Singing in the Rain

Just singing in the rain...

(♥ S) What a glorious feeling...

I'm happy today.  : )

Yonhwasan Buddist Temple

Hongcheon, SK

The Waterwheel

Stay together, friends.  
Don't scatter and sleep.

Our friendship is made
of being awake.

The waterwheel accepts water
and turns and gives it away,
weeping.

That way it stays in the garden,
whereas another roundness rolls
through a dry riverbed looking
for what it thinks it wants.

Stay here, quivering with each moment
like a drop of mercury.

--Rumi

the breeze that spins the wheel inside

(click to enlarge)

This blog has inadvertently turned into a photo journal. Sometimes the images I create, let alone the words at my fingertips, hardly do an experience justice which is why I've been hesitant to write.  I wish there were a way to convey the calmness and light-hearted joy that permeates the air around Sutasa, a temple in Hongcheon built over 1,000 years ago.  The company of wind chimes, pinwheels and afternoon chanting has such a wonderful effect on well-being. Not to mention exploring the surrounding trails lined with not-yet-blossomed cherry trees, strange ice formations and wild mushrooms.  

What more needs to be said?

go

Infinity

Swakopmund, Namibia

The Tent

                       Swakopmund, Namibia

Outside, the freezing desert night.
This other night inside grows warm, kindling.
Let the landscape be covered with thorny crust.
We have a soft garden in here.
The continents blasted,
cities and little towns, everything
become a scorched, blackened ball.

The news we hear is full of grief for that future,
but the real news inside here
is that there's no news at all.

--Rumi

realisation

...taking action, accepting the challenge, owning my circumstances... 

that's what.

Ode to Treva

There's something inexplicably but undeniably magic about the evenings where all plans fall through and suddenly a portal opens up with which to travel through in any direction of my choosing, free of obligation, so to say ~ free of forethought.  Dreamy downbeats bearing names like "Lemon Jelly" and "Ses Salines" negotiate the contours of my eager ears and choreograph the dance between hand, pen and paper.  It's not my composition - I am more the conduit than the artist. I provide a route through which to transform an energy floating listlessly through space hungry to become something tangible.  In return, it allows me to learn from whatever it has to offer my empty canvas. I never know what will come out of it, but something wonderful always does.  

between

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.

--Rumi

dreaming of zambia...

perhaps the only place in the world

where rain falls UP.

the secrets of the hills

one last glimpse, as some of my most talented and wonderful 

students continue their journey in a new place...

then, the dusty footpaths of the hongcheon hills,

which embrace the town in all directions...

enjoyed with wonderful company,

with whom both words and silences speak...

the discovery of a forgotten, pastoral lifestyle

 tucked away in narrow valleys...

a welcome and refreshing respite.

{vermerkt}

(interessierte Unterhaltung, die ich behalten moechte)...

"Es gibt ein Ziel, aber keinen Weg; was wir Weg nennen, ist Zögern."

-Kafka

Was bedeutet dir dieses Zitat?

-H.

---

:-) Es ist ein überaus amüsantes Zitat meiner Meinung nach!

(Sorry, dass ich erst jetzt antworte aber ich wollte in der Stimmung sein und mir Zeit nehmen hierfür ;-)

1. Viele würden sicher dieses Zitat auf Kafka selbst beziehen, seine Krankheit, seinen Vaterkonflikt etc...Das Leben würde dann zu einem Zögern an dessen Ende schließlich der Tot als Ziel wartet.

- Das ist meiner Meinung nach aber Blödsinn - ;-)

2. Ich habe leider keine Ahnung von Buddhismus, aber ich weiß, dass sich Kafka mit Asien und asiatischer Philosophie insbesondere mit China auseinandergesetzt hat. Vor diesem Hintergrund erinnert mich das Zitat an Sunzis 'Kunst des Krieges' und an das Hagakure, welches die meisten aus Jim Jarmuschs 'Ghost Dog' kennen. In beiden Werken wird gelehrt schnell zu handeln (Hagakure: nach sieben Atemzügen). Es geht darum, seinem Instinkt zu vertrauen und sich nicht in die Irrungen und Wirrungen unseres Geistes zu verirren (vergleiche auch Kafkas 'Der Bau')

