Severed



June 24th, 2021 by Diana Coman

This is how the unexpected end feels right now, like a suddenly severed link to source and to essence. And what a link it was!

It's been 12 years since we first met, Mircea Popescu and I, as much as meeting may mean online. These 12 years have passed, but not quickly, nor "in the blink of an eye", no, for they have been full and intense and ultimately transformative, despite the supposed limits of this online medium. Because indeed, we interacted mostly over these modern wires that carry themselves, appropriately enough, exactly light and dark, as he aptly observed once. Out of light and dark though, everything is ultimately shaped and our initial flitting touch persisted and grew organically into an ever more intricate and complex link. In time, it became even strong enough to bear so much more than one fun and enlightening conversation1 and even more than one project on which we worked together.

Through it all and at every juncture, he has been incredibly supportive and protective of all healthy growth, clearing the space for it with fire if and when needed, unerringly generous with his time, his vast experience and his superior understanding that pierced to the core of the matter and then came back reliably, each and every time, with the correct and solid model on which everything else rested suddenly at ease, suddenly ready to carry one even further, to what had seemed out of touch only just the moment before.

There was all the above and more to it. That beast, mellifluous, belovable, utterly beastly beast of an ocean, as he called it, did steal it all in the end, though. What's left now is the legacy and, perhaps, as much as I could grow with it so far. Whether it's enough or not, I can't tell, but as with all I ever got, I'll try as hard as I can to make the most of it, too. What will come out of it further, now that the link to the source of it all has been severed, I don't know, nor can I quite begin to think much of it just yet.

I'm grateful for having journeyed together as long as we did and through the numbness of it all, there's also the warm glow of knowing that he enjoyed my company, too. While the world is for now a darker place, life still remains the burden and the war that he knew it to be and that he enjoyed fully, although he had no illusions about its end:

Indeed, exactly so : what for an entire world, of my own death ?

So it is indeed and there are no better fitting words that I can find for it all, either:

El nu e mort! Traieste-n veci,
E numai dus.
N-am cap si chip pe toti sa-i spui
Si-as spune tot ce stiu, dar cui?
Ca de copil eu m-am luptat
In rand cu Volbura-mparat
Si stiu pe Crivat cel turbat
Ca tara lui.
Ce oameni! Ce sunt cei de-acum!
Si toti s-au dus pe-acelasi drum.
Ei si-au plinit chemarea lor
Si i-am vazut murind usor;
N-a fost nici unul plangator,
Ca viata-i fum.
Zici fum? O, nu-i adevarat.
Razboi e, de viteji purtat!
Viata-i datorie grea
Si lasii se-ngrozesc de ea -
Sa aiba tot cei lasi ar vrea
Pe neluptat.
De ce sa-ntrebi viata ce-i?
Asa se-ntreaba cei misei.
Cei buni n-au vreme de gandit
La moarte si la tanguit,
Caci plansu-i de nebuni scornit
Si de femei!
Traieste-ti, doamna, viata ta!
Si-a mortii lege n-o cata!
Sunt crai ce schimb-a lumii sorti,
Dar daca mor, ce grija porti?
Mai simte-n urma cineva
Ca ei sunt morti?2


  1. From when it all started to very recent and there's much more published in between and a lot more unpublished, too. 

  2. Fragment from Moartea lui Fulger, de George Cosbuc. Mircea Popescu published the phonetic transcription and a translation to English of the full poem. 

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61 Responses to “Severed”

  1. cruciform says:

    Rest in peace. Is there anything I can do for you?

  2. Diana Coman says:

    Thank you. I don't know, perhaps. Send me an email if you want to.

  3. Behold A Pale Horse says:

    Ubi corpus?

  4. Aaron Rogier says:

    The man is my hero. He had a life, maybe the best of all lived. He made it an art.

  5. cazalla says:

    My condolences to you. I'm saddened to learn of his passing, it is quite a shock :\

  6. Diana Coman says:

    @Behold A Pale Horse
    If that truly concerns you, then go and look. Using Latin to "ask" won't make the comment any less crass than it is.

  7. Diana Coman says:

    @Aaron Rogier
    That he did.

  8. Ioana says:

    Dragă Diana,

    Eu azi am aflat....:-( Sunt încă năucită.
    Comunicam cu toții într-o vreme foarte adesea pe Trilema, semnam cu Ioana, vorbeam mult pe atunci...
    Tare mi-aș dori să fie o glumă vestea asta...
    Mi-a rămas în minte cu multe, foarte multe lucruri. Dar probabil că nu e loc acum de vorbe mari. Și oricum, până când tulburarea se va mai așeza, nu cred că aș fi în stare să scriu ceva inteligibil.
    Mi-a fost adesea dor. Iar unul dintre textele tulburătoare pe care le-a scris și pe care le am și acum în minte (un text care nu i se potrivește lui, dar care li se potrivește multor, multor altora) a fost cel intitulat "Moartea ca o veste bună". Și a mai scris cândva ceva, ceva ce cred că tare i se mai potrivea, ceva ce pot acum cita doar din memorie, dar voi căuta fragmentul pe Trilema:"(...)fiindcă așa, singur între pământ și cer, nu mă simt nici stingher și nici pribeag, ci simt că pot fredona laolaltă cu stelele un mic cântecel..."
    Și sunt absolut convinsă că Mircea poate. La fel de sigură cum sunt că a trăit la temperatură înaltă și cu anvergură.

