Arriving

Today I share with you a poem by Derek Walcott entitled “Love After Love”:

The time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

— Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott, a West Indian poet and dramatist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1992.  In his works Walcott studied amongst other things his role as a nomad between European and West Indian cultures. 

Jon Kabat-Zinn used this poem as an inspiration for his book “Arriving at Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness”

Here is Walcott’s poem read by Jon:

Art has for centuries inspired poets and poetry has inspired artists.

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Certain galleries have experimented with poetry readings in front of artworks and found that this encourages active looking and listening. At the opening of “Unfolding”, a poem was recited in front of my artwork “Trinity”.

The reading gives the viewer a chance to stop and listen, and also to focus on a particular artwork for a while, as well as perhaps see the work from a different perspective or think about it in different ways as multiple senses come into play. Dialogue between the viewer and the artwork is encouraged.  

The poem “Love After Love” and the book “Arriving at Your Own Door” are the inspiration for my new series which I have entitled “Arriving”. The works, created entirely on my iPhone, are printed onto aquarelle paper and framed.

Links and Texture

Below is an image. It is a photograph of the Burj Khalifa, currently the tallest tower in the world.

When you hover over it you will see that it suddenly reveals a number of links. Each of these links allows you to either experience the tower in its different moods, learn more about it, or watch a video related to it.

Perhaps take a few minutes to explore these links before reading further. The choice is yours.

I have used this concept as I feel it offers a special key.

Every experience we ever have has many elements, but unless we take the time to be mindful of them, many of these elements escape our notice.

Operating on autopilot we may miss many of the threads which when woven together give an experience its particular texture.

An event might be experienced as being bland or fascinating or any of a variety of ways, but that experience is determined by the way in which we tune into that which is at hand. We can walk without seeing details, be in a room and not hear what music is being played, eat a whole meal without noticing the different flavors, pass by flowers without noticing their fragrance, pick up an object without noticing what it feels like, arrive at destinations without being aware of how we got there or look at others without picking up on their moods.

When we pay attention, that which we touch might be smooth, rough, grainy, soft or coarse. That which we hear might be harmonious, irritating or soothing. Tastes can be crunchy, chewy or crisp. Emotions become messengers and we realize that we are not our thoughts.

Our senses and our feelings are our links to mindfulness. We need to click on them as it were in order to experience each moment with all the various elements that make up its particular texture as they interrelate.

Texture

As we move through the corridors of cyberspace, we choose which links we wish to open or close. Similarly, we need to realize that we can choose to tune into that which is around us and within us. We can choose to notice what we are sensing and feeling and thinking. Mindfulness is something we choose to do.

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way:

on purpose,

in the present moment,

and nonjudgmentally.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

When we choose to be mindful we also give ourselves the opportunity to choose which elements of an experience need our attention and which it would be better to ignore or not engage. It provides us with the gap in which we can decide how to respond instead of simply reacting.

Between stimulus & response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. Victor Frankl #mindfulness
— Linda Hollier (@lindahollier) May 29, 2013

As mindfulness spreads into all walks of life, it is adding a flavor to life which cannot be properly described but which has to be experienced.

Its texture feels calm, compassionate and non-violent. Its threads are those of acceptance and understanding. They play a music whose chords are non-judgmental. They smell of purpose and focus. Their taste is that of the present moment.

Fog, Mindfulness and Unknowing

January has seen the UAE and many other parts of the world covered in blankets of fog at various intervals. It has affected travel, has had much written about it in the news and has been photographed by many from ground level and up high; all as if it has wanted to gain our attention.

As I was travelling on the metro and looking out at the fog, I recalled a work written by an anonymous mystic in the 14th century, entitled “The Cloud of Unknowing”. The fog certainly depicted an unknowingness and got me thinking about “unknowing”.

When moving within the confines of the fog, the knowledge of where something is has to be suspended for the experience of being acutely conscious of the surroundings one finds oneself in. What is behind one and in front of one is hardly visible. Experiencing the immediate is of paramount importance before one can move forward.

The mind too is so often filled with thoughts of the past and concerns for the future, that the present moment is missed. The fog is a reminder that the present moment is all there is, and as such should be welcomed with non-judgmental awareness. The fog is a reminder to be mindful.

The awareness of the present moment as experienced when being mindful I see as “unknowing”. Becoming aware of that which is incoming through all the senses, experiencing bodily sensations, noticing what one is feeling and thinking, is not a knowing with the mind but an experience of the heart.

In a blog post entitled “In the Fog, Mindfully”, Marguerite Manteau-Rao, @MindDeep, reports on the use of mindfulness meditation, as developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, with people suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. One gentleman reports on how it has helped him by saying that,

“Within the daily fog, I can once again find my way, comfortably myself...”

It is easy to confuse objects for something else when moving around in the fog. So too in life, we often mistake our thoughts and opinions for reality. Not taking the time to pause and notice what is actually happening leads to the repeating of old patterns of behaviour. Reacting becomes the order of the day instead of responding to the current situation at hand.

