"The need to be open to the world"

Ivan Illich. Entretien télévisé (en francais, sous-titrage en anglais) avec Jean-Marie Domenach (1972). Capture d'écran (https://vimeo.com/6694847) "Curieux du monde, inquiet du monde, amoureux des hommes et des dieux, Ivan Illich naît à Vienne en 1926 sur la terre d'Europe, fragile et instable. Il lui faut être un peu partout, là où le permet son origine juive. Il apprend huit langues, s'adresse aussi à Dieu et devient prêtre, évêque, puis renonce à la hiérarchie pour être toujours le voyageur en quête de justice et de vie. Comme les cristaux qu'il a aussi étudiés, sa parole est faite de paillettes anguleuses, géométriques où l'histoire, la philosophie et la science éclosent en un apparent désordre avant de prendre forme : des étoiles de pensées.On peut certes croire à d'autres soleils ou révérer des astres morts et les lumières d'Illich peuvent ne paraître que de lointaines nébuleuses. Un certain regard est, ce soir, celui d'un astronome de l'humain."6

Autoportrait à la manière des miniatures persanes. Aquarelle. Pierre-Olivier Combelles, vers 1975.

"May- I ask what the fasting of the mind is?"
Confucius said, "Make your will one! Don't listen with your ears, listen with your mind. No, don't listen with your mind, but listen with your spirit. Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but spirit is empty- and waits on all things. The Way gathers in emptiness alone. Emptiness is the fasting of the mind."
Yen Hui said, "Before I heard this, I was certain that I was Hui. But now that I have heard it, there is no more Hui. Can this be called emptiness?"
"That's all there is to it," said Confucius. "Now I will tell you. You may go and play in his bird cage, but never be moved by fame. If he listens, then sing; if not, keep still. Have no gate, no opening,  but make oneness your house and live with what cannot be avoided. Then you will be close to success.
 "It is easy to keep from walking; the hard thing is to walk without touching the ground. It is easy to cheat when you work for men, but hard to cheat when you work for Heaven. You have heard of flying with wings, but you have never heard of flying without wings. You have heard of the knowledge that knows, but you have never heard of the knowledge that does not know. Look into that closed room, the empty chamber where brightness is born! Fortune and blessing gather where there is stillness. But if you do not keep still - this is what is called sitting but racing around.  Let your ears and eyes communicate with what is inside, and put mind and knowledge on the outside. Then even gods and spirits will come to dwell, not to speak of men! This is the changing of the ten thousand things, the bond of Yu and Shun, the constant practice of Fu Hsi and Chi Ch'u. How much more should it be a rule for lesser men!"

Chuang Tzu. Translated by Burton Watson. Section FOUR - IN THE WORLD OF MEN

Shaman Hamatsa. Les Hamatsa étaient une société secrète des Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) de Colombie britannique, étudiés par Franz Boas ("The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians", 1897). Photographie par Edward S. Curtis.