3. Persönlich finde ich jedoch das Zitat besonders humorvoll, da eigentlich keiner der Protagonisten Kafkas jemals ans Ziel kommt sondern ein jeder Protagonist immer nur auf dem Weg ist. Denken wir an Franz K. in 'Der Prozess', an 'Das Schloss', an die Charaktäre in seiner Kurzprosa. Immer suchen seine Charaktäre das Ziel, verlieren sich aber auf dem Weg dorthin. Kafka drückt mit diesem Zitat den unerschütterlichen Glauben seiner Charaktäre an ein Ziel aus, welches es vielleicht so gar nicht gibt, uns aber jeden Tag von neuem aufstehen, arbeiten, essen und trinken lässt...bis wir angekommen sind. (hier ist auch Camus 'Mythos des Sisyphos' sehr interessant!)

Ich hoffe, dass es dir gut geht und wünschte ich könnte mit dir persönlich darüber diskutieren.

R.

---

Tut mir leid dass ich bisher dich nicht geantwortet habe. Ich habe 3 wunderschoene Wochen in Namibia und Sambia verbracht, ohne Handy, Internet und alles ausser 3 sehr gute Freunde und meine Kamera.

Danke fuer deine geistreiche Antwort. Ich freue mich jedes Mal deine Analyse verschiedenen Themen zu lesen denn du hast immer sehr einzigartige Perspektiven.

Ich stimme mit dir ueberein, dass es etwas mit Buddismus zu tun hat. Ich wusste nicht dass sich Kafka mit oestlicher Philosophy interessiert hat. In den letzten fuenf oder so Jahren habe ich Buddismus sehr intensiv selbst studiert. In einem Prinzip steht (inwiefern ich es verstehe), dass es kein Mittel zum Zweck gibt; doch das Mittel IST der Zweck. Also daraus geht, dass man keine Schritte in Richtung auf seinen Zweck machen kann. Diese "Schritte" sind doch nur "Zoegern" sozusagen, die man hinhalten, seine echten Zwecke (zum Beispiel - Glueck, Zufriedenheit) zu realisieren. So viele Leute warten immer auf "gute Umstaende" die wichtigsten Sachen ihres Lebens anzufangen. Oder vielleicht glauben sie, dass sie noch irgendeine Qualifikation bzw. Erlaubnis brauchen.

Fuer mich war es beim Gleitschirmfliegen auch so. Waehrend jedes Unterrichts habe ich sehr intensiv trainiert aber ich konnte meine Technik nicht betraechtlich verbessern. Ich beschuldigte meinen Lehrer, den Wind, sogar meine angeborenen Faehigkeiten ~ also, jeden Umstand. Mein Problem war nicht eine Sache von Selbstbewusstsein (obwohl die Unterscheidung zwischen den Beiden ganz klein scheint), sondern dass ich an "Schritte" immer geglaubt hatte. Zwei Monate spaeter wachte ich eines Tages auf mit dem Verlangen fliegen zu gehen. Mit meinem Fluegel ausgepackt stand ich 30 Minuten spaeter auf einem Huegel, die Bindfaden in meinen ausgestreckten Haenden bereit zu fliegen. Ich hatte einen guten Start und ploetzlich war ich 300 meter hoch mit dem Wind tanzen.

Meinen Erfolg habe ich der jaehen unterbewussten Erkenntnis diesem Philosophie waehrend ich schlief zugeschrieben ~ ich kam zu der Erkenntnis, ich musste auf nichts warten; ich war doch schon seit immer bereit; ich brauchte nichts.

Also hat dieses Zitat fuer mich eine sehr besondere Bedeutung. Man ist ein Fotograf nicht wenn man die Uni abschliesst oder eine Bescheinigung macht, sondern wenn man die Kamera zu seinem Auge aufhebt und wahrhaftig glaubt, dass man schon ein Fotograph ist (und von daher sich so benimmt). Man ist ein Pilot nachdem er seine Fluegel sehen kann. Im Wesentlichen geht es um die Faehigkeit einfach sehen zu koennen, was schon da ist.

