Southern Cross Review

"Black Stockings"

Pal Fried (1893 – 1976) was a Hungarian-American artist. Born in Budapest, he studied at the Hungarian Academy under Professor Hugo Pohl & in Paris under Claude Monet and Lucien Simone. In 1947, after WW II, Fried emigrated to America where he taught at the Academy of Arts in New York & developed his own unique style. In the 1950's and 60's, Pal Fried lived and painted in Hollywood and painted high society women and celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe and the Gabor sisters.

Editor's Page Germania and Athena - an Affair of Unrequited Love by Frank Thomas Smith   Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  1. Literature German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the most notable authors of the period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The Nibelungenlied whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, as is the Thidrekssaga. The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world. Martin Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for the modern "High German" language. Among the most admired German poets and authors are Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Brecht, Heine, etc. Nine Germans have won the Nobel Prize in literature: Theodor Mommsen, Paul von Heyse, Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Nelly Sachs, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass and Herta Müller... Continue Features Apologies to Mexico - The Drug Trade and GNP (Gross National Pain) by Rebecca Solnit Dear Mexico, I apologize. There are so many things I could apologize for, from the way the U.S. biotech corporation Monsanto has contaminated your corn to the way Arizona and Alabama are persecuting your citizens, but right now I’d like to apologize for the drug war, the 10,000 waking nightmares that make the news and the rest that don’t. You've heard the stories about the five severed heads rolled onto the floor of a Michoacan nightclub in 2006, the 300 bodies dissolved in acid by a servant of one drug lord, the 49 mutilated bodies found in plastic bags by the side of the road in Monterrey in May, the nine bodies found hanging from an overpass in Nuevo Laredo just last month, the Zeta Cartel’s videotaped beheadings just two weeks ago, the carnage that has taken tens of thousands of Mexican lives in the last decade and has terrorized a whole nation.  I've read them and so many more.  I am sorry 50,000 timesover... Continue The Cosmic Law of Karma by Kristina Kaine "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you." (Mt 5:38-42) To seek revenge for damage caused to us means that we do not understand the cosmic law of reincarnation and karma. If someone damages our eye what good does it do if we damage theirs in return; it only doubles the karma. The law of karma is very specific what we prepare in one life will have its rewards (or consequences) in another. Through karma we are given the ability to redeem ourselves. It is not about reckoning but about the opportunity to develop ourselves... Continue Tolstoy Holds Lincoln World's Greatest Hero by Count S. Stakelberg Visiting Leo Tolstoi in Yasnaya with the intention of getting him to write an article on [Abraham] Lincoln, I unfortunately found him not well enough to yield to my request. However, he was willing to give me his opinion of the great American statesman, and this is what he told me: Of all the great national heroes and statesmen of history Lincoln is the only real giant. Alexander, Frederick the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, Gladstone and even Washington stand in greatness of character, in depth of feeling and in a certain moral power far behind Lincoln. ..Continue Fiction April Decoherence - (April is the cruelest month...) by Frank Thomas Smith I woke up shivering from the cold, naked under a sheet. It must be a very unusual and sudden cold snap, I thought. Buenos Aires has some cool days in autumn, but not freezing like this. I jumped out of bed and ran to the closet from which I took underwear including an undershirt, which I only wear in winter, then a shirt and jeans and socks. I dressed quickly and realized it wasn’t enough. I took a sweater from a drawer and put it on. Then I looked at the window. It seemed opaque, which couldn't be, so I put on my glasses, which I usually only use for reading, and looked again at the window and saw that it was frosted over, something I hadn’t seen since I lived in Switzerland. Thick frost with out-splaying lines from dark moons. I didn’t want to open the window and let in the cold, but if I wanted to look outside I had no alternative. The catch was frozen and I had to use both hands to open it. I looked down at La Pampa Street from my third floor apartment. It was snowing! But it never snowed in Buenos Aires, not even in winter. A few cars flowed slowly along, throwing up snowpuffs behind them. Pedestrians walked with their heads hunched down into the wind, bundled up in heavy winter clothing... Continue The Master of All He Tends - A Slave and a Boy in Ancient Greece by Paul Holler When I was a boy and my father traveled the islands of the Aegean striking bargains with other wealthy and powerful men, I often traveled with him.  It was a fine time as I remember it.  