Plum Orchards in Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch, situated about 50 kilometres east of Cape Town, is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The soil, the hilly terrain and a Mediterranean type climate make the area around Stellenbosch an ideal area for growing grapes. The region is famous for wine making.

Here this week, one of the first things we did was go for a walk in the early morning. The mountains stood tall as they were bathed by the emerging rays of sunlight, the vineyards and olive groves greeted the dawn, but shouting out in all their glory were the plum orchards in blossom.

Plum blossoms are especially loved and celebrated in mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Stepping into one of the orchards at the end of our walk was akin to being transported into that world where the plum symbolizes endurance and hope in the winter months and is associated with not only beauty and purity, but more especially with the transitoriness of life.

Attachment to any moment causes suffering and the plum blossoms were a reminder of the impermanence we soon notice as we begin to pay attention to each moment in a non-judgmental fashion. Bodily sensations occur and then disappear, feelings arise and then subside, thoughts come and go. Old systems are replaced by new ones, whole cultures are constantly adapting to a multitude of factors, perspectives evolve. 

Never ever again will this single moment be repeated in the way it has just occurred.  Never again will all the events that occurred simultaneously in this moment, occur simultaneously again.  A wink in Japan; a drop of snow in Lapland; the slightest movement of your head; the death of a star; any event no matter how great, no matter how small, brings about the combination of an infinite number of possibilities of happenings.

 

Soon the five petals of each flower on the plum trees will fall. The bedding will be changed and the white blanket will make way for the green. 

Thich Naht Hanh, when he first settled in France and began to lead mindfulness retreats, named the newly formed community Sweet Potato, the food that poor Vietnamese people ate. Acquiring a larger site soon became necessary and the new village was first named after the persimmon. When it was discovered that plum trees fared better on the rocky soil the name changed to Plum Village.

Thich Nhat Hanh has this to say about impermanence:

“Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments........ Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change."

Mindfulness and Balance

On a visit to the Gate Village this morning, I took a wrong turn in the Dubai International Financial Centre and soon found myself outside, underneath what is called The Gate, looking up towards the Emirates Towers. With temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius in Dubai at the moment, outside is not exactly the ideal place to be, but as things turned out, what awaited me there made my day.

Looking around me I was confronted by an exhibition of tightrope sculptures suspended between the buildings.

The effect was mindblowing. I have still not figured out how the actual placement of the sculptures on these ropes was achieved, but to see these figures poised in midair with the skyscrapers of Dubai in the background simply stopped time. All the hustle and bustle taking place in the buildings nearby formed a background contrast to the stillness, precision, presence, and pointed focus captured in the tightrope walkers. 

Each figure portrays being totally in the moment as tightrope walkers have to be. If balance is to be maintained, the tightrope walker cannot afford to be planning an outing while precariously sensing the placement of the next footing. S/he has to be mindful of every aspect of the body and the rope. Should another walker be on the rope this mindfulness needs to extend even further. Each step has to be given the attention it requires as a harmony of movement and interaction takes place. 

And so it is with mindfulness. Awareness of the present moment, on purpose and non-judgmentally, anchors one with the correct amount of balance in the life situation one finds oneself in. It provides the pause before the next step and thereby the ability to respond instead of simply react.

The sculptures were in various poses (please further pictures in this gallery) and perhaps some of you can identify more readily with the tightrope walker who is also juggling.

A multitude of daily tasks often need to be juggled if sanity is to maintained, but there again mindfulness provides the balance and the often much needed pause to decide on the priorities of the moment.

Not only the tightrope walker and the juggler, but also the trapeze artist has much to teach us about balance and mindfulness in both our inner and outer lives.

In his book, “Wounded Prophet. A portrait of Henri J.M. Nouwen”, Michael Ford states that Henri saw the trapeze of the “The Flying Radleighs” as “a symbol of the concentrated meditative life which offered, in the same instant, both a sense of temporal freedom and a glimpse of eternity”.  

When we reflect on this statement, we see that the trapeze act also illustrates true freedom in time, a life filled with presence.  However, Nouwen saw that in some inexplicable way, in that moment of being fully present to the present, we are given a glimpse into a world beyond the immediate. These are the moments when something breaks through and we realize there is more to life than meets the eye. 

Mindfulness requires practice, both in times set aside specifically to foster the practice and as one goes about one’s day.

Sometimes, five minutes might be all you can manage as you attempt, for example, to follow your breath.  Thoughts might overwhelm you and sidetrack you to such an extent that you feel you have fallen off the task at hand. That is okay. That is how it is, while it is and while it lasts.

Next time you begin again and gradually the practice flows out to all aspects of your life.

One of my favorite juggling youtube videos features Thomas Arthur (@thomasart).

His performance is one of perfect balance and fluidity of movement. It is an embodiment, in my opinion, of being totally in the moment.

Draw Mindful

“true beauty results from that repose which the mind feels when the eye, the intellect, and the affections are satisfied from the absence of any want”. Owen Jones

Yesterday’s activities included a visit to the exhibition “Reconnecting East and West” which “traces the groundbreaking documentation of Islamic ornament and design by European scholars, artists and architects who traveled to the Middle East in the 19th century”.

Captivated by the magnificent color lithographs from Owen Jones’ “Grammar of Ornament”, I was reminded how much I am fascinated by Islamic patterns. The repetition of certain forms and patterns lends itself to a feeling of spaciousness, ongoing possibility and all encompassing beauty. Pattern in Islamic Art is a website with some beautiful examples of this art form.

