Mornig walk around the pond
April 7, 2021 in Environmental
This morning I left just before 8:00 – it takes about a half-hour walk to reach this place. It rained yesterday and even snowed on the mountain tops; you could see your breath. I knew that the sun, recently risen from behind the hill, would illuminate the brown leaves of the young poplar. In a few days, they would already turn green. I like to see how a plant that also gives shade, manages at certain times to attract a lot of light. I like being a witness to this phenomenon: it makes me feel like a participant.
Light fires up everything
March 30, 2021 in Environmental
I went out for a walk in the fields this morning; it was just after eight o’clock. The sun, with the summer time, had just risen. Everything exposed to the east was illuminated: a golden light, which you feel enters your body and mind. “Immediately naked,” I hear myself suggest in thought. Because I really have nothing to hide about myself from this nature that already exposes itself to me, just as it is: there is no Sunday dress in nature. At last, the plumes of the reeds attract my gaze: the sun illuminates them, and it seems a light from within: I want to see if I too can be lightened from within. It’s not like that, I’m not a leaf, I’m not a plume, I’m not a petal. But the thought is enough for me.
Facial tan lines
March 24, 2021 in Political
This is the poster for a photo exhibition by young photographer Fabrizio Spucches dedicated to Covid-19. The parts left blank by the tan immediately reminded me of the similar tan lines left by swimsuits or bikinis. To the images, I was not able to disassociate their content, indeed to compare it.
1) taking off the mask is an act of personal freedom, as is taking off the swimsuits.
2) the part of the body that is hidden becomes socially something that cannot be shown in public
3) you hide certain body parts for moral principles. They say we must wear a mask for social ethics, for responsibility to others and ourselves. Does the same happen with other parts of the body? That is: there is = there has been imposed on us also, in this case, a kind of moral ethics / social ethics even in the obligation to wear a swimsuit
4) Social conditioning seems to be the same: it always comes from those in power; contrary opinions are silenced; it doesn’t matter if there are no scientific reasons for the mandatory use of swimsuits or masks.
5) hiding something gives rise to an exaggerated, deviant, unhealthy desire that leads to an unnatural attitude. It is a violent act towards reality. We are afraid of other people’s faces; do faces per se, like other parts of our body, cause scandal?
Light from above
March 9, 2021 in Environmental
I was amazed by this photo when I saw it on the monitor. The first words I thought were, “mystical Light”. It’s still the same cherry tree from a few days ago but seen in this light: the feeling is that it was itself full of light, from the inside. The sun had just risen behind the hill; the air was cool (about 10°). The forms were animated by the light because the light gave a particular dynamism to the forms dialoguing with the shadows. One day or another, I’ll understand something about myself naked next to the cherry tree in bloom. For now, I thought it would be nice to fix this image in a photograph.
Blossoming cherry tree
March 4, 2021 in Lifestyle
Irresistible to pose next to this cherry tree so beautifully in bloom. We try to attend and stay close to beautiful things that make us happy just by looking at them, just because they exist. The mere presence modulates our mood, and from the mood slowly moves a reset of thoughts, connections and knowledge. Sometimes it’s enough to look at what’s going on inside us: to feel the lightness of breath, a quiet soul, no worries. It depends on how much we let ourselves be infected, be in touch, on how open we are to welcome what nature offers us for free. Indirectly, the soil where the cherry tree has its roots also makes me grow and blossom. Perhaps nothing can be seen from the outside, but I feel that my soul is also blossoming.
My little almond tree
February 28, 2021 in Environmental, Lifestyle
This year the almond tree bloom is late. It still doesn’t fail to give joy to those who watch. I’m glad to have it in my little patch of garden. Lombardy is on its umpteenth lock-down: you can’t get out of your home town. Spring is borderless, and I like having this term of comparison to know how to deal with the various chaotic decrees. I see that life, time, spring does not wait for publication in the Official Gazette. Clothes and mask belong to an artificial life, made of conveniences and compromises. I don’t ask myself so many questions having nature by my side because I know from the beginning where the reason lies.
