Super Cool Beach Geometrics

There is not a lot of mind blowing architecture that stands out on the Riviera Maya, but there is always a 'Black Swan' that unforseeable event which randomly occurs, but always does, just to confound any notion of predictablity in every facit of life. 

In Puerto Morelos just south of Cancun there is a beach Villa /Condo development that is turning heads. Here are a few pics of the location. I congratulate the architect and the developers in this one.

OK Mudras

OK continuing with this OK sign.As far as i know its a universal hand gesture for OKAY, i may be wrong, in some countries it could be a rude signal, i will continue research on that. 

The Scuba Diving community adopted it very early to signify I AM OK down here, in this uncertain environment i can breath, i am safe right now, ect ect. Which is a good reference for me because The Shadow Agent is saying that even here when we are uncertain its ok. It may be chaotic outside but i am cool inside. Shit may be happenin as it does... but i am OK. I am not even in control but i am ok dealing with what ever happens.

The Buddha used a lot of hand gestures or Mudras ( from the Sanskrit meaning seal) to signify things. Sort of a non verbal communication device to get across an insight or an experience. A sacred language of communication, when you are in Bliss you just don't want to talk. The OK hand sign has many ancient references.

It is called The Vitaka Mudra, and signified the Buddha's teachings. It's also called The Gyan Mudra and is made to clear ones mental faculties, bringing about mental peace (an ataraxis) it improves concentration & sharpens the memory.A slight variation of this is called The Chin Mudra where the index finger touches the base of the thumb, this is often seen in deep meditation poses.

Mudras are ways to integrate the BodyMind in such a way that we experience a unity of mind body & Spirit. The Art & Science of Mudras is extensive, and not just confined to Buddhism or Yoga look at images of the Christ and the saints of Christianity and you will see them posing ( particularly in Renaissance religious paintings) with various esoteric hand signs.

I find it very interesting. 

So practice... OK !

Its Gonna Be OK ... an Ataraxis of the mind

The Shadow Agent Rides ...

I put the Shadow on a bike the other day and sent him for a spin.So what is he about exactly?

In a word ATARAXIA.

A Greek word meaning an absence of mental disturbance, or anxiety about the future. 

I first heard about this word from a doctor called Anslie Meares, who many years ago wrote a book called Relief Without Drugs. He was an Australian psychiatrist who after studying various meditation techniques in many countries began to teach a very simple technique of stilling the mind, to his patients.

 

This approach which he learnt from an Indian Yogi reported to be 123 years old, enabled the brain to operate a more simpler less anxious way, bringing about a state of atavistic regression which in turn brought about a natural increase in the function of the immune system thereby,in many patients illiciting a healing from even cancer.

Aside from his clinical work,he taught this Ataraxis Meditation to many people including me, to help simply improve the quality of life, which comes about with the diminution of stress in the absence of anxiety. Over the years i have gone on to study this anxiety state. We all suffer from it from one degree or another. Its called suffering by any other word.

Well the whole point of the Agent who had previously appeared in another video was to say that inspite of everything 'Its Gonna Be OK' He appears from the shadows from time to time, to remind us - Just don't forget it. 

And of course we all do when ever we get caught up in the ping pong of Attachment & Aversion. 

Well its not that often you come across this word Ataraxis ; taraxis means disturbance, Ataraxis - without disturbance Well i did recently on on Opacity, Nassim Taleb's philosophical musings page where he mentions it in relation to Stoicism and life in the East. 

Nassim Taleb is an amusing lively writer/philospher who's major thesis is about randomness and the impact of the highly improbable in society see  The Black Swan. Things that make us feel anxious, all uncertainty does.

So the Agent reminds us that no matter the uncertainty in life and life is just that, and will never be anything else, its OK. He uses the OK sign which i will write about later as its an ancient gesture/ yogic hand mudra that denotes many things.

So practice this OK sign throughout the day, even when its going pear shape.

The Shadow Agent Rides

Recent Films I Have Loaded to Vimeo

Musings on Temple Lagoon

Mayan Temple Lagoon from Agent M on Vimeo.

