{"id":24051,"date":"2026-02-05T19:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T19:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/?p=24051"},"modified":"2026-04-12T20:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:56:07","slug":"iisagitrtd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/2026\/02\/05\/iisagitrtd\/","title":{"rendered":"Incoherence is strong – a glimpse in the rearview to demonstrate"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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France 2024 - Olympics - Irony - Perception<\/h3><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Every now and then, a simple question opens a door you didn\u2019t expect. Someone asks, \u201cWho painted the Last Supper?\u201d and instead of just answering Leonardo da Vinci<\/em>, you find yourself spiraling into something deeper \u2014 not about the painting, but about the way we perceive anything at all.\u00a0 I keep coming back to three moments from the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony \u2014 each one landing with its own kind of irony.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Irony Number One<\/h3><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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First, that immediate, in\u2011your\u2011face juxtaposition: Marie Antoinette at the Conciergerie colliding with Gojira\u2019s Mea Culpa (Ah! \u00c7a Ira)<\/em>. The friction between centuries\u2011old history and raw contemporary metal felt absurd at first glance \u2014 almost intentionally dissonant. But without any disguise, it exposed how culture often reveals its deepest truths through the very contradictions we\u2019re trained, and then systemically pressured, to ignore. That compliance\u2011versus\u2011conviction tension hit hard, a kind of collective whiplash to the heart and mind.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Irony Number Two<\/h3><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Then there was the moment in the middle: Imagine (John Lennon’s interpretation of Yoko Ono’s poetry and art)<\/em> sung over the Seine \u2014 a river bearing centuries of misuse \u2014 with the piano burning bright and the world watching. The irony wasn\u2019t subtle, but it was honest. It took some searching to find that performance again, and I\u2019m grateful I did. Beauty emerging in a neglected place feels like a quiet act of defiance.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Irony Number Three<\/h3><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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And finally, there was the great misreading \u2014 the neo\u2011modern Christian world confidently insisting that the homage to Dionysus and the festival of Bacchus was actually some kind of Leonardo da Vinci Last Supper<\/em> tribute gone sideways. The irony is almost too rich. Da Vinci\u2019s Last Supper<\/em> \u2014 one of the most recognized masterpieces on the planet \u2014 began as a dining\u2011hall mural, a quiet, intimate moment of tension and betrayal. Meanwhile, the Olympic scene was a vibrant, ecstatic celebration of Dionysian myth, joy, and embodied freedom. Two entirely different worlds, two entirely different intentions.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Last Supper<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The scene on the scene and it's inspirational tableau!<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Yet the certainty of the misinterpretation was louder than the facts. It\u2019s fascinating \u2014 and honestly a little funny \u2014 how quickly people will claim authoritative truth over Christianity while ignoring the actual context of both images. It\u2019s the kind of irony that reveals more about the systems doing the interpreting than about the art itself.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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That\u2019s why I\u2019m drawn to placing the genuine Last Supper<\/em> beside the genuine Bacchus depiction (above) \u2014 letting each speak in its own voice, with a simple summary of their historical and cultural context. Not to argue, not to provoke, but to show how important it is to actually understand what we\u2019re looking at before we declare it sacred, heretical, or anything in between.<\/span><\/p>

Because at the end of the day, this isn\u2019t about art history trivia. It\u2019s about how systems reach for control instead of truth \u2014 and how easily context gets sacrificed in the process.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The incoherence paired with the absolute demand to be \u201cauthoritatively correct\u201d is\u2026 telling. It reminds me how many systems aren\u2019t built with any real care for me \u2014 or for nuance, or for truth.<\/span><\/p>

So I\u2019m left holding a few hard but clarifying truths:<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    • If they wanted to, they would.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

    • No response is still a response.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

    • Not everyone shares the same values, goals, or heart.<\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      And honestly, timelines, discipline, discernment, and wisdom rarely align with the systems we\u2019re expected to move through. The work is distilling courage, temperance, wisdom, and justice \u2014 even when the environment doesn\u2019t reward them.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      So here I land: don\u2019t be a douchebag. And anything \u2014 system, person, or otherwise \u2014 that tries to wedge itself between me and my neighbor\u2026 I\u2019ll choose my neighbor every time.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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      Turning the Circle: On Perception, and the One Conversation That Matters<\/h2><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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      Lately I\u2019ve been thinking about perception as something closer to an infinity loop than a straight line. Not the classic sideways figure\u2011eight, but a kind of multi\u2011looped propeller \u2014 four, six, maybe eight infinity symbols all intersecting at a single center point. From a distance it looks like a cog, something that could spin forever. But up close, each loop is its own path of return, its own cycle of departure and arrival.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      That\u2019s what perception feels like to me.<\/span><\/p>

      There\u2019s what you notice in the moment of an experience. There\u2019s what you notice afterward, when the dust settles. And then there\u2019s what you notice much later, when reflection reshapes the whole thing again.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      Each pass around the loop reveals something new. Each angle offers a different truth. And because we\u2019re always changing \u2014 always arriving at the center as a slightly different version of ourselves \u2014 the possibilities become effectively infinite.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      This isn\u2019t about extracting a moral or delivering a tidy takeaway. I\u2019m not trying to convince anyone of anything. Bukowski once said you can only convince people one at a time, and even then, only in the space of a real conversation. Everything else is romanticism or religion or politics \u2014 the mass\u2011produced versions of meaning.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      I\u2019m after something quieter.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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        • A pause.<\/span><\/li>
        • A breath.<\/span><\/li>
        • A moment where the reader \u2014 myself first \u2014 might feel the loops turning in my own mind.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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          Not to agree with me. Not to follow me. My hope is just to see others also notice what shifts when one looks again from a slightly different angle.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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          Maybe that\u2019s the real art here. Not the Last Supper, not the painter, not the question that started this whole spiral. The art is the turning \u2014 the willingness to revisit, re\u2011see, and re\u2011interpret. The courage to let perception be alive instead of fixed.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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            • One conversation at a time. <\/span><\/li>
            • One loop at a time. <\/span><\/li>
            • One return to the center, always slightly changed.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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              France 2024 – Olympics – Irony – Perception Every now and then, a simple question opens a door you didn\u2019t expect. Someone asks, \u201cWho painted the Last Supper?\u201d and instead of just answering Leonardo da Vinci, you find yourself spiraling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_eb_attr":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[811,817],"tags":[824,825,826,827],"class_list":["post-24051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-check-ins","category-prnci","tag-tag-st","tag-tag-agency","tag-tag-discernment","tag-tag-autonomy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24051"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24786,"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24051\/revisions\/24786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyinthehills.com\/zentriathlete\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}