Showing posts with label The Brightness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Brightness. Show all posts

Thursday 18 November 2021

The Brightness



Recite, then, as much of The Koran 
as may be easy to you. 





God knoweth that there be some among you sick...
while others travel through the Earth 
in quest for the bounties of God. 
Others do battle in His cause. 

Recite, therefore, as much as may be easy. 

And observe the prayers. 
This will be best and richest in the recompense. 

Seek ye the forgiveness of God. 
Verily, God is forgiving, merciful... 
 
Greetings, Ali. 

My lord. - Sherif Ali. Lieutenant Lawrence, you have met Sherif Ali, I think. 
 
Yes, my lord. 
 
And now, Selim, 
"The Brightness." 
 
Selim :
"By the noonday brightness... 
and by The Night when it darkeneth 
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee...
neither hath He been displeased. 
And surely The Future shall be better for Thee than The Past." 

Lawrence :

"And in The End shall Your Lord be bounteous to thee... 
...and Thou be satisfied." 

Sir? Yes, colonel.

I want a decision, sir. 

You want me to fall back on Yenbo. 


Well, you're not doing much good here, sir. 
I'm sorry to rub it in, sir, but we can't supply you here. 

You could supply us through Aqaba! 

Aqaba! If you can get ahold of Aqaba, we can supply you.
But you can't! 

You could. 

You mean, The Navy? 
The Turks have 12-inch guns at Aqaba, sir. 
Can you imagine what that means? 

Yes, I can imagine. 

Put that out of your mind, sir. 
The Navy's got other things to do. 


Oh, yes. 
Protecting the Suez Canal. 

The one essential sector of this front is and must be the canal. 
You can see that, sir, surely. 


I see that the canal is an essential British interest. 
It is of little consequence to us. 


I must ask you not to speak like that. 
British and Arab interests are one and the same. 

Possibly. 

Upon my word, sir, 
you're ungrateful. 
Fall back on Yenbo and we will give you equipment. 
Give you arms, advice, training, everything.

Guns? 

A modern rifle for every man. 

No. Guns. Artillery. 
Guns like the Turkish guns at Medina. 

Yes, give us guns and keep the training. 

Your men need training far more than guns, sir. 

English will teach Bedu to fight? 

We will teach them, Sherif Ali, 
to fight a modern mechanized army. 

Yes, Lieutenant? 
What do you think about Yenbo? 

I think it is far from Damascus

We'll have you in Damascus, sir. 
Never fear. 

Have you been in Damascus, Mr. Lawrence? 

Yes, My Lord. 

It is Beautiful, is it not? 

Very

That will do, Lawrence. 
Dreaming won't get you to Damascus, 
but discipline will
Look, Great Britain is a small country, 
much smaller than yours. 
Small population compared with some. 
It's small, but it is Great
And why

Because it has guns.

Because it has discipline

Because it has A Navy
because of this, 
The English go 
where They please,
and strike 
where They please. 

This makes them Great. 

Lawrence :
Right

Mr. Lawrence, that will do
Lawrence is not your military adviser. 


...But I would like to hear his opinion. 

Col. Brighton :
Damn it! Who do you 
take your orders from? 

Selim :
From Lord Feisal, 
in Feisal's tent


Sherif Ali :
Old Fool! 
Why turn from him to him?
 They are Master and Man

Lawrence :
My Lord, I Think... 
I think Your Book is right
The Desert is An Ocean 
in which no oar is dipped. 

On this ocean, 
the Bedu go where they please 
and strike where they please. 

This is the way the Bedu 
has always fought. 
You're famed through the world 
for fighting this way. 
And this is the way 
you should fight now



I don't know.... 

Lawrence :
I'm sorry, sir, but you're wrong

Fall back on Yenbo, 
The Arab Rising becomes one poor unit in the British army.


What is this to you

You're A Traitor. 

No, Colonel — 
He A Young Man, 
and Young Men are Passionate

They must Say their Say... 
But wiser people must decide….
I know you are right. 

Very well. 
When shall we move, 
the sooner the better. 
You'll lose another 50 men tonight. 


You tread heavily... 
But you Speak The Truth. 

I will give you 
My Answer tomorrow. 

And now... it is late. 



Colonel Brighton means to put my men under European officers, does he not? 

Lawrence :
In effect, my lord, yes. 

And I must do it — because The Turks 
have European guns. 
But I fear to do it... 
Upon my soul I do. 


The English have a great hunger for desolate places. 
I fear they hunger for Arabia. 

Lawrence :
Then you must deny it to them. 

You are An Englishman. 
Are you not loyal to England? 

Lawrence :
To England.
And to Other Things. 

To England and Arabia both
And is that possible? 

I Think you are another of these 
Desert-Loving English :
Doughty, 
Stanhope... 
Gordon of Khartoum. 

No Arab loves The Desert. 
We love Water and Green Trees. There is nothing in The Desert. 
And No Man needs nothing

Or is it that you think we are something you can play with... ...because we are a little people, a silly people...
Greedy, Barbarous and Cruel? 

