RAMON LLULL, COSMOS & MYSTICISM AT PUIG DE RANDA

One of the most mystical experiences you can have in Mallorca is to climb Puig de Randa at night and contemplate the stars with the same gaze as Ramon Llull did it more than seven centuries ago.

Knowing Llull's works, reading them, analyzing them, delving into his thoughts is to delve into the most elementary of the human condition: asking ourselves where we come from, what we are doing here and what will become of us.

In her last days in Mallorca, The Grandma, who always used to have Joseph de Ca'th Lon as her astronomical advisor, wanted to enjoy this mystical experience of contemplating the sky, which she often did years ago from the Costitx observatory, now dismantled.

On the summit of Puig de Randa, Ramon Llull did not merely contemplate the landscape of Mallorca; he contemplated the hidden order of the universe. Nature became a mirror of the divine attributes, and the cosmos a language leading toward God.

Around 1274, after a profound spiritual conversion, Ramon Llull withdrew to Puig de Randa, in Mallorca, seeking silence, prayer, and contemplation. According to the Lullian tradition, it was there that he received the inspiration that would give rise to his Ars Magna, the intellectual system that would shape the rest of his life.

For Llull, the universe was not simply a collection of physical objects, but a harmonious and interconnected reality reflecting the qualities of its Creator. The cosmos revealed the divine attributes -goodness, greatness, wisdom, power, truth, and glory- which were present throughout creation in different degrees.

From the heights of Randa, Llull perceived nature as a living book written by God. Every creature, every element, and every relationship within the world pointed beyond itself toward a deeper spiritual reality. Humanity occupied a unique place within this cosmic order, standing between the material and the spiritual realms.

Symbolically, the mountain itself became a bridge between earth and heaven. Through contemplation of the visible world, one could ascend toward understanding the invisible. In this sense, Puig de Randa was not merely a geographical location, but a place of revelation where the unity of God, humanity, and the cosmos became profoundly apparent.

More than seven centuries later, Llull's vision continues to inspire. His contemplative experience reminds us that the universe is not only something to be observed, but also something to be understood as a web of meaning, connection, and wonder.

At Puig de Randa, Ramon Llull discovered that the cosmos was more than a physical reality -it was a sacred language through which creation spoke of its Creator.

One of the challenges when studying Ramon Llull is that he never wrote a single treatise devoted exclusively to cosmology. Instead, his vision of the cosmos is woven throughout many of his works. For Llull, the universe, humanity, and God form an intelligible unity that must be understood as a whole.

Llibre de contemplació en Déu (1273–1274) is perhaps the work that best reflects the contemplative spirit of Llull's period at Puig de Randa. Here, Llull contemplates the world as a manifestation of God. The stars, the elements, plants, animals, and human beings become objects of contemplation because they reveal the divine order. His central idea is that creatures are signs that lead to the knowledge of the Creator. The cosmos appears as an immense symbolic book that can be read spiritually.

Ars Magna is developed from the inspiration Llull received at Randa, this work presents a more abstract cosmology. Rather than simply asking What is the cosmos?, Llull proposes that all realities within the universe are connected through universal principles derived from the divine attributes. It is an extraordinarily relational vision of reality, centuries ahead of its time. It is a matter to explain how all things are related to one another

Llibre de meravelles (1287-1289) includes the famous Llibre de les Bèsties, but the entire text is structured as a journey of discovery. Its protagonist, Fèlix, travels through the world in wonder at creation. The contemplatio n of nature becomes both a philosophical and a spiritual path. The cosmos is presented as an ordered reality whose beauty and harmony inspire awe and lead to wisdom.

Arbre de ciència (1295-1296) organizes all knowledge through a series of interconnected trees:

-The Elemental Tree

-The Vegetal Tree

-The Sensual Tree

-The Human Tree

-The Celestial Tree

-The Angelic Tree

-The Divine Tree

This structure reveals a hierarchical yet interconnected universe in which every level of reality is linked to every other. The work represents Llull's grand intellectual map of the cosmos. For Ramon Llull, the universe is a living network of relationships that reflects the divine perfections and enables human beings to ascend from the visible world toward the knowledge of God.

This insight emerges directly from his contemplative experience at Puig de Randa. For Ramon Llull, contemplation of nature was not an escape from the world, but a way of discovering its deepest order and meaning because for him, contemplating the world was learning to read the language with which God had written the universe.

