Eye of Horus on His Abdomen

Photographer Unknown, (Eye of Horus on His Abdomen)

“May you cross the sky united in the dark,
May you rise in Iightland, the place in which you shine!
Horus, go proclaim to the powers of the east
And their spirits:
This Unas comes, a spirit indestructible,
Whom he wishes to live will live,
Whom he wishes to die will die!

UNAS PYRAMID TEXTS
Utterance 217
Sarcophagus Chamber, South Wall

Herman Melville: “A Mystical Treatise on the Art of Attaining Truth”

Collection:  Guys with Tattoos

“And this tattooing, had been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a complete theory of the heavens and the earth, and a mystical treatise on the art of attaining truth; so that Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to unfold; a wondrous work in one volume; but whose mysteries not even himself could read, though his own live heart beat against them; and these mysteries were therefore destined in the end to moulder away with the living parchment whereon they were inscribed, and so be unsolved to the last.” 

—Herman Melville, Moby Dick or, The Whale

 

Hermann Hesse: “You Should Long for the Perfection of Yourself””

Photographer Unknown, (Green Down Jacket)

“Oh, if only it were possible to find understanding,” Joseph exclaimed. “If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of world history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn’t there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?”

The master had never heard him speak so fervently. He walked on in silence for a little, then said: “There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts, Joseph Knecht – I can see that they already have begun.

-Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game