Flying in the dark isn't so bad

On Wednesday night I came home tired and climbed the stairs to hear a flapping sound. One of these had got into my kitchen and was flying around. I took the window panes out but the bird continued to fly around. After half an hour of trying to catch it I began to despair. I was beginning to wonder if the only way would be to kill it. (As I tried to identify it on the internet and in a bird book, I found out that in Canada, it is one of three birds not protected by law.)

The house sparrow, Latin name passer domesticus, isn't meant to live inside a house and definitely is not a pet! This bird is a problem in North America destroying the eggs of native birds to seize their nests. It isn't even native to North America. How was I to get it out? I'd tried using a box and plastic bin. As I desperately looked for a solution the two of us were getting tired. The bird was trying to crawl along the edge of the wall and countertop. I threw an old towel over it. It didn't have enough strength to struggle. It complained as I trapped it in the towel. But as I threw it from the window it flew off. It's flying instincts took over.

The bird could have easily flown out the window if it had been willing to fly lower down and not at ceiling height and secondly if it could face the darkness outside. Recently I've been listening to those for whom God's presence seemed more distant, they were flying lower down. I shared that growth involves times of deeper trust and sometimes it is a dark trust, a trust without vision, a flying in the dark knowing it is better here than where you were.

We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Cor 5:7-8

Kelzmer and the human voice

A 19th Century Klezmer band in action or at least that was the caption to the photo. There is enough in the picture to suggest an ethnic band of travelers who play music together and its believable but not necessarily provable. This is specifically Jewish music the music of Klezmer כּלי־זמיר(yes I can read a little Hebrew alphabet though this is Yiddish which is a fusion of medieval German and Hebrew)

Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70, musical instruments were discourage in synagogues. But other aspects of life needed music such as weddings, and the klezmorim filled that gap. They filled a similar position as the Romas/gypsies and acquired some of their techniques. Klezmorim were accomplished musicians and they had a diverse repertoire in fact Christian churches would sometimes use them and even Italian classical violin virtuosos learned from them. In particular Ukrainian restrictions right into the 19th century forced them to play the violin and other string instruments though nowadays we hear the clarinet a lot.

Klezmer is distinctive because of its melodies sounding like the human voice, imitating both laughter and crying. The style imitates the singing of the synagogue from which they had been excluded. We can find the language of the Psalms in the style and tones. In fact Klezmer means instrument or vessel of song referring to both music genre and musician. Klezmer attracts me for its vox humana for it speaks in human tones, without words, of the highs and lows of life. I have enjoyed Ashkenzi festivals and the different fusion styles but its voice remains.

As I reflect over Klezmer, I think spirituality, which is a human voice; any spirituality that cannot accommodate both celebration and commiseration, both tears of joy and sadness, in the togetherness of community is lacking.

Empty meaningless hope

On soft gray mornings widows cry, The wise men share a joke; I run to grasp divining signs, To satisfy the hoax. The yellow jester does not play, But gentle pulls the strings And smiles as the puppets dance, In the court of the crimson king. - King Crimson

In the series the Love of God, Wednesday night's offering was The Children of Men.

“The Children of Men,” is directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who is also one of five screenwriters credited with adapting P.D. James's book. The film felt relentless and exhausting and energetic, and yet captivating in its story line, but it was extremely dark and ominously familiar. I believe these to have all been Cuarón's intent and he was successful.

Set in 2027, global humanity has lost the ability to produce babies for 18 years. The United Kingdom is full of illegal immigrants who are being caught, caged and deported. In this apocalyptic world we see chaos and the stench of impending human extinction.

Theo, because of a number of events, assumes responsibility for the care and protection of a pregnant woman, Kee in this world of infertility. She and her expected child become a symbol of gentle hope for some and of political power for others. However the movie's language is strong and this vision is filled with a lot of violence and we are presented with a world without hope. In fact this hopelessness is basically heading violently to termination and yet this little baby following it's birth stuns for a moment a pitched gun battle between rebels and authorities. This baby offers hope but a jaded strange hope in the 'Human project' an offshore haven away from this fascist state asserting itself against the unwanted and the anarchic disorder.

