Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Rubem Alves (1933-2014)

“Today there are no reasons for optimism. 
Today it is only possible to have hope
Hope is opposed to optimism.
Optimism exists when it is spring outside and then it is spring inside. Hope exists when there is drought outside and still there are fountains of water bubbling in the heart. 
Optimism is joy ‘because of’: something human, something natural. Hope is joy ‘in spite of’: it is a divine thing. 
Optimism is having roots in time. Hope is having roots in eternity.
Optimism is fed by big things. Without them, optimism dies. Hope is fed by small things. Hope blooms in small things. It is enough to be a strawberry at the edge of the abyss. Today, it could be all that we have: strawberries at the edge of the abyss, joy without reason.  The possibility of hope...” 
Rubem Alves, Concerto para Corpo e Alma





"Let us plant dates even though those who plant them will never see them. We must live by the love of what we will never see. This is the secret discipline. It is a refusal to let the creative act be dissolved away in immediate sense experience, and a stubborn commitment to the future of our grandchildren. Such disciplined love is what has given prophets, revolutionaries, and saints the courage to die for the future they envisaged. They make their own bodies the seed of their own highest hope." 
Rubem Alves, Tomorrow’s Child: Imagination, Creativity, and the Rebirth of Culture

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