Or do you know, Lieutenant, 
in the Arab City of Cordoba,
were two miles of lighting in the streets, when London was a village

Lawrence :
Yes, you were Great. 

Nine centuries ago. 

Lawrence :
Time to be Great again
My Lord. 

Which is why My Father 
made This War upon the Turks. 

My Father, Mr. Lawrence, 
not The English. 

But My Father is old, and I... 
I long for the vanished gardens 
of Cordoba...

However, before The Gardens 
must come The Fighting. 

To be Great again, it seems
We need The English, or... 

Lawrence :
Or..? 

What No Man 
can provide, 
Mr. Lawrence. 
We need a Miracle.













Monday 10 May 2021

The Centre of The Universe



Davus The Slavus :
Ammonius.
Does God Speak with you?

Ammonius :
All the time.
'Ammonius this', 'Ammonius that'.
'Ammonius, Ammonius, Ammonius'.

Today, he spoke to me so quickly, 
I had to ask him: "Slow Down".

Davus The Slavus :
Tell me something :
Do you ever think we're mistaken?

Ammonius :
Why?


Davus The Slavus :
I was forgiven...
But now, I can't forgive.

Ammonius :
Forgive? Who?
The Jews?

Davus The Slavus :
Well, Jesus pardoned them on The Cross.

Ammonius :
Jesus was God
and 
only He can show such clemency.

Bretheren :
How dare you compare yourself to God?

Ammonius :
Brother. We are Still Alive.

Why?

Because it was His Will to 
Save Us from The Stones.
God wants us here, doing What We Do.

Don't you believe in that anymore?




Agora movie 2009 - 
one of the best scenes of Rachel Weisz

Aspasius, The Slave :
Lady, you must not lose heart.
Today on the boat you made great progress.


Why do the wanderers bury their brightness so unexpectedly.
And what is worse, why does the Sun...

Why does it change size from summer to winter?


Aspasius, The Slave :
Perhaps because...
Sometimes it is nearer...
And other times it is further away.

But Aspasius, watch...

According to Aristarchus, 
The Sun must be at the center of everything.
With us, the Earth, traveling in a circle around it.

Therefore, and this is the key,
we're always at exactly...
The same... distance.

Now, if as you just said,
we accept the changes in distance,
then we are forced to add 
an epicycle to the Earth's orbit.

So it is going to be nearer
and then it's going to be further away.

But now we fall into
the same trap as Ptolemy.

Aspasius, The Slave :
Circle upon circles.

The Lady Hypatia :
Exactly!

So I just Do Not Know
How to Resolve This Conflict.

.....I mean, the only thing we could do is...
Displace The Sun from The Centre, and well...
Not to have A Centre.

It breaks My Heart, Aspasius.

So Tell Me, 
What Do I Do?


Aspasius, The Slave :
Rest, Lady.



The Lady Hypatia :
What if we dared to look at The World 
just as it is?

Let us shed for a moment 
every preconceived idea.

What shape would it show us?
What shape?


Aspasius, The Slave :
You once said that 
The Problem lies in 
The Inconsistency of The Sun.

The Lady Hypatia :
Yes I did, good, good...

Put it into words.

The Sun must be at The Centre,
since we revolve around it.
And at the same time,
in another position  since 
our distance from it varies.

Aspasius, The Slave :
Yes, exactly.

How?

How could it occupy
two positions at once?

How could it occupy
two positions at once?

How could it occupy
two positions at once?

Aspasius...

Yes, yes. There.
And then the other one here.

Keeping the same proportion.

Good. Very good.
Now, tie this end to that torch.

Aspasius --
I want you to imagine that this is The Earth.

And that each of these flames represent the two extreme positions of The Sun in relation to it.

In Winter and in Summer.

What would happen if both these
positions were the two Centres
of one and the same circle?

Aspasius, The Slave :
But it isn't possible, Mistress.

The Lady Hypatia :
Wait. What do we know about a circle?
We know that The Centre of A Circle is always 
the same distance from any point along its perimeter.

Exactly.
Yes, so...

What if I divide the center into two...
but What I Keep Constant is the sum 
of their two distances to the perimeter.

Alright, look. I'll show you.
Watch. As I move this rod along the cord,
as one segment increases
the other segment decreases,
and vice versa.

Therefore the sum of the two
is always going to be constant.

Do you see that?

Now, what if we apply this to 
The Movement of The Earth?

What...
figure...
....will we obtain?

An Ellipse!

With The Sun as one of its foci.

Because, what is a circle except 
a very special ellipse
whose foci have joined so close
together that they appear to be one.

.....perhaps, I'm completely raving, Aspasius.
I mean, why should this be so?

Maybe I'm just...
Maybe I'm...
What do you think?

Aspasius, The Slave :
...It could well be so, Mistress.

The Lady Hypatia :
Alright, well, um, we'll continue
with this tomorrow.

Get some sleep.

Aspasius, The Slave :
Good night, Mistress.

The Lady Hypatia :
Good night.
(she kisses him on The Head)
Thank you.