There were a lot of obvious symbols and lingering shots reflective of the nativity, the birth of Jesus. One could have predicted John Tavener's minimalist music, but there some surprising ones as well . Around the visit to the government fortress the presence of the flying pig balloon from Pink Floyd's Animal, the use of music from King Crimson's In the court of the Crimson King, can give us an insight into the director/screenwriter's mind. It appears PD James' novel is by far more explicitly Christian than the film. In fact we find many characters have been appropriated to fit an intrinsic critique of unbridled political power and the portrayal of a fascist state. (One cannot deny the film's strong allusions to Nazi Germany.)

G.K. Chesterton wrote: “Men who begin to fight the Church for the sake of freedom and humanity end by flinging away freedom and humanity if only they may fight the Church.” Slavoj Zizek on the film's website cites this and asserts "the same holds for the advocates of religion themselves." Obviously this is a potential risk but only when humans decide to fight for the church, and they decide how they will fight for the church. The Children of Men has a similar trajectory to Lord of the Flies by William Golding a descent into disorder. But nonviolent protest and the fight against injustice, provision of hope, has a deep recent history, e.g. Gandi, Martin Luther King, people power in the Philippines against Marcos and currently protest in Myanmar. It has a refusal to thrown away freedom and humanity.

However a scene with a banal meaningless discussion of the relationship of “faith” and “chance” betrays an ambiguity that is intended. Traditionally providence is to accept what happens as an act of God, chance is an empty acceptance denying cause and effect such that what happens has no meaning. Somehow this latter view pervades the movie and even the baby is only symbolic of hope, its birth is a chance event and not a seen as gift or opportunity. Cuarón's adaptation really offers only empty hope the religious is reduced to meaninglessness and inept practices just look at the taichi or meaningless rituals. There is no hope for change. for redemption, only escape. BUT Christmas (coming soon) and birth of the Son/child of God (rather than men) brings not just hope but Emmanuel, God with us.

Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Luke 1:3-4

all about cello

The copyright for this belongs to Chow Tze Chun though choweggtart is his or her internet identity. It's widely available on the internet and eventually when I figure how to embed youtube and google video I'll do that.

How much is learning always in a communal context against a personal individual thing? All about cello needs an audience, the animator created is for a class assignment as far as I can see but it needed a greater audience. Even this blog is meaningless without readers, the same with books and any form of media.

I think published sheet music is different because the musician seems to have a different role. (I suspect poetry to be similar.) The musician is far less passive. In the pre-recorded music era many homes depended on family members being able to sing or play a musical instrument. You can note a level of proficiency just by looking at the vocal scale of the Victorian era against that of 21st century pop music. A level of proficiency was aspired to because of the communal context and engagement.

Nodame Cantabile (see my labels list) has many messages for me probably first and foremost is to be serious and to engage with music on its own terms (including the composer's style etc) but secondly is to understand how to catch. enchant or draw the audience into your world. Even then sometimes the audience isn't willing to listen or ready to listen. We all need to speak and be heard but it's not a matter of shouting. How come we rarely hear God? How come we rarely hear each other?

More on Compassion and competition

(left is a cotton furoshiki, wrapping cloth called the Rabbit and the Moon)

Sometimes a story leaves a deep crater when you hear or read it. Augustine Ichiro Okumura retold this Japanese folk story in his book Awakening to Prayer. (Click here to read it online) Everything below is his words.

