Mostly Somewhere Else

Day 4 of my 14 day fast and detox in Thailand is underway.  After spending almost two days being ill, flat on my back most of the time, I am happy to report that I am feeling good. 

As the body eliminates toxins, various symptoms arise but thankfully they pass. To remember this while they are happening and to simply accept the experience is not so easy!

This morning, after a downpour of rain, the group stepped through the puddles and made our way to a deck overlooking the beach for our daily kundalini yoga session. The focus today was on the heart chakra. Sun salutations and chanting filled the space.

To end the practice, intentions for the day, uttered out loud, were shared. More than one participant expressed a need to be in the now and not worry about matters back home or what they would be doing upon departure.

Perhaps you’ve come across the two passages that follow before, but they always serve as a good reminder that our perception of reality is often distorted and blurred, and that it is even possible to live somewhere, be among people, and yet not truly see or hear. 

In  “Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values”, Robert M. Pirsig describes two climbers:  

“To the untrained eye ego-climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical.  Both kinds of climbers place one foot in front of the other.  Both breathe in and out at the same rate.  Both stop when tired.  Both go forward when rested.  But what a difference!  The ego-climber is like an instrument that’s out of adjustment.  He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late.  He’s likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees.  He goes on when the sloppiness of his step shows he’s tired.  He rests at odd times.  He looks up the trail trying to see what’s ahead even when he knows what’s ahead because he just looked a second before.  He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about somewhere else, something else.  He’s here but he’s not here.  He rejects the here, is unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then the it will be ‘here’.  What he is looking for, what he wants, is all around him; but he doesn’t want that because it is all around him.   Every step’s an effort both physically and spiritually because he imagines his goal to be external and distant.”

And then there’s the ancient tale telling the story of a disciple who asked the Holy One where he should look for Enlightenment.  The tale goes something like this:

“Here,” the Holy One answered.

“When will it happen?”

“It’s happening right now,” the Holy One replied.

“Then why don’t I experience it?” asked the disciple.

“Because you do not look.”

“What should I look for?”

“Nothing,” the Holy One said. “Just look.”

“At what?” 

“Anything your eyes alight upon,” the Holy One said.

“Must I look in a special kind of way?”

“No,” said the Holy One. “The ordinary way will do.”

“But don’t I always look the ordinary way?”

“No,” the Holy One said. “You don’t.”

“Why ever not?” the disciple demanded.

“Because to look you must be here,” the Holy One said.  “You’re mostly somewhere else.”

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.  

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!  

Spaces to Places

Recently opened in Downtown Dubai, The Pavilion is a contemporary art space which not only encourages dialogue between art and its audience, but is also a vibrant space for the neighborhood, with galleries, a cinema, library, espresso bar and restaurant. The architect Abboud Malak has said, “It’s anything you want it to be; just come and bring your computer or socialise. It’s a versatile space and encompasses everything.... The people will make the space what it is.”

I often go there to do research, write or hang out with friends. The design with its natural woods has a very calming effect. It is a place where creatives can work, socialise or simply be.

Spaces become places when individuals or communities endow them with meaning. Spaces become places through the participation of people.

One’s experience of a particular space evokes emotion and memory and gives rise to what is often referred to as a sense of place. Some spaces are so designed that they encourage the individual to spend time there alone, others invite participation and interaction with others, and others encourage both.

Right now, we find ourselves having to move, more and more, in online space. 

 

In a sense we have become online nomads, meeting fellow travelers from different places, countries and cultures in a space not limited by time. We often tend to wander from site to site, perhaps unaware that we are actually in search of online oases. These are sites that nourish and refresh, and where we are met with online hospitality.  When this is not so, we simply click away and are transported down another corridor.

Whereas many see today’s technologies encouraging placelessness, this need not be the case. What is required of us now is a special generation of architects and designers, creators of online spaces which become special online places for current and future users. 

Physical spaces designed by architects to encourage reflection or interaction are not empty. Their features encourage occupants of the space to interact with it in a particular way.

Online spaces need to be created in this way too.

Just as decorators move shapes around to find the right place and the right fit, so too the positioning of words, widgets, links, videos etc can be approached with mindfulness.

It is encouraging, for example, to see new blog technologies coming in to being that will move away from the linear and allow positioning of videos, pics and words all over a blank page. Such collage like blogging will most definitely promote creativity.

The spaces we occupy online deserve our respect.  We can declutter by regularly emptying our mail boxes. We can consider not retweeting that which we have not read or watched.  A mindful online presence will require that we don’t simply fill the space we encounter with mere words, simply for the sake of filling it. 

If we have our own website, we should be aware that the home page is an online door. What image does it portray to the first time visitor. Does it encourage the visitor to enter? Is it welcoming? Does the architecture of the website enable the visitor to meet others there? Does it encourage the visitor to return? Does the visitor feel at home there?  Does its mindful design include windows that provide vistas, and bridges that lead to new sites. 

Is it a pavilion, a dome, a light filled space where others are encouraged to be?

 

          I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do 

anything I wanted. - Jack Kerouac

The space where we meet online is like this too. It is certainly vast, and when we look at our handheld gadgets, it is certainly glowing. What are we going to do with it? What are we going to create?

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.