"Mozart's music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe."
Albert Einstein
I forgot to mention that yesterday was Mozart's birthday. His 260th I believe. His music is certainly the silver lining in life, some recompense for the ugliness that passes for success with our modern day Trimalchios of finance.
When most of the Very Serious People of our time are dust and long forgotten, Mozart will be remembered because he brought beauty into the world by ordering sounds to please the minds and refresh the hearts.
And when people think of the powerful of our day in the same manner in which they may vaguely recall the Pharaohs, some of whose names may be familiar but little else of them comes to mind, gold will still be a repository of value.
"The common are but a breath, the highborn but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath, less substantial than their vanity."Nothing provides for our continuance, and nothing abides after death, except for love. This is easily said, but rarely taken to heart.
Psalm 62:9
Long ago I had a terrible dream. After thinking about it I later believed was a vision of hell, at least as my subconscious mind had conceived it. But at the time I did not think that it was that sort of thing, just a very puzzling but remarkably vivid dream. I generally have mundane ones, and the occasional one where I forget an assignment and have to go back to graduate school. lol.
In this dream the streets and buildings were hard and barren, but like marble, and beautifully kept like some ancient marketplace when it was newly made. But it was void of all humanity, and totally devoid of any life, even plants.
As I stood at the gate in front of a widely open arch, a voice warned me sharply not to proceed within despite its magnificent beauty. The streets and pillared buildings were crafted of fine white stone, quietly shimmering with a hidden but very intense heat. Surprisingly there was no sunlight, no shadows, and it was under skies that were almost a fog, but higher off the ground.
The only other feature was dried leaves, like those of late Autumn, unremarkable and indistinguishable, brown remnants that were making faint scratching sounds as they were blown slowly across the cobble-stoned pavements in the slowly swirling heat. I remember that it was that noise the drew my attention to them. It was not a pleasant sound, almost like faint sounds of a scratching in the walls.
It was a vision that struck me to the heart. and I told no one about it. But I never forgot it.
Much later I came to the believe that these 'leaves' were the souls of the lost, and the scratching sound was their voices, but indistinct, without a personal identity. Having been stripped of their vanities and possessions, there was nothing left of them but the husks of living beings. And so this is what remained. They were not being punished or burned in the traditional sense, they were just not 'human,' anymore, and were more like dead leaves.
And deep down I knew that I wanted no part of this, that is was not a good place to be, that despite its hard but orderly beauty it was 'empty' in a very profound way.
Well, this is what I have made of it some years later in thinking about it. It is hard to express it in words how strange this was, but even now the impression of it is intense in a way that makes it hard to even remember without a kind of dread. I never have those sorts of dreams, so this one stands out. And it was a 'pivotal learning moment' for me whatever it was.
Gold and silver were taking back some of the recent gains as they moved lower. Interestingly enough so was the dollar, moving lower. Is risk back on? Not to judge by the stock market results.
There were the usual piddling to no deliveries at The Bucket Shop, and some silver was pushed around the plate, with gold a snoozer as usual.
I would like to see gold hold its level and move higher from here. But there are a lot of things that I would like that are apparently not meant to be, so let's see what happens.
GDP number out tomorrow.
Have a pleasant evening.