More information: Quis est Lullus?

If understanding followed no rule at all, 
there would be no good in the understanding 
nor in the matter understood, 
and to remain in ignorance would be the greatest good.

Ramon Llull 

ADA LOVELACE, A PIONEER ENGLISH SCIENTIST & WRITER

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have visited Ada Lovelace, the English mathematician and writer, and one of the most important figures in computing, together with Ramon Llull.

Before visiting Ada, the family has studied some English grammar with the First Conditional, and they have been talking about science and faith with Manel Esteller, Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, who are always fighting the future.

Finally, March, 8 is coming, and they have remembered some scientific women, who have been important for human development, and Susana Winsor has introduced an amazing post named Ciencia Radiante.

More information: First Conditional

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More information: The Jones and Ramon Llull, The Art of Learning

More information: March 8, When Women's Rights are Human Rights 

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815-27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.

She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is sometimes regarded as the first to recognise the full potential of a computing machine and one of the first computer programmers.

Lovelace was the only legitimate child of poet Lord Byron and his wife Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever four months later. He commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?.

He died of disease in the Greek War of Independence when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in Byron. Upon her eventual death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.

Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as poetical science and herself as an Analyst & Metaphysician. When she was a teenager, her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as the father of computers. She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. 

Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville. Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea on the calculating engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called Notes. These notes contain what many consider to be the first computer program -that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine.

 

More information: Famous Scientists

Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of poetical science led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine -as shown in her notes- examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.

  

Lord Byron expected his child to be a glorious boy and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called Ada by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.

Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralysed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.

Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen and became a popular belle of the season in part because of her brilliant mind.

On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three children: Byron; Anne Isabella; and Ralph Gordon. Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure. Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace.

 

More information: Jstor Daily

Throughout her illnesses, she continued her education. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately schooled in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. One of her later tutors was the mathematician and logician Augustus De Morgan. From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life.

 

Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring the unseen worlds around us.

Lovelace died at the age of 36 -the same age at which her father had died- on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer probably exacerbated by bloodletting by her physicians.

Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism.

After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844 she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings -a calculus of the nervous system.

Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville.

 

In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842. Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation.

 

More information: History

 

Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.

Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.

In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B.V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines.  

The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.

Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, analysed four claims about Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine:

-She was a mathematical genius.

-She made an influential contribution to the analytical engine.

-She was the first computer programmer.

-She was a prophet of the computer age.

More information: Gradiant

 

The Analytical Engine has no pretensions

whatever to originate anything.

It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform...

But it is likely to exert an indirect

and reciprocal influence on science itself.

Ada Lovelace

RAMON LLULL, THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGES

Today, The Grandma has continued her English classes with The Bishops in Castelldefels.

They have been talking about the importance of descriptions in a language and the use of comparative adjectives of superiority and equality.

Finally, they have been talking about different issues and historical people, who have been very important along our history. One of them, Ramon Llull, was the creator and founder of the first European School of Languages in Majorca Island in the 13 century.

More information: Comparative Adjectives (I)

More information: Comparative Adjectives (II)

Ramon Llull (1232-1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca.

He invented a philosophical system known as the Art, conceived as a type of universal logic to prove the truth of Christian doctrine to interlocutors of all faiths and nationalities. The Art consists of a set of general principles and combinatorial operations. It is illustrated with diagrams.

A prolific writer, he is also known for his literary works written in Catalan, which he composed to make his Art accessible to a wider audience. In addition to Catalan and Latin he also probably wrote in Arabic, although no texts in Arabic survive. His books were translated into Occitan, French, and Castilian during his lifetime.

Although his work did not enjoy huge success during his lifetime, he has had a rich and continuing reception. In the early modern period his name became associated with alchemical works. 

More recently he has been recognized as a precursor of the modern liberal voting franchise 450 years before Borda and Condorcet had proposed the idea and also the computer and a pioneer of computation theory.

More information: Quis Est Lullus?

Llull was born in Palma into a wealthy family of Barcelona patricians who had come to the Kingdom of Majorca in 1229 with the conquering armies of James I of Aragon. James I had conquered the formerly Almohad-ruled Majorca as part of a larger move to integrate the territories of the Balearic Islands into the Crown of Aragon. Llull was born there a few years later, in 1232 or 1233. Muslims still constituted a large part of the population of Majorca and Jews were present in cultural and economic affairs.