    Ioana

  9. Alex says:

    Condoleanțe. A venit ca un șoc știrea, azi, încă nu reușesc să procesez.

  10. Cosmin Maricari says:

    Am pierdut legătura de-a lungul anilor, dar când și când mi-aduceam aminte de vremurile polimedia și mai aruncam o privire pe Trilema, să văd cu ce se mai ocupă Mircea. O lume întreagă distanță între mine și el, dar tot găseam întotdeauna ceva interesant de citit. A trăit așa cum a crezut de cuviință, iar ăsta-i mare lucru. Aș vrea să fi avut și eu atâta curaj. Odihnească-se în pace. Și condoleanțe.

  11. Luka D. says:

    Condoleante, Diana.

  12. Diana Coman says:

    @cazalla
    A shock it is, indeed. Thank you.

  13. Diana Coman says:

    Draga Ioana,

    Naucita e tare bine zis, cam asa e.

    Sa stii ca m-am mai gandit la tine, si nu doar o data. Ti-am mai trecut si pe blog din cand in cand, macar sa mai gust asa un pic din cumpatarea aceea din toate articolele tale mai vechi. De ce nu zici si tu ceva aici ori pe mail, oricand ar fi? M-as bucura, sa stii.

    Multumiri pentru mesaj, chiar a fost o surpriza tare binevenita.

  14. Diana Coman says:

    @Alex
    Soc a si fost/este, nimic alta, 200% soc, intr-adevar. Multumesc.

  15. Mitchell says:

    You really nailed it in the 3rd paragraph.

    "... unerringly generous with his time, his vast experience and his superior understanding that pierced to the core of the matter and then came back reliably, each and every time, with the correct and solid model on which everything else rested suddenly at ease, suddenly ready to carry one even further, to what had seemed out of touch only just the moment before."

    That is so acute. Thanks for sharing.

    I still can't believe it.

  16. Dan says:

    Condoleanțe. S-a stins o lumină, o sursă de 'luminare la cap', un reper de curaj şi de rectitudine morală. Mă întristează cât de puțin am citit din scrierile lui şi mai ales cât de puțin am înțeles.
    --Dan

  17. Dan Haiduc says:

    Condoleanțe!
    Ieri John McAfee, azi Mircea Popescu. Luptători ai libertății individuale.

    Voi aloca și eu din resursele mele pentru a promova aceste idealuri, deși în mediocritatea mea nu voi ajunge la nici o sutime din ce au făcut ei.

    His blog is now offline. Here are some mirrors:

    https://archive.is/trilema.com

    https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://trilema.com/

    https://archive.org/details/warc_trilema_com_20180610

  18. Ioana says:

    Îți voi scrie mai multe și mai pe îndelete, dragă Diana, doar să mă liniștesc un pic după vestea asta și să mi se sedimenteze puțin gândurile.
    Nu mai știu sigur adresa de mail pe care o foloseam în trecut în corespondența cu tine, dar voi mai căuta.
    Am căutat ieri pe Trilema scrierile acelea ale lui Mircea despre care spuneam, însă - cel puțin pentru moment - pagina pare să funcționeze cu sincope și am văzut că sunt erori în stabilirea conexiunii cu baza de date.
    În fapt, căutam să mă agăț de rândurile acelea ca de ceva foarte-foarte viu pentru mine și în mintea mea, pentru că încă nu reușesc să procesez informația că un om atât de viu cum a fost Mircea nu mai este...

  19. Ioana says:

    PS: M-am mai dezmeticit un pic, am găsit adresa de mail și am trimis mail. Cu bine, Ioana.

  20. Diana Coman says:

    @Cosmin Maricari
    Multumesc. (Pentru curaj insa - cat e viata, nu-i niciodata prea tarziu!)

  21. Diana Coman says:

    @Luka
    Multumesc

  22. Diana Coman says:

    @Mitchell
    Apparently he remains unbelievable at all times.

  23. Diana Coman says:

    @Dan
    Multumesc. Scrierile-s toate tot acolo, asteptand rabdatoare si solide ca intotdeauna.

  24. Diana Coman says:

    Multumesc Ioana, ne auzim.

  25. Diana Coman says:

    @Ioana
    Au fost ceva sincope intr-adevar, vor mai si fi ma gandesc, dar orisicum - e la locul ei Trilema acum, nu dispare nicaieri.

  26. grid says:

    The Way Back Home

    Tonight's strange music pours down the road,
    Stillness itself is about to implode,
    Ecstatic air presses death to load
    The fateful seconds of Time's secret code.

