ὁράω                   ὄψομαι                εἶδον

       οἶδα

To attempt to hold fast an instant is doubtful.

To bind an emotion is unthinkable.

To petrify love is impossible.

It is beautiful to be transitory.

How lovely it is not to have to live forever.

Luckily, there is nothing good and nothing evil.

INTUEOR                    INTUERI                    INTUITA SUM

Lebensrückblick

Durchblick

Durchblick haben

Und hast die Welt gemacht. Und sie ist groß

und wie ein Wort, das noch im Schweigen reift.

vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā.

1. The ancient Greek verb ὁράω means “see.” These are the verb’s present, future, and aorist principal parts: ὁράω, “I see”; ὄψομαι, “I shall see”; εἶδον, “I saw.” Beneath is the perfect principal part of the ancient Greek verb οἶδα, which means “I know.” It shares the –ιδ stem with the aorist εἶδον, “I saw.”

2. Jean Tinguely, excerpt from manifesto included in “Jean Tinguely – Machine Spectacle,” Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Seen by autopsy January 5, 2017.

3. The Latin verb intueor means “look in,” “look at” physically, and also “contemplate,” “give attention to.” These are the verb’s present, infinitive, and perfect principal parts: intueor, “I look at”; intueri, “to look at”; intuita sum, “I (feminine) have looked at.”

4. Lebensrückblick, “a view back at life,” the German title of Lou Andreas Salomé’s autobiography; Durchblick, “a view through”; Durchblick haben, “have a view through,” and therefore, “know what’s what.”

5. Rainer Maria Rilke, excerpt from German Eingang (“Entrance”). My translation: “And you have made the world. And it is great / and like a word that still ripens in silence.”

6. The Buddha’s last words, in Pāli. Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, DN 16.6.8. My translation: “All conditioned things are perishable; strive on, paying careful attention!”​