In 1257 Llull married Blanca Picany, with whom he had two children, Domènec and Magdalena. Although he formed a family, he lived what he would later call the licentious and wordly life of a troubadour.

Between 1271 and 1274 Llull wrote his first works, a compendium of the Muslim thinker Al-Ghazali's logic and the Llibre de contemplació en Déu (Book on the Contemplation of God), a lengthy guide to finding truth through contemplation.

In 1274, while staying at a hermitage on Puig de Randa, the form of the great book Llull was to write was finally given to him through divine revelation: a complex system that he named his Art, which would become the motivation behind most of his life's efforts.

Llull urged the study of Arabic and other then-insufficiently studied languages in Europe. He travelled through Europe to meet with popes, kings, and princes.

His last work is dated December 1315 in Tunis. The circumstances of his death remain unknown. He probably died sometime between then and March 1316, either in Tunis, on the ship on the return voyage, or in Majorca upon his return. Llull's tomb, created in 1448, is in the Franciscan church in Palma, Majorca.

Llull's Art, in Latin Ars, is at the center of his thought and undergirds his entire corpus. It is a system of universal logic based on a set of general principles activated in a combinatorial process.

More information: David Metcalfe

If understanding followed no rule at all,
there would be no good in the understanding
nor in the matter understood,
and to remain in ignorance would be the greatest good.

Ramon Llull

THE JONES & RAMON LLULL, THE GREAT ART OF LEARNING

Víctor Jones & the Lullian Wheels, the first computers

The Jones are still in Hogwarts enjoying the world of magic, spells and potions. Today, they have assisted to a Minerva McGonagall's conference about Ramon Llull, one the most important European figures during the 13 century thanks to his knowledge in Philosophy, Teology, Science and Languages.

The Grandma has offered her point of view talking about S'Estaca, a wonderful possession in Majorca where Llull created a Language School joining the best students and masters of the century in an effort to transmit values and knowledge to arrive to be better people, in particular, and better societies in general.

More informarion: Quis est Lullus?

The Ramon Llull's idea of using communication and dialogue between cultures and religions to avoid wars and conflicts converts him in one of the most brilliant and pacifist minds of his time. His influence in all kind of knowledge is demonstrated, especially in computers, where he's considerated the first creator of a computing language and nowadays recognized like the Computer Science patron. 

In addition, The Grandma has also talked about the importance of salt and fennel in Sant Boi and Majorca's history.

Cristina Bean-Jones in Brecha de Rolando, Ordesa

After this interesting conference, the family has revised some aspects of grammar to improve little details, in this case with The Articles and the position of the adjectives in historical texts.

Following with the idea of creating compositions, The Jones have created some circular writings paying attention to the  structure rules and they have practised some activities to eliminate information in searching of the true one. 

They have also read some interesting information about Ordesa, in Aragon and Joaquín Jones has explained some characteristics of the world maps and their scales.

 

Joaquín Jones and a fascinating old World Map

Finally, the family has played Cluedo before rescuing Susana Jones, who was locked in a small red English-style cabin box inside a picture. 

The rescue has been possible thanks to Owlie, Claudia Jones's owl, who is a clever big white animal, with a great sense of orientation and a perfect hunter into the dark places, which was adopted from El Cim d'Àligues in The Montseny.

More information: Cim d'Àligues

Ramon Llull (1232-1315) was a philosopher, logician, Franciscan tertiary and Majorcan writer. He is credited with writing the first major work of Catalan literature. Recently surfaced manuscripts show his work to have predated by several centuries prominent work on elections theory. He is also considered a pioneer of computation theory, especially given his influence on Leibniz.

Claudia Jones & Owlie in El Cim d'Àligues

Llull was born into a wealthy family in Palma, the capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Majorca. James I of Aragon founded Majorca to integrate the recently conquered territories of the Balearic Islands into the Crown of Aragon. 

Llull's parents had come from Catalonia as part of the effort to colonize the formerly Almohad ruled island. As the island had been conquered militarily, the Muslim population who had not been able to flee the conquering Christians had been enslaved, even though they still constituted a significant portion of the island's population.

