"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death." 

The sacred firebird, the phoenix, comes from ancient Egyptian mythology.  At the end of it's life cycle, or when wounded by an enemy, the bird builds a nest of cinnamon twigs and burns itself to ashes along with it.  In order to remain immortal and unharmed, it destroys itself, only to rise again as a newborn, unharmed phoenix.

Sometimes destruction is necessary for creation, or as Frank Zappa put it: "Sometimes you got to get sick before you can feel better."

On a related note, although not about SELF-destruction, is the story of San Francisco Public Library's art project.  In 2001, staff members began finding books - sliced and stashed under shelves - on topics regarding homosexuality/bisexuality, transgenderism, women's issues, and HIV/AIDS.  The books piled up, until more than 600 were found, all destroyed beyond repair.  Instead of throwing them out, they were given to artists and community members, so that art could be created from them.  The initially small-scale project became an international one, leading to the creation of over 200 original art-pieces.  To browse the artwork, click here. And yes, they caught the Serial Killer of Books and charged him with hate crime.

On a completely unrelated note: speaking of serial killers, there's one in my area in Cairo.  It happens to be one of the quietest, least polluted areas (if not THE one) in our chaotic "Umm El-Dunya"; but yes, there's a serial killer targeting women now.  Uhmm, back to related notes:

And the moral of the story kiddos: when the going gets tough, there's a difference between becoming a burn-out and completely going up in flames.  Make sure you keep the line drawn between the two.  When you've been destroyed, you might have to take away even more to earn your tabula rasa.  As the photographer Yousuf Karsh said, "Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness."

Sorry for not posting anything pretty to look at this time.  The next one should be a bit more visually-appealing.

I'll go back to gathering cinnamon twigs now (and I hope I didn't start an itch in any pyromaniacs now, haha).  Play safe.

- m

Blogger has been functioning erratically. They've merged with Google, gone into Beta-testing mode, pulled the "testing" out from under their feet, and fallen.

So I've moved here (temporarily?) until the Blogger people figure things out.

Will be posting properly very soon.

- m