über Berlin (1987), an angel appears who wants to become human, in 4 Himmel över Göteborg, Nowadays people distinguish between vertigo or acrophobia on one hand and dizzi- "/>Bedlam was an institution for the The economist John Maynard Keynes was even more which was performed at mentally ill in London in those days. A contrast to the refugees who are dehumanized in the performance by Angereds Teater in the ness on the other. The latter can arise from low blood pressure, fatigue, lack of fluids or “dun steed” is gray with a black mane and severe in his judgment after having studied Newton’s writ- the prevailing bureaucratic system. The angel wants to be mortal, i.e., autumn of 2015, was irritation of the inner ear. The cause of vertigo, on the other hand, is shrouded in mystery. tail and a dark dorsal stripe. In the King ings on alchemy. Rather than as the first Enlightenment man, 4 written by Nicolas Charles XII Swedish translation of the alive: “I don’t want to hover in eternity; I want to feel my own weight.” Kolovos and directed by Doctors cannot explain why certain people who have climbed up on a ladder or a roof or Bible, such a horse is described in the Keynes wrote in 1942, Newton stands out as the last magi- Eletheria Gerofoka. just gone out on a balcony suddenly feel their legs begin to tremble and a sinking feeling book of Revelations’ description of the cian.8 riders of the Apocalypse. See The On pottery from 630 BC found in an Etruscan grave in Cerveteri in their stomachs. Strangely enough, these physical feelings of discomfort often are Chymistry of Isaac Newton: http://we- outside Rome, there are two mythical figures portrayed, both of them possessing attri- accompanied by a compulsive and simultaneously euphoric thought: imagine if I were to bapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/index.jsp Just as researchers can fall victim to foolish ideas, so can (read Oct 27, 2015). butes coveted by humanity from time immemorial. One is the sorceress Medea, who was jump and free fall to the ground! The thought dissects the person who experiences it and magicians put their abilities at the disposal of enlighten- said to be able to restore youth to the elderly. The other is a man who is depicted on the causes her to hang more tightly onto something solid. She fears for herself. Am I capable 8 Keynes, J.M., "Newton, The Man"; ment. Harry Potter is not the only demonstration of this. The Proceedings of the Royal Society pottery with wings and called Taitale. To all appearances, he is the same figure known to of doing something that I don’t want to do? Why do I want to throw myself down when it is Newton Tercentenary Celebrations, Two of the biggest names in magic during the past centu- posterity as Daedalus, thanks to Roman authors. sure to lead to my destruction? Can’t I control myself? Don’t I know who I am? 15–19 July 1946; Cambridge University ry were Harry Houdini (1874-1926) and James Randi (born Press (1947). The commemorative words Daedalus, whom the Greeks called Daidalos, was an ingenious inventor from Athens. It One hypothesis asserts that the eye requires time to adjust to heights—when stepping are available on several sites, including 1928). Houdini, son of a Jewish rabbi, became well-known as was he who discovered the wedge, the axe, the windlass, the lever and the sail. He con- out on a high balcony, for example. If the eye is allowed time to adjust, the person can this one: http://phys.columbia.edu/~mil- an escape artist par excellence. Early in his career he lis/3003Spring2014/Supplementa- structed statues that moved and looked completely alive, a kind of ancient robot. King then enjoy the beautiful view. If the person instead is gripped by discomfort at the great ry/John%20Maynard%20Keynes_%20% worked as a medium himself, conducting séances to earn Minos on Crete assigned Daidalos the task of building a labyrinth in his palace. Because height and hurries inside, the discomfort remains, is stored up and can in the worst case 22Newton,%20the%20Man%22.pdf money. During a trip to war-ravaged Europe in 1919, he (Read Oct 25, 2015). In the original the Minos neglected to sacrifice to the gods a splendid white bull they had given him, the grow into a phobia. quote reads: ”Newton was not the first of witnessed how relatives of soldiers killed in action were Weight gods caused his wife Pasiphaë to fall in love with the bull. She charged Daidalos with As a remedy, doctors suggest taking the bull by the horns: that is, subjecting yourself bit the age of reason. He was the last of the cynically exploited by unscrupulous mediums. He began magicians, the last of the Babylonians building her a cattle enclosure in which she could receive her beloved. The fruit of this by bit to heights together with a therapist and training yourself to cope with