We have little opportunity, in the academic world, to express one’s feelings, philosophy of life, or enthousiasm about knowledge. We communicate only via research articles and are reduced to disambodied metrics that convey only a partial aspect of what we are. I believe this is sad and counter-productive. As every creative person, we, researchers, have a rich and complex personality that takes time to understand and appreciate.
Let me just give you a glimpse about me, the guy behind the articles, through the following hopefully not-too-arrogant quotes:
« You should act in life in such a way that every person you meet
wants to remember you and include you in the mere definition of its own existence.«
This may be about true love, and true good. Note that making somebody part of your own definition goes far beyond acknowledging somebody, it gives her/him a bit of eternity, an existence beyond its body, it makes him/her a kind of divinity. Thus you should also be infinitely grateful to the persons whom you modified the existence in this way.
« Gaze at stars. »
Because this is the philosophy of mens in south pacific.
Because it makes you realize how tiny you are, and how lucky and unique you are, to have the opportunity to see how wonderful is the universe, to exist and have appeared precisely here and at this time.
Because it gives you a destiny, a responsability as a human being, to act wisely in this tiny life and focus on what really matters.
Because you can never feel lonely under the stars.
Because it gives you hope that you can achieve a high-destiny, and strength in difficult situations.
« Et pourquoi pas ? (And why not?) ».
This is what my great-father, Rene Jouannetaud, used to say. This is today one of my moto. He decided one day to start planting trees. And he planted no less than 30,000 trees in his life. He was not only extraordinary wise, but curious about everything, and deeply connected to the Earth, and Nature. He crafted my first dowser stick, and showed me how to use it. There is nothing like the deep connection you experience when you feel the stick turning in your hand on its own, and testing several times untill you realize you have found the underground river that passes through the village. I feel more than lucky to have known him. I naturally crafted his last stick when he returned to the earth.
» … «
Because I do not consider I am so important as to give you advices. You are smart and strong enough to find your own way, to have your own philosophy your own belief and answers about the world, without needing anybody to tell you what to think, ever. It would be moreover offensive to the divinity inside you.
Illustration of Research
« La première image illustre la quête de la vérité, la bataille, la fougue intellectuelle habitant le chercheur, pour aller vers son but, symbolisé par la troisième image. Celle-ci illustre l’apaisement intellectuel, le bonheur ressenti lors de la découverte d’un théorème, la contemplation du beau et du vrai, l’objet de la quête enfin. En ce sens le chercheur est un chevalier. La deuxième image relie ces deux mondes, par l’intermédiaire de ce clown hirsute ouvrant les bras. C’est ainsi que l’artiste expose tout son art. Ce clown est l’incarnation de la démarche scientifique, décalée, osant les idées les plus folles, et nécessitant l’émotion la plus productive pour accomplir sa tâche: le rire. Ce clown sans le sou traduit également l’humilité du chercheur, et le détachement des choses matérielles. Ainsi va le chercheur, chevalier, clown et artiste à la fois. »
(I took the first picture in Carcassonne, the second one during the « Festival les 400 clous » in Lille, and the third one in Toulouse)
There are a few people out-there who are good at showing people a different way. They are far better at this exercise than myself. Here are a few examples: