Quote
December 13, 2010
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"The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else."

— Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethica, (which was also the inspiration for my recent tattoo).

Tags: quote aristotle tattoo

Quote
November 26, 2010
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"Written on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights: the accumulations of a lifetime gather there. In places the palimpsest is so heavily worked that the letters feel like Braille. I like to keep my body rolled up away from prying eyes, never unfold too much, or tell the whole story. I didn’t know that Louise would have reading hands. She has translated me into her own book."

— Jeanette Winterson, Written on the body. (Thank you, Penny).

Tags: quotes tattoo

Text
November 24, 2010
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My new tattoo, and the reason why I got inked.

A few weeks ago now I took the plunge and got a tattoo - my first, and probably my last. Being the kind of person who agonises over decisions, this particular one was years in the making. It started over ten years ago when I promised my best friend Sally that if, at the age of 29 I still wanted a tattoo, I would get one for my 30th birthday.

Back in the year 2000 when I was young and enthusiastic and oh so full of the exuberance of early adulthood (you mean I can just walk up and order a drink and it’s legal?!), this all seemed so far away.

Over the years much has changed for me, but one constant has been my desire to get a tattoo, and my reservations about what the hell it would actually be. For one, I knew back when I was 20 that I had no idea then what I would want on my body forever. Laser therapy aside, this ink thing is forever. I knew the gravity of the situation. And so I waited, just like I said I would.

Until this year, with my 30th birthday looming. In my perpetual quest for ‘perfection’ *cough*, I sought out tattoo parlours like diamond merchants (if I was into that kind of thing). I collected business cards, flicked through books and books of tattoo artwork, mined the interwebs for images, and talked and talked and talked and talked to tattooists all over Melbourne, but no one seemed quite right.

Until I stumbled across the duo at Inkreations who use an old tattooing technique made up of teensy little dots, all done by hand, no machines required - and then everything fell into place.

So, here it is, my tattoo and the meaning behind it:

  • Ethica is the latin/greek for Aristotle’s philosophy of how to live a good life (which also arguably marks the beginning of western philosophy)
  • It’s on my right foot (which I then put forward…)
  • It’s a word
  • And it is intended to signify the decision I made in my early twenties to try and live a reasonably ethical life, use my professional skills for ethical projects, and generally continue to strive to just, well, live better.

A month in and I am caught off-guard by how much I love my ink. I like that it’s a reminder. I like that I have a word, and my approach to life, on my body. Strangely, the memory of getting it done is part of it all. The couple at Inkreations were wonderful, and over the three hours it took to get done, we talked about places in Nepal and India and the state of the world and their art and their approach to life and living in general, and the time (and the pain) flew by.

And that’s the story of my new tattoo.

p.s. this whole living a good life thing is a full time job, and I by no means think I’m getting it right. All I can say is, I’m trying…

Tags: tattoo aristotle ethica