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The Western fascination with the Orient and its history is a deep sentiment that has historical and religious roots:
Babylon, Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, all hold a special place in the mind and heart of the West.

This is because a great part of what the Western civilization was founded on finds its roots in the Orient. Christianity and Judaism and their holy places are all in the Orient. Babylon, Persia, Egypt all have mythical and emotional significance to the West. (Even Greece, the cradle of Europe was not entirely Western, and had deep contacts and connections with the East).

دائمًا ما يُنظَر لبلاد الشرق بأنها ذات سحر خاص وتاريخ عميق، إذ أسَرَت الفِكر الأوروبي قديمِه وحديثِه. لهذا ارتدى الإسكندر المقدوني الأُرجوان الفارسي عندما احتلّ فارس وأراد أنْ يجعل بابل عاصمة إمبراطوريته الواسعة (وانتقده جنوده لأجل ذلك). ولهذا كان اليونان يرون في مصر، وهي القديمة قِدَمَ التاريخ، حضارةً أعرقَ مِن حضارتهم. ولهذا أيضًا نرى الحرب على طروادة وتدخلات آلهة الأوليمبوس تجري أحداثها في آسيا الصغرى (تركيا الحالية) وليس في أوروبا. بالنسبة للغرب، صحارى الشرق وواحاته دائمًا ما كانت بلاد السِحر والوحي وأساطير الخلق.

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Vanitas By Roberto Ferri

"Famine" by Charles Dollman

I would observe, by the way, that it costs me nothing for curtains, for I have no gazers to shut out but the sun and moon, and I am willing that they should look in. The moon will not sour milk nor taint meat of mine, nor will the sun injure my furniture or fade my carpet, and if he is sometimes too warm a friend, I find it still better economy to retreat behind some curtain which nature has provided.

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial.

— Walden, by H. D. Thoreau

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self".

Aristotle