Dearly beloved readers:
I send you this engraving entitled…
…ELAPSVM TEMPVS ET OCCASIONEM INSEQVVNTUR, NON ASSEQVVNTVR
─‘Time fled and opportunity is pursued but not attained’─
Let us first look at these Latin phrases and what they want to tell us:
A. Hem socij. quantum video, non omnis ademta spes nobis: noua praeteritorum alludit imago.
B. Siste gradum, TEMPVS. Quo tam pernicibus alis praecipitas?
A. Lentesce precor, nosque adspice praesens.
B. ¡Ah! Fugit.
C. Heu! Velox Occasio praeterit,, ora detorquens alio.
D. Miseris quid denique restat?
C. Quid vetat iniectis manibus retinere fugacem?
D. Ferte manus.
C. En eluctata est, veste relicta. Prende capillitium, et proprio remorare capistro.
E. Heu! Sero sapimus.
F. POST EST OCCASIO CALVA.
On a banner on the left:
Volat irreuocabile Tempus.
On the right:
Post est Occasio calua.
Translation:
A. Oh, comrades, from what I see we are not denied all hope: the effigy of the past alludes to novelties.
B. Halt your step TIME, where are you rushing to with such swift wings?
A. Calm down, I beseech you, and address us favorably.
B. Ah, he is running away!
C. Woe is me! The opportunity passes quickly, heading to a region elsewhere.
D. And in the end what is left [for us], miserable ones?
C. What prevents us from holding the fleeting woman with our hands outstretched toward her?
D. Stretch out the hands.
C. Behold, she has endeavored to leave with her garment hanging behind. Grab a hold of her hair and retain her by her own halter.
E. Woe is me! We know it too late.
F. FROM BEHIND THE OPPORTUNITY IS BALD…
The two banners:
Time flies irreparably.
The Opportunity is bald from behind.
This ninth engraving describes the desperate situation of those who realize they have missed the right opportunity: ELAPSVM TEMPVS ET OCCASIONEM INSEQVVNTUR, NON ASSEQVVNTVR, ‘Fleeing time and opportunity are pursued but not reached/attained'.
The youngsters A and B in the background watch time go by. At first they think Time [Tempvs] is going to come back, they yell at him to turn around and look at them. The two young men C and D, in the foreground on the right, run after Occasio and try to grab her. But the back of her head is bald ─post est Occasio calva, ‘From behind the Opportunity is bald ‘─ so they can no longer grab her hair, only by the shawl, which they uselessly pull from her.
Another young man ─E─ runs after a demonic figure on the left, pointing to a bird flying into the sky. In the text below the image, the exclamation is attributed to him: “We understand that it is late.” In the image a banner reads: “Time flies irremediably” ─Volat irrevocabile Tempus─.
A remarkable exchange occurs between the young man D and the figure of the devil who is standing or dancing on a small hill in the background. The young man desperately shouts: “Post est Occasio calva” through a banner in the image. The same phrase is put into the mouth of the devil by the letter F. The situation makes it clear that he is maliciously imitating the young man.
─Allegorical devotional books in Antwerp: Theodore Galle's texts in the Jesuit book projects printed by Plantin ─Moretus in Antwerp circa 1600, ANNE-KATRIN SORS─.
What is all this?
Friends, here we are shown the FORCE OF ENTROPY that acts from within us caused by our ANIMAL EGO, indicated by the devil in our engraving. When we stop at some point in our lives and review it, we find that in many moments the “I” has been able to entertain us with innumerable cunning moves to prevent us from taking advantage of opportunities to attain spiritual achievements of various kinds.
That is why there is, precisely, a proverb or saying that still tells us today: “The opportunity is painted bald,” precisely because you do not know how to grab it or catch it.
The solution to this misfortune lies, precisely, in keeping ourselves in a STATE OF ALERT PERCEPTION, of ALERT NOVELTY, to avoid being trapped by the sleep of the Consciousness. I knew many companions who, having the Avatar himself close to them at a given moment, never asked him questions about their lives, what would befall them, their future, etc., etc. When they remembered those moments they felt a great desolation because then IT WAS TOO LATE, the OPPORTUNITY HAD BEEN LOST…
Time, CRONOS, cannot be relived as it was originally. That is why it is said that the nature of it is FLEETING, it runs like lightning and continues its course.
I now give you some sentences to be reflected upon:
“Time is the moving image of the eternal.”
Plato
“Ordinary people merely think how they shall spend time; a man of talent tries to use it.”
Schopenhauer
“Every moment is unique.”
Goethe
“There is nothing made by the hand of man that, sooner or later, time does not destroy.”
Cicero
“Whoever does not apply new remedies must expect new evils, because the greatest innovator is time.”
Bacon
TEMPORA MUTANTUR.
─‘Times are changing’─.
KWEN KHAN KHU