them. and Sumerians, the last great mind which then to visit their performances and reveal their tricks. intercourse was the Minotaur, half man, half bull, a horrendous, man-eating monster that looked out on the visible and intellectual More than anyone else, Houdini is regarded as having world with the same eyes as those who Minos locked into the labyrinth with Daidalos and his son, Icaros. The only way out of the Incidentally, speaking of bulls, in our latitudes the ox is a heavy animal, one of the heaviest. began to build our intellectual contributed to the public’s reduced faith in spiritualists labyrinth was through the air. Using bird feathers and wax, Daidalos fashioned wings for Whether weight is incompatible with quickness and humor is an old controversial ques- inheritance rather less than 10,000 years after World War I. ago. Isaac Newton, a posthumous child himself and Icaros. Icaros became so enraptured about being able to fly that he defied his tion. Johan Henric Kellgren concurred with the Roman poet Horatius, who contended that born with no father on Christmas Day, James Randi first became famous as Houdini’s successor father’s admonitions and flew so close to the sun that the wax melted and he crashed into usefulness can very well be combined with enjoyment, a position he elaborated on in 1642, was the last wonderchild to whom as an escape artist under the professional name “The the Magi could do sincere and appropri- the sea near the island of Icaria, which was named after him. Daidalos continued his flight Filosofen på landsvägen (“Philosopher on the Highway”) (1792): ate homage.” Amazing Randi.” He holds the Guinness World Record for of to Sicily, where he put aside his wings and built a temple in honor of Apollo. ”There is, namely, a common and equally inaccurate belief among my dear countrymen lying in a sealed casket: one hour and 44 minutes. Randi is an 9 See the fascinating documentary about Romanticism made Daidalos a symbol for the classical artist, the skilled craftsman, that a work’s profundity should be demonstrated through its tediousness, and that an James Randi, An Honest Liar (2014): avowed atheist and has exposed both magic and religious whereas Icaros became a symbol for the romantic artist: ingenious, passionate, rebellious, author who smiles necessarily is wrong. On the contrary, I dare to assert that rationality http://anhonestliar.com/wp/ (Read Oct charlatans since the 1970s. Among other things, he has someone who ignores all rules and laws. and truth are the natural friends of joy, that enjoyable usefulness is double usefulness 16, 2015) exposed several of illusionist Uri Geller’s alleged “supernat- and that gravity in writing as well as in countenance, in gait and in gesture is more often ural” tricks and established a prize of one million dollars for anyone who can carry out a Elevation a mask for an empty head. The gravest animal on earth is, as everyone knows, the ox: but study proving a paranormal, occult or supernatural phenomenon. Above the lakes, above the vales, what do you think about his profundity?” For Houdini and Randi, magic is not pseudoscience but rather an art that is enacted in Weight The mountains and the woods, the clouds, the seas, the eyes of the beholder.9 Beyond the sun, beyond the ether, Light and heavy are fundamental distinctions of existence along with light and darkness, A Werner Herzog documentary, The Great Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner (1974), is Beyond the confines of the starry spheres, life and death, movable and fixed. They seem to be needed to bring order to diversity. about Walter Steiner, Switzerland’s foremost ski jumper of his day and also a woodcarver. My soul, you move with ease, Certain epochs are lighter than others. Rococo is light, baroque heavy. The Middle Ages As is the case with several of the film director’s heroes—Aguirre, Kaspar Hauser, Nosfer- All bodies in the uni- And like a strong swimmer in rapture in the wave heavy, the Renaissance light. The literary 1950s were light, at least in Sweden, while the atu, Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man—the film depicts an eccentric, an exceptional person, You wing your way blithely through boundless space . Translation painterly 1980s were heavy in the same country. Different countries have different someone who puts himself above social rules and the laws of nature. The almost With virile joy unspeakable. weights. Germany is heavy, while France is light. Of art forms, music without a doubt is the hour-long TV documentary tells its story with few words, accompanied only by synthesiz- verse are attracted Fly far, far away from this baneful miasma lightest and the lightest of all is Mozart, but what is heaviest? Being a heavyweight is to er-based music by the krautrock band Popol Vuh.