Fly me to Cuba

Tomorrow i go to La Habana for a 5 day assignment, i will report on my mission in Travel Agent M. Hasta Luego.

The Way of Shibumi

"How does one achieve this Shibumi , sir?"

"One does not achieve it, one ... discovers it."

And so Nikko Hel, the hero of Trevanian's master piece of espionage & Go esoterics is introduced by his mentor General Kishikawa-san to this Japanese aesthetic of understated refinement.

The General elaborates:

" SHIBUMI has to do with great refinement underlying common place appearances. It is a statement so correct that it does not have to be bold,so poignant it does not have to be pretty,so true it does not have to be real.Shibumi is understanding,rather than knowledge.Eloquent silence, In demeanour, it is modesty without pudency.In art, where the spirit of shibumi takes the form of Sabi, it is elegant simplicity,articulate brevity. In philosophy, where shibumi emerges as Wabi,it is spiritual tranquility that is not passive; it is being without the angst of becoming. And in the personality of a man it is  ... how does one say it? Authority without domination? Something like that."

I read this novel 20 years ago and became a big fan of Trevanian the elusive hermetic novelist, who because of his reclusive life in the Basque Pyrenees mountains became a bit of a legend in the publishing world. 

I like many others, eager to consume intelligent cross cultural novels, was introduced to this Japanese concept of Shibumi by Trevanian in this very book, and it struck a deep spiritual cord in me. There is no English word that relates to it, as far as i know, and so one is left expecting the concept to return to you later in life. Since then i have referenced this word a number of times particularly in relationship to Wabi Sabi in design. (I will post more on that soon.) 

I was recently asked (as a disciple of aesthetics, by one who is committed to beauty & harmony) how i can remain content in less inspiring surroundings. 

I didn't have a ready answer. 

I can only think that i do occasionally discover this elusive Shibumi right under my nose - where ever i am. And then i might just as well be in a Palace.

I am enjoying re reading this book for many reasons, but now i really appreciate what a fine writer Trevanian was. He died in 2005. His Web site is on links.

Maybe he discovered this Shibumi.

 

The Hero's Journey in The Matrix

The movie The Matrix contains some very interesting things.The Wachowski Bros did their homework on many levels, leaving aside the concept of a Reality Matrix, the development of the character Neo, the hero in the film, is a good example of the universal mythic journey that any hero must take in his or her quest on earth.

I am refering to the work that Joseph Campbell did in his book published in 1949 called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 

Campbell scholarly work, now a classic in Comparative Mythology studies, integrates the universal journey recounted in nearly all the world's cultural myths. It shows that for a hero (ie every person) to complete this journey (awakening) of spiritual development(consciousness) a person goes through many transitions to complete this Quest (for enlightenment).These stages seem to be universal in all cultures and so it is call The Mono Myth.

There are 17 such stages each distinctive in what it liberates in the psyche of the individual, these 17 transitions are basically grouped in 3 mega transformational levels.

1. Departure - separation from the known world into the unknown

2. Initiation - into knowledge of the true Self 

3. Return to The World - now with this knowledge as a gift to mankind

I wont go into the minor twists and turns of the Hero's Journey here( this book is definately worth a space in your library) but sujest you look at the video of Chris Vogler see links talking about these transitions in the movie The Matrix. He has adapted Campbell's study in his own analysis of this film to 12 stages, which i think are pretty accurate for film story telling. I came across Vogler's work via The Revolutionary Man see links.

I read The Hero with a Thousand Faces years ago when i first discovered the subject of Mythology, what is interesting about this work to me now, as a teacher of Film Studies, is the degree to which the great story tellers of our age ie Film Director/Writers have used this Mono Myth in their story structure. 

We as audience relate to stories told in this way at a very deep level. For all our intellect and technology we are not that different from an audience listening to Homer's Iliad or the Odyssey around a camp fire thousands of years ago. Modern directors know the power of Epic Story telling that has embedded this Universal Monomyth.

The Star Wars Trilogies of George Lucas are a classic example and a topic i will post on later, as i played a minor role his last movie Episode 111 Revenge of the Sith.

With the world so wonderfully dysfunctional right now, re-integrating The Mono Myth in our lives may be the deep psyche healing that we need. For many people the complexity of consciousness studies & its spiritual disciplines is too demanding. The Power of Myth may be the answer to re connect people with their Heart.

May the Force be with You !

Thinking like Leonardo da Vinci

Any reference to architecture, art, science & technology has to include the genius Renaissance polymath Leonardo.

