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Requiring humility, disclipline, and deep sacrifice. Offering only the occasional peacefulness silently in return, rowing is the closest thing to religion in my life.
This sport is esoteric & so elusive that you spend many quiet morning hours alone with your thoughts; the relentless wind and dawning day your only companions. Who else would routinely risk hypothermia at that black hour? There is no one on shore but the geese. The life of responsibility and ticking clocks awaits you--as soon as lactic acid begins to win & you head for home. Silently you glide towards the awakening sun. Once in a while (once a year that is) the shores of the same quiet Charles river overflow with throngs of people who share your strange but daily toil. They speak the same language, of limbs on fire.
And it swells your heart!! On dark quiet lakes in Quebec and Switzerland where the mist rises hours before you do; on warm brown rivers in Thailand and Brazil, these fellow rowers begin their days with the same painful poetry as you--in that narrow little boat.
So in the end it is not your absentee father's haunting voice that brings a tear as you round the last bend of the long long race. But the loud cheers of these beautiful strangers from the river's edge that push you on, far past the searing pain pleading with you to stop. From the familiar depths of their own experience, your fellow oarsmen encourage your success. They have become your lungs & precious breath when needed most. You move with them in one seamless powerful motion, far transcending this moment & its aching self.
Rowed in my 10th Head of the Charles this weekend. I'm officially a "masters" athlete now. That's me in the red boat, 4th person from the front. Terrific weather on Saturday, we had a long but smooth row; great rhythm & swing. And of course, speed. That taste of blood in your lungs & the relentless demand for more speed! I had an oustanding day, on & off the water.
As always, the head of the chuck was a great opportunity to re-connect with old friends from Philly, Boston & Barcelona--2 of whom I raced aginst! Kind of a reunion weekend.
p.s. Photography credit for this shot goes to my friend Dirk, who shot this from the Anderson bridge.
“It is God's power that carries us through every moment. If we are aware of this, we will spontaneously be humble, our attitude towards the Almighty will be transformed into an attitude of worship, our focus on Him will blossom with our every step and we will be successful in our efforts."—Amma, Awaken Children
"He must increase, but I must decrease."--John 3:22-30
"He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. "—Luke 14:11
"They shall cast their crowns before the throne, so saying: Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the honor and the power: for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they are, and were created. "—Rev. 4:11
“Isn't it true that the air we breathe is our home, that the blue sky, the rivers, the mountains, the people around us, the trees, and the animals are our home? A wave looking deeply into herself will see that she is made up of all the other waves and will no longer feel she is cut off from everything around her.”—Thich Nhat Hanh
“An umbilical cord links you to the sun. Another umbilical cord links you to the clouds in the sky. If the clouds were not there, there would be no rain and no water to drink. Without clouds, there is no milk, no tea, no coffee, no ice cream, nothing. There is an umbilical cord linking you to the river; there is one linking you to the forest. If you continue meditating like this, you can see that you are linked to everything and everyone in the cosmos. Your life depends on everything else that exists—on other living beings, but also on plants, minerals, air, water, and earth.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Kaore te kūmara e kōrero mo tōna māngaro = The kūmara does not speak of its own sweetness.
also listen
www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/teahikaa/audio/2018...
Planeta
Madonna of Humility, The Blessing Christ, Two Angels, and a Donor
Andrea di Bartolo (Siense, 1389–1428)
Tempera on Panel, c. 1380/1390
Inscription: AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA
(Latin, "Hail Mary, full of grace...")
1/125, f/2.8, Tri-X, Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/1.9 C + #1 tube on M645. HC-110, 1:160, 38 min @ 22C semi stand
...when an honor is given for the indigenous peoples of many lands on Earth...for preserving their humility and simplicity of life...
“What makes humility so desirable is the marvelous thing it does to us; it creates in us a capacity for the closest possible intimacy with God”
~Monica Baldwin
My first try at a diptych, the first is a Sikh man in the sanctum of the Gurudwara Seesganj Sahib at Delhi and the second is the "hijra" who came to our house to bless my newborn nephew.
The Burgtheater at Dr.-Karl -Lueger-Ring (from now on, Universitätsring) in Vienna is an Austrian Federal Theatre. It is one of the most important stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European one, as well as the greatest German speaking theater. The original 'old' Burgtheater at Saint Michael's square was utilized from 1748 until the opening of the new building at the ring in October, 1888. The new house in 1945 burnt down completely as a result of bomb attacks, until the re-opening on 14 October 1955 was the Ronacher serving as temporary quarters. The Burgtheater is considered as Austrian National Theatre.
