Entering into thankfulness

At Christmas, many surprises of a good kind await a person living in a state of alertness to all that life can deliver from the hands of the natural world and from the generosity of the people around us. However, despite all that makes the going hard, we can find peace, even joy. Here are two poems that explore the necessary deep-seated spirit.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

     From Collected Poems (North Point Press) 1985

Sabbaths 1998, VII

There is a place you can go
where you are quiet,
a place of water and the light

on the water. Trees are there,
leaves, and the light
on leaves moved by air.

Birds, singing, move
among leaves, in leaf shadow.
After many years you have come

to no thought of these,
but they are themselves
your thoughts. There seems to be

little to say, less and less.
Here they are. Here you are.
Here as though gone.

None of us stays, but in the hush
where each leaf in the speech
of leaves is a sufficient syllable

the passing light finds out
surpassing freedom of its way.

— Wendell Berry

                 From Given (Showemaker & Hoard) 2005

For more about Wendell Berry’s view of life, see

 http://www.amazon.com/Wendell-Berry-Religion-Heavens-Earthly/dp/0813125553#reader_0813125553

Christmas and gratitude

The English writer G.K. Chesterton had powerful sense of gratitude that become stronger the older he got.  Here is what he wrote about day-to-day thankfulness:

What has happened to me has been the very reverse of what appears to be the experience of most of my friends.  Instead of dwindling to a point, Santa Claus has grown larger and larger in my life until he fills almost the whole of it.  It happened in this way.  As a child I was faced with a phenomenon requiring explanation.  I hung up at the end of my bed an empty stocking, which in the morning became a full stocking.  I had done nothing to produce the things that filled it.  I had not worked for them, or made them or helped to make them.  I had not even been good—far from it.  And the explanation was that a certain being whom people called Santa Claus was benevolently disposed toward me…What we believed was that a certain benevolent agency did give us those toys for nothing.  And, as I say, I believe it still.  I have merely extended the idea.  Then I only wondered who put the toys in the stocking: now I wonder who put the stocking by the bed, and the bed in the room, and the room in the house, and the house on the planet, and the great planet in the void.  Once I only thanked Santa Claus for a few dolls and crackers, now I thank him for stars and street faces and wine and the great sea.  Once I though it delightful and astonishing to find a present so big that it only went halfway into the stocking.  Now I am delighted and astonished every morning to find a present so big that it takes two stockings to hold it, and then leaves a great deal outside: it is the large and preposterous present of myself, as to the origin of which I can offer no suggestion except that Santa Claus gave it to me in a fit of peculiarly fantastic goodwill.

http://www.gratefulness.org/readings/dsr_chesterton.htm
See also the movie at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ

Biblical Insights into Our Condition

The account in Genesis 3 of the fall of humans from their state of joyful peace in the garden of paradise has Eve tempted by the serpent who urges her to eat of the forbidden tree of knowledge - "You will be like gods, knowing good and evil". The drama asserts that "the core of sin is the attempt to replace God as the determiner of morality". The International Bible Commentary (1998) goes on: "Eve understood the command of God clearly enough. But both she and her husband desire to be like God, and agree to the sin. They are immediately aware of their lost innocence and the new strength of their sexual passions as they find themselves naked. Now they are indeed more knowledgeable..., but it is the 'practical' knowledge of sin's effects and its power in human actions".

This mysterious incident recognises that human nature is disfigured, but a person is not demeaned, and much of the Bible tells of individuals and the privileged nation being held to account for failure to uphold their responsibilities as humans. Also, they have retained an intimate relationship with their Maker. That is borne out in Psalm 130, the De profundis, used by Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire, among others, because of  its vivid depiction of a life in the depths of an evil of the person's own making. The Commentary says here, "There is an interesting link established between [God's] forgiveness and fear: rather than the anger of the Lord it is divine goodness that should give rise in us a fear of offending God".

A third insight into the continued intimate relationship with our Maker is provided by Psalm 137, where the first line goes "Beside the streams of Babylon we sat and wept...", inspiring many artistic works, even into the 21st Century. The psalm focuses on the period of exile in Babylon. The Commentary offers this insight:

The ending of the psalm contains a famous and furious curse on the enemies of Israel. [Further,] a cruel beatitude is reserved for anyone who will avenge Israel by striking at Babylon and smashing its little ones against a rock. This embittered and rhetorical cry that ends the psalm is, however, an appeal to the divine judgment and should be interpreted in the light of the other 'imprecatory' psalms such as 58 and 109. It is a manifestation of the tragedy and despair of an oppressed people but also of the enfleshment of God's word in the emotions and historical experiences of humanity.