Also, Ich hoffe ich habe dich nicht gelangweilt. :-)  (Und dazu dass du trotz meiner abnehmenden Sprachfaehigkeiten meine Gedanken folgen kannst.)

Freut mich solche Gespraeche mit dir zu haben, obwohl ich lieber Face-to-Face besprechen wuerde. Pass auf dich auf.

 

-H.


































Jetzt, da der Name über diesem Kapitel steht, mit all seinen Bildern die sich dahinter verbergen, wie hinter einer Türe, am Ende eines Korridors, die ich vor langer Zeit angelehnt habe, dringen langsam die Strahlen dieses Licht durchfluteten Zimmers durch den dünnen Spalt in den Gang und tasten sich durch die Dunkelheit zu mir. Ein Spalt, der mich die Schwelle anderer Türen niemals überschreiten ließ, weil ich mich im Licht verloren hatte. Von diesem Licht will ich versuchen in den zerbrechlichen Gefäßen meiner Worte aufzufangen, was sich im Wasser der Zeit gebrochen spiegeln kann.

Wenn ich könnte, würde ich erzählen von dem, was ich fühlte als ich sie das erste Mal im Französisch-Unterricht sah. Aber Verlaine ist schon lange tot und ich muss davon erzählen, dass ich ein Unterhemd trug, dass es heiß war, wenn man an den Brunnen am Abend vorbei ging und dass das Licht mit dem Grün der Bäume spielte und, dass all das nur wegen ihr so war. Dass ich in diesem Sommer aufgeblasen, wie ein Luftballon dem Horizont, den sie mir in meine Welt gemalt hatte, entgegenschwebte, um sie zu übersteigen. (...)

revolution or bust

...When a regime becomes especially venal, the human spirit occasionally bursts forth through the actions of large numbers of people in unison...


When Egypt awoke on Saturday morning after an all-night, nationwide party, it was for many citizens the first day in living memory without Hosni Mubarak as president.

  

In 18 days, revolution uprooted a regime that had ruled the country with ruthless tenacity for 30 years.

While the upheaval has opened the door to political and economic reform, its most lasting effect may be the opening of the Egyptian mind.

With the army on the streets and the old order in flames, the wall of cynical humour and pessimism erected by Egyptians as psychic protection against the crushing weight of their corrupt government seemed to split apart and crumble.

Suddenly, anything was possible.

Later in the evening, a fight erupted between protesters and army officers attempting to restore traffic near Tahrir Square, the heart of the revolution. Old fears returned.

But for a time on Saturday, the Tahrir Square reality – the universe where Egyptians banded together, separated their rubbish into organic and non-organic bins, and outlasted the "pharaoh" – became the new normal.

'We have no excuse now'

As dawn broke, all-volunteer teams of street sweepers wearing rubber gloves and cotton masks struck out along Cairo's decrepit boulevards, sweeping dust and debris into trash bags.

Where once it was commonplace to see Cairenes chuck wrappers and used food cartons with abandon, it was now impossible to drop a cigarette butt without a stern reprimand.

In and around Tahrir Square, civilians painted over and scrubbed away anti-government graffiti that peppered every surface, from the walls of the old campus of the American University in Cairo to the armour of parked tanks.

In Abdel Moneim Riad Square, near the Egyptian museum, where pro- and anti-government crowds had hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at each other in deadly combat on February 2, men and women now formed human chains to prevent passersby from smudging the curbs they had just painted in thick black-and-white stripes.

But the effort goes beyond rubbish pick-ups and street sweeping.

What is being suggested in Cairo now is nothing short of a mental house-clearing - a complete overhaul in the way the average Egyptian has learned to do business in a society that has been smothered beneath nepotism and emergency law for decades.

One flyer being distributed on Saturday put it this way:

"Today this country is your country. Do not litter. Don't drive through traffic lights. Don't bribe. Don't forge paperwork. Don't drive the wrong way. Don't drive quickly to be cool while putting lives at risk. Don't enter through the exit door at the metro. Don't harass women. Don't say, 'It's not my problem.' Consider God in your work. We have no excuse anymore."

Read more from Al Jazeera.

Breaking Out

A mural created by children at Swakopmund Youth Hostel, 

blended with a textured overlay.

