LEO is a name I have chosen to encompass more than myself, the writer who was given a different name at birth. LEO is neither someone I am trying to become, nor another distinct individual.  LEO is my attempt to address all of humankind from an identity that is not reduced to when and where I was born, nor to nationality or creed, nor to a profession or occupation, nor even to race or gender.

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Here is how it started. Leo is the name I chose for my second son born in 2002. My first son's name, Guillaume, was chosen by his mother (both of us consented to each other's choices). The virtue of Leo as a first name was that it could be easily spelled and pronounced in different languages, particularly English and French. LEO also has considerable potential as an acronym. The most important one I had identified at the time was Love Each Other. More would emerge over time, such as Leap Every Obstacle, Light Englobes Obscurity, Love Eludes Order. It is a trigram containing the seed of multitudes of mottos and koans. Instead of a name with a set meaning, it allows its bearer to invent meaning.  

This year 2020 marks the release of LVX by LEO as well as Leo's official entry into adulthood. What meaning will he invent for his name? 

 

LEO is a desire to expand individual expression beyond the dualities that so constrain us, such as male/female, East/West, spiritual/scientific, ecology/economy, etc.

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LEO draws its inspiration from ancient and modern sources throughout the world.

In its most practical aspects, it is epicurian à la française, yet Scandinavian in simplicity. There are notable signs of Japanese zen and zests of Vietnamese soups, all with a decidedly American belief in possibility.

It will come as no surprise that these are the places where the authors have lingered.

 

The philosophical underpinnings reach into ancient wisdom literature as well as the renewal of these original insights

in the light of modern scientific inquiry, notably quantum physics and epigenetics.

 

who is leo ?

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Carsten was born to a Danish father and an American mother. He grew up in Austin, in the clutches of an ultra-conservative Judeo-Christian sect, and in the shadow of the great American dream : pursuing happiness with a turbo-powered combustion engine, and defending this right with a rifle. Frought with melancholy and guilt because of his inability to find happiness in this best of all upbringings, Carsten fled to France at the age of 20. In love, he would settle there four years later, pursue an MBA and write a thesis entitled "A Strategic Fit for Tomorrow's Eco-Efficient Service Economy". Before vanishing into oblivion, this great academic undertaking would end up in the bibliography of a more influential work called "Natural Capitalism". Unable at the time to forge a career in sustainable development as he had hoped, he would instead work in management consulting and training, leading him up to his final corporate position with the world's premier luxury group. This is where he experienced the ultimate luxuries and the ways of those who live in that world. This too would soon pass, and he set off as a mid-life entrepreneur, investing all he had previously saved in a grandiose business idea called Paris-Sharing, better known today as Airbnb (the success of which was far more grandiose!). The short-term apartment rental activity was soon outlawed by the city of Paris, and then the 2020 Covid19 crisis finished off whatever was left of that business.  Adaptability being the most important characteristic for survival, Carsten is now pursuing other entrepreneurial ambitions as described on his website carstensprotte.com.

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Among the great loves in his life, the longest and most continuous is his violin and love for music.

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His greatest achievement in life, for which no medal will be conferred, is simply that of waking up. No medal will ever compare to the satisfaction of transforming a life of quiet desperation to one of expanded awareness.

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In 2017, Carsten traveled to Japan. One evening in Kyoto, at a neighborhood restaurant his host had personally reserved, he savored the finest sushi, prepared before his eyes. It was everything he had hoped for...until the chef offered him a special surprise desert: two strawberries on a small dish. For those who know Japan, such fruits are rare and highly valued.

 

From the contemplation of this radical simplicity would emerge a new aesthetic called LVX, starting with this poem:

 

When your life is stripped of all trimmings,
You may encounter your essential being,
And in that moment find bliss in two ripe berries,
Splendid simplicity without sugar and cream.

 

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