While i was on a filming mission the other day, i had a picnic lunch in a very remarkable location. It's on the Riviera Maya in Puerto Aventuras, just south of Playa del Carmen.As geography would have it, this location is not easy to find,and is definately not advertised on any Ruta Maya map that i know of. In fact during the 2 years i was living quite close to it i never paid a visit, definately an over sight on my on part. Which is why i am delighted to make this film. 

What makes this place so special is the beauty of the natural lagoon, its meditative tranquility, the color of its waters, and to cap it off, a tiny Mayan Temple that is standing there peacefully watching over the lagoon.

I have already ranted on in polymics i have written about The CondoQuest of Paradise , about how many developers along the Riviera Maya have gone rampant in their zeal to build at all costs, and no matter the cost to the delicate ecological environment along the coast, or without any aesthetic integration of the venacular, or without a fundamental sense of planning for the increased population. 

The transition for many locals here has been from a little fishing village to Wallmart over night.

I know this area is perhaps still the fastest growing region in Latin America,and the pressure for progress over rides just about everything.

Till you find yourself in a place like Temple Lagoon.

Then you begin to slow down a bit, and remind yourself where you are living. This is not a suburb of the USA, it's the Yucatan. And there are uniquely wonderful treasures here, like Temple Lagoon that remind us what this part of the world is all about, why it is unique, why it is worth preserving. 

Preservation & conservation are words that many developers choke on, because they mean there is some thing sitting on a choice piece of Real Estate that is blocking their expansion; The CondoQuest.They don't like it because their fundamental point of reference for developing anywhere is money; not antiquity. Unfortunately and all to frequenty their reference is not ecologically based either.

Now with the inevitable fact of progress bearing down upon us, (the ever expanding suburban sprawl of PA is in fact very close, perhaps less than 1km away...) here at Temple Lagoon we have both points to consider. 

To be preserved and protected 1: a beautiful pristine lagoon ecosystem and 2: an ancient Mayan ruin, no doubt of considerable archeological significance.

The 3rd factor is Progress, and we can't deny it,  we are part of it. So what's going to happen when 1 & 2 collide with 3?

As far as protecting relics of antiquity, does the Mexican government have regulations for unique situations like this when there is one tiny Mayan ruin standing alone in the path of a building tsunami? I don't know. I hope so. Ecologically this is still a pristine natural lagoon, full of marine life that depend on a delicate balance of factors that even the best marine biologists are still trying to unravel. This is not a man made marina for humans on boats to pollute the water.

It's a little piece of how it was here on the Yucatan. 

Ask that Temple.

That Temple knows how it was. How is it gonna be?

Well if the CondoQuest of Paradise ( i used Vangelis's music from Ridley Scott's film 1492 for my video) is going to continue the way it has i don't foresee a harmonic convergence.

Heres a sujestion.

I would sujest that perhaps one future meeting between Real Estate Developers & Construction Engineers & Architects & Ecologists & Archeologists & Politicians & Property Investors & the local Mayan brothers would convene IN the lagoon, floating in the waters, preferably naked, to take in the peace and serenity of this location, and allow the experience of this to inform their better judgement. 

I just would't want this little film of mine to be an archive of this place for posterity. 

Shooting Pool in PA

I was on a mission in the suburbs of Puerto Aventuras yesterday, happened to snap these new pool pics at some Condos there. Nice to see some artistic integration of the lagoona style of pool.

The Message Is the Bottle

I was sitting on the Escape 111 (see posting 12th Feb) doing my apres swim morning Merging with da Universe meditation & just as i was about to leave i happening to spot this little blue bottle laying in the boat. 

I felt an incredible sense of happiness FINDING something which seemed to me so valuable. I don't know why, but i felt very abundant.

The kind of richness that a Beachcomber must feel upon encountering something exotic washed up on the shore by the tide.

I was instantly attracted to its shape, and particularly its striking cobalt blue color, so i brought it home. 

Now; it hasn't got a message in it.

• IT IS THE MESSAGE. 
  
• And that is:  
  
• FIND BEAUTY IN FOUND OBJECTS.
  

I wonder how long it had been sitting there waiting to be photographed?