First sunbathing
February 24, 2021 in Lifestyle
It has been a cold and rainy winter as it should be. I carefully keep away fears and hopes, obsessions and news of the moment because they distract me from the peace and serenity of nature. I fill up on warmth, vitality, vitamin-D and all things “positive” about life – I don’t need tests to know how I’m doing.
Anticipation of paradise
February 15, 2021 in Uncategorized
I am reading a vulgarization of the of Honorius of Autun in an ancient Venetian dialect (written shortly before Dante). The work is a kind of agile catechism, consisting of questions from the student and answers from the master. In paragraph 81 of book three, the student asks the master:
«What clothes will God’s elects wear?»
And the master answers:
«They will wear only health and gladness: you must know that [in Paradise] there are no material clothes, but Our Lord will clothe their bodies with the garment of health of the soul with the garment of gladness.”.»
Note that «letizia» or «perfetta letizia» (celestial bliss) is a key word of s. Francis of Assisi.
Mistletoe
January 13, 2021 in Environmental
A photo from a few days ago. In the past years, I used a photo like this one to wish a happy new year to all Naktiv’s friends. The sun had just come out from behind the hill (around 9h15), and two park rangers had just passed by. It was perhaps 5°Celsius, but without wind, for a moment one can be without clothes: indeed it is an occasion for the body to get acquainted with the various temperatures. Without hostility.
2020-2021: out of the tunnel
December 31, 2020 in Lifestyle
A tree that has become dry from the ivy has fallen, almost blocking the way. But a passage remained, I passed through it and a word formed in my mind: it seemed to me that I was coming out of a tunnel. This is my wish for all Naktiv-friends: to get out of our tunnels and continue on the road we have chosen for ourselves.
Dressed by landscape at 5°C
December 26, 2020 in Environmental
Irresistible to be there this morning after a few days of rain. And to feel embraced by the light, by the landscape: I have names for everything I see: Monte Guglielmo, the strip of Lake Iseo, Monte Isola, the little church of Cremignane. The fresh morning air wakes me up better than a shower; the sun warms my skin, the grass still has traces of frost. I feel dressed in landscape… even inside.
Landscape-shower at +5°C
December 26, 2020 in Environmental
Irresistible to be there this morning after a few days of rain. And to feel embraced by the light, by the landscape: I have names for a few things I see: Monte Guglielmo, the strip of Lake Iseo, Monte Isola, the little church of Cremignane. The fresh morning air wakes me up better than a shower; the sun warms my skin; the grass still has traces of frost. I feel dressed in the landscape. E even inside.
Christmas thoughts
December 24, 2020 in Environmental
The pleasure of a summer walk in the mountains has become a silent prayer, a grateful appreciation of my surroundings, the deep consolation of being a child of mother nature.
Autumn
November 28, 2020 in Environmental
In Autumn you can understand the reasons of a whole year. Different colours are tuned together, different beings and things match perfectly: this is the picture I have in mind. Thousands of words are ready to be spoken. The real world-natural world says it better with silence.
Covid nights
November 20, 2020 in Environmental
During the confinement, no chance to be caught. The ailanthus tree is half-naked
What my eyes see
November 6, 2020 in Environmental
What my eyes see goes to form my mood. Faced with something harmonious, it also harmonizes my spirit. Without conceptual filters, without aesthetic canons. It is a simple and natural bliss: like an anticipation of paradise.
Today begins the second wave of containment. There could be no better contrast. For three weeks we will not be able to leave the confines of our village. In the harmony of nature, I cannot see anything hostile. And I have made this idea: better to die because of illness than because of medical treatment.
