While travelling through Japan and working on organic farms, the UK filmmaker Steve Atkins found himself entranced by the movement of light and shadows formed by the interplay of trees, wind and sunlight on the landscape. The Japanese have a unique word for this occurrence: komorebi. Atkins celebrates the ethereal beauty of komorebi in this short film, which features fleeting scenes of the phenomenon that he captured during his time in Japan. In doing so, he offers a gentle reminder to, in his words, ‘reconsider how we see the passing light of each day; to slow down and observe the natural theatre that plays out unseen beside the busyness of our modern lives.’
For more from Atkins, watch his short documentary Épinard.
This short film was sent to me by my friend David King.
Following from a recent posting of "Dances With Whales" David sent me this as an example of the astonishing performances freedivers can do these days.
Both David and Andrea King are "freedivers" but in David's own words "nowhere near this standard."
More from David:
"What's amazing is that Guillaume Nery was also holding his breath while shooting this. I've tried filming underwater while holding my breath and, believe me, it's hard to keep the camera steady. Even your heartbeat knocks it around. Guillerme Nery would have been using a professional camera in an underwater housing rathe than a GoPro or similar action camera as I was, but to keep it as rock steady as it is in this video is breath-taking (pun intended). Not to mention the languid movements of his wife who does the ballet, and the length of time she needed to hold her breath at what appears to be at least 15 metres below the surface. Want to try it some time?
You can try holding your breath as she does the ballet and see how you go. Assume each cut was an opportunity for her to get another breath so that's when you can take one. However well or badly you do, remember you're on the surface at one atmosphere. At only 3 metres below the surface, you're under pressure of two atmospheres. She is about 15 metres below the surface.
I don't know if they had safety divers on Scuba waiting outside the shot to give her a breath between takes without her having to swim up to the surface and back down again. But having seen other videos by this couple (they take turns filming each other) I do know it would have been no big deal for either of them to do two minute takes at a stretch. Or more. These divers are masters of relaxation."
In this essay Beth Lord tackles some incredibly large questions which resonate throughout the history of philosophy, especially from the period of the1660's in Europe, right through to Lovelock and his writings from the 1960s on Gaia: thishypothesis proposes that living and non-living parts of the Earth form a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism.
I had previously been alerted to Spinoza by an earlier essay posted by AEON some years ago which detailed the story of his excommunication and shunning by the Jewish Community in his home town. This bit of history had taken me by surprise. I had not thought until then of other religions banning and shunning their members for thinking outside the prescribed teachings except in reference to the Catholic Church in which I was raised. Now I understand that all established religions consider those who question their teachings as heretics, but my own knowledge came from from the reference of Catholicism which has a grand history of torture to induce recantation, of burning witches and heretics, and of excommunication.
Now let me examine "excommunication"! In my school days we were taught that if you were excommunicated from the Church you were a goner! It didn't just mean that no-one would talk to you any more, but that you could go to Hell if you died as a non-believer because you could not receive the sacrements. And the only way back was to repent and get absolution from a Bishop or higher authority. I don't know if the Jewish commune of Spinoza's day went quite so far, but he was certainly banned and shunned. And although modern Jewish clerics have made some effort to reinstate him, he's still on the outer.
So Spinoza's life story struck a huge chord with me as did Martin Luther's when I read it away from the influence of my upbringing. And I have never forgiven the Church for allowing Joan of Arc to be burnt at the stake as a witch. I know she was not the only one to be treated so horribly but she remains an icon for all the women who were killed in that manner.
What Beth Lord does very well in her essay is to connect up the pathways opened up by Spinoza in his "Ethics" with the theory proposed by James Lovelock in our time. This has particular relevance for all of us today as we struggle with our planet being torn apart by various forces which many of us consider to be "bad" or even "evil" forces. But Spinoza saw all of the world as a single universe, and considered that whatever was in the universe was neither good nor bad: in his mind the Universe is "indifferent". We attribute the "good" or the "bad", and we also give "God" the attribute of good, despite the problem that if God created the Universe and if it included "bad" events or deeds, then God created those too.
Now I'm not going to jump into this philosophical morass. I merely wish to introduce you to Beth Lord's fine essay which leads up to our time, with a particular emphasis on the contributions of Spinoza and Lovelock.