Mindfulness as an “unknowing” is not an attempt to get rid of thoughts. Instead it is a stepping back from them to watch them from an inward spaciousness. At times, with practice, the mind quiets down.

Adjusting one’s way of looking in the fog enable us to see exactly what we need to see at the right moment. Mindfulness or “unknowing” allows us to discover countless opportunities for compassion and kindness not visible to us before.

The fog has something more to share with us. Moving within the fog, (see more pics), it often suddenly parts and we are given glimpses of what is beyond it.

There is also something beyond the fog of the chattering mind.

Jan Birchfield in a recent excellent article in the Huffington post called “Innovation and the Quiet Mind” writes that

“when we quiet the mind through contemplative practices such as meditation, we eventually discover that awareness or consciousness exists beyond it.”

Mindfulness is gaining in popularity as more and more people are realizing that experiencing something fully is far more valuable than mere knowledge about it. We need more and more to “unknow” what before we were convinced was exactly so.

In a world filled with unique problems of the times, knowledge alone will be insufficient when attempting to solve these problems. Innovative ways of being are called for. Where will they be found?

“True innovation, along with any act of creativity, draws from this infinite field of intelligent awareness that exists beyond the mind. This is sometimes called pure awareness.” Jan Birchfield.

In this field of pure awarenes lies realization, innovation and creativity.

The fog is lifting.

Curiosity is key

By nature I love to explore. I can remember being at school and encouraging my friends to join me in discovering exactly what was underneath the stage of the school hall. Waiting until no one was around, we carefully opened the trapdoor, and climbed into the dirt beneath with torches in hand, home-made shields on our knees and masks covering our mouths in case the dust was too severe. Despite the fact that dirt and dust was all that was there, the excitement of the exploration remains in my memory. 

Wandering down alleys and streets, watching people while soaking in the sights, sounds and smells, fills me with joy.  At heart I am a flaneur, a person who walks the city in order to experience it.  

This morning, instead of going on a walk to discover and photograph more skyscrapers in Downtown Dubai, I made my way by metro to visit the souqs in Deira. I have visited this area many times and love to wander up and down the various alleyways known as sikkas. 

As I made my way around the Grand Deira Souq I noticed a sign I had not seen before: Museum of the poet Al Oqaili. Following similar signs I came upon a small museum which still had much construction going on on the outside. I discovered afterwards that the Al Oqaili Museum has only been opened this month.

 

I was welcomed in and made my way around the restored home of the poet.

 Earlier as I wandered I had tweeted, 

Smells of spices as I wander through the souks. #mindfulness #flaneur

— Linda Hollier (@lindahollier) December 11, 2012

Now on the walls I found a poem written by Al Oqaili about Dubai containing these words:

“Its scent captivated me since I was a little boy.

For it I left all valuable things.”

As I explored the home of the man who had been both a store owner and a poet, and whose work is highly valued in Arabic literature, I had a sense that I was meant to find this place. The poet’s table, his displayed writings, the quiet atmosphere of the courtyard, the teak doors and the restored gypsum ornaments, invited me to reflect again on the creativity that not only lays at the heart of silence, but flourishes when curiosity abounds. 

Al Oqaili had travelled about before settling in Dubai so he must have been curious. 

Recently, Anthony Lawlor tweeted the following:

Curiosity is the guiding impulse of flaneurs. cc @lindahollier

— AnthonyLawlor (@AnthonyLawlor) December 1, 2012

Further tweets by him read as follows:

Curiosity comes from the root to care. To care about life is to be curious.

Simply being present to what is as it is = a great adventure

Curioser and Curiouser is the natural response to noticing what is actually happening. 

The last tweet reminded me of my blog called “Linda in Wonderland” and made me realize again how much we need to encourage the natural curiosity of small children instead of stifling it.  Melissa Davis, the mother of George Davis, a fellow flaneur (both in the here and in the here2here of cyberspace), writes in an update to Mindfulness and Flanerie: 

Years ago I read a NYTimes op ed that shared the unscientific findings of a city dweller observing adults accompanying small children around a neighborhood in Manhattan. She reported that the majority of them pushed strollers which ensured timely arrivals wherever the adult was headed. She contrasted them with the handful of adults who walked – meandered – alongside their youngsters, stopping to examine every interesting flower or bit of flotsam along the way. She pointed out that there was nothing more important for a child that age to do than poke along – and through – every curiosity.

Right now we need to foster a generation that will ask questions, search for answers and create solutions.  Unfortunately most of our current school systems merely offer education - the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, and fail to encourage true learning. 

In a recent Huffington post interview entitled “Mindfulness in the Modern World”, Jon Kabat-Zinn states:

All the interesting stuff is found on the edge between knowing and not knowing.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has landed on Mars. Thirty-five years and 11 billion miles later, Voyager 1 has finally reached the edge of the solar system and will next enter a magnetic highway .