More information: Ramon Llull Routes

In 1257 he married Blanca Picany, with whom he had two children, Domènec and Magdalena. Although he formed a family, he lived what he would later call the licentious and wasteful life of a troubadour.

The Grandma visiting Ramon Llull in La Real, Palma

Llull served as tutor to James II of Aragon and later became Seneschal -the administrative head of the royal household- to the future King James II of Majorca, a relative of his wife.

In 1274, while staying at a hermitage on Puig de Randa, the form of the great book he was to write was finally given to him through divine revelation: a complex system that he named his Art, which would become the motivation behind most of his life's efforts. He finally achieved his goal of linguistic education at major universities in 1311 when the Council of Vienne ordered the creation of chairs of Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldean (Aramaic) at the universities of Bologna, Oxford, Paris, and Salamanca as well as at the Papal Court.

 

Ramon Llull with Samanta & Marta Jones

In 1315, he died at home in Palma. It can be documented that Llull was buried at the Church of Saint Francis in Mallorca by March 1316.

Llull was extremely prolific, writing a total of more than 250 works in Catalan, Latin, and Arabic, and often translating from one language to the others. While almost all of his writings after the revelation on Mt. Randa connect to his Art in some way, he wrote on diverse subjects in a variety of styles and genres.
The romantic novel Blanquerna is widely considered the first major work of literature written in Catalan, and possibly the first European novel.

His first elucidation of the Art was in Art Abreujada d'Atrobar Veritat (The Abbreviated Art of Finding Truth), in 1290. The version used 16 figures presented as complex, complementary trees, while the system of the Ars Magna featured only four, including one which combined the other three.

More information: CCCB

Hello? It's me. Hello from the other siiiiiide...

This figure, a Lullian Circle, took the form of a paper machine operated by rotating concentrically arranged circles to combine his symbolic alphabet, which was repeated on each level. These combinations were said to show all possible truth about the subject of inquiry. 

Llull based this notion on the idea that there were a limited number of basic, undeniable truths in all fields of knowledge, and that everything about these fields of knowledge could be understood by studying combinations of these elemental truths.

The method was an early attempt to use logical means to produce knowledge. Llull hoped to show that Christian doctrines could be obtained artificially from a fixed set of preliminary ideas. For example, the most essential table listed the attributes of God: goodness, greatness, eternity, power, wisdom, will, virtue, truth and glory. Llull knew that all believers in the monotheistic religions—whether Jews, Muslims or Christians—would agree with these attributes, giving him a firm platform from which to argue.

Arguing is a fantastic method to learn new things, discover new points of view and realize that there isn't only a real truth, something that one family works every day: The Jones.

 

Download How to Create Compositions

Imagination imagines at night 

that which is not daytime. 

Ramon Llull

THE JONES IN SCOTLAND, PRINCES OF DÙN ÈIDEANN

The Grandma in Capuccinos Convent, Sant Boi

This morning, The Jones have revised some English grammar before travelling to Scotland. They have talked about how to create nouns (Gerunds) from a verb and about Imperative in affirmative and negative forms. They have also written some profiles about them.

The family has received an important present from The Grandma: the last IPhone model. She bought lots of them in the last World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, and they have tested them sending some WhatsApp’s and tweets and playing with some new apps like Who is Who?, an interesting mobile application to find a hidden character after asking for some questions; Memo, another app that is useful to describe cards with the idea of finding its partner; The Bomb, a stressing game where you need speed and vocabulary and Simon, a funny mobile app about memory.

More information: Imperative I, II and III

The Grandma has started to do one of her favourite things: explaining stories. Today, she has explained one story about Capuccinos in Sant Boi and their relationship with the philosophers like Ramon Llull and ascetics like Santa Teresa de Jesús or Fray Luis de León. The little story has been useful to talk about the syntactic order of the sentences.

Samanta Jones has talked about the loss of Hubert de Givenchy, the famous French designer. She's a fashion designer and nobody better than her to talk about one of her references.

Download The ABC, Clothes & Verbs

This afternoon, The Jones have flying from Barcelona to Edinburg to start her Scottish visit accompanied by Connor MacLeod and his family. Tomorrow, The Grandma is going to explain some stories in common between Sant Boi and Scotland and they're going to plan their visit in this amazing and unforgettable country, plenty of legends, history, and the most important: wonderful people.