I have selected just this short section to give you an idea of how complex her essay is:
"Seen in this way, what we designate as the climate crisis is just one sequence of nature’s infinite variations. What appears as a massive and devastating upheaval from our perspective is business as usual for infinite and eternal nature. Since we were not free to avert it, we are not morally responsible for the changing climate, rising sea levels or extinction of species, and we should get over our feelings of guilt and blame. Indeed, we should get over all our sad passions, for once we understand that God is the source, ground and cause of all things, we understand that God is the cause of our sadness."
I hope this post may raise some serious discussion among our friends. It has certainly taken me by surprise... I've not been able to get it out of my thoughts all day today.
"So why should I feel so fucking guilty... I haven't done anything yet!"
Sometimes words are completely inadequate to express human achievements, especially when they transcend everyday reality. This is one of those events.
"One Breath Around the World" is the latest aquatic spectacle from the French freediving champion Guillaume Néry, and his partner, the French freediver, underwater filmmaker and dancer Julie Gautier. Without the aid of supplied air, Néry plunges into the ocean’s hidden depths, revealing remarkable views of marine geology and wildlife around the globe. Seamlessly transitioning between a range of underwater realms, the video gives the impression that Néry’s journey is taken in a single breath. With stunning camerawork by Gautier, who also held her breath while filming, the duo prove themselves expert explorers of not only water, but space and perspective as well, making these grand underwater landscapes appear almost alien.
Once upon a time there was a young person who liked hearing stories and nursery rhymes, jokes, all sorts of verbal things. Often these most attractive phrases and verses were quite puzzling but many would linger and occupy the mind at the oddest of hours.
"Once UPON a time..." ?
No matter which culture you come from, you will all have your favourites. For some of us who have inherited the culture of English, a universal language in our time, we share so many of these oddities in common, but I feel confident to make this simple assertion: every language probably has equivalents but not of identical subject matter.
Oranges and Lemons!
Chalk and Cheese!
Is it possible that these are not found in some sort of equivalent in Arabic, Chinese or Swahili?
Well, probably not "oranges and lemons" in Inuit, but maybe a word game which is not so different in nature?
Let's take Jack!
Jack is so very English isn't he? He is the subject of many a nursery ryhme:
Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack jump over the candlestick.
Little Jack Horner sat in a corner
eating his puddin' and pie,
He put in his thumb
and pulled out a plumb
and said
"What a good boy am I!"
Then on another occasion Jack teamed up with his sister and they went up a hill to fetch a pail of water.
This expedition proved to be more challenging than the candlestick-jumping incident, or the occasion of pulling a plumb out of his pie, so Jack got his head bandaged in vinegar and brown paper! Not a good look Jack!
Up Jack got
And home did trot,
As fast as he could caper;
Went to bed
To mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.
This nursery rhyme has a most English connotation, but could there be any equivalent in French, German or Italian? Let's not take this so far as Aztec, Inuit or Swahili.
Over to the other side, Jill and her little lady friends... "Mary Mary" and "Little Miss Muffet"!
I love these word games:
"Mary Mary quite contrary
how does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells,
and pretty maids all in a row."
Isn't that a stunner. I don't think we'll find that particular word game in Arabic or Russian, but there may well be an equivalent.
As for "Little Miss Muffet who sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and her whey"...
Where did that "tuffet" come from?
Was it a tuffet of grass or shrubery?
Or is it perhaps an item of clothing which she may have worn or carried with her?
Or might it refer obliquely to her nether body parts?
"A tuffet is a small grassy mound or clump of grass; or alternatively a low seat. The word is now known overwhelmingly from the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet" which was first printed in 1805."
I expected it to be much older.
So much fun! Who needs Spike Milligan, Groucho Marx or Abbott and Costello?
And who's afraid of Virgina Wolff?
I once introduced a song to a group of kids, not baby goats, whom I took for a music session once a month in a small country school not far from my place. Wonderful 'not baby goats', the entire school population was about 14 primary schoolers, very bright, and they loved the songs I gave them.
How they loved "The Keeper would a-hunting go" with its question and answer style:
Jacky boy!
Master !
Sing you well?
Very well!
Hey down
Ho down
Derry derry down, oh
Among the leaves so green-oh!
It's such a playful verbal form for what is really quite a dark little ditty.
And as for "Yellow Submarine", what a winner that was!
Many other songs, such as "The Fox" who ran out on a chilly night risking life and limb to bring home some poultry for his wife and children, which they cut up with a carving knife...