The Shadow Agent: 'Its gonna be Ok ...'

Shooting Pool in Bars: recent pool pics

You want to shoot pool... you go to a bar right; well here is a bar in a pool.

I don't know where this drinking concept was invented, sort of makes sense i guess, cool off sink a beer, maybe thats the wrong word ?

I will have to find more.

This one is in Playacar. 

The Curious Case of Reverse Ageing

I decided to go to the movies last week, to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I don't go much these days in fact the last time was a couple of years ago when i sat in a totally empty cinema mesmerised by Aronofsky's The Fountain.

So here is a review/ musing on B.Button; if you haven't seen it, it does contain some spoilers.

Benjamin Button is a curious movie on many levels, as it awakens our curiosity about some pretty big questions in life. 

If i didn't go to the cinema again for the next 2 years i would be quite happy pondering the many themes in this little gem of a film.

Based on 1921 short story by F.Scott Fizgerald we meet our protagonist, Benjamin as he is born to a dieing mother, not as a brand new infant, but with the aged face & gnarled body of an old man.

Too much of a shock for his father to deal with, thought to be suffering from perhaps some rare infant senile disease the child is left at an old peoples home. And this is where the improbable story & fantastic truth of Benjamin Button is slowly revealed.

As we know the movie magic of computer generated images can do some pretty amazing things to bring to life with special effects things that were once generated by our imagination in the reading a book. 

I haven't read the story so i am quite happy, in the hands of a good director to be visually suprised. 

The paradoxical premise of this story is that a person is born OLD and AGES young. 

What kind of life would this person have?

F.Scott Fitzgerald would have us imagine such a person as he transforms from an old man growing backwards with the advancement of time into a child. Director David Fincher with the help of some amazing film technology and editing, does it for us visually with Brad Pitt as B. Button.

Leaving aside all the many delightful twists and turns in Buttons life, featuring an entertaining array of minor characters, one of the beautiful things in this movie for me at least, is the evolution of Benjamin's life philosophy and how he reconciles his fantastic predicament.

There is a certain FORREST GUMP-ishness to Button's character, being neither hero nor anti hero. He's not fighting for any cause, or to overcome the dark forces, he is not at war with himself or his inner demons. There is no real villain in the tale to speak of, the only antagonist you might say is TIME itself. Benjamin doesn't seek agrandisment or specialness for his condition, he doesn't take advantage of people he meets along the way, he doesn't bemoan his condition, or resist his fate, but is one who is in FLOW with life, however bizarre its unfolding, who accepts himself totally, who doesn't judge his fellow beings, who is remarkably at peace with himself throughout his tumultuous journey, which as he grows younger, as everyone else is growing older, is naturally filled with the death of many loved ones.

Is this film a tragedy then? 

No more or less than life is a tragedy or comedy, it all depends how you view it.

This is Buttons teaching to us i believe; its how you respond to life, how you react to what happens. 

As Queenie his adopted mother says to him: 

"You never know what's a comin for ya!"

We are reminded of this via Mr Daws 7 anecdotes on the chances of being struck by lightening, which in his curious case was 7 times.

Benjamin learns early on to accept the chance nature of things JUST AS THEY ARE and doesn't waste too much time over thinking about what might be comin or what is goin from his life.

He lives in the NOW with a limited amount of attachment to most things going on around him, except Daisy whom he meets when he is still an old man and she a young girl.

Daisy becomes Buttons love interest, played by the always remarkable Kate Blanchette, she is of special significance in this story and here we must play to our own imagination as Fitzgerald intended, 

What would it be like to fall in love with someone as you were growing younger and they older?

After their lives had diverged for solo adventures Button & Daisy reconnect, and as they do, they realise that they have met in the middle as they are effectively the same physical age.

It is here that they forget their fates for awhile and live like a normal distracted couple in love.

But time never sleeps either forwards or in reverse.

Daisy is aging, while Button is youthing. 

As the reality of the situation catches up with them by way of the most human of vanities:

'Would you still love me when.... i get wrinkly skin..... or what about when i get acne?'

