Human beings are the only ones in nature who are aware that they will die.
knowing that their days are numbered and that everything will end when they least expect it, people make of their lives a battle that is worthy of a being with eternal life.
What people regard as vanity-leaving great works, having children, acting in such a way as to prevent one's name from being forgotten-
the highest expression of human dignity
Going after a dream has a price.
It may mean abandoning our habits, it may make us go through hardships, or it may lead us to disappointment, et cetera.
But however costly it may be,
it is never as high as the price paid by people who didn’t live.
Because one day they will look back and hear their own heart say:
I wasted my life.
We are all growing and changing shape, we notice certain weaknesses that need to be corrected, we don't always choose the best solutions, but we carry on regardless, trying to remain upright and decent, in order to do honor not to the walls or the doors or the windows, but to the empty space inside, the space where we worship and venerate what is dearest and most important to us
When he was creating this picture, Leonardo da Vinci encountered a serious problem: he had to depict Good - in the person of Jesus - and Evil - in the figure of Judas, the friend who resolves to betray him during the meal. He stopped work on the painting until he could find his ideal models.
One day, when he was listening to a choir, he saw in one of the boys the perfect image of Christ. He invited him to his studio and made sketches and studies of his face.
Three years went by. The Last Supper was almost complete, but Leonardo had still not found the perfect model for Judas. The cardinal responsible for the church started to put pressure on him to finish the mural.
After many days spent vainly searching, the artist came across a prematurely aged youth, in rags and lying drunk in the gutter. With some difficulty, he persuaded his assistants to bring the fellow directly to the church, since there was no time left to make preliminary sketches.
The beggar was taken there, not quite understanding what was going on. He was propped up by Leonardo's assistants, while Leonardo copied the lines of impiety, sin and egotism so clearly etched on his features.
When he had finished, the beggar, who had sobered up slightly, opened his eyes and saw the picture before him. With a mixture of horror and sadness he said:
'I've seen that picture before!'
'When?' asked an astonished Leonardo.
'Three years ago, before I lost everything I had, at a time when I used to sing in a choir and my life was full of dreams. The artist asked me to pose as the model for the face of Jesus
When faced with a loss, it is no use trying to recover what has gone.
On the other hand, a great space has been opened up in your life
- there it lies, empty, waiting to be filled with something new.
At the moment of one’s loss,
contradictory as this might seem,
one is being given a large slice of freedom
in the second before our death, each of us understands the real reason for our existence, and out of that moment, Heaven or Hell is born.
Hell is when we look back during that fraction of a second and know that we wasted an opportunity to dignify the miracle of life.
Paradise is being able to say at that moment:
"I made some mistakes, but I wasn`t a coward. I lived my life and did what I had to do.”
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a romantic comedy about four young Athenian lovers and a troupe of amateur actors who get lost in an enchanted forest. They become unwitting pawns in the domestic disputes of the fairy king and queen, resulting in magical mayhem, mistaken identities, and hilarious transformations
If we shadows have offended,
think of this and all is mended:
that you have but slumber'd here,
while these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
no more yielding than a dream.
Gentles -- do not reprehend.
If you pardon -- we will mend.
And -- as I am an honest puck,
if we have unearned luck
now to'scape the serpents' tongue,
we will make amends, ere long.
Else the puck a liar call.
So good night unto you all.
Give me your hands if we be friends
and Robin shall restore amends.
During the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice, the upper half of the earth is tilted toward the sun, creating the longest day and shortest night of the year. This solstice falls between June 20 and 22.
Solstices are when days and nights are at their most extreme
That means the sun's warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet. The solstices mark the times during the year when this tilt is at its most extreme, and days and nights are at their most unequal.
During the summer solstice, the earth's axis is tilted at its closest point from the sun. This means that in the northern hemisphere, the sun is at its highest point in the sky. It's also the longest day of the year - and the shortest night.
Equinoxes and solstices are key points in Earth's orbit around the sun that mark the transition between seasons. Equinoxes occur when the Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in nearly equal day and night lengths worldwide. Solstices occur when the Earth's tilt is at its maximum towards or away from the sun, resulting in the longest and shortest days of the year, respectively
Celebrations were marked by bonfires to boost the sun's strength for the growing season. The bonfires also symbolized protection, fertility, and prosperity. Similarly, the ancient Romans honored Vesta, goddess of the hearth, with a festival that culminated around the summer solstice.
When you're honouring the Summer Solstice, the sun, and our natural world, there isn't much you can do more in line with the occasion than getting outside in the garden. You could also plant flowers that are believed to represent the sun, like sunflowers and carnations
The goddess often associated with the Summer Solstice in Celtic traditions is Áine, an Irish goddess of summer, love, and wealth. She is also known as a fairy queen and is associated with the sun, wealth, and sovereignty
The Summer Solstice time was an event of tremendous importance to the proto-Druids of the New Stone Age, who built a number of magnificent megaliths aligned to the sunrise on this day.
On the summer solstice, you may observe that the Sun's path across the sky is curved—NOT a straight line. It appears to rise and keeps veering to the right as it passes high overhead. This is quite different from the laser-straight path the Sun moves along in late March and late September, near the equinoxes
Over the centuries, the June solstice has inspired many festivals and midsummer celebrations involving bonfires, picnics, singing, watching the sun rise and Maypole dancing. Many towns and villages across Britain still mark the day.
The summer solstice, the longest day of the year, holds significant spiritual meaning across various cultures and traditions. It's often viewed as a time of illumination, renewal, and celebration, symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness and the peak of the sun's energy.
Mysticism and magic are a common theme in midsummer folklore across the world as well as in the UK. Magic was thought to be strongest during the summer solstice and myths told of the world turning upside down or the sun standing still at midsummer.
The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest period of daylight and shortest night of the year in that hemisphere, when the sun is at its highest position in the sky. At either pole there is continuous daylight at the time of its summer solstice. The opposite event is the winter solstice.
On the summer solstice, Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°. Likewise, the Sun's declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°. In areas outside the tropics, the sun reaches its highest elevation angle at solar noon on the summer solstice.
