Monthly Archives: April 2008

Where mourning and dancing touch each other

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A friend reminded me of this wonderful thought by Henri Nouwen this morning. I have read it before but in light of recent events it feels far more profound, and far more comforting: 

Where Mourning and Dancing Touch Each Other

"[There is] a time for mourning, a time for dancing" (Ecclesiastes 3:4). 
But mourning and dancing are never fully separated. Their "times" do not 
necessarily follow each other. In fact, their "times" may become one "time." 
Mourning may turn into dancing and dancing into mourning without showing 
a clear point where one ends and the other starts.

Often our grief allows us to choreograph our dance while our dance creates 
the space for our grief. We lose a beloved friend, and in the midst of our 
tears we discover an unknown joy. We celebrate a success, and in the midst 
of the party we feel deep sadness. Mourning and dancing, grief and laughter, 
sadness and gladness - they belong together as the sad-faced clown and the 
happy-faced clown, who make us both cry and laugh. Let's trust that the 
beauty of our lives becomes visible where mourning and dancing touch each
other.

… thank you Sarah 🙂

Art of the STITCH and then The National Youth Choirs

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Needle & Thread by Mariana Fantich
I had a wonderful day yesterday. Alan and his lovely wife Fiona invited me to come out with them to see their daughter Miriam perform in The National Youth Choirs 25th Anniversary Gala Concert at Symphony Hall here in Birmingham. The arrived mid afternoon and the concert didn’t start till 7pm so we had time to head into town and go and see the Art of the STITCH exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which Fiona wanted to see. I was absolutely amazed by some of the pieces on display. I vividly remember walking over to a piece, The Needle & Thread by Mariana Fatich, and rather embarrassingly commenting that it was a beautiful painting when Fiona pointed out it wasn’t paint but the piece was entirely stitched! The picture opposite really doesn’t do the piece justice, like many of the exhibits you had to see them to believe how wonderful they looked.

After the exhibition we had a lovely meal and spent well over an hour chatting and catching up. I tried not to tease Alan too much about the fact that he actually got dressed up, but as always we had a laugh and joke but also talked about some interesting work related ideas around the Talis Platform, and the difference between open and closed world applications. We also spent some time chatting about the fact that I need to find myself a Medieval Costume for a traditional archery shoot (still hoping Fiona will make one for me lol ) later in the year, yes there were lots of jokes about me going as Friar Tuck etc. but I deserved that after repeatedly making fun of the Welsh (the only subject Alan ever looks like he’s getting ready to hit me over). I had a lot of fun catching up with them both, and I do regret the fact that we don’t get to see each other more often – Alan has always been great inspiration for me and it’s no secret that he’s helped shaped my understanding on so many things.

After the meal we headed over to Symphony Hall for the Concert. I have to confess, that although I do go to Symphony Hall regularly I have never been to any NYC event before so I was a little excited at the prospect but certainly had no idea what to expect.

The event was, in a word, sublime!

The entire Choir must have been comprised of almost 400 youngsters (Alan reckons it was at least that number), and their ages ranged from 9 to 22. However because the event was the 25th Anniversary of NYC they were joined by previous members of the Choir as well as current and previous members of Laudibus, the NYC’ Chamber Choir. They were also joined by the amazing King’s Singer’s who performed several pieces. Ben Thapa from the band G4 even took part as a guest soloist during the choir’s performance of Naiman Sharag. If that doesn’t sound impressive enough they were conducted by some of the finest conductors in the world, along with some of the most wonderful composers.

The gala lasted for four hours which sounds like a long time but the truth is it didn’t feel like it at all – you couldn’t help but get so immersed in the performance that you really didn’t notice the passing of time.It was a magical evening.

For me personally what made this event stand head and shoulders above anything I’ve seen at Symphony Hall is that it was fun, every member of the choir from the youngest to the oldest, every conductor, every composer, looked like they were having a whale of a time. One of the difficulties I often have with Classical Music concert’s is that whilst the music is lovely, it can often feel impenetrable or quite exclusive. Yet with the choir, their’s something about listening to people sing, the emotion in their voices which you can’t help but be drawn to – particularly the voices of children … there is something angelic about it, something inherently uplifting.

Everyone who helped organise this event and everyone who performed in it deserves the utmost praise.

I managed to take a few pictures which you can view on my flickr account, below are a couple from the evening:


Me, Alan and Fiona

Death and its poetry

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On Thursday morning I ordered a bunch of books from Amazon. Lately I’ve started reading and in some cases re-reading texts related to the Samurai tradition, I’m not sure why other than I guess I need something to immerse myself in. Thursday afternoon I learnt that one of my uncles has passed away, so it was with mixed feelings I received a delivery from Amazon today containing, amongst other texts, a collection of Japanese Death Poems – in Zen they are often referred to as Parting of Life Verses since tradition has it that they composed by individuals on the verge of death. I’ve been reading a lot related to Zen lately and it’s not a secret that I have a bit of an obsession with haiku and also tanka. I am amazed to think of the presence of mind needed to compose the kind of verses I’ve been reading as the last thing these men and women did before succumbing to death.

