Beautiful and very moving, Ray. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: Ray Harrell To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' Sent: Monday, December 20, 2010 9:58 PM Subject: Re: [Futurework] Astonishing architecture
For Lawry on Original Instructions On the Winter Solstice We come from the mind of the Creator of All. We came to know. Learning is the language of this place but learning requires ignorance. Grief is one of the things that we came here to know. Loss is another. Joy another and the fulfillment of accomplishment. Can you imagine knowing everything, being everything, everywhere forever? Can you imagine a place where for a brief moment you know edges, time, silence, ignorance? What do we all long for? It may seem strange to long for edges, time limits, silence and even ignorance. Why is this place so beautiful to that which is beyond all beauty? [the Lifegiver, Giver of breath, the Great Mystery] The Creator is all of the parts, all of us and beyond all of us. We touch our "home" in a dream when we have mysteries and interactions with ghostly presences and outrageous actions but we know that we are all of those things in our dreams. We are every character, every place, every moment, every thought from beginning to end. We touch the original instructions in our dreams. In our sleep we have a moment of remembering what the original instructions were. What the baby knows instinctively and what the young forgets just as instinctively. Why the Creator bodied us forth and allowed us to pick where we would live and then "jump!" When we forget the Original Instructions [the East] as we enter the youthful years, we have to learn to take things apart that we learned easily from imitation through the Original Instructions. The South is the time of Water and Conflict. The time of nurture, purification, analysis and practice. In individuals it is adolescence. In cultures it is the South, the place of war and conquest or of mental and physical patterning practice through games and rigorous arts. The duality is the path of war and the path of peace. The first is, [for my people], called the Red Path while the second is called the White Path. Immature societies generally follow the path of war through the South as they practice the reasons for society in ultimate life and death externally motivated actions. They slowly work their way to internal motivation based in the reason for existence itself. Every society that evolves through history has several cycles into the center of the singularity, we call the "fire." Each revolution through East, South, West and North brings more maturity and wisdom and knowledge on the Path of Peace. There are many esoteric stories about how this is done. Also the sacred duality of Red and White has its own purposes and meanings I won't speak of. Each of these things are tools to study our ignorance and to bring our purpose in being in this place to fruition. The Original Instructions are the beginning. They exist in spite of the trauma of the birth canal. They are the language of learning through observation and imitation. The tools are then honed and sharpened as one learns how to travel the Journey of Knowledge working their way back to the place from whence we started. The first two tools are Imitation and Analysis. The third tool is dialogue (performance) and learning as a group. The fourth tool is reflection and teaching the young. That is not just human young but all life for we believe that we are the gardeners that keep the sacredness of this world. Today people listen to gardeners only when they have a problem. They have forgotten the sacred processes and the paths of learning. They are vulnerable to the ways of nature and the universe as we enter a time of trial. I will discuss what I have put down but I will not argue about it. I speak from my own place on the wheel of life and this is what it tells me. It is not superior to any other in the grand scheme of things but it is the best for itself and for what it tells about what is perceived from this place. I speak only for myself. May this be a wonderful year for all of the members of this list and for its creative purposes. REH PS I'm reposting that URL from the Boston Globe about the next step in learning what we call in the "West" and what the Mexicans called "Ehecatl" the Wind. The place of dialogue, interaction and the performing arts in all professions. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/12/19/group_iq/ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of de Bivort Lawrence Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 9:25 AM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Astonishing architecture Hi, Ray. Mosque practices are pretty much prescribed, for each of the five daily prayers, for the weekly Friday jumma (community prayer and sermon), and for the many religious days and periods of days. For example, yesterday, Muslims observed Yom Kabir (the same day and event observed by Jews, Yom Kippur). The method of observing (a fast) is prescribed in the Muslim sunna (the body of beliefs and practices laid out in the Quran and body of examples associated with the life and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) in considerable detail. Other than sufis, I don't know of many Islamic religious/liturgical practice that calls for music. However, many mosques hold other non-liturgical, social events in which music is prominent. I wonder if an musical approach along the lines you tried but toward the non-religious side of the mosque might have succeeded. Muslim religious leaders in the US have been active in reaching out to Christian, Jewish, and other religious groups in the US, especially recently in the face of the massive and deliberate attack upon Islam that has been engineered in the US and Europe. Sometimes these gatherings go beyond sharing knowledge of the various religions with others; sometimes they are organized by people who are seeking to help representatives of various religions to find "common ground" and to minimize the existence of differences. This happens routinely among Muslims, Christians and Jews, but I have also attended such efforts where Native Americans and others were included. It is easier for Christians then Jews, as Christians generally accept Jewish prophets, beliefs and mythology, and it is easier for Muslims than it is for Christians and Jews as Muslims generally accept what are though of as Christian and Jews prophets, beliefs and mythology. Yet the sunna -- the Quran and the guidance derived from the life of Muhammad -- is quite specific on many counts, and calls for an approach to life and God that is is many ways wiser than its predecessor religions, Christianity and Judaism. So where it is both easy and required for Muslims to deeply respect and believe in the teachings of Christian and Jewish prophets, Islam cannot readily be melted down in such a way that it can be said, as some have tried to say, that they are really the same -- three equal siblings among the Abrahamic faiths. Ray, I just about jumped out of my chair when I read your reference to "Original Instructions". Can you say more -- ideally, a lot more -- about this? Also, I have been meaning to ask you for recommendations to books about the Cherokee social and governmental achievements in Oklahoma