Re-connecting to the Land

...As a business, American agriculture is extraordinarily efficient and as long as food is affordable and plentiful, people will not spend much time thinking about agriculture. As a lifestyle, Americans generally value the "idea" of the family farm but being more than two or three generations away from direct involvement in farming they have little personal commitment or interest. On the other hand, Americans may be able to develop a more personal understanding of agriculture as a means to connect with the earth, as "a conversation with universe." This conversation begins with the simple act of eating.

Wendell Berry wrote that "...eating is an agricultural act. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true." Everyone living has no choice but to participate in agriculture through the act of food consumption. This can be either a sterile, hurried act, offering little cause for joy -- or a creative, spiritual act of connecting with the earth and thus with all of Creation. According to Berry "when food, in the minds of eaters, is no longer associated with farming and with the land, then the eaters are suffering a kind of cultural amnesia that is misleading and dangerous."  This amnesia prevents humans from valuing the contribution agriculture makes to their lives as a source of both physical and spiritual nourishment.

How we eat is an expression of our commitment to larger social values, such as community and democracy. Berry writes; "...we cannot be free if our minds and voices are controlled by someone else. But we have neglected to understand that neither can we be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else. The condition of the passive consumer of food is not a democratic condition. One reason to eat responsibly is to live free."

Read more here.

After working on Brigida's farm in Brasil, learning about biodynamic agriculture and reading Frances Moore Lappé's Hope's Edge, I knew that agriculture--in particular organic farming--would be a major focal point in my life. The more and more I looked into it, the more I realised that food is the most essential way in which we define our relationships with our environment and with each other.  I have a hunch that re-connecting to the land would make us remember better who we are and why we are here.  Eating is the most basic of human needs;  will we choose to nourish ourselves with sterile efficiency or with a sacred connection to all that is?

Outlet

S-- and I spent some time this evening perusing some potential new journals on Papaya's website. I stumbled upon this particular journal and knew immediately that this was the one which would house my experiences and musings for the upcoming months.  However tempting it is to go completely electronic and digital, there is still something magical about holding a journal in your hands containing pages filled with your handwriting, your photos and other physical mementos that no e-rsatz blog could ever accommodate. The handwritten journal literally travels with you as a trusty companion, always open to listen to whatever comes to mind, its blank pages inviting you to play, to be passionate, to be creative or simply to empty yourself.

I love the feeling of searching for a journal that resonates with me at a given point in my life.  If possible, I like to spend some time holding the book, flipping through the pages to determine if there is a connection.  It sounds perhaps strange to speak of a "connection" to an inanimate object, but I have found from experience that if I do not carefully select my medium, then I am often hard-pressed to fill its pages (or boxes) at all. 

S-- and I were bursting at the seams with creative energy this afternoon, so we stopped by Alpha to procure some coloured markers and a few pencils to complement the water-colour pencils that we had purchased a few days before. We sat for hours at the table together, sketching and experimenting.  Memories of Colorado kept wafting through my consciousness, so I invoked an old adventure of one of my most beautiful hikes at Apex with Abdulghani just after I had broken my leg to create the following sketch.  We had seen a beautiful butterfly perched at our feet on the trail and I was able to take a photo of its gossamer wings just before it fluttered away.  

It was the first time in a very long while I had put pen and marker to paper like that and it felt so good to do so!

S-- and I have humble intentions of using these basic tools to create beauty in our life while our days are mostly focused on our work at school.  We want to cover our walls in things that we have co-created simply because it's a wonderful experience that makes us happy.

Arrival

Footsteps in the soft, crimson sand dancing towards the golden dunes. Effervescent bubbles promptly smoothing the slate clean for the next set of wandering feet. 

Drinks under a tent next to the sparkling sea, the wind tickling our toes between widely-spaced floorboards.  Warm smiles.  Laughter. Moments of comfortable silence in which to soak in the energy of the evening.  Healing energy, which brings calmness. Sunsets bleeding into dreams bleeding into sunrises.  

A happy exhaustion that accompanies such a sweet and 

long-anticipated arrival.  

Wanderlust

Four friends, the Namib desert 

and the tropical wetlands of the Zambezi.

The sand, the sky, the stars

electrical storms, the thundering mist, 

& endless daydreams.