If you remember in the film The Highlander the newly initiated Scottish immortal, Connor McCloud found himself in a similar predicament as he outlived his wife.

When Daisy gets pregnant they both encounter a new dimension to life as their daughter, happily born normal, is yet another more painful personal reminder of Benjamin's fate. It is a supreme act of compassion i think that eventually motivates Button to leave Daisy so he wont be a burden to her as he turns into a child. But time plays its influence on everything, and soon a disoriented Benjamin returns and is taken in by the remarried Daisy to be cared for as a young boy and finally as a helpless baby.

Here the paradoxical end of life is so like the beginning, as helpless infants in a cot at the start of life, we become in time the same on our death beds. We finally have to give up what ever illusionary control we thought we had throughout life.

Shakespeare captured this fate full conclusion to ageing in that wonderful 'Seven Ages of Man' monologue from As you Like It; 

"That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Sans teeth,sans eyes,sans taste, 

sans everything."

'Sans Everything' of course is the final giving up - giving up our bodies - in death - and it is to this universal eventuality that this movie speaks the clearest.

Whether we are growing old or growing young, unlike the massive clock turning and ticking in the opposite direction in the train station to bring home the fallen in war, time is taking us all towards our final exit from this battle field.

Shakespeare said at the beginning of that monologue: 

"All the world a stage,

And all the men and women

merely players;

They have their exists and

their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts"

Playing many parts in life is another theme running throughout the film. With the mostly inebriated Captain Mike stating;

"You gotta do what you are meant to do"

In his case becoming an artist - a tattoo artist, as well as a

natural philosopher who's musing on the aerodynamic wing patterns of the Hummingbird are the movies symbolic coda to infinity & eternity.

Where time is not.

Hummingbirds are a symbol for the stopping and reversing of time, as they are able to hover in once place and even fly backwards. As Capt Mike reveals their wing pattern traces out the shape of an 8 tilted 90 degrees, which is the mathmatical symbol for infinity.

I love these little diversions into the meaning of life that a movie such as Benjamin Button can give us.

Perhaps not so much the meaning of life that was done by the Monte Python bros ,-)but more a direction we might follow into how to Live Life embracing all its weirdness and uncertainty. 

And here in lies a still deeper meaning to this film which i am still pondering, that has to do with the Buddhist notion of Impermanence or Annica as it is called in Pali, the language of the Buddha.

- EVERYTHING CHANGES

Benjamin in a very human moment while in love has a pivotal line to Daisy:

"I was thinking how nothing lasts, and what a shame that is"

To which she replies 

" Some things do..."

Well what do you suspect that might be ?

To which i am still pondering.....in the after glow of this delightful movie.

For me this movie deserves a second viewing on DVD to come up with say 7 key philosophical aphorisms on life uttered by the characters that would be of value in either in the act of aging or youthing. I am indebted to a film critic Shen Shi'an of Buddhist Channel for reminding me of some of the dialogue. 

The line i remind myself occasionally of and is not in the movie is a Zen approach to Living;

'Learn To Die Before You Die'

Meaning if you want to learn how to die learn how to live, and if you want to learn how to live, learn how to die. No matter what your circumstances its about not becoming attached.

Which leads me to a closing little gem from Capt Mike:

"You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to 

LET GO....."

- and go see this film.

,-)

The Great Escape

When i have had my early morning swim i sit on this lovely old Lancha and sort of M-E-R-G-E with the Oneness of it all for a few minutes.

The sound of the ocean, the sun rise , moon setting , birds flying over head, sand between my toes .......

A beach meditation you might say. Well I happened to notice the name of this boat is The ESCAPE 111 and it occurred to me that in a way my Merging Meditation is a kind of an escape from ? 

Well, my thoughts. 

We all DO a lot to escape ourselves Becoming One with It All is a way to transcend and include what ever is going on around you, thereby escaping the Existential Angst for awhile to Just BE in the momentito.

I wonder what ever happened to Escape 1 & 2 ? Guess they escaped.

Orange Alert 2

The Orange Men of Av 10 calle 6 Playa del Carmen. Absolutely the best orange juice here.