Wild Flowers

I enjoy looking at woodprints of wildlife because they draw the eye to every little detail of what the artist is focusing on. Recently I have taken delight in the work of the artist whose piece I have displayed here.

Yasuo Kuniyoshi (United States, born Japan, 1889-1953), Wild Flowers, 1922, pen and ink, ink and wash on paper, 17 5/8 x 12 inches. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Gift of William E. Hill, 1959.17.
http://www.einspruch.com/journal/2010/08/16/the-lanes-whom-you-loved-is-not-here

   Another piece that attracted my interest is this, the source of which I have not been able to track down, but which expresses a clear Chinese spirit. Upon discovering the cricket, the heart gives a leap for joy.  

With every beat of the wing

Among the weeds at the side of small lake in Binh Duong province, Vietnam, colourful flowers stand out. And, yes, there's the equivalent of a bumble bee heading for the source of its own well-being. (My photo)

The Lotus Life Cycle

A copycat artist's rendering of an original Vietnamese work

The people of Vietnam regard the lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) as one of the four graceful flowers and plants, along with the pine, bamboo, and chrysanthemum. Known as the ‘flower of the dawn’, the lotus is found throughout the country at lakes and ponds. To the Vietnamese, the lotus is the symbol of purity, commitment and optimism for the future. The elegance of the lotus is often cited in  folk songs and poems.

Most Vietnamese observe some form of Buddhism, and in Buddhist symbolism  the lotus represents purity of body, speech, and mind, floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire. The Buddha is often depicted sitting on a giant lotus leaf or blossom. According to legend, he was born with the ability to walk immediately and everywhere he stepped, lotus flowers bloomed.

Adapted from Southeast Asian Bloggers Network

The lotus and the lily, pictured here, have a major difference in that the lotus's leaves rise out of the water (below), and as described here - but see more on the family feud below. 

The lotus has a use even as it dies. Its seeds 

are collected and can be used as a food or beverage.
This depiction of the last days of a lotus

is part of a work by Ha Huynh My, whose

works are in private collections in many countries.

For a long time, there was confusion among taxonomists regarding the relationship of lotus (Nelumbo) and water- lily (Nymphaea). But using DNA evidence along with other taxonomic studies, researchers now agree that lotus and water-lily belong to two different families. In fact, studies have shown that whereas lotus is a member of the more evolved group of plants known as the 'Eudicots', water-lily is a member of a primitive group (Nympheales) that occurred as early as the cretaceous period. The lotus plant is more closely related to Platanus or the sycamore also known as the plane tree and the members of the family Proteaceae!! A closer look by botanists revealed many similar features in the floral and vegetative morphologies between the members of lotus, sycamore and proteas. (From Simple Expressions: The World of Flowers)

Nature's riches

Sunlight, oil on canvas, by Bich Nguyet, who presented this work at a 1999 exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City, her hometown. Her exhibits often featured textures that highlighted natural variations, and a colour wash, as with Sunlight, that spurred a fresh interest in the subject matter.

Our companions

Umbrella Bird 

 "Acrosoma arcuatum"

Date 1863 (publication of first edition)

Scanned from The Naturalist on the River Amazons by Henry Walter Bates, University of California Press version, published 1962.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons

These images are in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.The United States public domain tag indicates why this work is in the public domain in the United States. Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Côte d'Ivoire has a general copyright term of 99 years and Honduras has 75 years, but they do implement the rule of the shorter term.

Picasso needed redemption, too

Picasso was a "control freak", and he loved the benefits of fame and wealth. He was a free spirit in his art and morality. However, his manner of behaving had its consequences in his personal life. As with his mistresses and the children from them, there was much tragedy and heartbreak among his wives and children, extending down to his grandchildren.

This element of the artist's life comes out in a discussion the BBC's Zeinab Badawi had with the artist's friend and biographer John Richardson, and grandson Bernard Ruiz Picasso. Richardson says Picasso was wonderful to his friends but very controlling within the family. "He liked his women to be submissive, and when he had finished with them he took it out on their children," a BBC trailer on the discussion reports.

It goes on: "Bernard tells Zeinab that although he was fond of his grandfather, he realises that Picasso sometimes had strange reactions to members of his family." The contradictions in the great artist's life come out also in the series uploaded on YouTube.

A free spirit, yes, but as a flawed man, a slave to his own whims and drives.