The realms of cyberspace appear to be limitless, and there too we will need to explore with care and curiosity. So fellow cyberflaneurs, not only do we need to listen deeply but our ascent needs to be noted for having at its heart, a deep sense of curiosity. 

Cyberflanerie: Deep Listening in Cyberspace.

This blog post has not been an easy one to write. For weeks now I have been thinking about and researching the concept of the cyberflaneur, a term which has been around since at least 1994. With logic and reasoning I have approached the topic, searching for a common thread or one particular aspect that could form the core of this post.

On Monday evening I awoke in the middle of the night, an unusual occurence for me. After lying awake for more than an hour with thoughts whizzing through my mind, I decided that if I was awake I should perhaps use the time well. As my blog was still uppermost in my mind, I made the decision to simply lie there and listen to all the information I had gathered. Instead of trying to manipulate it, I would listen to it instead. Perhaps it would offer me the clue I was looking for.

The second I made that decision, the title of this post was clear to me and all the pieces I had gathered began to fall into place. I listened and then after a while picked up my ipad to note what I had heard in case I forgot some of it by the morning.

Although the flaneur made his appearance in the 19th century, and was a term used to refer to the people who strolled through the city in order to fully observe and experience it, the flaneur truly thrived as a literary device.

Just as the artists of the time captured the essence of city life in sketches, the writers of the day began to use the flaneur to comment on the changes in modern day living which evoked both fear and curiosity. The flaneur was the narrator in literature, standing outside of and commenting upon, the events being described to the reader.

The life of those times was speeding up and the flaneur took the step back to observe and find meaning in what was being experienced. In current times, the speed of technological innovation is exponential, and there exists a deep need to make sense of it all.

Today as we move through the speedy spheres of cyberspace - the limitless mindspace we find ourselves in when using technology to communicate - I believe it is the perceptive attitude of the flaneur that we should seek to cultivate. Therefore I have chosen to focus on the practice of cyberflanerie rather than on the figure of the cyberflaneur, real or imaginary.

"Networked Awareness" from the gallery "Corridors of Cyberspace"

This practice will require a deep listening, whether it be to visual, aural or textual images.

Last week I tweeted a link to a group of monks singing Gregorian chant on national television. I copied George Davis, @virtualdavis, who incidentally is a fellow flaneur. Unbeknown to me George was in the process of preparing for a workshop on digital storytelling.

In our follow up twitter conversation I received the following:

@lindahollier True. A blog post is coming plus inclusion in a digital storytelling presentation on Friday. Your ears will be burning! :-)
— virtualDavis (@virtualDavis) October 24, 2012

The phrase “your ears will be burning” obviously made me realize that he was going to refer to my tweet in his blog post or workshops, but I have since realized that the expression takes on a new meaning when we apply it to cyberspace! In this sphere there is a great possibility that even when you are asleep someone else in some part of the world is looking at one of your posts, one of your pics, one of your tweets, one of your facebook updates, etc. These are often passed on as links to others - you are being mentioned and tracked in cyberspace probably more times than you can imagine!

If I was a cartoonist I would depict a cyberflaneur with huge burning ears, not only because s/he was being mentioned, but because s/he had developed the ability to listen intently from a place of silence!

This was the theme of George’s post: Storytelling: From Ira Glass to Gregorian Monks, but by writing it George had also demonstrated that he too had listened with the same quality he was promoting.

There is so much information coming at us in cyberspace that unless we nurture the intention of listening with “moment by moment, non-judgmental awareness” - the definition of mindfulness given by Jon Kabat-Zinn - we stand the risk of being overwhelmed and suffering from information overload. We will fail to capture the fleeting moment. It is only with an attitude of deep listening that we will be able to filter what really needs our attention.

"Ever-changing" from the gallery "Corridors of Cyberspace"

As we move through the fluidity of cyberspace, the moments of stopping and listening are maybe only a millisecond long, but they are the gaps in which we can mindfully step back and observe. I have written more about this in a previous post entitled “Mindfulness and the Flaneur”.

Practicing being in the here and the now also prevents a total immersion in the dreamscape which is wide open in the "corridors of cyberspace". What I mean by this terminology can be found here.

"The Meeting" from the gallery "Corridors of Cyberspace"

The crowd we encounter in cyberspace contains people from all over the world and with deep listening we will be better able to empathise with the other we encounter. The individual and the collective will benefit from these encounters.

"Deep Listening" from the gallery "Corridors of Cyberspace"

The above is my art piece which has come out of writing this post. Yellow is associated with clarity and awareness and also symbolizes wisdom.

I end with the following story. The morning after my sleepless night, I checked my twitter stream, only to find this tweet from another dear twitter friend, Terri Taylor, @t2van:

Develop a passion for listening....imagine what might happen.
— Terri Taylor (@t2van) October 30, 2012