More information: Lonely Planet

Alba is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is cognate with the Irish term Alba and the Manx term Nalbin, the two other Goidelic Insular Celtic languages, as well as contemporary words used in Cornish (Alban) and Welsh (Yr Alban), both of which are Brythonic Insular Celtic languages.

Paqui and Silvia Jones with some MacLeods

In the past these terms were names for Great Britain as a whole, related to the Brythonic name Albion.

The term first appears in classical texts as Ἀλβίων Albíon or Ἀλουΐων Alouíon, in Ptolemy's writings in Greek, and later as Albion in Latin documents. Historically, the term refers to Britain as a whole and is ultimately based on the Indo-European root for white. It later came to be used by Gaelic speakers in the form of Alba as the name given to the former kingdom of the Picts which when first used in this sense had expanded. The region Breadalbane, Bràghad Albann, the upper part of Alba, takes its name from it as well.

More information: Visit Scotland-Alba

As time passed that kingdom incorporated others to the southern territories. It became re-Latinized in the High Medieval period as Albania. This latter word was employed mainly by Celto-Latin writers, and most famously by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It was this word which passed into Middle English as Albany, although very rarely was this used for the Kingdom of Scotland, but rather for the notional Duchy of Albany. It is from the latter that Albany, the capital of the US state of New York, takes its name.

When you hear someone from the very north of Scotland speaking, 

I think its nice, very musical and harmonious. 

Sean Connery

THE BEANS, FADOS & BRITISH LEGENDS IN LISBON

I must ride with my Beans to defend what was, 

and the dream of what could be.

Excalibur, Thomas Malory

The Beans, King Arthur & The Round Table Knights

Today, The Beans have enjoyed another wonderful day together. It's very difficult for The Grandma to write a post today because although she knows that it's the end of a season, it's also the beginning of another one full of hope, effort and common help in the distance.

The Grandma has tried  to share her knowledge with The Beans during some months and she's very happy with the effort and commitment demonstrated by all of them. Listening to old stories, remembering personal memories, talking about literature, history or music, she has tried to cheer them to start again in the wonderful adventure of learning. 

Download King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

Without temporal goals and without pressure only with the idea of enjoying every moment and giving the best of everyone; without the obligation of demonstrating anything, only with the intention of having an open mind to discover new cultures, countries and stories, The Beans have demonstrated that they are ready to confront whatever they want if they have the strong idea of doing it and the most important, that they are not alone in this difficult and long way to find a success route that determinates the closer future. 

It's very important to trust in yourself to be ready to get over the difficulties but it's also very important to know and reaffirm that you are doing this travel rounded by your special family, fourteen different people with different characters, points of views and origins  but with the same objective: learning new things every day and enjoying every moment, because it's not important where they come from but where they are going to arrive. 

One day, a Bean will come, and the sword will rise... again.

Excalibur, Thomas Malory

Every member of the family has offered her/his colour to a multicultural family that has been able to work very hard every day. Every one of them is important and necessary because The Beans are a sum of all of them and they have left his/her footstep in this wonderful family that is called to do something fantastic in the closer future. Teamwork is the secret of their success, feeling important as a part of a totality and being missed when you're not with them, this family has shined a light in every colour of our hearts.
 

That's no way to say goodbye

The Grandma is sad and staying in Lisbon is a good way to try to change this sadness to joy. She loves fado and admires Mísia, one of her favourite female singers. They have a lot of things in common: both of them are adult, both of them have a life full of incredible stories, both of them have common Catalan origins and both of them like poetry and literature. The most importance difference between them is that Mísia has one of the most incredible voices around the world, and The Grandma has big ears to listen to her fados.

More information: Ancient

Some people say that The Beans don't exist and all is a legend although all the legends have a true base. These same people explain that this legend has been transmitted from generation to generation in an oral way across the Via Rubricatus towns with different versions talking about different families with different surnames: The Collins, The Addams, The Holmes, The Poppins, The Bonds or recently, The Beans.

Princess Leia and R2D2

All the versions of this legend have points in common, a reduced number of people who worked very strong to find something they thought they have lost: trust in themselves and force to continue fighting; an old woman with an undetermined age over the 90's, very rich, who loved explaining old-fashioned stories and was a fan of the Middle-Age, -especially Ramon Llull and King Arthur novels- and contemporany fiction like Star Wars films and The X Files Series; and who tries to follow their teachings. 

