Ανακαίνιση – αποκατάσταση – παλινόρθωση

To begin a restoration endeavour of an old derelict building in a period of crisis is disconcerting to say the least. When facing a horizon of an impending global doom, one is challenged with the prospect of giving a ‘future’ to a construction that has outlived its purpose, one has to ‘dream-up’ a new life to breathe into this, albeit elegantly structured, compilation of mud and stone.
At this, my memories float back to Nikolaos Pentzikis who repeatedly emphasized the importance in life of the ‘thing’ – the ‘pragma’ – la ‘chose’ – in Latin: ‘res – reis – rem’ terre et rem, earth and rem. Our economic speculators have become so addicted to the ‘virtual’ reality of wealth that they heap scorn upon the intrinsic and sacred value of work. Matter, off course, upholds us; it either bears us up or bogs us down, it is but a matter of choice. We can choose either to breathe life or death into things – it is an awesome gift, which brings us to the meaning of the word «crisis», (κρίσις in Greek). According to My companion in time, the ‘Dictionnaire Bailly’ gives for the word κρίσις : action or faculty to distinguish, action of choosing, action of separating (the grain from the chaff) (καρπόν τε και άχνας). The choice may seem hard to access, yet life seems to be overwhelmingly an upward surge and death eternally the looser’s ill-timed gambit.





These indeed are times of crisis. The inhumanity at war, the immorality of our leaders, the unbridled race for wrongly acquired riches, stripping nature of its life-giving mantle, have all but rendered humanity senseless. Most worrisome in the words of René Guénon is the «turning upside down» of symbols. Symbols, which in the past fulfilled the meaning inlaid within the word itself (συν + βάλλω: sym-vallo : το join together, to unite) by in-lightening us to a deeper under-standing of the righteous ‘world order’, thereby freeing us from all bonds, are now used ‘commercially’ on every street corner dragging us deeper into a downward spiral.
Its a drugged world, a ‘pornotopia’. Music, whether learned or folk, was used to elevate our souls by joining them to the spiralling harmony of the universe. Today it is used mostly to express the ego-centered loneliness of our downfall. It is as though a delicately weaved prayer rug depicting a tree of life, which in fact is a representation of the whole creation, was used to wrap up bombs, hand grenades, land mines and other weapons, products of a sick imagination.
Consider the beauty of the Sema. The individual caught up in the whorl of a world whirling in praise and thanksgiving.




This gentle old building within the next few days will be examined by specialists for the acoustic potential of its hulk and the soundness of its structure, prerequisite to its rehabilitation. It once echoed with the chirping of children. Now that the children have flown away may it echo with new sounds of hope and harmony. May it serve as a prayer rug.