Southern Cross Review

"Two Tahitian Women" or "Watermelon"

Paul Gauguin (French; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist who was not well appreciated until after his death. Gauguin was later recognized for his experimental use of colors and synthetist style that were distinguishably different from Impressionism. His work was influential to the French avant-garde and many modern artists, such as Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer. His bold experimentation with coloring led directly to the Synthetist style of modern art, while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the influence of the cloisonnist style, paved the way to Primitivism and the return to the pastoral. He was also an influential proponent of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms.

Editor's Page Musing on Mortality -or- The Jellyfish Connection by Frank Thomas Smith   immortal jellyfish  Recently I read that jellyfish are, or may be – scientists aren't sure yet – immortal. It seems they grow old, but instead of dying – like us – they become young again. It's true. Check it out here at the New York Times. Well, I am not a jellyfish, and hope never to be one. Nor can I get very excited about their alleged immortality. But it got me to musing on the question of immortality of a more advanced species – like us – or the absence thereof, not, I admit, for the first time... Continue Meditando sobre la Muerte -o- La Medusa Conexión por Frank Thomas Smith   Medusa inmortal  Hace poco leí que las medusas son, o quizás sean –los científicos no están aún seguros– inmortales. Al parecer, envejecen pero, en lugar de morir –como nosotros– se vuelven jóvenes nuevamente. Es cierto. Fíjense aquí en el New York Times. Bueno, yo no soy medusa, y espero nunca serlo. Ni tampoco me entusiasma demasiado su supuesta inmortalidad. Pero la noticia me llevó a meditar sobre la cuestión de la inmortalidad, o de su ausencia, en una especie más avanzada como la nuestra, y no por primera vez, debo admitirlo... Continue Current Events U.S. Extraordinary Rendition Condemnded by James A. Goldston THE United States government has been trying for almost a decade to hush up what it did to Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen whose story of mistaken identity, abduction and abuse was one of the low points in the C.I.A.’s post 9/11 “war on terror". This morning, the cover-up ended. The European Court of Human Rights held that Mr. Masri’s forcible disappearance, kidnapping and covert transfer without legal process to United States custody nine years ago violated the most basic guarantees of human decency. Notably, the court found that the treatment suffered by Mr. Masri in 2003 “at the hands of the special C.I.A. rendition team,” at an airport in Skopje, the capital of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, “amounted to torture.” Continue The Holocaust in Cambodia - "The Bones will Speak" by Julia Masis The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC plans a new exhibition on Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, but it is uncertain if the American secret bombing of the country, which some analysts say helped the radical Maoists come to power, will be included in the presentation. The temporary exhibition, which is scheduled to open in the next 12 to 18 months, will feature photographs, video footage and artifacts from the Khmer Rouge regime that some estimate is responsible for the deaths of approximately two million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. The exhibition will also discuss the ongoing United Nations-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal. Continue West Side (Jewish) Story by Frank Thomas Smith In November 2012 the United Nations voted to upgrade Palestine to a nonmember observer state. Although more symbolic than practical, the symbolism is strong because of the word “state”. The United Nations thus in effect recognized an independent Palestinian State. As expected, Israel and the United States voted against the motion, while almost everyone else voted in favor or, in some cases, abstained. It should be understood that it is not Hamas that is recognized, but the legally recognized Fatah organization situated on the so-called West Bank, which is willing to negotiate with Israel and has done so... Continue Fiction Fearful Symmetry by Frank Thomas Smith Hey, there's a cat under the car," Constanza exclaimed, and ran to look closer. She had just turned nine, dark hair, dark eyes, a cute nose in a pretty face. The car, a 1991 Ford Falcon, the last such model made in Argentina, was standing in a crowded Buenos Aires supermarket parking lot. It had long since been fazed out in the rest of the world, but Argentina had fallen in love with it so it persisted here, manufactured anew, for three decades longer. It had been especially favored by the military dictatorship goons to kidnap and "disappear" people. It was in excellent condition. It was Constanza's father's car; her mother drove a new Ford Ka because she liked its postmodern lines... Continue Anthroposophy Esoteric Lessons for the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum - Lesson Eight by Rudolf Steiner     The First Goetheanum  I wish to begin today's lesson – without you taking notes, only listening at first – by speaking the mantric formula which points to what has resounded throughout the ages, first from the Mysteries, but previously for the Mysteries from the script written in the stars, in the whole cosmos, and which resounds in the human soul, in the human heart, as the great challenge to humanity to strive for a true knowledge of self. This challenge; “O man, know thyself!” rings forth from the whole cosmos. Continue Karmic Relations, Volume II, Lecture 7 by Rudolf Steiner Today we shall begin to consider the inner activities of the soul which can gradually lead man to acquire conceptions, to acquire thoughts, about karma. These thoughts and conceptions are such that they can ultimately enable a person to perceive, in the light of karma, experiences which have a karmic cause. Looking around our human environment, we really see in the physical world only what is caused by physical forces. And if we do see in the physical world something that is not caused by physical forces, we still become aware of it through external physical objects of perception. Continue History of the Anthroposophical Movement - Lecture 3. The Opposition to Spiritual Revelations by Rudolf Steiner   Helena Blavatsky  In wishing to describe the development of groupings which have a certain connection with the Anthroposophical Society, I yesterday had to make reference to the impact of H.P. Blavatsky, because Blavatsky's works at the end of the nineteenth century prompted the coming together of those whom I described as homeless souls. Blavatsky's works have very little to do with anthroposophy. I do not, however, want simply to describe the history of the anthroposophical movement, but also to characterize those of its aspects which relate to the Society. And that requires the kind of background which I have given you... Continue All Hell Breaks Loose in Dornach or The Judith von Halle Phenomenon by Stefan Gyr   Judith von Halle  Defiantly, with its massive concrete façade, the Goetheanum looms over Dornach and Arlesheim. At the foot of the hill, just half a kilometer down from the very center of anthroposophy, she has pitched her tent in a one-time carpenter’s workshop:  Judith von Halle, by far the most controversial figure in the movement founded by Rudolf Steiner.  Since Holy Week 2004, the 40 year old architect, originally from Berlin, claims to bear the wounds of Christ, the so-called stigmata, and not to have eaten a morsel of food. Even water she consumes in limited quantities.  And all this without any significant weight loss or physical health problems... Continue Poetry When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d by Walt Whitman When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night, I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever- returning spring. Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring, Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west, And thought of him I love... Continue Letters to the Editor Deeply humbled, feeling strengthened to meet what comes with insight. Thankful. I have many questions but hesitant to explore as there are many chem trails crossing my sight to the sky and hindering my simple sun gaze at sunset through the trees. Not liking this so much I feel interfered with but still must go make dinner anyway and make it good. Inter-feared with is a better way of putting it ...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. WWW Southern Cross Review Tell a friend: Click to join steiner12