Red maples and a hackberry tree
November 2, 2020 in Environmental, Philosophy
The landscape of the countryside that I see when I go for a short walk is now familiar. But sometimes it still surprises me. So I enjoy those moments, and in the meantime, I begin to notice a thousand things that I hadn’t noticed before. The red maple tree reminds me of Indian summer, the hackberry tree a legend about it; and then there is a green meadow a hunting post and behind the leaves a clear, penetrating blue. The air is pure; everything is clean – everything is how it has to be: this is the wonder. And I am grateful then to the sensors inside me that have stopped me and welcomed this independent life of nature. Of course, it would continue even without having noticed it, even without my presence. Nature does not impose anything; it is up to us to have antennas. That’s also why I want to get naked and take a picture because then I see other things too: at the moment, physical sensations prevail, an intuition. At home, when reviewing the photo on the monitor, the mind selects, compares, draws conclusions.
Protection
October 28, 2020 in Environmental, Philosophy
The sense of protection that I feel coming from nature reassures me totally; it is a life insurance policy. Safety on life is something inherent in nature; it is part of the project. There is no comparison with our small means: police, army, laws, hospitals, insurance companies, mafias and a thousand other points of support. There is no contract, no fee. Nature has made me up to life, or rather, more than that, it has made me its collaborator. Nature trusts me blindly because it knows how it made me. And this is a sort of knowledge that goes beyond science, our creed and even beyond mysticism. Completely defenceless / unarmed, naked (greek “gymnos”) I feel vital and myself, because I am a child of nature.
Faro Convention & facial masks
September 28, 2020 in Political
Fifteen years after its approval, the Italian Parliament has signed the Faro Convention (Portugal – 2005) the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society [https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/199]. Article 4 says: “c) exercise of the right to cultural heritage may be subject only to those restrictions which are necessary in a democratic society for the protection of the public interest and the rights and freedoms of others”.
During Iranian President Rohani’s visit to Rome (January 2016) some ancient Roman statues were covered “as a form of respect for Iranian culture and sensitivity”.
What “hit the sensitivity” was nudity. Nudity in public in itself is not punished in Italy (the “obscene acts” are punished) and even less the works of art.
If someone declared himself “sensitive” to nudity, he could practically not move Italy, not even visit the Sistine Chapel.
The words “the right and freedoms of others” are to be stressed. This same principle is not always respected.
The situation is similar to the obligation of facial masks: first optional, then hand by hand made mandatory (“for the respect of the health of others”). And it has been made mandatory by overzealous politicians. I think it has always been the overzealous politicians who wanted to impose the ban on nudity.
We who practice nudity daily know how beneficial it is for body and spirit. And we do not poison ourselves with sad thoughts of modesty, just as we do not want to poison ourselves with our CO2.
My last hike
September 26, 2020 in Naktiv
During my last hike, I arrived at a mountain pasture (Costaro, 45.907059, 10.269950) only because I was told that there was a centuries-old chestnut tree. I had been there the last time about 40 years ago and with my great surprise, I had seen in the middle of the meadow a martagon lily. The chestnut tree is right next to the stabling house – nowdays a holiday-hut (you can see the tree in Google-maps) -: it is imposing, lush and full of husks. I do not follow the fashion of those who go around embracing trees, I just wanted to show how big it was. I think it could be 500 or 600 years old. I stopped on a wooden bench for a snack, and taking a picture, I noticed this beautiful rowan tree.
Evening light
September 15, 2020 in Environmental
Sometimes, even a habitual landscape, which you see every day, can be surprising: everything is as it was yesterday, a month ago, as it will be tomorrow. Yet a thousand things have changed: the sky is overcast, there is no wind, the water is a mirror, the gaze runs here and there and doesn’t get tired of looking. Seeing me naked in the photo while contemplating the tranquillity of the evening is like a video projector, it calls attention, it is an invitation: nature offers me this for dinner, what I see satiates me.
A hornet nest
September 8, 2020 in Environmental
I was amazed by this hornet’s nest. It was along the path that I usually walk, but I had never seen it. The hornets are very active and fast, they have no time to take care of potential enemies. In fact, you can get close – but out of caution, up to a certain point.
And it makes me wonder: how many things of nature live without me realizing it. There is a serenity in the knowledge of nature that does not exist in the understanding of technology. Technology is always one step ahead; nature seems to be the same from the beginning of the world.
