Amor Animi Arbitrio Sumitur, Non Ponitur

I can’t remember when I came across the phrase Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur but I remember thinking the translation made sense: “We choose to love, we do not choose to cease loving“.

A colleague says I need to try Interstellar BBQ when I am in Austin. I told him I would add it to the list and suggested he hit Kenny and Ziggy’s when he goes to Houston. He asked how many times I have been there and I said it feels like once month.

I think Interstellar is about 15 minutes from my hotel, so we’ll see what the week brings. Got to put a few things in a bag and throw them in the car but I have a few days before I need to worry about that.

I like visiting other places but I very much enjoy my own bed. I am a creature of routine and though life often forces me to pivot, adapt and adjust it is nice to have chunks of time where I don’t have to.

Enter The Mystery

Spent a few minutes helping a colleague communicate with someone in a mix of English and Hebrew and ended up in a discussion about how many languages I can curse in.

It started with how many languages do you speak and evolved into conversation about how many languages I was exposed to. It wasn’t uncommon to hear English, Spanish, Yiddish in my house, though English was overwhelmingly most prevalent.

At various times I took classes in Hebrew, Yiddish and Spanish and remember a section in elementary school on Latin.

I think I have a natural affinity for language so I have never found it difficult to pick up phrases in various tongues. I suspect if I leaned into it I could be multilingual, especially in languages in which I can read the alphabet.

Language intrigues me because when you speak other languages it forces you to think differently and that ensures you look at the world in a broader way than you might otherwise do. There is value in that.

Latin often strikes me because so many phrases are connected to literature, history and political thought.

Acta non verba-Actions, not words
Homo homini lupus- A man is a wolf to another man
Ubi amor, ibi dolor-Where there is love, there is pain
Dum vivimus, vivamus-While we live, let us live

Certain things have happened during the last 10 months or so that remind me sometimes we enter the mystery. My nature isn’t to just submit and see where it leads but in this particular time I am trying to do just that.

Submit and see where the current takes me and whether the waves will wash me onto a new shoreline.

I am watching all that goes on around me and waiting to see what comes. My eyes are wide open and I am prepared to take action should I feel the need to, but I am not sure there is a need or reason.

Sometimes silence provides the best map and guide. The older I get the more truth there seems to be in that.

Those who wish to connect know how how to find me assuming I choose to answer.

Some things are ever present.

Aequam servare mentem- Keep a calm mind and Tempora mutantur…Times change, and we change with them

Fifteen minutes is all I have for this particular joint, hopefully this session of free writing makes sense.