Being under sail for days on the Aegean was, for me, an adventure.  At sea, I was no longer a boy.  One moment I was Odysseus battling Polyphemus, the next I was Jason at the prow of the Argo dreaming of the golden fleece. My father, who only went to sea because his business demanded it, quickly grew impatient with the long hours, the tight quarters and the unchanging horizon.  But through my ten-year-old eyes the Aegean was a vast and continually changing place and each moment was new... Continue Anthroposophy Esoteric Lessons for the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum - Lesson Six by Rudolf Steiner    The First Goetheanum  During these meetings we are considering the truths which can be learned from the Guardian of the Threshold. And the Guardian's continuous admonition is that man be aware that he advances spiritually when he becomes conscious of his true relation to the world. To become conscious of his true relation to the world, he first gets to know the world by observing the kingdoms of nature which are external to his own being – the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom and the mineral kingdom. These relations offer him the opportunity to admire them and to use them to carry out his own will impulses, etc. Man considers them to be his  external world, and with normal consciousness he is hardly aware of how he has evolved out of this world, how a deep relationship to that world exists within him... Continue Karmic Relations, Volume II, Lecture 5 by Rudolf Steiner    Emperor Nero We have now studied a number of examples showing how destiny unfolds, examples which can explain and illumine the life and history of mankind. The purpose of these studies has been to show that individuals themselves carry into later epochs of earthly existence what they have experienced and assimilated in earlier times. Connections have come to light which enable us to understand how certain decisive actions of men have their roots in moral causes created by themselves in the course of the ages... Continue History of the Anthroposophical Movement - 1. The Homeless Souls by Rudolf Steiner The reflections which we are beginning today are intended to encourage all those who have found their way to anthroposophy to think about their current position. They will present an opportunity for contemplation, for self-reflection, through a characterization of the anthroposophical movement and its relationship to the Anthroposophical Society. And in this context may I begin by speaking about the people who are central to such self-reflection: yourselves. There are those who found this path through an inner necessity of the soul, of the heart; others, perhaps, found it through the search for knowledge. There are many, however, who entered the anthroposophical movement for more or less mundane reasons; but through a deepening of the soul they have subsequently perhaps encountered more within it than they at first anticipated. But there is something which all those who end up in the anthroposophical movement have in common. And that is that they are initially driven by their inner destiny, their karma, to leave the ordinary highway of civilization on which the majority of mankind at present progresses, to search for their own path. Continue Poetry The Expatriate and Parting by Frank Thomas Smith A problem with most foreign lands is that they're so far away, like the bleachers in Ebbett's used to be before the advent of technology. Also, either they're somewhat bland, foggy, windy and damp, or, if southerly, downright dangerous, where bullets fly and sunscreen 21 you need to cancel the assassin sun... Continue Prologue in Heaven - from "Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Lord, the Heavenly Hosts, later Mephistopheles. The Archangels step forward. RAPHAEL The sun resounds as once of old In loving spheres of motley song, Predestined is its journey bold, Ripening as it flows along. Its sight the angels new strength gives, Though none can fathom how its done; The inconceivable still lives In glory as when the days were one... Continue Letters to the Editor I have the greatest respect for Jimmy Carter and his post presidential activities. It is refreshing to hear an authoritative voice speak about the immoral behavior of the USA in war actions. The shift to such behavior seems triggered by the 9-11 attack, and unfortunately has not subsided. I find his attitude toward the government actions closely related to what is described in the article about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder...continue Click on the donkey to browse in the SCR E-book Library You can find us under the Southern Cross constellation in the Traslasierra Valley, Province of Córdoba, Argentina. Visitors always welcome. Just follow the sign that reads: La Cruz del Sur. Frank Thomas Smith, Editor JoAnn Schwarz, Associate Editor Contact us Authors' Guidelines Archives so we can advise you when the next issue is ready. Many people are switching to Gmail. If you do, please advise us so we can change your subscription address. For back issues, use the issue number, For example: http://southerncrossreview.org/79/index79.html will deliver SCR number 79. 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