The world in faces

An Australian photographer (Alexander Khimushin) has made it his mission to travel the world - especially to off-the-beaten-track places - and photograph people's faces. Click here to see dozens of the amazing results.

As he says: "With more than 7.3 billion people 

and countless cultures and traditions 

the world is a beautifully diverse place."

The man who knew infinity

I've just come back from seeing this excellent movie. I highly recommend it.

You don't have to understand mathematics to find this an inspiring film. If you like true stories, unlikely friendships, the ability to cross cultural and religious barriers, the beauty in numbers expressing "a thought of God"... then go and see it!

Click here for a longer review from the Spirituality and Practice site.

Life as a Pilgrimage

I've mentioned previously that I am currently in the process of reviewing my past journals before disposing of them. (Incidentally they will be turned into re-cycled paper or cardboard - a death and resurrection even for old journals!) The David Whyte poem below came my way via a six week event on the Gratefulness site. As I listened to David Whyte speaking his own poem I recognised how beautifully is expresses what I am discovering as I look back over the previous decades of my life. The title Santiago refers to the well known pilgrimage often called the Camino, which ends at Santiago. Click here for more information.

Santiago

The road seen, then not seen, the hillside

hiding then revealing the way you should take,

the road dropping away from you as if leaving you

to walk on thin air, then catching you, holding you up,

when you thought you would fall,

and the way forward always in the end

the way that you followed, the way that carried you

into your future, that brought you to this place,

no matter that it sometimes took your promise from you,

no matter that it had to break your heart along the way:

the sense of having walked from far inside yourself

out into the revelation, to have risked yourself

for something that seemed to stand both inside you

and far beyond you, that called you back

to the only road in the end you could follow, walking

as you did, in your rags of love and speaking in the voice

that by night became a prayer for safe arrival,

so that one day you realized that what you wanted

had already happened long ago and in the dwelling place

you had lived in before you began,

and that every step along the way, you had carried

the heart and the mind and the promise

that first set you off and drew you on and that you were

more marvelous in your simple wish to find a way

than the gilded roofs of any destination you could reach:

as if, all along, you had thought the end point might be a city

with golden towers, and cheering crowds,

and turning the corner at what you thought was the end

of the road, you found just a simple reflection,

and a clear revelation beneath the face looking back

and beneath it another invitation, all in one glimpse:

like a person and a place you had sought forever,

like a broad field of freedom that beckoned you beyond;

like another life, and the road still stretching on.

from David Whyte’s collection Pilgrim

Be your own tree

On my walk yesterday I took a photo of this lovely old tree in a dark corner of a park:

I've always loved trees and the way they stay rooted where they were planted in all weathers and all seasons. There's something re-assuring about them "just being there" and adapting to the conditions, bending with the wind, clinging to the cliff - whatever it may be.

I'm in the process of reviewing my past journals (with the intention of saving the good bits and throwing out all the past agonising!) Today I came across this quote from Thomas Merton:
"A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying him. The more a tree is like itself, the more it is like him. This particular tree will give glory to God by spreading out its roots in the earth and raising its branches into the air and the light in a way that no other tree before or after it ever did or will do."

Two fascinating books

At first  glance these books have nothing in common. And when I started reading them I didn't expect them to. But it has occurred to me that in their own way they both point to seeing "the world" in a new way. For Sally Ride it was seeing the "world" she lived in (earth) from outer space. For Bradley Jersak it is seeing the "world" of Christian faith from a far deeper perspective than most of us were taught. So - a "higher" perspective on the physical dimension of the universe and a "deeper" perspective on the spiritual dimension.

I'm still reading both books but here's a taster from each will help you see what I mean. 

After her first mission in a Challenger space shuttle in 1983 Sally writes:

"I remember the first time that I looked towards the horizon. I saw the blackness of space, and then the bright blue earth.. And then I noticed that right along the horizon it looked as if someone had taken a royal blue crayon and just traced along Earth's horizon. And then I realised that that blue line, that really thin royal blue line, was Earth's atmosphere, and that was all there was of it. And it is so clear from that perspective how fragile our existence is. It makes you appreciate how important it is to take care of the atmosphere. ... It's everything that separates us from the vacuum of outer space. If we didn't have that atmosphere, we wouldn't be here, and if we do anything to destroy that atmosphere, we won't be here. So it really puts the planet in perspective."p163

It's harder to pick one quote from Jersak's book because it covers so much and is so well developed from one topic to another. Essentially the title declares what he explores in every chapter: What if God is exactly like Jesus? Then he faces into all the difficult questions most of us have heard (and asked!) - what about the violence and genocide seemingly ordered by God? What about the images of punishment for those who "don't believe"? What about the idea that Jesus died to satisfy an angry God? Doesn't the Bible often talk about "the wrath of God"?  I am enjoying the way he writes with these questions taken seriously and respected. Simultaneously he builds his response very carefully with a vast knowledge of early Church fathers and Biblical scholarship. Somehow he does all this while keeping the book within reach of the "ordinary" reader. 

A quote from the back cover: "What is God like? Toxic images abound : God the punishing judge, the deadbeat dad, the genie in a bottle - false gods that need to be challenged. But what if, instead, God truly is completely Christlike? What if his love is more generous, his Cross more powerful, and his gospel more beautiful than we've dared to imagine? What if our clearest image of God is the self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering Love revealed on the Cross?"

You can read more about both Sally Ride here and Brad Jersak here.

World Peace Bell for ANZAC Day

When we walked in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens recently we visited the World Peace Bell there.

You will see better photos by clicking the World Peace Bell site above and here.