and elsewhere? Thanks. Cheers, Lawry On Dec 18, 2010, at 12:28 AM, Ray Harrell wrote: Thanks Lawry, The music part has been confusing to me ever since I tried to enlist some Mosques in a nationwide "Day of Reconciliation" with a new song by Ned Rorem. Needless to say it didn't get off the ground. The Christians were no more willing either but I couldn't get any dialogue at all from the Muslims. Later I was told that their view of the music and mine were diametrically opposed. That's what you stated below. Interesting what our logic does to our remembrance of what Indian People call "The Original Instructions." I'll let both Christians and Islam speak for themselves on that one. REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of de Bivort Lawrence Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 12:02 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Astonishing architecture Greetings, everyone, I have been wanting to share with you some thoughts on the rich exchanges between Keith and Ray, but found that this note on Qatar impelled me to reply. Thoughts on the rewarding RAy/Keith exchange, I hope, are to follow. No, the mullahs are recognizing that many non-Muslims will be coming to Qatar and they are simply confirming the traditional Arabic hospitality that will be extended to visitors. Sharia is not "suspended" or even "relaxed" and will continue to guide/influence the law as it pertains to Qataris. The World Cup event poses a particular challenge to the mores of any host country: the advent of tens of thousands of fans who expect to get drunk and have their way, regardless of those mores. What the mullahs, apparently, are saying is that they won't expect Qatari law enforcement to exercise the normal standards in the face of this onslaught. Their motive won't be to "make a buck" as I take it Der Spiegel is proposing, but to help the Qatari authorities find the best way of maintaining the best semblance of law and order possible, given their expectations of the behavior of some fans. It is important for Europeans and Americans to realize that sharia law is viewed by Muslims as being the direct expression of god's instructions for good, respectful and healthy living. It is not viewed as oppressive; rather it is viewed as the embodiment of justice and social harmony. Muslims generally feel blessed to have such guidance, and feel sorry for those who don't have it, or who don't follow it. Thus the "relaxation" of sharia as it applies to the masses of non-Muslims descending upon Qatar is undoubtedly viewed sadly as a concession to their nominally unchangeable lack of good morals and behavior. Second, the Taliban are not representative of fundamentalist groups in Islam. They are an ultra-conservative tribal (Pashtun) manifestation that emerged, surprisingly to many, as a genuine reformist group working against the corruption and undemocratic ways of Afghanistan's numerous and self-centered warlords. They have morphed into fighters for national liberation and in so doing have applied their ultra-conservative social beliefs (e.g. re. women and education) to areas of Afghanistan in which even when they dominated the government in the post-USSR period they did not hold sway. The US invasion and occupation has given the Taliban a nation-wide legitimacy that they never possessed before, and so doing has left Afghanis with terrible choices -- support a corrupt, warlord-centric, and anti-democratic Karzai, or support an ultra-conservative, anti-woman Taliban. The US occupation has left no room or opportunity for a third moderate, democratic, and pluralistic choice to emerge. So, as to music: music is a fundamental cultural aspect of the Arabic and Muslim worlds. Two million people attended the funeral of one of Egypt's extraordinary singers, Um Kalthum. If anyone reading this doubts this, please consider down-loading her "Baid anak" (38 minutes uninterrupted of some of the most heartfelt and beautiful music you will ever hear) from iTunes. Some "fundamentalist" groups, including several sufi ones, have music at the heart of their religious practices. Others, including many salafi groups, do not, though adherents may have a lot of music in their non-religious lives. And then, yes, there are some groups that actively avoid music, feeling that it is a distraction form what is important in life. Some people, including me and, i think, Ray, view music as a form of harmony, or a medium through which harmony in society can be sought. And this latter group of Muslim traditionalists (and certainly not "most" of them) holds the opposite view: that music distracts, seduces, attracts people away from those practices and beliefs that are the basis for such harmony. I would love to sit in on a discussion between advocates of these two opposite perspectives. In Qatar, music is a standard aspect of cultural life, in the past as it is today. "The mullahs" are not, as far as I know, opposed to this, and it would not in any case be considered contrary to sharia. I hope these notes are of interest. Cheers, Lawry On Dec 17, 2010, at 10:34 AM, Keith Hudson wrote: You've answered this yourself. The mullahs are agreeing to the soccer event because it will bring business. However, soccer, like the arts, is an offpsring of an economy and not a main driver. What the mullahs of Qatar think of music, I don't know. Most traditional Islamic sects, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, regard music as sinful and it's proscribed. Not for them the great festivals of the Baltic countries when scores of thousands of people meet for days of singing. KSH At 09:52 17/12/2010 -0500, you wrote: Thanks for the pictures Keith. Traditionally we called the ballgamea sacred act. Its subtext was the little warand it diffused tension between nations, cities and groups. Still works. How do you justify you comments about the Arts (and Sports) with what the Mullahs are doing here to drum up business and replace the declining revenues as oil runs out. South Korea is doing something similar as well as they invest a billions dollars a year in culture business through their version of the National Endowment of the Arts. Of course the Germans call it Heilige Kunst. REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith Hudson Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 3:10 AM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, , EDUCATION Subject: [Futurework] Astonishing architecture For quite the most astonishing architectural photographs that I've ever seen, go to: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,734621,00.html This also raises two more points in my mind. The Der Spiegel article mentions that, apparently, the Qatari mullahs are prepared to relax Sharia law for those who will be attending the World Soccer Championship in 2022. It may be seriously suggested to Western politicians and diplomats that soccer might be a much more effective way to dissolve the tensions that now exist with Islamic countries. (And what about cricket also?) Secondly, the German architects of the stadia are putting their faith in solar-cell technology for the vast amount of energy that will be required. However, see the companion piece to this for a breakthrough which might be a superior way forward, perhaps even by 2022. Keith _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