Throughout its history, the theater was bearing different names, first Imperial-Royal Theater next to the Castle, then to 1918 Imperial-Royal Court-Burgtheater and since then Burgtheater (Castle Theater). Especially in Vienna it is often referred to as "The Castle (Die Burg)", the ensemble members are known as Castle actors (Burgschauspieler).
History
St. Michael's Square with the old K.K. Theatre beside the castle (right) and the Winter Riding School of the Hofburg (left)
The interior of the Old Burgtheater, painted by Gustav Klimt. The people are represented in such detail that the identification is possible.
The 'old' Burgtheater at St. Michael's Square
The original castle theater was set up in a ball house that was built in the lower pleasure gardens of the Imperial Palace of the Roman-German King and later Emperor Ferdinand I in 1540, after the old house 1525 fell victim to a fire. Until the beginning of the 18th Century was played there the Jeu de Paume, a precursor of tennis. On 14 March 1741 finally gave the Empress Maria Theresa, ruling after the death of her father, which had ordered a general suspension of the theater, the "Entrepreneur of the Royal Court Opera" and lessees of 1708 built theater at Kärntnertor (Carinthian gate), Joseph Karl Selliers, permission to change the ballroom into a theater. Simultaneously, a new ball house was built in the immediate vicinity, which todays Ballhausplatz is bearing its name.
In 1748, the newly designed "theater next to the castle" was opened. 1756 major renovations were made, inter alia, a new rear wall was built. The Auditorium of the Old Burgtheater was still a solid timber construction and took about 1200 guests. The imperial family could reach her royal box directly from the imperial quarters, the Burgtheater structurally being connected with them. At the old venue at Saint Michael's place were, inter alia, several works of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Franz Grillparzer premiered .
On 17 February 1776, Emperor Joseph II declared the theater to the German National Theatre (Teutsches Nationaltheater). It was he who ordered by decree that the stage plays should not deal with sad events for not bring the Imperial audience in a bad mood. Many theater plays for this reason had to be changed and provided with a Vienna Final (Happy End), such as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. From 1794 on, the theater was bearing the name K.K. Court Theatre next to the castle.
1798 the poet August von Kotzebue was appointed as head of the Burgtheater, but after discussions with the actors he left Vienna in 1799. Under German director Joseph Schreyvogel was introduced German instead of French and Italian as a new stage language.
On 12 October 1888 took place the last performance in the old house. The Burgtheater ensemble moved to the new venue at the Ring. The Old Burgtheater had to give way to the completion of Saint Michael's tract of Hofburg. The plans to this end had been drawn almost 200 years before the demolition of the old Burgtheater by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach.
The "new" K.K. Court Theatre (as the inscription reads today) at the Ring opposite the Town Hall, opened on 14 October 1888 with Grillparzer's Esther and Schiller's Wallenstein's Camp, was designed in neo-Baroque style by Gottfried Semper (plan) and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer (facade), who had already designed the Imperial Forum in Vienna together. Construction began on 16 December 1874 and followed through 14 years, in which the architects quarreled. Already in 1876 Semper withdrew due to health problems to Rome and had Hasenauer realized his ideas alone, who in the dispute of the architects stood up for a mainly splendid designed grand lodges theater.
However, created the famous Viennese painter Gustav Klimt and his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch 1886-1888 the ceiling paintings in the two stairwells of the new theater. The three took over this task after similar commissioned work in the city theaters of Fiume and Karlovy Vary and in the Bucharest National Theatre. In the grand staircase on the side facing the café Landtmann of the Burgtheater (Archduke stairs) reproduced Gustav Klimt the artists of the ancient theater in Taormina on Sicily, in the stairwell on the "People's Garden"-side (Kaiserstiege, because it was reserved for the emperor) the London Globe Theatre and the final scene from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Above the entrance to the auditorium is Molière's The Imaginary Invalid to discover. In the background the painter immortalized himself in the company of his two colleagues. Emperor Franz Joseph I liked the ceiling paintings so much that he gave the members of the company of artists of Klimt the Golden Cross of Merit.