A book of Geometric Patterns in an art shop had been “jumping out” at me for a while now, so after the exhibition the book was duly purchased. I came home, chose a pattern and decided to color it in as an exercise in mindfulness. 

To begin the process I chose colors simply on their appeal to me but noticed that later I had to take note of placement and harmony. It was interesting to observe how at first I kept wanting to go back to perfect sections. Instead I simply moved on, reminding myself that I could only focus on the section in front of me. The past ones were past, the next ones still to come. After some time, conversations started to play themselves out in my head. I noted them then returned to the drawing.  Memories popped up - back to the drawing! After a while the shading had a peaceful, calming effect. 

It is my intention to continue this practice with all the 11 remaining cards in the booklet. I will put the results up on Twitter with the hashtag #drawmindful, as well as put them into a gallery on #here2here. (Suggestions for names for each piece will be welcomed). 

My love for this form of design started back in the late 1970s when we visited England and I came across a book entitled, “Altair Design Book 1”. Unaware of this at the time, I later discovered that these designs were based on a unique and unusual Islamic design which consisted of the arrangement of close packing circles of various sizes. 

Upon our return to South Africa I made use of these designs in my Mathematics classes.  Every week I would hand out a design to each pupil. They had one week to color in the design if they so wished. Some of the pupils were in their final year of high school, but even they participated. The resulting creativity was amazing and these works of art were proudly displayed on the classroom walls. 

M.C. Escher was also drawn to the works of the East and incorporated their principles into his masterpieces.

In “Grammar of Ornament” Jones established 37 guiding principles for the “arrangement of form and color, in architecture and the decorative arts”.

It would be interesting to know if these principles are being applied to web illustration which should attract attention but complement not control content. 

We decorate our homes, and the arrangement and choice of furniture, ornaments and art pieces influence and reflect our inner lives. With the acquisition of online homes, we need to remember that their layout and design features will require our attention as well.  

Plop!

Day 13 of my two week fast and detox finds me feeling very different to what I did upon arrival. As toxins have been eliminated my energy levels have risen, and a feeling of lightness and clarity has been my companion these last few days.

Visits to the Chalong Temple, the Big Buddha, Sunset Beach and a mall have been possible in my free time. I have travelled in a tuk-tuk, the local taxi of Phuket, exposed largely to the elements. Traditional Thai massage has loosened muscles. I have listened to tales of Calcutta, Kashmir and Rajasthan, recollections of motorbike rides into the Himalayas, stories of both successful and failed business ventures, as well as family histories. We have all laughed a great deal and supported each other on the programme.

Much fills me with gratitude. For one, I have had the privilege to be introduced to the practice of Qi Qong and partake in meditation sessions led by Tobi Warzinek. Tobi spent seven years studying at the Center of Higher Tibetan Studies in Switzerland under the guidance of some of the greatest contemporary masters of Tibetan Buddhism.

Sensing the energy of people and places is something I often experience, but this has become heightened during my stay. In the Qi Qong classes, I have experienced energy flying all over my body as well as energy which is controlled and tangible.

Today I have found myself thinking much about online energy. To what extent does online presence convey energy? Is it possible to feel the energy of the other online through avatars, content produced or shared, quantity, quality, online conversations, etc.? If the worldwide web contains a flowing stream of consciousness arising from all its users, what sound does each individual make as s/he enters this stream? Is it a gurgle, a splash, a gush or a drip?

I believe energy is conveyed by online presence but would love to know what readers of this blog feel about this.

This morning as we walked to the Wellness Center we came upon this frog.

The famous frog haiku by Matsuo Basho immediately came to mind and somehow seems appropriate in this context too.  Here is the translation by Alan Watts:     

The old pond,

A frog jumps in:

Plop!

Meeting in the gap

Yesterday, in South Africa, making my way to my boarding gate for my flight back to Dubai, I passed a little shop selling Ndebele art.

Today, 24hrs later, I had lunch in an Iranian restaurant.

 

These photos were taken within one day of each other and between them was a gap - the gap of place, the gap of time, the gap of culture.

Yet now you see them both, brought together by my sharing them with you in this here2here space where we meet. 

This space is in itself a gap between us and yet it is a gap not void of content. On the contrary, it is the space of untapped potential, the space of creativity, the meeting place of various personalities, cultures and worldviews, made possible by technology.

It is a reminder of the many gaps we encounter on a daily basis.

The beauty of communication can only be appreciated by acknowledging pauses between words, whether they be spoken or written. Music is filled with pauses between notes, gaps between movements.

There is the transition point between ending one task and beginning another, the time of waiting for a new phase in one’s life to begin, or even the time spent waiting for the lights to change while on the road. 

These gaps are not wasted spaces or wasted time. They are filled with potential when we become mindfully aware of them. 

There is always a moment between an experience and our response to it. The simple act of pausing and finding this gap is proving to have many benefits on many levels of being.

As we begin to find these gaps, inner rhythms can be acknowledged, and when necessary, alignments made with the universal rhythms present all around us. These universal rhythms have always been there, but it is as if we are only now, not only as individuals but also as a collective, beginning to hear them.  

One place these universal rhythms are to be found is in the gaps between cultures. These gaps were once thought of in a negative way, as if they were points of separation and divide. On closer inspection they are a meeting place to discover similarity, interconnectedness, unity and creativity.

Meet you in the gap!