There has been many studies of da Vinci's mind and extensive commentaries on the results of his creativity in painting, in drawings and of course his written codexes (notebooks)

One of the books i have enjoyed the most is by Michael J. Gelb called How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. see his webpage in links.After immersing himself in a study of da Vinci he concluded that there were 7 key characteristics of da Vinci creativity, 7 principles he adhered to that produced his extraordinary innovations and insights.

He sets them out in Italian, as a training program that we can practice to improve our own creativity. Based on the idea that if you want to get better at anything, study some one who is great at it, imitate the master until you can discover your own inner mastery.Ok here is the 7 ways that da Vinci achieved his full potential as a creative human being.   

1. CURIOSITA 

explore - question - be in a state of wonderment - love to learn - don't take no or yes for an answer

2. DIMOSTAZIONE

test everything yourself - experiment - learn from your own mistakes 

3. SENSAZIONE

refine your senses - see when you look - listen when you hear - feel when you touch - ect - be fully present - be aware - be awake to what is going on around you

4. SFUMATO

embrace paradox & contradiction - accept uncertainty - allow grey areas to resolve - there is also a reference here as sfumato means 'to go up in smoke' to integrating ones shadow, Leonardo drew shadows like no one else could

5. ARTE/SCIENZA

integrate left & right brain thinking - a holistic approach -learn the art of science & the science of art

6.CORPORALITA

balance the body - learn poise - co ordination - grace in movement - learn kinesthetic skills - ambidexterity 

7. CONNESSIONE

apply systems thinking - see that all is interconnected - be integral in analysis & synthesis

This is a pretty good list of personal development skills & abilities to focus on and what's more i think it promotes an enlightened view of the world.

Considering Leonardo came on the scene 500 years ago and emerged at a time when Europe was still steeped in a medieval view of the world, he was a true radical. No one's master he basically did what he did to satisfy his own curiosity, accepting weapons development commissions from the local DOD Dept of Defence to finance his exploration of the natural world. I imagine the clergy even left him alone in awe of his genius. Thank goodness he didn't get the same fate of G. Bruno,as i am sure he could have gotten fried for any number of experiments that he conducted probably in secret.

Anyway i think Gelb's book is worth reading if not to improve your own creativity then to give you a glimpse of what human potential can be. 

Captain Organic - The Power & Beauty of Organic Design

Continuing my current series on Organic Architecture & Design in Form Follows Emptiness heres a great TedTalk by Ross Lovegrove. I think all designers should spend time studying biology & physiology, when its comes to creating fat free optimal form, evolution is our best teacher.

Frank Gehry's Museum of Bio Diversity Panama

Frank Gehry is always full of suprises, a maverick architect who like Gaudi will shock and amaze both his public and peers with spectacular visuals manifest in space & time. Conceptual words made flesh. The kind of architectural language no one speaks until you learn a new venacular by simply looking at a building - in silence.

Here is a promo for Gehry's most recent art. The Bio Diversity Museum in Panama. All buildings make music, some are symphonies others serenades, this jazz piece seems to dance with this building. Worth a trip to Panama.

Gaudi God's Architect

Wonderful documentary series by Times art critic Robert Hughes on the organic architect Gaudi. Seeing this i want to re visit Barcelona.

Leonard Cohen & Philip Glass

Leonard Cohen's Book of Longing came out awhile back now, and for his legion of devoted fans around the world it was a longing well rewarded.Not only to read the poems of this master wordsmith, but also to be taken to new depths of enquiry by his revealing sketches & water colors, was an intimate experience of an artist we seldom receive. Cohen with out doubt is my favourite contemporary poet. Philip Glass is my favourite contempory classical composer, an artist who loves to collaborate with other artists and fortunate for us he has written music to the words of some of the poems in The Book of Longing. I have only seen a little of what he has done with Cohen's work i haven't been able to get the cd yet. Here is one piece that i found on YouTube. I believe Glass is touring this music now, having seen Cohen live in concert last year i would love to see Glass in concert again. The last time was to see him play the score of Koyaanisquatsi live to the movie playing on a screen above the stage. I went twice.

Totally hypnotic.

Where we is from Earthcam

In the movie 'Dead Poet's Society' Robin Williams climbs up onto a desk to show his students the importance of seeing things from another angle, from a different perspective. It opens the mind. Here is a remarkable view from the moon of earth rise and earth set. Wonder Full!

Salt Water Buddha

I like this kid's story. 

A Surfer's quest to find Zen in the Ocean.

Having written about Bodhisattva Ocean Enlightenment & Sound Waves Meditation, i think the sea is a great teacher of the Dharma.I haven't read his book but i am in tune with his personal journey. Hang 10 bro !

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.

,-)