The new building resembles externally the Dresden Semper Opera, but even more, due to the for the two theaters absolutely atypical cross wing with the ceremonial stairs, Semper's Munich project from the years 1865/1866 for a Richard Wagner Festspielhaus above the Isar. Above the middle section there is a loggia, which is framed by two side wings, and is divided from a stage house with a gable roof and auditorium with a tent roof. Above the center house there decorates a statue of Apollo the facade, throning between the Muses of drama and tragedy. Above the main entrances are located friezes with Bacchus and Ariadne. At the exterior facade round about, portrait busts of the poets Calderon, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Halm, Grillparzer, and Hebbel can be seen. The masks which also can be seen here are indicating the ancient theater, furthermore adorn allegorical representations the side wings: love, hate, humility, lust, selfishness, and heroism. Although the theater since 1919 is bearing the name of Burgtheater, the old inscription KK Hofburgtheater over the main entrance still exists. Some pictures of the old gallery of portraits have been hung up in the new building and can be seen still today - but these images were originally smaller, they had to be "extended" to make them work better in high space. The points of these "supplements" are visible as fine lines on the canvas.
The Burgtheater was initially well received by Viennese people due to its magnificent appearance and technical innovations such as electric lighting, but soon criticism because of the poor acoustics was increasing. Finally, in 1897 the auditorium was rebuilt to reduce the acoustic problems. The new theater was an important meeting place of social life and soon it was situated among the "sanctuaries" of Viennese people. In November 1918, the supervision over the theater was transferred from the High Steward of the emperor to the new state of German Austria.
1922/1923 the Academy Theatre was opened as a chamber play stage of the Burgtheater. On 8th May 1925, the Burgtheater went into Austria's criminal history, as here Mentscha Karnitschewa perpetrated a revolver assassination on Todor Panitza.
The Burgtheater in time of National Socialism
The National Socialist ideas also left traces in the history of the Burgtheater. In 1939 appeared in Adolf Luser Verlag the strongly anti-Semitic characterized book of theater scientist Heinz Kindermann "The Burgtheater. Heritage and mission of a national theater", in which he, among other things, analyzed the "Jewish influence "on the Burgtheater. On 14 October 1938 was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Burgtheater a Don Carlos production of Karl-Heinz Stroux shown that served Hitler's ideology. The role of the Marquis of Posa played the same Ewald Balser, who in a different Don Carlos production a year earlier (by Heinz Hilpert) at the Deutsches Theater in the same role with the sentence in direction of Joseph Goebbels box vociferated: "just give freedom of thought". The actor and director Lothar Müthel, who was director of the Burgtheater between 1939 and 1945, staged 1943 the Merchant of Venice, in which Werner Kraus the Jew Shylock clearly anti-Semitic represented. The same director staged after the war Lessing's parable Nathan the Wise. Adolf Hitler himself visited during the Nazi regime the Burgtheater only once (1938), and later he refused in pure fear of an assassination.
For actors and theater staff who were classified according to the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 as "Jews ", were quickly imposed stage bans, within a few days, they were on leave, fired or arrested. The Burgtheater ensemble between 1938 and 1945 did not put up significant resistance against the Nazi ideology, the repertoire was heavily censored, only a few joined the Resistance, as Judith Holzmeister (then also at the People's Theatre engaged) or the actor Fritz Lehmann. Although Jewish members of the ensemble indeed have been helped to emigrate, was still an actor, Fritz Strassny, taken to a concentration camp and murdered there.
The Burgtheater at the end of the war and after the Second World War
In summer 1944, the Burgtheater had to be closed because of the decreed general theater suspension. From 1 April 1945, as the Red Army approached Vienna, camped a military unit in the house, a portion was used as an arsenal. In a bomb attack the house at the Ring was damaged and burned down on 12th April 1945 completely. Auditorium and stage were useless, only the steel structure remained. The ceiling paintings and part of the lobby were almost undamaged.
The Soviet occupying power expected from Viennese City Councillor Viktor Matejka to launch Vienna's cultural life as soon as possible again. The council summoned on 23 April (a state government did not yet exist) a meeting of all Viennese cultural workers into the Town Hall. Result of the discussions was that in late April 1945 eight cinemas and four theaters took up the operation again, including the Burgtheater. The house took over the Ronacher Theater, which was understood by many castle actors as "exile" as a temporary home (and remained there to 1955). This venue chose the newly appointed director Raoul Aslan, who championed particularly active.