The Rabbit on the Moon

"In our day and age children no longer believe in rabbits on the moon. But all Japanese know the charming legend and still see in the shadows on the full moon a rabbit threshing his rice. I believe that other countries see a woman reading or the man in the moon. All these legends show us that our ancestors looked for meaning in the universe. Here is the Japanese legend:"

Once upon a time long ago, a monkey, a rabbit, and a fox lived together as friends. During the day they frolicked on the mountain; at night they went back to the forest. This went on for some years. The Lord of Heaven heard about it and wanted to see if it were really true. He went to them disguised as an old wanderer. "I have traveled through mountains and valleys and I am tired out. Could you give me something to eat?" said he, laying down his staff in order to rest. The monkey went off at once to gather nuts that he presented; the fox brought an offering from his fish trap in the river. The rabbit ran through the fields in every direction but came back with nothing. The monkey and the fox made fun of him: "You are really good for nothing." The little rabbit was so discouraged that he asked the monkey to gather some thistles and the fox to set fire to them. They did so. Then the little rabbit said to the old man, "Please eat me," and threw himself into the flames. The pilgrim was pierced to the heart by this sacrifice, and wept, saying, "Each one deserves praise; there are neither winners nor losers. But the little rabbit has given an exceptional proof of love." So saying, he restored the rabbit to his original form and took the little body to heaven to be buried in the palace of the moon.

The utter poverty of the little rabbit is like that of the child who said, "Pardon me, God, I have nothing to offer." Both exemplify the attitude from which true prayer arises.

Whatever I offer God is really nothing in God's eyes: "Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (Jas 1:17). [used with the open permission of ICS Press]

Collectivism vs individualism

I happened Saturday to watch the 1949 movie The Fountainhead staring Gary Cooper as an idealistic or individualistic architect bringing in Modernism to architecture single handed! The film comes from Ayn Rand's book of the same title and refers to her statement that "man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress".

The movie was troubling for me as I considered it because Rand set up a false conflict situation between submission to the collective will and individualism as selfishness. The book and movie (she wrote the screen play as well) became a convenient vehicle for portraying her views — that the Ego is supreme, and human progress depends on individualism. (see my earlier posts on compassion vs competition). Gary Cooper's character is portrayed heroically as a figure of integrity and victim of collectivity. In fact his legal defence speech towards the end of the movie is an unbelievable 6 minutes long because of Rand's demands that it not be shortened or cut. (See it here at youtube) I believe the speech is an declaration of her viewpoint.

I am indebted to Wikipedia which helped we work out what was problematic.

"Rather than using "selfish" in describing choosing one's interests over and against the welfare of others, she described an act as "selfish" if it remained true to one's ideals against the influence of history and society. "Selflessness" is the concept of losing one's self, not merely acting without regard for one's self or in the interest of others, but as being unable to determine and form one's desires and opinions."

The message is iconic of the American values or at least the Modernist ones. There is a condemnation of sentimentality and compassion as enemies of reason and they manipulate the heart rather than engage the mind. There are aspects of self-creation and identity in individualistic terms. Rand seems unable to embrace attachment and issues of responsibility, obligation and the collective good. Paradoxically I found also an American jingoism of The America We Love as an undertow because we value the self made man!

The problem is that the lone individualist eventually needs to belong wants to be accepted! One of the history's ultimate theoretical individualists, Jean, Paul Sartre, who declared that Hell is other people, eventually became a communtarian. In contrast Christian spirituality to reach a true self is to give self away, to have selflessness, to find one's meaning or purpose in living in the call of God. But this is not in Rand's terms an oppressive conformity rather a new freedom because as Henri Nouwen stated “My hope is that the description of God’s love in my life will give you the freedom and the courage to discover . . . God’s love in yours.”

This is no longer an enclosed world in which the individual is trapped, but instead a universality of creativity with the idea of growing the other, that we ourselves could be the water or soil for others to step out to discover themselves.

The Lord's prayer - another approach

The Lord's prayer is a prayer which in theory unites believers globally and across history.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.
for ever and ever. Amen

This was new translation introduced into the Church of England in 1977.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours.
Now and for ever. Amen

As I've already mentioned earlier I am not entirely interested in words rather rhythm and melody. A couple of years or so ago I approached the traditional prayer in a different way and created an audio track which reflects on the Lord's Prayer with my alternative thoughts. This is a another way of approaching prayer using a more chill style of music. There is a sung refrain for those listening to sing along with this track, 'Not my will but thine be done." (click here for streaming audio)

I also found a fascinating Lord's prayer video (click here for their website) This also is another interpretation with many different languages. I love the music perhaps because of the cello's role and prominence.