Orange Alert

There is a man just around the corner from my otel who squeezes the sweetest OJ. I tell you along with my 1st espresso of the morning drinking oranges especially these ones is an absolute pleasure.

Its a daily drink for many around the world, i can remember drinking certain Oj's that have been almost an intoxicating experience. 

What is it about the humble Orange Juice?

The Blood Reds of Italy, from Valencia in Spain, and as i remember they squeeze some potent sweet juice in Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech Morocco. 

Maybe its got to do with waking up to a new day. For me in the tropics its drinking it freshly squeezed after a swim, with the early morning sun shining on your body.

Anyway this juice is something special, i can feel the cells of my body jumping for joy.

I sometimes add a table spoon of virgin olive oil into a glass of OJ. The oil combined with the fructose provides a slow release of energy throughout the morning.If you are following Fit for Life or other food combining self detox diets, this morning combo is a Sweet Atomic Cocktail.

Thanks be to the sun and oranges.

There is lies the potent energy connection.  

The Seamless Quality of 'Being on Planet Earth'

There is an endless sunset and sunrise on this planet. It is seamless, continuous setrise, because the earth is round.

Tick tock time ie calender time and where you are located on google earth, would have you see things differently. We look at specific times for sunrise & sunset, but in earth reality they don't really exist.

You don't need a cosmic experience of timelessness, this very Earth can provide you that freedom, just drop the idea of sunsets and sunrise the next time you think you see one and don't hang on to any specific moment.

And while you are there get a sense of Earth Spin, the planet rotating on its axis. Not the sun rising / setting over the horizon. See the sun as fixed in your mind and then feel the Earth move with you on it.

Enjoy the ride but don't drink Tequila.  

The Importance of 'Being There Dude'

I am not inclined to take up political blogging any time soon, its just not my cup of Dargeeling.                               But now that the curtain on the biggest head of state inauguration theatre on earth has come down,(next performance 4 years hence)i do wish to offer up a comment about the importance of; 

'Being There'

That is the need for us humans to be present at an Event.

The political hysteria and hyperbole of 2 weeks ago is but a footnote to history now , so we can reflect a little on Event Management.

If an anthropologist from Mars were to be looking through a telescope at Earth, on the 20th of January 2009, searching for mobile crowd formations like shifting sand dunes on the red planet, our google eyed Martian would see around 2 million of us bipeds assembling in a flat open space in Washington DC.

'What's going on down there?'

'Pink Floyd re uniting ?'

' Free iPhones ?'

No not this time, but bipeds gathering in very large numbers to witness something else. People coming together to be part of a ceremony. And as it happens to hear a speech, a soliloquy if you will, by one of the most gifted orators since Pericles addressed the ancient Athenian crowds 2500 years ago. 

This crowd formed by people wanting to be there, for their own reasons, of their own volition. Unlike the vast manditory turn outs of sycophantic masses as say in North Korea, to profess their allegiance to some loony dictator.

Unfortunately our Martian has seen plenty of that through his telescope.He also would have observed that dictators come and go but crowds keep forming.

This assemblage was voluntary. Albeit perhaps under the spell of one the most charismatic & hip politicians who has ever aspired to high office.

Shakespeare himself couldn't have invented a more appealing character to take centre stage for a while.

Sure Barack Obama is perhaps the most 'Improbable' of all presidents, with his name, his multi racial background and global upbringing.

As improbable as this Mid Winter's Night's Dream might have been written by Shakespeare, Barack Obama is now an integral part of what journalist Christopher Hitchens has called a real change in the Zeitgeist.Coming from such a learned scribe as he it is worth noting.

Perhaps thats why it was such a momentous Event.

That being so, and heres my rub, we humans have a need to be a witness to significant events. Just perhaps once in a life time. 

Most of us can't make events that make history , for all our toil most of us won't even get a mention, let alone a make dent in our collective story. 

But sometimes we can BE THERE when IT happens. Or seems to be happening. That is when someone else makes a big dent.

And 'Being There' means you are beyond or rather before the representation of the said event. 

In real time.In real space.