It feel’s inadequate to describe these verses as beautiful in fact I can’t think of any adjective that does them justice. As I read some of them, I found that they forced me to reflect on recent events in my life, particularly the death of my father, I’m reminded of the pain that I feel and that I know I have been hiding from (something a friend at Talis forced me to confront on Thursday afternoon when he gave up part of his afternoon to see if I was ok, and to whom I am grateful).

As much as it hurts to think about it I find that I’m smiling, my father used to say that no-one could really choose the time of their passing, that it was inevitable and we should not fear it, but what we should do is make the most of the time we have and try to be the very best that we can.

He did and He was.

… and that’s a comforting thought 🙂 .

As for this collection of verses, as deeply profound as they all, one that captivated me the most so far was written by a woman, Oroku: 

And had my days been longer               Nagaraete
still the darkness                        kono yo no yami wa
would not leave this world-               yomo hareji
along death's path, among the hills       shide no yamaji no
I shall behold the moon.                  iza tsuki o min.

        -- Oroku

Free Dr Sami Al-Arian

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I came across the case of Dr Sami Al-Arian earlier today when a friend of mine brought it to my attention. It sounds bizarre. He was arrested and tried under the Patriot Act for allegedly being involved with some Palestinian terrorist Groups (and I use that phrase loosely given that even the UN recently released a report stating that what is happening in Palestine is not terrorism but resistance to an illegal and brutal occupation) . However the six-month trial featured more than 80 witnesses and 400 transcripts of intercepted phone conversations and faxes. At the end of the prosecution’s case, Al-Arian’s attorneys, remarkably, rested without offering a defense. On December 6, 2005, after 13 days of deliberations, the jury acquitted him on eight of 17 counts, while remaining deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal on the other nine. Of fifty-one charges against the four men, not one resulted in a conviction. In other words he should have been acquitted since he wasn’t found guilty on any one of the charges. Yet he is still being held behind bars.

 "There is a pattern in the United States of taking out this type of
  extrajudicial punishment against people who refuse to be convicted ... 
  A jury was not going to give them what they wanted, and they would 
  have to take it some other way. And that's what they're doing right 
  now. They're giving out punishment to a man they couldn't convict"

    -- Jonathon Turley, member Al-Arian's legal team 
       and specialist national and security issues.


"To be patriotic is to be able to question government policy 
 in times of crisis. To be patriotic is to stand up for the bill of 
 rights and the Constitution in times of uncertainty and insecurity. 
 To be patriotic is to speak up against the powerful in defense of
 the weak and the voiceless. To be patriotic is to challenge the 
 abuses of the PATRIOT Act."

                Dr Sami Al-Arian

You can find out more about the case at http://www.usavsalarian.com and also at http://www.freesamialarian.com

Ironically a number of people have been asking me recently, how I feel about the fact that I’m traveling to China in order to present at the WWW2008 conference and whether I feel guilty that by even attending the conference in China I’m somehow tacitly supporting a regime with a history of human rights violations … I responded rather facetiously “no more guilty than when I travel to the US“. It was a rather glib response yet the truth is that if the world’s Greatest Democracy continues to be criticised for it’s human rights abuses then what hope is there of convincing nations like China that they should change. It smacks of a certain hypocrisy that we are quick to point the finger at nations like China but are hesitant to do anything about our own culpability, when our nations here in the west behave in the same abhorrent manner … is it a case of the pot calling the kettle black: 

In the past five years the administration has authorized torture 
and other abusive interrogation techniques, “disappeared” dozens 
of suspected terrorists into secretprisons, twisted domestic law to 
permit indefinite detention without charge of persons suspected of 
links to terrorism, and confined hundreds at Guantanamo Bay without 
charge while denying them information about the basis for their 
detention and meaningful opportunity to contest it. The administration 
has sought to exempt its  actions from court oversight.

  -- Human Rights Watch Report 2007 on the United States.

Uesugi Kenshin

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I’m currently reading Zen and the Samurai which is a beautifully written work, much of it is devoted to anecdotes about the lives many famous Samurai and how Zen deeply influenced them. The book makes reference to the beautiful verse below which was composed by the Samurai General Uesugi Kenshin on his death bed. It was a practise amongst many Samurai to write a verse in either Chinese or Japanese at the moment of death, this was Kenshin’s Parting of Life Verse:

Even a life-long prosperity is but one cup of sake;
A life of forty-nine years is passed in a dream;
I know not what life is, nor death.
Year in year out-all but a dream.
Both Heaven and Hell are left behind;
I stand in the moonlit dawn,
Free from clouds of attachment.

… exquisite.

