cyclope + cocteau

Today we experienced Californian-utopia weather in Ile de France, which was perfect, being that we took a two-car day trip to Milly La Foret, to see the Cyclope, an artistic project/living philosophy that took over ten years to make. We had a picnic on the side of the road and then headed into the monster (as they call it) for a guided tour of artistic ideals, art brut and sheer creativity. Later, we headed to the center of town to see the little chapel where Jean Cocteau was buried. Quite beautifully decorated in his singular drawing style, and surrounded by a botanical garden.

Spontaneity v Symmetry

2 September. Never a dull moment. Not from noon until midnight. I have been walking walking walking, all day long. It has been quite the philosophical adventure. Everything I had planned out ended up being canceled (registration is on the 3rd, not the 2nd, the girl who needed me to translate for her stumbled upon her commissioned translator as our lift lifted), but the fruitless appointments led me through new archways and doors into unplanned and very pleasant territories. In the first case, I ended up walking to the Palais Royal, enjoying some moments of tranquility. A bit of contemplation on symmetry and control bubbled in my membrane at this point (visualization provided in contrasted photographs above) as I related the buildings' and plants' symmetrical beauty to a need for control, and then linked that need for control to my own, using the example of appointments... I finally tied up my neat, symmetrical argument with the acknowledgment of the aforementioned magnificence of the loss of control that comes from all that is unplanned, that happens as we let it happen.