Arabian Waltz makes the world go round

Nothing beats the work that's been painstakingly built through the Silk Road Project. 


From it's ambitious early days of bridging existences, if there was any group that deserved a true Nobel prize for making this world a better place, it would be this.


Where music becomes alive, living breathing ecstasy. 


The video is described as "Driven by complex additive rhythms and improvisatory melodic lines, "Arabian Waltz" is a propulsive work by Lebanese-born composer Rabih Abou-Khalil, whose works fuse the musical traditions of the Arabic world with jazz improvisation and European classical.." bla bla bla 


Don't use Words.

LISTEN...

Forgiveness

Have you ever experienced that Divine moment, when abstract occurences in a day suddenly combine to give you the whole picture? When all disparate pieces of the puzzle suddenly make sense?

It is synchronicity in action, the unlikely relation between many events that seem to occur by chance... but actually reflects the greater design and elegance of the Cosmos. This is God's realm - The Universe that Speaks without Words. Carl Jung just put it in one neat term :)

At that moment of revelation, when the design or plan is revealed to you, one is confronted with the Truth. And irrespective of how ugly it is, if a pattern is seen again and again... you must be a fool to deny its authenticity. 

But a seeker after Truth should always have the courage to accept Truth, even painful ones. 

Truth is revealed not in one's words - people often cultivate the sweetest of tongues to gain something. 

Truth is revealed in one's actions.

In spirituality, or practices of ancient mysticism, understanding the Hand of God in all things, the feeling of synchronicity, creates more balance, awareness and forgiveness within.

To forgive without needing to hear the words 'I'm sorry' from another, we do the greatest justice to no one but ourselves.

Drop anger, drop hurt, there goes expectations... it is an odd feeling because you become the observer. Standing outside of this instance, this feeling of betrayal, you are angry and yet... not angry.

You watch the emotion rise, you watch the emotion fall... and realise you were never a part of it all. Although emanating from you, it is not you. 

These instances may come in just pockets, but who is to say that transformation cannot be achieved in that split second? It is only a matter of whether we have enough faith to take the quantum leap... or will we continue living in our comfort zone, perpetuating the myth that it is always The Other at fault.

Most times, we hang on to the past, repeating the same pattern... is it really surprising then, we end up with the same outcome?

If I wish to change the outcome, I should stop blaming The Other. It is my shortcoming that I was not aware. I should have cultivated a deeper awareness of the situation, of the individuals at hand, of human nature. I accept that I was not working at my full potential. And my mission is to work towards cultivating that.

Then... a new outcome is possible. A new door opens to an infinity of possibilities.

When I change, the future once more becomes pregnant with meaning, full of potential. 

So today, I understood Ahimsa in a new way - to transform yourself, to accept responsibility for even things which are not remotely yours... one then does not harm any living being. Not even yourself. 

To close, an excerpt from Idries Shah's recounting of the teaching of Moulana Jalaludin Rumi, this one titled The Inward Eye:

"It is also narrated that Moulana Shamsuddin Malti reported that one day Moulana was giving a discourse of mystical subjects at the Seminary, when he said that he loved Shamsuddin much, but he had but one fault.


Shamsuddin begged to be enlightened as to what that fault was; and Moulana said 'Whatever he (Shamsuddin) perceives and sees, he thinks that God's most blessed thing and God's most blessed person is that thing or that person'. Then Moulana recited these verses:

'As many a man has

The Inwardness of Satan;

Should one hail everyone

As a Saint?

When your Inward Eye 

Is opened; -

The Real Master

Can then be perceived!'

Is it so difficult to believes that the most elegant solution, most truthful answer, is so simple that it involves no one. 

The Inward Eye is but a turning into Oneself, perceiving that we are the source and solution to each problem. It's never been anyone but... 

Griot - History's Keeper

With so few traditions left intact, on Merdeka eve, we pay tribute to the keepers of history... through music.