From Ramon Llull, she learnt to think and question things without believing in official versions; from King Arthur, the value of the Round Table: honour, courage, loyalty, teamwork and enough imagination to create their own universe to protect themselves from the enemy; from Star Wars, she learnt to fight against the dark forces; and from The X Files to not give up searching the truth.

This is not the end, this is the beginning of a new season because the best is always ready to arrive.

Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story;

And tell it strong and clear if he has not:
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called The Beans Family.
The Beans! The Beans!

Camelot, Alan Jay Lerne

Fado is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best. But even that information was frequently modified within the generational transmission process that made it reach us today.

Although the origins are difficult to trace, today fado is commonly regarded as simply a form of song which can be about anything, but must follow a certain traditional structure. In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia. This is loosely captured by the Portuguese word saudade, or longing, symbolizing a feeling of loss, a permanent, irreparable loss and its consequent lifelong damage. 

More information: Mísia Official Website

This connection to the music of a historic Portuguese urban and maritime proletariat: sailors, dock workers, port traders and other working-class people in general, can also be found in Brazilian modinha and Indonesian kroncong, although all these music genres subsequently developed their own independent traditions.

On 27 November 2011, fado was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. It is one of two Portuguese music traditions part of the lists, the other being Cante Alentejano.

More information: UNESCO

Try not to become a man of success, 

but rather try to become a man of value. 

Albert Einstein

B. SPRINGSTEEN & M. DEL MAR BONET: WORLDS APART

Bruce Springsteen published Worlds Apart in 2002. The song was included in the album The Rising. 

Two years later, Maria del Mar Bonet adapted this song to Catalan language and published Mons apart in her album Amic, Amat, a work inspired in Ramon Llull, the Majorcan philosopher who talked about respect, peace and understanding between all cultures and religions in the 13th century.

More information: Quis est Lullus?

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer known for his work with the E Street Band. 

Nicknamed The Boss, he is widely known for his brand of poetic lyrics, Americana, working class, sometimes political sentiments centered on his native New Jersey, his distinctive voice, and his lengthy and energetic stage performances, with concerts from the 1970s to the present decade running at up to four hours in length. 

His artistic endeavors reflect both his personal growth and the zeitgeist of the times.

I hold you in my arms, yeah that's when it starts
I seek faith in your kiss and comfort in your heart
I taste the seed upon your lips, lay my tongue upon your scars
But when I look into your eyes we stand worlds apart

Where the distant oceans sing and rise to the plain
In this dry and troubled country your beauty remains
Down from the mountain road where the highway rolls to dark
'Neath Allah's blessed rain we remain worlds apart

Sometimes the truth just ain't enough
Or is it too much in times like this
Let's throw the truth away we'll find it in this kiss
In your skin upon my skin in the beating of our hearts

May the living let us in before the dead tear us apart
We'll let blood build a bridge over mountains draped in stars
I'll meet you on the ridge between these worlds apart
We've got this moment now to live then it's all just dust and dark

Let's let love give what it gives
Let's let love give what it gives

More information: Bruce Springsteen

 

Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer (born 1947 in Palma, Majorca) is a Balearic singer from the island of Majorca. Bonet studied ceramics in the school of arts, but eventually decided to dedicate herself to music. 

Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer

She arrived in Barcelona in 1967, where she began to sing with the group Els Setze Jutges. 

She has published many folk music albums in Catalan, in spite of the ban on the Catalan language and its music during Francisco Franco's dictatorship. 

In 1985, as a result of her interest and research into North African music, she recorded Anells d’aigua with the Ensemble de Musique Traditionelle of Tunisia.

Jo no sé com has guardat la bellesa entre l'infern
ni com vas poder fugir de l'horror que t'ha esquinçat.
Quan et llepo les ferides veig al fons del teu esguard
el que no puc esborrar: que hem nascut en mons a part.

Més enllà dels oceans, més enllà del crit del mar
on la pluja té l'arrel beneïda per Al·là.
On la lluna cau dels estels sobre un món empolsegat
s'han trobat els nostres cors en un pont que hem aixecat.