"The fox and his wife, without any strife
Cut up the goose with a carving knife
They never had such a supper in their life
And the little ones chewed on the bones-oh"
And then, there's this song "mi mither tort me":
"The Tale of the Nancy Lee"
Now one day at the primary school a lovely young chap, Dominic, was somewhat perplexed by certain elements of the Nancy Lee whose captain, "Captain Brown" was determined to go down with his ship while playing his ukulele.
A couple of months after first hearing the song this seven or eight year old asked,
"Peter, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure Dominic, anything you like!" (Silly me!)
"Well, you know the Captain... he told his wife she would not drown, and then he tied his wife to the anchor as the ship went down!?!?"
Oh boy! Well, as you might say, I asked for it! I could see he had obviously been troubled by the mental state of the good Captain Brown...
"Yes Dominic, well, you know, it's a nonsense song!"
Not a bad response when you find yourself in a spot of bother.
"What's a nonsense song Peter?"
"Well Dominic, it's not meant to make much sense!~"
"Oh~ "
and fortunately for me, there he let the matter rest. I don't know if my reply was sufficient to settle his quandary or if it let him rest more easily at night... but I do know these songs gave these not-young-goats plenty to think about.
In fact you could say, these songs and nursery rhymes which include so much that doesn't make any sense at all, actually provide a lead to thought and they may actually condition our "thinking". They may be a way of preparing us for a world which is not logical, not reasonable, and not predictable.
What is it we so love in the manner of word games, puzzles, conundrums, aphorisms, knock-knock who's there? --- the cow jumped over the moon --- and all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again?
What would my life have been like if there were no Charlie, no Groucho, and no Abbott and Costello on first base?
And what would it have been like if there was no Harpo who spoke a completely different language: the language of impish japes and scrapes via an india-rubber body which could suddenly become like a rag doll in a crowded ship's cabin, managing to get in the way of everything which was going on.
What would my grasp of language have been if there were no nursery rhymes?
How could I make sense of this world without:
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing—
Wasn't that a dainty dish
To set before the king?
"When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing" ?
How can you make any sense of that?
And of course I simply can't leave Edward Lear out of this mix:
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, (R)
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, (R)
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon, (R)
I've left out the repeats at the end of each stanza and the highlights are to indicate some of my favourite lunacies. These incongruous words and phrases seem to offer sheer delight in words. They are not meant to make sense in any real world. Perhaps they are meant to destroy the nightmare of reality and replace it with a world which doesn't work by the same rules.
But what would my understanding of this perplexing world be if my dear mother had not introduced me to Captain Brown, whose wife could not swim, and
"He'd promised his wife she would not drown
so he tied he to the anchor as the ship went down".
My Mum, Rita, used to sing blissfully all the nonsense songs she had learned and thereby passed them on to me and my siblings. It was Mum who introduced me to that Captain Brown who manfully, to the very end, played his ukulele as his ship went down? So if Dominic ever wants to know where that song came from, he will just have to thank my Mum.
However all these are very much tied to the English language and culture.
What are their equiivalents in other languages?
I'm really keen to hear from my friends who have been raised in non-Anglo culture:
Darko dear, what are the equivalents in Croatian?
Aleksia, in Greek?
Alexandr, in Ukranian?
Dainis, whose parents who came from Central Europe, but who was raised in Western Sydney ?
and Roland, I'm sure you could give us some mighty fine French equivalents.
Sadly I have no equivalents to offer from my personal experience of Arabic as spoken in Lebanon, nor Swahili, nor Inuit! And I'm not familiar with any of the many languages spoken by the people who inhabited this fine country for 50,000 years before we came along and took it from them, relegating them to a status way below second class citizens.
Rather than use the phrase "took it from them" I could have used a very direct English verb: "stole". But that word seems so brutual, so I chose a more polite phrase. I hope no-one is offended by my politeness on this occasion.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Okay dear friends, in closing this down I wish to introduce a song which my friend Dainis sent me a few months back:
Text:
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you've had quite enough
Lyrics:
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour,
It's orbiting at 19 miles a second so it's reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm at 40.000 miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way
Our galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars
It's a 100.000 light years side to side
It bulges in the middle, 16.000 light years thick
But out by us, it's just 3000 light years wide.
We're 30.000 light years from galactic central point
We go round every 200 million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go the speed of light you know
12 million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is
So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth
I hope this little post has solved a few problems for some if not all of you!