The first performance after the Second World War was on 30 April 1945 Sappho by Franz Grillparzer directed by Adolf Rott from 1943 with Maria Eis in the title role. Also other productions from the Nazi era were resumed. With Paul Hoerbiger, a few days ago as Nazi prisoner still in mortal danger, was shown the play of Nestroy Mädl (Girlie) from the suburbs. The Academy Theatre could be played (the first performance was on 19 April 1945 Hedda Gabler, a production of Rott from the year 1941) and also in the ball room (Redoutensaal) at the Imperial Palace took place performances. Aslan the Ronacher in the summer had rebuilt because the stage was too small for classical performances. On 25 September 1945, Schiller's Maid of Orleans could be played on the enlarged stage.
The first new productions are associated with the name of Lothar Müthel: Everyone and Nathan the Wise, in both Raoul Aslan played the main role. The staging of The Merchant of Venice by Müthel in Nazi times seemed to have been fallen into oblivion.
Great pleasure gave the public the return of the in 1938 from the ensemble expelled Else Wohlgemuth on stage. She performaed after seven years in exile in December 1945 in Clare Biharys The other mother in the Academy Theater. 1951 opened the Burgtheater its doors for the first time, but only the left wing, where the celebrations on the 175th anniversary of the theater took place.
1948, a competition for the reconstruction was tendered: Josef Gielen, who was then director, first tended to support the design of ex aequo-ranked Otto Niedermoser, according to which the house was to be rebuilt into a modern gallery theater. Finally, he agreed but then for the project by Michael Engelhardt, whose plan was conservative but also cost effective. The character of the lodges theater was largely taken into account and maintained, the central royal box but has been replaced by two balconies, and with a new slanted ceiling construction in the audience was the acoustics, the shortcoming of the house, improved significantly.
On 14 October 1955 was happening under Adolf Rott the reopening of the restored house at the Ring. For this occasion Mozart's A Little Night Music was played. On 15 and on 16 October it was followed by the first performance (for reasons of space as a double premiere) in the restored theater: King Ottokar's Fortune and End of Franz Grillparzer, staged by Adolf Rott. A few months after the signing of the Austrian State Treaty was the choice of this play, which the beginning of Habsburg rule in Austria makes a subject of discussion and Ottokar of Horneck's eulogy on Austria (... it's a good country / Well worth that a prince bow to it! / where have you yet seen the same?... ) contains highly symbolic. Rott and under his successors Ernst Haeusserman and Gerhard Klingenberg the classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater German for German theaters were finally pointing the way .
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Burgtheater participated (with other well-known theaters in Vienna) on the so-called Brecht boycott.
Gerhard Klingenberg internationalized the Burgtheater, he invited renowned stage directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Hall, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Roberto Guicciardini and Otomar Krejča. Klingenberg also enabled the castle debuts of Claus Peymann and Thomas Bernhard (1974 world premiere of The Hunting Party). Bernhard was as a successor of Klingenberg mentioned, but eventually was appointed Achim Benning, whereupon the writer with the text "The theatrical shack on the ring (how I should become the director of the Burgtheater)" answered.
Benning, the first ensemble representative of the Burgtheater which was appointed director, continued Klingenberg's way of Europeanization by other means, brought directors such as Adolf Dresen, Manfred Wekwerth or Thomas Langhoff to Vienna, looked with performances of plays of Vaclav Havel to the then politically separated East and took the the public taste more into consideration.
Directorate Claus Peymann 1986-1999
Under the by short-term Minister of Education Helmut Zilk brought to Vienna Claus Peymann, director from 1986 to 1999, there was further modernization of the programme and staging styles. Moreover Peymann was never at a loss for critical contributions in the public, a hitherto unusual attitude for Burgtheater directors. Therefore, he and his program within sections of the audience met with rejection. The greatest theater scandal in Vienna since 1945 occurred in 1988 concerning the premiere of Thomas Bernhard's Heldenplatz (Place of the Heroes) drama which was fiercly fought by conservative politicians and zealots. The play deals with the Vergangenheitsbewältigung (process of coming to terms with the past) and illuminates the present management in Austria - with attacks on the then ruling Social Democratic Party - critically. Together with Claus Peymann Bernhard after the premiere dared to face on the stage applause and boos.
Bernard, to his home country bound in love-hate relationship, prohibited the performance of his plays in Austria before his death in 1989 by will. Peymann, to Bernhard bound in a difficult friendship (see Bernhard's play Claus Peymann buys a pair of pants and goes eating with me) feared harm for the author's work, should his plays precisely in his homeland not being shown. First, it was through permission of the executor Peter Fabjan - Bernhard's half-brother - after all, possible the already in the schedule of the Burgtheater included productions to continue. Finally, shortly before the tenth anniversary of the death of Bernard it came to the revival of the Bernhard play Before retirement by the first performance director Peymann. The plays by Bernhard are since then continued on the programme of the Burgtheater and they are regularly newly produced.