You are not watching it on TV in the Situation Room of CNN, or on any other remote viewing device.You are not hearing some ones 'live' commentary on the radio, or reading about it in tomorrows newspaper.

YOU ARE THERE. Part of IT.

As Audience - To a Performance. 

And this is a powerful human experience.

We all seek it from time to time for what ever reason.

I am not a big events/crowd person, especially when there are few exits, but i can feel the need to be there for the occasional big gig, like a Pink Floyd concert.

But its not that we go to rock concerts just to see The Rolling Stones, or to hear U2 or watch Madonna, or to see the dashing actor of the day perform another Hamlet's 'To Be..' on stage, or to watch Ali 'Float like a Butterfly', or to see the torch lighting ceremony of an Olympic games. 

At a deeper level, its not the event content, its that there IS an Event.

We feel it as a need to become fully present at something which will be our EVENT, that we attended in person, perhaps later becoming a defining moment in our lives.

There is nothing more gob dropping assertive, when in a heated conversation about what really went down, with some would be wise ass pundit, or arm chair idiot expert, than to say: 

"Because I was there Dude!"

When you can do BECAUSE I WAS THERE, you get street cred, and with it will follow 

'He knows because he was there Dude!

When you are old and grey in the future it may be all you have left. 

Even after you are gone and in another world on a different planet i can almost guarantee that if some 10th dimensional alien life form who never ufo'd it to this part of the Galaxy, starts shooting its mouth off about your ole planet Earth, you are gonna stand up and say to end the discussion drivel quick smart;

"This Zombie knows nothing ....Because I was there Dude"

Its even got Space Cred.

I think for many people in that particular crowd who were there dude, freezing their tits off in the Washington Mall on the 20th Jan, it will be THE defining event, at least culturally speaking in their lives.

But there again who am i to define anyone, and who knows what events are in store for us, that may do some big time defining for everyone in the future.

Being There, has a lot to do with the excessive amount of 2nd hand representational experience we get to feed off these days. Most world events of note are viewed electronically, via tv & internet. We are not personally there. You are there in your head, or in Wolf Blizer's head (sorry Wolf) but you are not there physically. 

I think there is a part of our spirit that occasionally demands when we are suitable inspired (ie: in spirit ) that we be fully present to an event, both in mind & in body.

You gotta get the Ticket to get the T shirt. There should be a law against wearing T Shirts that you show where you haven't been.

Don't you think?

Then basically you just gotta show up early sos you can get a place.

That be the number one rule of witnessing events in person on the planet.

Make a note cos we are getting big on population: 

SHOW UP EARLY!

Over the years our bemused Martian would have seen crowds turn out for many unknown reasons here on earth; 

To see a Pope, the Olympic Games, World Cups, ticker tape parades for returning Apollo Luna astronauts, after Linberg flew the Atlantic, for all manner of aid this & aid that music concerts. To witness Battles (in the days when armies fort on battle fields).At the end of Wars.For religious pilgrimages like The Hajj. For coronations of heads of state, or to watch heads of state roll off the block in guillotine revolutions. On the eve of one northern winters night of the year, where people really go stupid; especially every hundred years, and yes, if iPhones were being given out for free no doubt a crowd would assemble in a nano second anywhere on earth. 

A Pink Floyd reunion? I reckon so.

Sure the events of the 20th of January this year had a lot to do MLK 's Dream, with Barack and  with Abraham Lincoln & The Gettysburg Address:

'That Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth'

And neither shall the formation of crowds perish here on earth, as long as there are things we feel are important EVENTS to witness. 

And so it was that one of those MEGA World Events that rolls around every once in a while, rolled around - and 2 million people showed up in person and from all reports behaved exceptionally well.

We should learn from that. 

We know what human crowds can turn into....

I can't speak for the individual reasons that people showed up for that event, it was i believe beyond the representation of government for the people, beyond even the significance of the first African American in the White House, beyond the Dream, beyond the representation of the media to hype the message, like these photos of CNN's coverage i snapped off a live tv screen. 

For 2 million men women & kids it was about witnessing AN EVENT in the flesh, 

and like seeing Pink Floyd live in concert,

It was about BEING THERE DUDE.