I just saw that the Cart of Tendre that I have attached at the bottom of the first post in this thread has been downloaded 22 times. Which is both good and bad. I put it up again here and I let myself write few things about it.
Tendre is an imaginary location, it is the country of Tenderness and it is made of
three towns with the same name and of the many villages on the paths that lead to those destinations, starting from a common starting point that is a New Friendship. So the objective of the game or of the excercize is to reach the Tenderness, avoiding the teriible Sea of Enmity and the deadly boring Indifference Lake.
It is a game or a metaphor about friendship, that practice of contact among individuals that is somehow lost in our modern times, submerged as we are by love. Love is the articulation of relationships in our times. It was friendship at the times of the map. Love of this and love of that, as in
I love peanut butter. As far as we know now also sex is a very visible articulation.
No love in Tendre. It might be in the Unknown Territories, together with Burning Passions and other prodigies of human fantasy. The other side of a Dangerous Sea.
Here is a description of the Geography of Tendre. There are 3 ways to reach it. Directly, following the river Inclination (Tendre Upon Inclination), the route that I personally prefer, but that is possible to follow successfully only if ...
On the left a road leads to Tender upon Reconnoisance. You do good things and you achieve what you aim for. Here is the name of the villages and their name translated. Complaisance Kindness, Soumission Submission, Petit Soins, Little Attentions, Assiduitè Attendance, Empressement willingness, Grand Service Great Service, Sensibilitè Sensitivity, Tendresse tenderness endearment, Obeissance Obedience
You will note that they are virtues. On the right there is an other road. It leads to Tendre sur Estime Tendre Upon Esteem. You might get there if you pass through Grand esprit Great spirit, Iolis Vers Nice Verses, Billet galant, gallant notes, Billet doux sweet notes, Sinceritè Sincerity, Grand Coeur Big Heart, Probitè Probity, Generositè Generosity, Exactitude Truth, punctuality, fidelity, Bontè Goodness. Here the virtues are even more evident. It is a good road, if I cannot descend the river of inclination I would rather go this way, it is more congenial to my ways. But attention. It is also easy to be lead astray, to the Indifference Lake if you let yourself being diverted to Negligence Negligence, Inesgalitè Inequality, Tiedeur Tepidity, Legeretè Levity, Oubli Oblivion. And the new friendship is for ever forgotten. Even worst if you happen to follow the path guarded by the rock of Pride. It passes through
Indiscretion, the worst error in the developing of a New Friendship. I found interesting, while I engaged the talent of Google as translator, to record how it translated it:
indiscreet, intrusive, inquisitive, prying, nosy, obtrusive, meddlesome, inquisitional, indelicate. This will bring to a sure disaster, passing by Perfidie perfidy, Medisance Slander, Mechancetè Wickedly, arriving to the Sea of Enmity where the little ship will loose sails and masts and be at the mercy of the terrible waves.
I got my copy of this map when I was taken to Paris by the brother of my mother after my apparently brilliant High School graduation. I bought the map on one of the quays. I was already quite interested in these matters and familiar with some of the implications and applications. Since then I have used this map to study approaches and even seduction strategies when I was much younger and eager, to understand the geometry of relations and the beauty of it when I started to realize what friendship can be and how sweet.