Griots, a term synonymous with West African storytellers who, through music, ensure the lineage of wisdom lives on in successive generations. How can any society live, breath and be reinvigorated on those weary days without a helping hand from the past?

Like the transformative touch of Adam and God, so too does the griot breathe power into the lives of its people through oral tradition. For Paul Oliver:


"Though [the griot] has to know many traditional songs without error, he must also have the ability to extemporize on current events, chance incidents and the passing scene. His wit can be devastating and his knowledge of local history formidable."


Essentially, these musicians were walking history books, preserving their ancient stories and traditions through song. Their inherited tradition was passed down through generations. Their name, jeli, means "blood" in Manika language. They were said to have deep connections to spiritual, social, or political powers as music is associated as such. Speech is also said to have power as it can recreate history and relationships.


Where are we today as Malaysians? WHO are we? Can we possibly be free, if we don't know who we are?

Some inspiration from Mali's most famous griot - Salif Keita.

Babar Turns 80!

The world's most (and only) beloved elephant in a green suit has had it all... adopted by a really rich lady after being orphaned by poachers, drove a smashing red sports convertible as a teenager, crowned King of the Jungle in adolescence, married the Heaven's (his wife's name is Celeste), is father to triplets, travelled the world and has a monkey for a friend :D

What more is there to life?

Except for the symbolic importance that Babar the Elephant plays in our lives. 

He was the harbinger of a better world, a gentle one. Of Peace and Humanity in the land of Animals. Of giving and and learning and feeling that the human world was a wonderful mysterious place for an Outsider. This is what childhood memories evoke.

So Babar at 80 isn't just about Babar at 80. 

It's about all the things we dream about to make life a better place. It's the Rin Tin Tin's and the Smurfs, the Road Runners and the Tasmanian Devils who keep chasing each other. It's the representation that even after 80 years, the battle still goes on... but we survive because of works of art which inspire us all that a better world is possible. 

Happy Birthday, Babar!

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/the-80th-anniversary-of-babar/?WT.mc_id=AR-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M215-ROS-0811-L1&WT.mc_ev=click

Breathing

A painting by Jody Uttal which I find
captures what it feels to breathe & flow
freely - without dogma, no inhibitions,
just... Breath.

The simplest and most inspirational explanation on the power within each Breath.

Every breathe holds the magic of transformation and it exists in all cultures. Defined as Pranayam to yoga practitioners, essential in Zazen practice and key to managing Chi, this is by far, the most beautiful interpretation to remind us that the world is within:


"In deep breathing together, something of deep empathy arises; you become one - because breath is life. Then feeling can be transferred, thoughts can be transferred. 


Pranayam means to breathe with the whole. That is my translation, not "control of breath" but to breathe with the whole. It is absolutely uncontrolled! If you control, how can you breathe with the whole? So to translate pranayam as "breath control" is a misunderstanding. It is not only incorrect, inadequate, it is certainly wrong. Just the opposite is the case.


To breathe with the whole, to become the breath of the eternal and the whole, is pranayam. then you expand. Then your life energy goes on expanding with the trees and mountains and sky and you have completely disappeared. Now you no longer breathe; the whole breathes in you. Now your breathing and the whole's breathing are never apart; they are always together. So much so that it is now useless to say. "This is my breath.""


~ Osho

Tantra: The Great Teaching

"You are fast asleep, so deeply asleep, as if you are not there. A person fast asleep, in a come in the house - is he really there? There is no distinction to be made. Whether he is there or not makes no distinction - he is in a coma. If thieves come and rob the whole house, will you call that man responsible who is lying down in a coma, unconscious? Will he be responsible? Will he be asked and judged: "Thieves came! What were you doing here?" How can you make a man responsible who is in a coma, unconscious?

Tantra says in all your lives you have remained in a coma - you are not responsible. This is the first liberation that tantra gives you. And on the base of it, many things immediately become possible. Then you need not wait for millions of lives - this very moment the door can open. It is not a gradual process, it is a sudden awakening - and it has to be so.

