In a response to my last blog “Closer”, Bahareh Amidi wrote:
“What a beautiful image, the spinning of the spinning top, such as the whirling of the Dervishes until they become one..... Until webecomeONE.”
Her mention of the dervishes immediately reminded me of another poem I wrote exactly two years and one day ago.
Awakening
10.01.10
A new day dawns -
amidst the mysteries of technology.
Notice:
The digital tree
branching through the world
hears the gurgling stream
speak a language never heard before -
a chorus of interconnectedness
communicating in symbols, links and tweets.
See:
Among those
speaking the language of We,
are the twervishes ,
twirling and whirling on the deck
of the flagship Internet.
From many countries, faiths and worldviews,
in the twitterverse
they #twance -
communicating with joy
and a sense of participation
the dance of liberation
as consciousness becomes aware of itself.
Awaken:
Stillness is at the center of these tweets –
the axis of the twervish twance.
Speaking of me, speaking of you
but more than this
Singing of We
as a new days dawns -
amidst the mysteries of technology.
10.01.10
I thank Bahareh, @BaharehAmidi, known as the “American-Iranian poetess of light”, for the reminder, and to spread this light in the world, I include here a video of her recent wonderful poetry recital at the Pavilion in Downtown Dubai.
A little boy ran and played barefoot and joyfully in his village in India. A bright little youngster, eager to learn, he diligently applied himself to his studies. His name was Shubhra, a name which had its origin in Sanskrit and was used in Hindi speaking countries for both boys and girls. It meant radiant, pure, pure white.
His best friend at school was a Muslim, and throughout the years they maintained their friendship. After completing a Bachelor of Commerce, an undergraduate degree, they both went on to study for a Master of Commerce. At this point, Shubhra said goodbye to his friend who emigrated to Kuwait, and went to live in Bombay.
Earning 400 rupees per month, Shubhra was able to live comfortably and still save.
Time passed and his friend returned. Shubhra was immediately struck by his fine clothes and his jewelry. They had grown up together, studied together and had the same qualifications, yet their lifestyles were at this point clearly very different.
Shubhra immediately began to make inquiries around Bombay. He too would be bold and move further afield. At last he found someone who could organize for him to move to Dubai.
It was 1968, a year before a boeing 707 belonging to Air India would make its first flight from Bombay to Dubai.
A flight from Bombay to Dubai today, only lasts 3 hours. Shubhra did not have this luxury. Instead he bravely boarded a ship for a journey which lasted 3 nights. Dubai, at this point in time, was still a British protectorate and there were only small settlements on either side of the creek.
Fast forward to 2011.
Yesterday, Shubhra and I chatted. We had met before but had never shared personal stories.
He told me that he only knew of one person in those days who had air-conditioning.
With a smile on his face, he recalled a picnic in Jebel Ali. The return journey to Sharjah, a trip which today would take 30 to 45 mins by car, had lasted a day as he and a friend had a vehicle which kept getting stuck in the desert sand.
As he was about to leave, I asked Shubhra about his home village. The look on his face changed. He tried to return there every year but things were never the same. Where once he had run through the rice paddies there are now roads. Family relationships have become strained over time because of distance and lack of communication. People in the village no longer recognize him and ask him who he is. He should never have left.
I am reminded of the passage in “A Tale of Two Cities” where Mr Carton reflects on his life after he leaves the home of Mr Stryver. The two of them had chatted earlier about the divergent paths their lives had taken despite the fact that they had attended the same schools and university.
"Waste forces within him, and a desert all around, this man stood still on his way across a silent terrace, and saw for a moment, lying in the wilderness before him, a mirage of honorable ambition, self-denial, and perseverance. In the fair city of this vision, there were airy galleries from which the loves and graces looked upon him, gardens in which the fruits of life hung ripening, waters of Hope that sparkled in his sight. A moment, and it was gone. Climbing to a high chamber in a well of houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears."
As Shubhra shared with me how he had come from here2here I suggested to him that he write his story. He simply nodded his head from side to side.
I share fragments of his story here. In the telling we are all brought closer together. In this here2here space, we realize that although we may be different in many ways, at our core, we are all the same. We all have dreams, some fulfilled, some shattered.
Today, thanks to technology we can all travel, if only virtually, to far away places and converse with each other. I live in Dubai and can instant chat, Skype or Facetime with family and friends far and wide.
How different would Shubhra’s life have been if he had had access to such facilities at the time of his move?
As we honor people like Shubhra, who even though he might not realize it, remains radiant to this day, let us at the same time be mindful of all the benefits of modern communication.
"There is a great crowd coming one day into our lives, if that be so."
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book 2, Chapter 6
These words, spoken again by Mr Carton, were prophetic of the French Revolution. Today they take on yet another meaning as we recognize in them the “we” generation which is currently being born.