Video on flickr

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Yay! finally we can upload and share our video’s on flickr. You can read about the new service over on the flickr blog

Here’s a funny video posted up by the flickr dev team:

Only Pro members can upload video’s and they can only be 90 seconds long which I actually find quite appealing as they explain on the Video FAQ:

Video on Flickr grew out of the idea of “long photos” and as such, we’ve implemented what might seem like an arbitrary limit of playing back the first 90 seconds of a video. 90 seconds?

We’re not trying to limit your artistic freedom, we’re trying something new. Everyone has endured that wedding video, where even the bride will fast-forward to the “good bit.”

I think its great 🙂

The Life Giving Sword

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  Weapons are instruments of ill omen. The Way of Heaven
  finds them repugnant. The Way of Heaven is to use them
  only when necessary.

Finally finished reading The Life Giving Sword by Yagyu Munenori last night. The version I have is translated into English by William Scott and is and absolutely wonderful read. It is considered to be one of the most important and influential texts on Japanese Martial Arts. Scott’s introduction, which is a third of the book, is essential reading and provides, in great detail, the historical context in which this book was written. He not only provides an insight into the life of Munenori but also into life in Japan almost four hundred years ago.

It was also nice to see, in Scott’s account, references to Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings – which to my mind is another seminal text on Japanese Swordsmanship. What’s amazing is that both these men were alive at the same time, and yet they never met. It’s widely acknowledged that Musashi coveted Munenori’s position as Official Swords Instructor to the Tokugawa Shogunate but was never able to gain it over his great rival.

What sets this text apart from others is that it combines the technical refinements of Shikage-Ryu with the philosophical and psychological insights of Zen Buddhism, which Munenori was greatly influenced by through his close friendship with the famous Zen priest Takuan Soho ( author of The Unfettered Mind ). In fact, having read some of Soho’s essays,  I’m convinced that this Buddhist spirituality is reflected in the whole idea of the "life giving sword" – this notion that you can control an opponent through your own spiritual readiness to fight. It is further reflected in Munenori’s mastery of restraint and diplomacy through which he became a trusted advisor to the Shoganate – and whilst this might surprise some it really is an insight into the most personal thoughts on non-attachment and non-violence of one of the greatest of all master swordsmen.

It is missing the point to think that the martial arts is
solely in cutting a man down. It is not in cutting people down;
it is in killing evil. It is in the stratagem of killing the
evil of one man and giving life to ten thousand...truly the sword
that kills one man will be the blade that gives others life.

or … 

In Zen there is a saying, "Beat the grass and scare up the snake".
Just as you beat the grass to scare up the snake that lies within,
there is a technique of suprising your opponent to cause his mind
to become agitated. Deception is doing something unexpected by your
opponent, and suprising him. This is the martial arts.

Once surprised, your opponent's mind will be taken, and his skill
undone. Raising your fan or hand in front of him will also take your
opponent's mind. Tossing aside the sword you are carrying is also a
martial art. If you have obtained the skill of No-Sword, what will
a sword be to you?

Whilst his words can seem cryptic and inpenetrable at times there is no doubting Munenori’s immense skill as a swordsman, and yet apart from one instance there is no recorded account of him ever killing another in a duel. That one incident though is legendary,and remembered to this day:

... a desperate force of about twenty to thirty men ... broke into
the Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada's camp. The Shogun's men were thrown
into confusion as the assailants, almost incredibly, pressed their
way to within a short distance of the shogun himself. There, however,
they confronted a middle-aged samurai, who was standing calmly in front
of the shogun's horse. The man stepped forward and, with shocking speed,
dexterity, and grace, killed seven of the attackers, giving the shogun's
guards a chance to regroup ... the middle aged samurai was Yagyu Tajima
no kami Munenori.

I often find it interesting to contrast the lives of Musashi and Munenori, the former’s fame was gained through numerous duels and was regarded as an outstanding swordsman having killed so many, and the latter maintained an aire of invincibility without ever having fought a duel. It seems paradoxical. For some odd reason this reminds me of something Plutarch once wrote when he compared the Lives of Numa and Lycurgus

Virtue rendered the one so respectable to deserve a throne, 
and other so great as to be above it.

I know it doesn’t quite fit but it certainly resonates. I thoroughly recommend this book, it’s deeply philosophical and deeply profound and will change your understanding of the nature of any martial art.

p.s. and no I guess it’s not a coincidence that my new sword arrived the other day 🙂

JQuery: Dmitri Gaskin – yes he’s only 12

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Dmitri Gaskin drinks code with his cereal for breakfast every morning. He’s a jQuery whiz and a Drupal know-it-all. He contributes patches for both Open Source projects. In the Drupal world, he maintains many modules, is on the security team, and is involved in the upcoming Summer of Code as a mentor and administrator. Dmitri has given many talks on Drupal and jQuery, in such places as Logitech, Drupalcon and live on a radio show out of L.A. When Dmitri isn’t coding, a very rare occurrence, he is playing and composing contemporary music. And attending classes in the 6th
grade. (He’s only 12.)

… a truly amazing individual and a wonderful presentation on jQuery.