In 1993, the rehearsal stage of the Castle theater was opened in the arsenal (architect Gustav Peichl). Since 1999, the Burgtheater has the operation form of a limited corporation.
Directorate Klaus Bachler 1999-2009
Peymann was followed in 1999 by Klaus Bachler as director. He is a trained actor, but was mostly as a cultural manager (director of the Vienna Festival) active. Bachler moved the theater as a cultural event in the foreground and he engaged for this purpose directors such as Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Zadek and Martin Kušej.
Were among the unusual "events" of the directorate Bachler
* The Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries by Hermann Nitsch with the performance of 122 Action (2005 )
* The recording of the MTV Unplugged concert with Die Toten Hosen for the music channel MTV (2005, under the title available)
* John Irving's reading from his book at the Burgtheater Until I find you (2006)
* The 431 animatographische (animatographical) Expedition by Christoph Schlingensief and a big event of him under the title of Area 7 - Matthew Sadochrist - An expedition by Christoph Schlingensief (2006).
* Daniel Hoevels cut in Schiller's Mary Stuart accidentally his throat (December 2008). Outpatient care is enough.
Jubilee Year 2005
In October 2005, the Burgtheater celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its reopening with a gala evening and the performance of Grillparzer's King Ottokar's Fortune and End, directed by Martin Kušej that had been performed in August 2005 at the Salzburg Festival as a great success. Michael Maertens (in the role of Rudolf of Habsburg) received the Nestroy Theatre Award for Best Actor for his role in this play. Actor Tobias Moretti was awarded in 2006 for this role with the Gertrude Eysoldt Ring.
Furthermore, there were on 16th October 2005 the open day on which the 82-minute film "burg/private. 82 miniatures" of Sepp Dreissinger was shown for the first time. The film contains one-minute film "Stand portraits" of Castle actors and guest actors who, without saying a word, try to present themselves with a as natural as possible facial expression. Klaus Dermutz wrote a work on the history of the Burgtheater. As a motto of this season served a quotation from Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm: "It's so sad to be happy alone."
The Burgtheater on the Mozart Year 2006
Also the Mozart Year 2006 was at the Burgtheater was remembered. As Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1782 in the courtyard of Castle Theatre was premiered came in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera on the occasion of the Vienna Festival in May 2006 a new production (directed by Karin Beier) of this opera on stage.
Directorate Matthias Hartmann since 2009
From September 2009 to 2014, Matthias Hartmann was Artistic Director of the Burgtheater. A native of Osnabrück, he directed the stage houses of Bochum and Zurich. With his directors like Alvis Hermanis, Roland Schimmelpfennig, David Bösch, Stefan Bachmann, Stefan Pucher, Michael Thalheimer, came actresses like Dorte Lyssweski, Katharina Lorenz, Sarah Viktoria Frick, Mavie Hoerbiger, Lucas Gregorowicz and Martin Wuttke came permanently to the Burg. Matthias Hartmann himself staged around three premieres per season, about once a year, he staged at the major opera houses. For more internationality and "cross-over", he won the Belgian artist Jan Lauwers and his Need Company as "Artists in Residence" for the Castle, the New York group Nature Theater of Oklahoma show their great episode drama Live and Times of an annual continuation. For the new look - the Burgtheater presents itself without a solid logo with word games around the BURG - the Burgtheater in 2011 was awarded the Cultural Brand of the Year .
Since 2014, Karin Bergmann is the commander in chief.
Öffne deine großen schwarzen Satinaugen,
die wie Kissen sind, in die man sinkt!
Schmeichle meine Füße, phantastische Sphinx!
Und singe mir all deine Erinnerungen!
Oscar Wild
Shot this one a while back at a Launch night for Taygan Paxton's EP " Wait for love" where there were several live performances from various acts including Duke (Live beatbox band and Britians got Talent finalists) and Luke Godwin pictured here who opened the show with his fierce punk acoustic set.
Strobe Info:
Left: Canon 430ex Speedlite - Lastolite 9" Ezybox - 1/8 24mm
Right: Yongnuo 560II - Diffused 1/8 80mm snoot.
Because I love being an American, let me share just a little personal experience I had today that concerns public spaces, transportation, terrorism, and the need to protect civil liberties (including the right to make photographs in public).