When you are fast asleep and somebody tries to wake you up, is it a gradual process or a sudden thing? Even in ordinary sleep, is it a gradual process or a sudden thing? Even in ordinary sleep, is it a gradual process? Either you are awake or you are asleep; there are no gradual steps in it. If you have heard the man who is calling your name, you are awake, not ten percent awake. Eyes may be closed, but if you have become aware that somebody is calling you, you are already awake.

Love, Life, Death, they all happen suddenly.

Tantra says: Don't focus your attention on the acts, focus your attention on the person who has done the acts. Yoga focuses on the acts. Tantra focuses on the person, on the consciousness, on you.

If you are ignorant, tantra says you are bound to commit sin. Even if you try to be virtuous, your virtue will be a sort of sin - because how can an ignorant man, fast asleep, be virtuous? How can virtue arise out of ignorance, unconsciousness? Impossible! Your virtue must be just a mask; behind it will be the real face, the real face of sin.

You may talk about love, but you cannot love - you will hate. You can talk about compassion, but compassion must be just a covering of your anger, greed, jealousy...

Tantra is a great teaching. It doesn't teach about acts, it teaches only about your being. who you are is the point - fast asleep, snoring or awake? Who are you - alert, conscious or moving in a hypnosis? Are you a sleepwalker? Or are you awake, alert, whatsoever you do?" ~ Osho

I'm Moving On

I've never had a liking for country music. It sounds so old, so yesterday, so my parents. YUCK.

Somehow I stumbled upon Rascal Flatts and that changed my perception a hundred and eighty degrees.

What they do is simply incredible;

they sing about life.

Songs these days are all about going down low or getting it on, being in some club where you can't handle me right now or probably just catching a grenade for someone you really love.

Rascal Flatts does not have all those cheesy stuff in their songs. And that's what I really love about them.

They are so real, genuine and touching. Realistic perhaps..My all time favourite would be What Hurts The Most & My Wish but I found another song recently which really coincides with the objective of our meeting last week: Moving On.

I've dealt with my ghosts and I've faced all my demons
Finally content with a past I regret
I've found you find strength in your moments of weakness
For once I'm at peace with myself
I've been burdened with blame, trapped in the past for too long
I'm movin' on

I've lived in this place and I know all the faces
Each one is different but they're always the same
They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it
They'll never allow me to change
But I never dreamed home would end up where I don't belong
I'm movin' on

I'm movin' on
At last I can see life has been patiently waiting for me
And I know there's no guarantees, but I'm not alone
There comes a time in everyone's life
When all you can see are the years passing by
And I have made up my mind that those days are gone

I sold what I could and packed what I couldn't
Stopped to fill up on my way out of town
I've loved like I should but lived like I shouldn't
I had to lose everything to find out
Maybe forgiveness will find me somewhere down this road
I'm movin' on

I'm movin' on
I'm movin' on

Unmistaken Child

What does it mean to know one's true journey, the reason for YOUR existence?

In many ways, the true story of finding a child's reincarnation thrust upon a follower and disciple in Unmistaken Child, a documentary by Nati Baratz, reminds us that a lifetime can be defined by our ability to fulfil our responsibility, no matter how long or short that journey should take. One's life's work is greater than life itself.

The feeling of great responsibility thrust upon your shoulders when the young monk, tasked by the Dalai Lama to find his master's reincarnation with the words, "When you face the child, you will recognise him." Such is the power of absolute faith in another.

"I just cannot trust my feeling. I am not Buddha." says the astonished young monk.

Baratz spent 5 years filming this, a story which he stumbled upon while working on another documentary on Tibetan Jews. Relocating with his wife and 2 year old daughter, it is a labour of love.

I feel the same way, having spent over 6 years researching a book which seems to land itself on the wayside every now and then... one wonders will there ever be a day when it will see the light.