Time melting

In 1931, Salvado Dalí introduced the image of soft, melting pocket watches in one of his most famous works, “The Persistence of Memory”.

Suggesting that time was not as rigid and fixed as many people believed, the watches also suggested Einstein’s theory that time is relative. The image of the melting watch was portrayed by Dalí throughout his lifetime. 

In Dalí’s sculpture “Dance of Time II” seen above, Time appears to be fluid as it moves and dances in rhythm with the beat of the universe.  

Influenced by their perception of time, humans have always attempted to dance with Time in various ways and to different beats. And Time is a versatile dancer.

When there was no experience of self separate from the environment, magic Time danced in pointed shoes through point-like moments. Its flying leaps from moment to moment were magical, taking all and sundry along.

The repetitive dance steps accompanying the chorus of mythic, cyclical Time formed an ongoing round as Time danced in circles. Its seasonal music was comforting and offered hope. 

With the coming of the Age of Reason, time was seen to be linear, consisting of past, present and future. This necessitated the learning of new steps in the dance with mental Time, all in the name of progress. Time marched on, beating out its rhythm.

Postmodernism allowed all movement to be dance, and so Time improvised, focusing on the individual it was partnering with.

In dreams, Time leads in a tango-like dance. Time's embrace of the dreamer alternates between the open and the closed as scenes change rapidly from one to another and characters morph into each other.

Technology has made possible no time and all time in a huge web. In an age of information and an age of communion, individuals connect with each other regardless of time zones.

 “Sardana” by Picasso

Reminiscent of the Sardana, a dance which symbolises a spirit of brotherhood and harmony, the dance with Time is one of interconnectedness, acknowledging self and the other in a unique fashion. Perhaps on the threshold of entering another dimension, we more and more begin to be reminded of pure grace and fluidity of movement. Time is no longer Chronos. It is dancing as Kairos, known to those individuals who have experienced being in a state of flow.

In this state, an individual's subjective experience of time is certainly altered. Time seems to disappear as it were, hiding its face for as long as the experience lasts.

No noticing of thoughts, emotions or feelings. No concept even of self for as long as the experience lasts. Present and in the moment. No thing in which all things rise. An emptiness giving rise to all forms. Experiential oneness with it all.

Mindful, present and in the moment, and most definitely aided by technology in a significant way, together we are now able to begin to enter a dance of shared flow which allows, welcomes and integrates all the various dance steps. 

Jean Gebser, spoke of timelessness and  time-freedom.

Jeremy Johnson, @jdj_tweets, in his excellent piece “The Integral Philosopher: Jean Gebser and Time” writes, 

“Integral is not abstraction. It is not a new system of ideas that everyone can agree on. It is a direct experience of “Presence.” Not an eternal now, but a consciousness that supports all the multitudes of experience, all the different ways we can perceive time.”

In this dance of Presence, all movements rise and fall. At its heart is stillness.  

“Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance." - TS Eliot

Do we see the rhythmless and rhythmful stillness?  Do we hear, smell, taste and feel the beat? Do we intuit the dance?

The Gathering

Visiting the Pavilion in Downtown Dubai yesterday, I noticed that there were workers completing the installation of a new sculpture on the sidewalk.

After the installation was completed I went outside to photograph the figures from various angles, before going inside to continue what I was working on. 

As sunset approached the pink fingers stretching across the sky to embrace the Burj Khalifa drew me outside again. The chatting figures of the sculpture seemed happy in their new setting. 

While photographing them a gentleman and lady approached. Seeing me photograph the figures, she told me that the gentleman was the artist. I was privileged to meet architect and sculptor Xavier Corbero. 

A man with incredible vision, Corbero has built a dream home whose spaces are linked by underground passageways.

“His original vision of the property has since expanded to include a retreat for artists, studio spaces, workshops, a foundry, dozens of surreal chambers for residents and guests, sprawling galleries, living rooms, a myriad of hobbit nooks all connected by serpentine stairways filling over 10,000 square meters.”

Salvador Dali was Corbero’s first patron and Corbero is now considered to be Spain’s most important living sculptor. 

"You must leave things open so the person enjoys or looks," says Corbero. "I feel that when people look at a piece of art they become artists, they see what they see not what there is. What there is helps them to see something else and they feel better because they see something they were not seeing before seeing that. That's what I like to do.”

Standing next to his work, he seemed to effortlessly blend in with the figures, even unintentionally perhaps, replicating the pose of the figure he was standing next to.

 

In her piece on Corbero’s work in Beirut, Micheline Hazou, @mich1mich writes,

“Perhaps it’s the way the figures are positioned, in relation to the space and to one another that is as important as their bulk and mass…”

Corbero has said, "What is good is the scale, if you get the scale right, space stops being space to become mind. And this happens in a sculpture and it happens in architecture."

The sculpture, called The Gathering, invites one into its circle. The chatting figures capture for me the mix that is Dubai, a city where  many different nationalities and cultures meet.

The figures lean into each other with attention. They are accommodating of each other’s space and seem to acknowledge the other, while at the same time forming a unit. The energy flowing between them as they connect is almost palpable.

