June 24, 2006: Nostalgia

Last night at the San Francisco Symphony concert, James Conlon gave an extended introductory talk before conducting Liszt's "Dante Symphony." He explained that Liszt devoted much of his "Inferno" movement to Paolo and Francesca da Rimini. According to this talk Dante was less concerned that they suffer over the guilt of their adulterous relationship (for which they were murdered). Rather, the agony of their situation was that they could recally the joy of that relationship in the knowledge that such joy could never be recovered. In other words the real agony of Hell was that of nostalgia.

I suppose nostalgia lies behind the "Big Yellow Taxi" moments that emerge from some of my insights, whether it involves recent or distant past. However, I continue to feel that there is something almost dangerous about reflecting on the present without also reflecting on the past. This is the "thinking in time" strategy discussed by Neustadt and May: You cannot ask "What do I do now?" without first asking "How did I get into this mess?" "Reflections beyond technology," thus, of necessity require reflecting on what conditions were like before technology dominated the scene and asking whether those reflections are mere nostalgia or a source of lessons to be learned.