerte, felicidad y desgracia, bueno y malo. Ni siquiera estamos seguros de que uno prevalecerá sobre el otro, de que el bien vencerá al mal o la alegría derrotará a la tristeza. La vida es un campo de batalla. Siempre lo fue y siempre lo será, y si no fuera así, la existencia llegaría a su fin.

Carl G. Jung, Acercamiento al inconsciente. En: Carl G. Jung et al., El hombre y sus símbolos. Caralt Editor, 1984. p.83.

Burning passion

'[...] At length I wandered towards these mountains, and have ranged through their immense recesses, consumed by a burning passion which you alone can gratify. We may not part until you have promised to comply with my requisition. I am alone, and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species, and have the same defects. This being you must create.'

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. Penguin, 2003. p.145-6