To Wonder At

Though I follow closely what is reported about the wonders of what lies beyond this planet, the immensity of the universe continues to amaze me. In the past week I had to express a mental “Wow!” at a BBC story about the four galaxy clusters that go by the combined name of Pandora. The element of reporter Jason Palmer’s story that amazed me was not the almost incomprehensible concept of dark matter that was point of the account, but the size of everything. Palmer says: “Galaxy clusters are the largest structures we know of in the Universe, comprising hundreds of galaxies and trillions of stars - along with huge amounts of hot gas - and dark matter.”

The image of the Pandora cluster shows haphazardly scattered galaxies,

hot gas (false-coloured red)  and dark matter (blue) - BBC

To put that “trillions of stars” into perspective I went to one of the NASA websites NASA websites, which has these details about our own Milky Way: “The Milky Way is a gravitationally bound collection of roughly a hundred billion stars. Our sun is one of these stars and is located roughly 24,000 light years from the center of our Milky Way.”  That brought me up against another massive number – a  light-year is thedistance light travels in one year -  at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, or about six trillion miles: 6,000,000,000,000 miles.  That translates into approximately 10 trillion kilometers, or 300,000 kilometers a second.

COBE image of the Milky Way (Courtesy of Ned Wright), from the NASA website

NASA says the Milky Way galaxy has three major components:

    “A thin disk consisting of young and intermediate age stars - this disk also contains gas and is actively forming new stars. Dust in the disk makes it appear orange in the picture. Dust absorbs blue light more than red light and thus makes stars appear reddish. Our galaxy has spiral arms in its disk - these spiral arms are regions of active star formation.

   " A bar of older stars (white in the COBE picture).

   " An extended dark halo whose composition is unknown. Since the matter in the halo does not consist of luminous stars, it does not show up in the COBE image. The existence of the dark halo is inferred from its gravitational pull on the visible matter.”

The wonder of it all! However some people don’t bother to try to grasp this immensity, and others say “It’s big, but so what?” There’s more, too. I can’t see how all this is simply inevitable based on the belief that because gravity existed the Big Bang had to occur as a natural consequence.  How is it that a law of gravity should be proposed as an uncaused phenomenon when all our knowledge and experience is that there must a cause for everything ­- except God. 

The key idea is: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing." What an astounding jump in logic! The issue is kept in perspective by the results of a poll at The Guardian in Britain shown at the end of its article on Professor Hawking's latest book. 

 

My mini-Gospel

Jesus said, “No one can be the slave of two masters; they will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.” (Matthew 6:24)

“That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? Can you, for all your worrying, add one single inch to your span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed as one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field, will he not much more look after you? So do not worry: do not say, ‘What are we to eat? What are we to drink?’ Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

“Ask, and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to them. Know your Father in heaven will give good things to those who ask him!” (Mathew 7:7-11)

“So you should pray like this:

 Our Father in heaven,

 may you be held holy,

 your kingdom come,

 your will be done

 on earth as in heaven.

 Give us today our daily bread.

 And forgive us our sins,

 as we forgive those who sin against us.

 Give us strength when we face tests,

 and rescue us from the forces of evil.”

 (Matthew 6:7-13)

Adapted

Jerusalem Bible London 1966

The Infinite

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of allnothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

          e e cummings          (1894-1962)

Listen to Cummings read this poem (above).You might enjoy the poem set to music. The Eric Whitacre setting is well-known, but the one below by Elliot Z Levine is a fitting upbeat rendering. Enjoy!   

Prayer of Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, let me sow pardon;
where there is doubt, let me sow faith;
where there is despair, let me sow hope;
where there is darkness, let me sow light;
where there is sadness, let me sow joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
not so much seek to be understood as to understand;
not so much seek to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[   
This is one of several striking prayers Francis left to his followers.  Francis was born at Assisi, Italy, in 1182. After a carefree youth, he turned his back on inherited wealth and committed himself to God. Like many early saints, he lived a very simple life of poverty, and in so doing, gained a reputation of being the friend of animals. He died in 1226, aged 44.

Ho Chi Minh City: The Tall...

At 68 storeys, this new office tower in Ho Chi Minh City is the highest in Vietnam – though Hanoi plans to soon outdo us. The helicopter pad is a striking feature. In contrast, French colonial buildings, as in the foreground, remain in the city, though the rate of loss through wear and tear and pressure for development are taking their toll. The Bitexco Financial Tower opened in October 2010 and when fully occupied about 10,000 people will work there. The design is based on the shape of a closed lotus flower. The building is well-lit at night, adding to Saigon’s attractive profile after dark. -  Thanks to Rachel and Anh Son for the photos