There is the sense that more personalities are about to join the gathering and engage in conversation. This excites me as non-judgmental listening and peaceful dialogue is so crucial in the world right now.

I immediately think too of this here2here space where we are all gathering now. What does it matter where we are physically situated in time and space. We can gather, be present here together, converse and share. We might all be different but we are more similar than we can imagine.

Whether gathering on sidewalks of cities, or sensing our interconnectedness in a large web made possible by technology, together we bear witness to Presence.

A Voyage into Hyperspace

Not so long ago, being in a space which had more than three dimensions was considered the domain of science fiction.

Today we speak of spaces unheard of before. And what is more, we are now able to meet in them. Physical geography is no longer the determinant for meeting to take place. 

Human beings interconnected through computers and telecommunications find themselves in cyberspace, which has its own special architecture. Units of information are organized into connected associations known as links or hypertext links. By clicking on a link the traveller in cyberspace is transported from one place to another. 

As each individual location is connected to many others, the resulting web consists of the total number of individual locations and all of their interconnections, and is referred to as hyperspace. 

In the world of science fiction, hyperspace refers to a space with four or more dimensions. In this multi-dimensional environment the conventional space-time relationship does not apply, making it possible to travel at a speed faster than light. 

I came across the use of the word “hyperspace” in a recent review of an event held this past weekend in the Burj Park at the foot of the Burj Khalifa. 

Having performed live at the Acropolis, Taj Mahal and the Forbidden City in China, composer and musician Yanni chose the Burj Kahlifa as his latest concert venue. 

On a stage lit up in blue and purple, Yanni told the crowd that he and his musicians came hoping to take the audience away from their everyday lifestyle if only for a short while. 

“And as if on cue the band burst into Voyage, a flamboyant and extravagant song that could have been made in hyperspace.” 

In hyperspace, each location is interconnected to many others. Enter me.

Watching the event from our balcony, I picked up my iPad when I noticed the Dubai Fountains dancing, and began to film. Although set to some other piece of music, it appeared to me as if they were dancing to Yanni’s Voyage. 

I was transported into another world, a world where synchronicities are not uncommon. I have written about synchronicity elsewhere, but since this weekend I have wondered much whether synchronicities are not there all the time but we cannot always see them. 

@conscire tweeted recently: “Kairos is the time of the sacred, the time of Synchronicity. Chronos, clock time, is nothing more than a construct of the mind.”

Voyages into hyperspace will become more common. They require an acute awareness, a mindfulness of all that is around and within us. The voyages will be both inward and outward and to nowhere, as we discover that every space and every moment is everywhere. Some call this everyhere. I call it here2here.

New York in Dubai - here2here

On my way from one appointment to another this morning, I am suddenly confronted with an amazing sight in the middle of the Dubai Mall. Bloomingdales is sporting a New York theme and has built actual street scenes to support this. Earlier this week, I put up a post and a blurb mobile about skyscrapers. Synchronicity?

 

A whole floor above the setting, I pause, and as I stop, break dancers enter the scene. My hand flies into my handbag to grab my camera and capture some of the activities.

I have visited New York, love New York, have friends and tweeps in New York, but I live in Dubai. Or do I? 

We are closer to each other than we always imagine. We are interconnected in so many ways. What I am watching so fits in with the theme of this blog site. English and Arabic grace the same advert. Locals and visitors from all over the world mix and share the scene. 

My “here” can be brought to your “here” in so many different ways. Technology allows me to share my “here” with you both visually and audibly, in the time that it takes to press a button and hit “send”. 

The spinning figure I am watching epitomizes the speed at which this is all taking place. I marvel at it, I am in awe of it, I appreciate it.

The dance ends, the moment is over, and I move on, closer to you all.

Mindscapes and Webscapes

The mind has a layout of its own. Waiting for the explorer to uncover its territory, it shifts between its own landscapes, cityscapes, waterscapes and even desert patches.

Most of the time, much of its expanse is densely populated. Given the chance it is filled with thoughts of achievements, like city buildings on a city skyline.

It has its distinct character which can be seen when looking at it more closely.

It is populated by interesting characters in unexpected places; all telling stories with unsurpassed conviction.

As in most big cities, it is a hive of activity as ideas and thoughts come and go, intersecting with each other before simply moving on.

 

Leaving the cityscapes behind one comes across the seascapes, places of temporary rest and tranquility.

The landscapes of the mind change, sometimes providing solace in a storehouse of memories. 

At other times the landscapes leave one in awe and wonder of the many facets of life.

 

What happens in one part of the mind, affects what happens in another.

Observation of the mindscape slowly brings one to the desert and its associations of solitude and reflection.  Hidden amongst the rocks, the shadow side of the individual waits its turn to make itself known.  

 

There is one property of the mindscape that is unique. It is constantly shifting. Noticing this, and practising an awareness of this on a regular basis, one reaches a place beyond its boundaries where there is only stillness and emptiness filled with possibility.

The photos I have used in this post were all taken of images on webcams, and depict scenes from around the world today as they were taking place. I have decided to call these pics webscapes, as I believe they illustrate and are another perspective of not only how much we as humans have in common, but also the extent to which we are not only connected, but  very much interconnected.