    Emotions once hung now raise and walk dead
    Hungry to feed on the lives they have had
    Lost are all words, nothing's left to be said
    To recall wisdom that turned on its head.

  27. Andrei says:

    RIP :(

  28. Diana Coman says:

    @Dan Haiduc Trilema is online and it's not going to vanish anywhere.

    Thanks for posting the mirror links though, they might be useful to others too, assuming that there is someone committed to keeping them online.

    @grid Welcome back.

    @Andrei Eu chiar nu cred ca i se potriveste urarea asta standard, atata zic.

  29. Dan Hargalas says:

    R.i.P. Condoleante

  30. fanitza says:

    îmi pare rău pentru mircea. :(

    îmi amintesc prin 2008-2012 cum discutam pe trilema. pe vremea aia era în timișoara și mereu ziceam că om bea o vodcă împreună.

    cred că e singurul om de geniu pe care l-am cunoscut.

    mi se pare fain că tu încă mai scrii.

  31. Tudor Iliescu says:

    Îmi pare așa rău... Rămîn recunoscător că am (avut) ocazia să îi/vă citesc ideile și gîndurile.

  32. Diana Coman says:

    @Dan Hargalas Multumesc.

    @fanitza Cam de-aia si e mai bine de facut intai si zis doar dupa, dar daca a fost prea greu cand era usor, ce sa mai si fie apoi. Altminteri eu inca scriu pentru ca si este... fain sa scriu, cam atat dar multumesc, oricum.

    @Tudor Iliescu Multumesc.

  33. Friend says:

    Dear Diana

    Deepest condolences.

    Was You with him at Tramonto sector at Hermosa Beach?
    Mircea contacted me regarding encryption in may 2021.
    Maybe I can help You in matters of digital inheritance.

    Please contact me with secure e-mail only.
    If You do not have secure "end to end" encrypted Swiss e-mail services yet, please subscribe to http://www.protonmail.com and send me a secure e-mail to my secure e-mail address.
    Hint: "Mail (will not be published) (required)".

    The Swiss Friend of Mircea

  34. Diana Coman says:

    Thank you.

    No, I wasn't with him at Hermosa Beach.

    I'm kind of curious if that contact was via proton email, too.

  35. Friend says:

    Yes it was via protonmail to be protected from mass surveillance. If You want to contact me, please do it via proton mail. My mail is hosted at proton mail with my own domain.

  36. Diana Coman says:

    Well, my key is here and you can easily check that Mircea Popescu was using this one to talk to me. Note perhaps that the situation is not at all symmetrical, no matter from what angle one looks at it.

    This here is my own domain hosted on my own server that I manage myself and it doesn't get any more direct than this, so feel free to encrypt your message to me and post it as a comment here (if you don't want it published, simply include a link - any link will do- after the encrypted block so that it enters moderation and I won't publish it).

  37. Friend says:

    Dear Diana
    I can not send You a PGP encrypted E-Mail without having Your E-Mail Address.
    Please send me an E-Mail with the text "my contact" to may E-Mail Address.
    Thank You!

  38. Friend says:

    Since You probably are using PGP, it will make your life a lot easier. I am a ProtomMail PGP user as well with my own domain. I can send PGP encrypted emails to non-ProtonMail users by importing the PGP public keys of those contacts. But I need Your e-mail address. I can as well receive PGP email at my ProtonMail account from any other PGP user in the world.

    If you are using PGP for sensitive purposes, this might work as well to use your existing PGP client. PGP is fully integrated into ProtonMail, encryption/decryption is fully automated, and the new Address Verification feature is used to protect us (You and me) against MITM (man in the middle) attacks. More importantly though, ProtonMail is not susceptible to the eFail class of vulnerabilities, which have impacted many PGP clients.

    I think it will be the easiest way if You send me a PGP e-mail to my address. Or You may register for a free ProtonMail Adress and send me an e-mail. You have my e-mail address from this reply.
    I do not have Your address.
    I would like to start the communication with You as secret as possible!

    Thanks

    "Friend".

  39. Diana Coman says:

    In truth, the most secure way is to simply paste the encrypted text in comments here and not use any email at all since there is neither need nor anything useful added by having an additional layer to it. Full conversations can be easily had that way, both securely and even unknown at all since they don't even have to be published at all in the first place (as I said earlier, if you include a link to any other site than ossasepia.com, the comment will not be published). For example (just one of many, too): http://ossasepia.com/2020/06/28/eulora-client-data-hierarchy-finally-getting-there/#comment-8732

    At any rate, my email can be found on the About page and for convenience, here's a direct link as well.

  40. mikhail says:
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    trilema.com
    #ossasepia
  41. Diana Coman says:

    @mikhail

    Thanks. If you want a reply, perhaps include some details and the preferred public key to use.

  42. Don says:

    The world lost a Great Mind, Character and Spirit, may his soul rest in peace...

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