Suspended Together

The minute I connect to the internet I enter a space, which though not visible to the eye, is filled with enormous activity.

Going “online” is an entry into a web of interlinked connectivity and information. Navigation in this space has to be learnt, but once mastered, opens the door to a world of connections and information.

This ever-growing web of interconnectedness is suspended, as it were, over all that takes place in the world today. We are reminded of what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin called the noosphere. In 1959 he wrote that technology was creating “a single organized membrane over the earth”.    

Not only is this web of interconnectedness suspended, but the minute we crawl into it we become suspended together.

“Suspended together” is also the title of an artwork recently featured in the exhibition entitled “terminal”, which I visited in Dubai. The artist is Manal Al-Dowayan and the piece created in 2011 is neon with black paint.

Although part of an exhibition focusing on air travel, this piece also spoke to me of the concept, which I have chosen to call here2here.

here2here is first an foremost a space of community, a place of the “we”, a place where we are “suspended together”.

At first, I used to think of this space as an in-between place, a place where we meet before going our separate ways.  In some sense it still is, but as advances in technology make connectivity and communication more instant and accessible, and with the advent of social media, this here2here space is also becoming a place where many of us spend a good part of our day. 

My physical state of being, my location, what I am thinking, or that which I would like to share with another, is available 24/7 if I so wish, with others sharing a similar stream.

A collective stream of consciousness is arising as it were, and is flowing even through hand held gadgets of individuals.

Suspended together we ride virtual waves, we hear the opinions of others we are only able to meet because of this space, and we are challenged to broaden our worldview.

Our electronic interdependence also allows cultures to meet. It is enabling the taking of a planetary perspective, the taking of multiple perspectives, and is encouraging dialogue with other perspectives. We begin to recognize diversity and at the same time we realize the need for unity. 

We are learning to develop empathy, as the “other”, we suddenly realize, is more like us than we had imagined.

Karen Armstrong, in “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life”, states that compassion means “ to endure (something) with another person, to put ourselves in somebody else’s shoes, to feel her pain as though it were our own, and to enter generously into her point of view”.

As we are suspended together, the heart is encouraged to open to allow this all in. 

The compassion so essential to a peaceful existence in a global world begins to blossom.

Mirror World

Over the last few months I have been fascinated with the floors of Dubai. Often in marble, they lend themselves to capturing beautiful reflections. I find myself drawn to photographing them, enchanted by the patterns and pictures that result when domes, arches, skylights, structures, escalators or even feet, meet inlaid designs.

Imagination takes me back to the time when as a child, I would often dream of being able to build dwellings under the ground, places where people could drink tea and socialize. The “underworld” to me was a fascinating place.

So too, was the world “up there”. Enid Blyton’s “The Folk of the Faraway Tree” was my favourite childhood story. I loved the fact that when one got to the very, very top of the tree and climbed through the last branches, one could visit magical lands which came past at various intervals.

Recently I discovered, that in certain bygone cultures, there was a belief that under the world there existed a mirror image of the world we inhabit.  This world was a shadow world and was upside down. It could only be entered at certain special places.

You are currently online, a special place, beyond the limitations of distance and time. Other scenes can be entered into with a simple click. 

Please accept an invitation to tour the “Mirror World” I have discovered in Dubai. Step on the escalator and ascend or descend (it’s all a matter of perspective, anyway!) into the images of my new gallery.

There is always more to see than what first meets the eye. Mindful looking opens up new worlds. 

Ahlan Wa Sahlan

Presently living in Dubai, and feeling that the time is ripe to start up my own website, I begin this process by welcoming you to my blog, here2here, with the words, "Ahlan Wa Sahlan".

A very old Arab greeting, it is a phrase used when welcoming guests.

Ahlan literally means family or kinfolk, Sahlan literally means easy, and so translated loosely this greeting means, "May you arrive as part of the family, and tread an easy path (as you enter)." A door is opened for the other to become part of the family with the acknowledgement that the rights of the other will be respected to make the entering as trouble free as is possible.

One explanation I found put it this way:

Ahlan is to say "you're like my family";

Sahlan is to say "take it easy"

Conclusion: "you're like my family so take it easy"

I was immediately reminded of my late father when I discovered the meaning of Ahlan Wa Sahlan as one of his favourite sayings to me was "Take it easy, my girl".

Through globalization or alienation, many of us find ourselves living in countries other than the ones we were born in. The whole question of identity in a global family needs to be investigated.

Where is home? Is home a place? What does it mean to belong? What is the meaning of family? Who is my family?

These are all questions that invite new interpretation and reflection in the 21st century.

here2here will encourage online hospitality - sharing and listening in ways that promote trust, and encourage broadening of perspective and making place for the other in a growing global community.

In this special we-space, as we blog and comment on a plane beyond space and time, we are unable to hear the voice of the other or read body language as we communicate. The words of Saint Benedict become most applicable in this situation: Listen and attend with the ear of your heart .

It is from such a space that a new collective consciousness can arise, bringing with it potential for a new type of creativity.

Mindful of each post and comment along the way, may we all feel at home in here2here.

Ahlan Wa Sahlan.