En aquests temps que ens ha tocat no serveix la veritat
fem un temps pel nostre amor ple de vida entre la mort.
Acompanyen els estels el camí que hem inventat
el teu cor amb el meu cor per damunt dels mons a part.

Amb la sang i la foscor que hem après a tuejar
no tenim altre moment, no l'hem pogut triar.
La tristesa de la mort dels nostres mons separats
però que doni el nostre amor tot allò que pot donar.

More information: Maria del Mar Bonet

 If understanding followed no rule at all, there would be no good in the understanding nor in the matter understood, and to remain in ignorance would be the greatest good.

Ramon Llull

RAMON LLULL, THE UNIVERSE IS MYSTICALLY CONNECTED

Ramon Llull

Today, The Grandma has visited the CCCB in Barcelona to homage her favourite historic character: Ramon Llull.

Ramon Llull was born in Ciutat de Mallorques (Palma) in 1232 and died in Tunisia in 1316. Nowadays, we’re celebrating the 700^th anniversary of his death. Llull was a revolutionary in his age. He changed the European thought and studied all the Arts. He was the most important philosopher in his age and he spoke four languages: Catalan, Occitan, Arabian and Latin. He used the binary code and showed how you could write all things with only two symbols.

Llull was the most scholar person and a great precursor. He taught how to create modernity from a different way. His work Ars Combinatoria is a permanent improvisation between concepts, symbols and words. There are two important words in all Llull's works: connection and net. Studying Llull is an incredible process of discovering and constant fascination.

We can consider Ramon Llull as the first European philosopher. His reality is in a constant movement and all the elements are interconnected. Llull was the first who had the intuition that all is connected from a mystic point of view. He thought that the principle of the reality is God and the relation is transmitted like a model to the rest of the reality because all the elements have this relational structure. This is the reason because of Llull invented a machine and a method that put in relation with arts and this is the reason because of some Scientifics consider Llull the precursor of an invention that would revolutionize all things seven centuries later: the computer.

More information: Quis est Lullus

The theme of this Art is the answer to all the questions.

Ramon Llull

There is an important Llull's idea: there isn’t harmony without difference. Based on this idea, Llull wanted to create a Magna Ars and he offered ideas that are very innovative for us in our present. He’s in the centre of the conflicts that the world lives nowadays.

Using the mechanism of the Ars Combinatoria, Llull proposed the union of the different knowledges. These knowledges guided the men to reach the peace between the religions using the reasoning, the demonstration and the dialogue. This knowledge represents a complex mechanism of geometric figures and symbols that combine letters and concepts and this knowledge is announced like a new wisdom with universal pretensions.

Llull's Ars Combinatoria is a precedent of our new technologies of information, a first model of a society, relationships, procedures and virtues that have been blended many years later.

More information: Ramon Llull Routes

Ramon Llull was a philosopher, a mystic and a visionary. Catalan, European and Mediterranean, the Llull's world was rich and varied. He wrote more than 250 books in Catalan, Latin and Arabian and travelled around Orient and Occident. He joined the Greek, Jewish, Arabian philosophies with the Christian Neoplatonism and all of them with Sciences like Astronomy, Theology, Philosophy, Logic, Medicine and Language. Language was the centre of all because Language is communication.

The legend says that Ramon Llull died because of his ideas which were too advanced, transcendent and uncomprehensive for being understood in all its fullness, even nowadays, 700 years later living in the age of technology.

Maria del Mar Bonet's Amic, Amat

In 2004, Maria del Mar Bonet, a great Majorcan singer and one of the most beautiful Mediterranean voices, paid tribute to Ramon Llull with her disc Amat, Amat. This work was presented on live in the summer festival of Barcelona, Grec. That night, Maria del Mar Bonet sang these wonderful songs accompanied by the Cham Ensemble of Damascus in a magic scenery: the Greek theatre in Montjuïc, a mountain with Jewish ancestors.

This work joined the essence of Ramon Llull: Arabian (Cham Ensemble of Damascus); Greek (theatre); Jewish (Montjuïc) and Christian Neoplatonism (Maria del Mar Bonet).

The dramatic situation in Syria, nowadays, does that is impossible to repeat a show like this because of the tragic situation of the members of the Cham Ensemble of Damascus.

More information: Jo, Ramon Llull

If you don't possess yourself,
you're extremely poor.

Ramon Llull