The words on the plaque are: 

World Peace Bell Association - President Tomijiro Yoshida

The World Peace Bell is made from coins and medals donated by 103 countries around the world which have been mixed with copper and is a symbol of peace which gives the impression that the world is one. The aim of the Association is to install the World Peace Bells in capitals of various countries and ring the Bells in the entire world so as to promote the mutual understanding which transcends national boundaries and make contribution to the cause of world peace.

The World Peace Bell which stands in the courtyard of the United Nations headquarters in New York is rung annually by the UN Secretary General in prayer for peace on the occasion of the opening of the UN General Assembly. The following is a list of those who have offered co-operation to the Association by donating funds to it for the making of this World Peace Bell.

The story behind the World Peace Bells is inspiring and well worth reading. Link once again here.

We wondered if Helen Clarke will one day ring the UN Bell!

Wisdom from a 10th grader

Continuing the Earth Day theme I came upon this article via Spirituality and Practice. To read the full article click here. (Photos mine)
When Nimai wrote this article, he was in the 10th grade. Nimai lives in Maryland and has been practicing Vaishnavism, a monotheistic tradition within Hinduism, since his childhood.

…my faith envisions Earth as a person, a mother. This mentality has formed the basis of my view towards the earth. One doesn’t treat a person as an exploitable source of resources, just as one doesn’t wish death upon one’s mother...

My religion’s view of Earth as a person has changed my own perception of the planet. I believe that the environmental issues jeopardizing our planet today indicate a spiritual lacking, a hole we’re trying to fill with more and more consumption. By lessening our needs, we can start battling environmental issues.

As Gandhi once said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed.”

Earth Day

Today 22nd April is Earth Day. I wouldn't have known except for a newsletter from the Gratefulness site which had many lovely reminders and resources. These two short videos I found especially moving:

The Pale Blue Dot  2 minutes BY CARL SAGAN This excerpt of A Pale Blue Dot was inspired by an image taken by Voyager 1 in 1990. As the spacecraft left our planetary neighborhood for the fringes of the solar system, engineers turned it around for one last look at its home planet. The result is this moving and powerful monologue by Carl Sagan, delightfully illustrated by Order Productions, Ltd.

Dear Future Generations: Sorry 5 minutes (Plus a couple more after his poem finishes) BY PRINCE EA (April, 2015) An apology letter to future generations. "I think I speak for the rest of us when I say, sorry, sorry we left you our mess of a planet. Sorry that we were too caught up in our own doings to do something. Sorry we listened to people who made excuses, to do nothing. I hope you forgive us..."

When plans change...

In case the previous post gave the impression that everything on our West Coast holiday went smoothly - and in sunny weather... not quite! On the Sunday we were planning to set off from Franz Josef, my traveling companion woke up very dizzy and nauseous. No way was she going to be able to drive (or be a passenger) through very winding roads for four hours. (It was pouring with rain as well.)

I enquired about any doctor or medical help being available. After phone calls to so-called "on call" people - no luck. So to sum up: A remote location, Sunday, raining, no medical help, not even a pharmacy! Not looking good.

This was one of those challenging times you hope won't happen on a holiday! However, we have a daily practice of writing our Gratitude Journal every evening. By that evening we had a list of things to be grateful for:

• the motel having room to let us stay an extra night.
• thinking of offering my friend some "Sea Legs" medication which we had with us. It did help.
• a friend in Auckland suggesting (via text message) that we take a shorter route home and cancel the plans we had for the final days of our holiday. Good advice!
• the motel manager calling a friend who works for St John's Ambulance. She came and checked out various issues and gave some re-assurance.
• being warm and dry in a comfortable bed - near a bathroom (!) - on a wet day which would have been awful for travel.

The following two days for our re-arranged return journey to Christchurch were sunny and beautiful. Although my friend was still a bit wobbly it was fine to set off and we had time to see some beautiful places we would not otherwise have explored.

We reflected as we drove that we were also grateful that we were both able to let go the plans we had made and accept what had happened. The places we missed are places we can visit another time. It was a good chance to practice "letting go" and an attitude of trust even though it was certainly a challenging time.

West Coast Holiday

After a wonderful week away on the West Coast of the South Island it is hard to choose just a few photos to post!  Here are some of my favourites to give a feel for our great holiday. We travelled from Christchurch to Greymouth on the Trans Alpine train. There's an excellent video and other photos on that link. It was hard to get good photos while on the moving train.

Then in a hired car we drove up to Punakaiki...

The weather was much warmer than we had expected! From our motel it was a short walk up the hill to the Pancake Rocks.

Then we drove down to the Franz Josef and Fox Glacier area.

Peter's Pool - a short walk near the foot of Franz Josef Glacier.

Mt Tasman (left) and Mt Cook from Lake Matheson

Lake Matheson - renowned for its reflections.

How's this for a coffee with a view! Lake Matheson cafe. 

A glimpse of Fox Glacier.

We returned via Hokitika - which turned out to be one of our favourite places. A lovely town with wonderful craft shops and a wild west coast beach.

 Sunset Hokitika Beach

and then...

 Sunrise the next morning

From Hokitika we drove back to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass - the route we had travelled by train a week earlier. The journey by road is much more spectacular! Once again we had a lovely day and much of the road is straight through majestic mountains. This was taken through the car window and really doesn't convey the feeling of being surrounded by these dramatic peaks.

But nothing prepared us for rounding a corner and seeing this...

Lake Pearson

Reflections that have not been "photo-shopped"or edited!

We spent a long time here soaking in the beauty, before travelling the final leg back to Christchurch.

Christchurch Botanical Gardens - pretty good reflections right there in town!

We are so grateful to live in such an amazingly beautiful country. We're grateful too for safe travel in some pretty remote places. We did have to change our planned itinerary quite significantly due to one day of ill health - but that proved to have some hidden blessings too. More on that next time.