OT: Notre Dame Cathedral on Fire.

[GeorgeH]

Horrible news.

[Thomas Coleman]

Devastating.  I am so so bummed by this.

[fiddlecollector]

Terrible and not much they can do as most of inside is timber framing.

[Riodifirenze]

That is a big loss 

It's unbelievable.

[Violadamore]

OMG, the organ.

[Kev Chanot]

Very sad loss for my beloved Paris

[Dimitri Musafia]

For some reason it reminds me of 9/11. I know its completely a different issue, but you feel something inside yourself when you see something that you think will be standing forever vanish before your eyes. It's hard to process. I loved that cathedral. Tragic. I felt some of that same emotion when my dad passed away too. Our brain isn't programmed to process everything.

[Anthony Panke]

850 years old, culture central to paris, this is a famous landmark. I’m sad to see this. 

I hope they repair it well

[David Burgess]

13 hours ago, Violadamore said:

OMG, the organ.

The organ is intact.

[cellopera]

I was there three days ago. Still can’t believe it.

[GeorgeH]

The wood used for the 12x12" beams was obtained from trees that were centuries old. I wonder if they could even find such wood today.

In some ways, this fire reminded me of a Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala, a tradition involving the painstaking creation of a complex sculpture using colored sand followed by its deliberate destruction. This ritual is performed to remind us that all things, no matter how beautiful or painstakingly created, are ultimately impermanent.

 

[Pate Bliss]

13 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

This ritual is performed to remind us that all things, no matter how beautiful or painstakingly created, are ultimately impermanent.

Except the internet is forever   Do the practitioners of what you're talking about see the destruction as the beginning of an opportunity?

[GeorgeH]

7 minutes ago, Bill Merkel said:

Do the practitioners of that see the destruction as the beginning of an opportunity?

No. To explain it most simply, it is a ritual for practice of non-attachment to all things because all things are impermanent, no matter how attractive or valuable in their appearance. 

[Pate Bliss]

Yeah, I got that part too.

[Anthony Panke]

This buddhist practice reminds me of antiquing. 

Getting a nice new violin and scratching the varnish off

[Violadamore]

2 hours ago, David Burgess said:

The organ is intact.

One hopes.  Even if the pipes and other parts weren't damaged by heat, I'm very worried about smoke and water damage.  Even modest pipe organs are complicated and sensitive constructions, and Notre Dame's is reputed to be the world's largest and finest.

http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/la-cathedrale/linterieur/les-orgues/le-grand-orgue/

 

2 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

No. To explain it most simply, it is a ritual for practice of non-attachment to all things because all things are impermanent, no matter how attractive or valuable in their appearance. 

IMHO, to achieve such a state of detachment that the entire supercosmos becomes irrelevant isn't a particularly attractive aspiration.  As a philosophical basis, I prefer Aurelian stoicism, which improves one's sense of duty, even in the face of geological time. 

[David Beard]

Very sad. I'm sure they'll repair it well. But also sure there are many irreplaceable losses within this fire.

[GeorgeH]

33 minutes ago, Violadamore said:

IMHO, to achieve such a state of detachment that the entire supercosmos becomes irrelevant isn't a particularly attractive aspiration. 

That, of course, is complete misinterpretation of the Tibetan Buddhist teachings around impermanence and non-attachment. Non-attachment does not mean detachment. If you'd like to continue this discourse, I'd be happy to do it off-thread.

[Violadamore]

49 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

That, of course, is complete misinterpretation of the Tibetan Buddhist teachings around impermanence and non-attachment. Non-attachment does not mean detachment. If you'd like to continue this discourse, I'd be happy to do it off-thread.

[Invokes the immovability of Fudo/Acala, and prepares to slice away confusion and lasso error.] Sure.  PM me.  Let the games begin. 

[romberg flat]

This magnificent Berlioz's work was performed in the Cathedral of Notre Dame five years ago.
We should hope that for five years in the renewed cathedral, we will experience something similar.