The Green Line of the Dubai Metro opened on 9 September, exactly 2 years after the metro first opened on 09.09.09. This was a special date which will not occur for another thousand years. Today I looked back at the blog which I wrote for the occasion and reflected on all the changes that have taken place, not only in my own life, but in the world at large, since then.
Much has changed in the world of travel. Nowadays when we hear "travel", we probably think of aeroplanes, but let us take a look at trains.
With the opening of the Green Line, (I have put up a gallery of photos here), Dubai Metro entered The Guinness Book of World Records as the longest automated driverless system in the world. Here is a timelapse video of travel on this route which aptly illustrates how train travel today is an indicator of speed and change.
There have been many changes in the past two years. There will always be change. However, what is interesting to note, is the almost exponential rate at which change is taking place.
The story is told of a chinese emperor who wished to reward the inventor of the chess board. The man asked that he be given one grain of rice for inventing the first square of the chessboard, two grains for the second square, four grains for the third square, eight grains for the fourth and so on. The emperor readily agreed thinking that he had not much to lose. It was only when his treasurer was asked to calculate the total number of grains owing to the inventor that the emperor realized he had a major problem. Continuing this principle until the 64th square of the chessboard had been reached would mean that the emperor owed approximately 18 quintillion grains of rice! To produce this would require a rice field twice the size of the surface of the planet, oceans included! The power of exponential growth is mind-blowing.
We live in a world where linear thought is the norm, but much in the world is in fact changing at an exponential rate.
Technology is a prime example. Why, two years ago I had never even heard of an iPad (it was only released in April 2010) and today I watch toddlers at shop displays standing on their tiptoes while they play games on tablets!
Wi-fi was only invented in 1991.
Its yin-yang logo indicates interoperability, the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together i.e. to inter-operate. Hence wi-fi access enables my device to inter-operate with another.
The term inter-operate could perhaps be applied to all areas of our being.
We as individuals, have an interior and an exterior. At the same time we belong to a collective. This collective also has an interior, namely culture, and an exterior, the systems that support culture. Changes in one area effect the others. Human beings are also endowed with the ability to choose, and so the choice can be made to develop all aspects of our being. This in turn will allow interoperability to affect maximum positive growth not only for oneself but for the collective.
I am of the opinion that as the systems around us develop exponentially, and as individuals and cultures are brought ever closer to each other, we will need to find the stillpoint at the centre of a fastly turning world.
"Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance". T.S. Eliot.
Yang activity in the exterior quadrants requires yin stillness in the interior of the individual and the collective. From this stillpoint we will be able to observe events as though from the motionless centre of a rotating cyclone, spinning top or wheel. With time and practice, we will become as it were, the stillness and the spaciousness in which all can occur.
The call to stillness is a call to peace, to inter-operation, to the realization of Oneness.
We need this reference point right now as travel and technology bring us ever closer to each other here2here.
Travelling back to Dubai last week, I put on my headphones to listen to some music I had recently downloaded. The pieces were relaxing, when suddenly one track had an incredible impact on me. About a minute into the piece, my insides moved and it felt as if something was rising within me. At one stage tears filled my eyes, not accompanied by a feeling of sadness, but rather of awe.
I have been home for a week now and listened to the piece on numerous occasions. And still..... it has the same effect.
Annie Syed in her latest Still Sundays post tells of visiting a museum and being ”mesmerized by this amazing sculpture.”
I recall too an incident on Twitter when a video of Louis Kahn’s Phillips Exeter Academy Library was being shared amongst us. One response to a tweet I sent out was, “Made me cry. This is what architecture is about.”
The overwhelming responses to the video indicated that something was happening not only on an individual level, but on a collective level as well. Technology had made it possible for all of us from different parts of the world and in different time zones to not only view a place many of us might never visit, but also to experience simultaneously a feeling of awe.
What is it about some works of art that have the power to move us so?
Attempts to share such an experience often fail, as words can only attempt to hint at the actual experience itself. They are really only a finger pointing at the moon.
But they are a finger, nevertheless, and those who have had the same or a similar experience will know what is being pointed at.
“Let me return to what art is finally all about. When I directly view, say, a great Van Gogh, I am reminded what all superior art has in common: the capacity to simply take your breath away. To literally, actually, make you inwardly gasp, at least for that second or two when the art first hits you, or more accurately, first enters your being: you swoon a little bit, you are slightly stunned, you are open to perceptions that you had not seen before. Sometimes, of course, it is much quieter than that: the work seeps into your pores gently, and yet you are changed somehow, maybe just a little, maybe a lot; but you are changed.”
This extract is part of a piece entitled “Contemplating Art”. It is one my favorite pieces of writing by Ken Wilber and is, in my opinion, a work of art in itself. You can read the whole piece here. It is to be found on the last few pages of the pdf.
My piece of music, Kiyamah, has changed me.
Which works of art have touched you? Let's share them here2here.
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.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 9:56AM 