I was accosted by an MBTA employee when I took this shot waiting for an Outbound train at Central Square Station in Cambridge---a smaller stop on the Red Line between MIT and Harvard---and was told in no uncertain terms that photography is strictly forbidden on the T. This assertion was, of course patently incorrect and misinformed. Having recently passed through Grand Central in New York and taken photos in those few moments without fuss, I was struck when this happened by how well New York has adapted to the pressures of living in the "New Age of Vigilance" as I like to term it, whereas folks at home in the Boston area are still trying to sort things out. In New York, I was just one of many tourists vying for a space on the platform to take "the grand shot of Grand Central". Here in Boston, the big nerdy Asian dude with the thick glasses and the tiny tiny camera is a threat to security. Now, I'm no militant activist, but I will say I will not bend to paranoia and misinformation, nor be pushed around by someone with nothing better to do in the course of "just doing his job".
To Whom It May Concern: Wanna make a dent in the threat? Take a lesson from our Founding Fathers and educate yourself, better yourself, and carry yourself with some humility as an American, with respect for the rights you profess to protect. No, I don't mean walk around like a mouse. Meditate for real on the word humility. It's a word we Americans need to come to terms with in its positive aspects. As for me, I'll do the same, and say I'm with Ben.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
Gatka (Punjabi: ਗਤਕਾ gatkā) is a weapon-based Indian martial art created by the Sikhs of the Pan Jaab. The Panjabi word gatka refers to the wooden stick used in sparring matches. The term might have originated as a diminutive of the Sanskrit word gadha or mace.
Gatka can be practiced either as a sport (khel) or ritual (rasmi). The modern sport originated in the later 19th century, out of sword practice in the British Indian Army during the 1880s. It is played by two opponents who spar with wooden staves intended to simulate swords. The sticks may be paired with a shield. The older techniques and various other weapons are taught in the ritual aspect of the art. These are demonstrated in preset routines or performed as a sword dance during Sikh festivals. Though primarily an armed fighting style, gatka also incorporates wrestling as part of its empty-handed training component
Masolino da Panicale (Tommaso di Cristofano Fini), Panicale di Valdarno 1383 - Florenz 1440
Madonna dell'Umiltà (ca. 1430 - 35)
Masolino wurde wahrscheinlich in der Werkstatt von Gherardo Starnina ausgebildet und arbeitete von 1403 - 1407 als Gehilfe des Bildhauers Lorenzo Ghiberti in Florenz. Dort wurde er 1423 Mitglied der Arte dei Medici e Speziali (Zunft der Ärzte und Apotheker, zu der auch die Maler gehören) und ab 1425 begann er zusammen mit Masaccio mit der Ausmalung der Brancacci-Kapelle der Florentiner Kirche Santa Maria del Carmine. Seine Arbeiten in Florenz gehören zu den bedeutendsten Werken der Frührenaissance.
Das Gemälde der Madonna del Umità (Madonna der Demut) wurde 1930 auf dem Antiquitätenmarkt in London angeboten und seine Zuschreibung an Masolino war lange Zeit strittig. Darstellungen Marias als Madonna dell'Umiltà waren in der Übergangszeit von der Gotik zur Renaissance ein sehr beliebtes Thema der Florentiner Kunst. Die Madonna, die das Jesuskind stillt, sitzt hier nicht auf einem Thron sondern ganz bescheiden auf einem Kissen, das am Boden liegt.
The Beautiful Complexity all around Us
All around us there are innumerable cells working together to form beautiful, complex organisms, bacteria populating the planet, all this wonder. And all we see are our mundane little problems. All we see is some irrelevant expectation of ours not met, or chance playing to our seeming disadvantage.
But remember the miracle that makes you possible. 100 million million living beings cooperating seamlessly and in symbiosis with 10-20 times as many microbes in your body to make it possible for you to exist, to live, to be conscious.
Read more at my blog post Scales of Life – From an Atom to the Human Body
We often wear material things to protect our body...but little that we know that there are people out there who protect our Spiritual Life...that our essence as human beings, and that is as a Children of God...may still be preserved and defended...and these people teach us to be compassionate...to see greater than the material things that lure our senses and bodily desires...they may be workers behind the enjoyments of those who are more blessed...who needs to be acknowledged for their humility...who truly protects Humanity…
A statue near the Winter Gardens in Weston-super-Mare that appears to display humility, in this case allowing a sheep to nibble your fingers.
NN. 5–9167 {provide} moral and ascetic lessons from the humility and virginity of Mary. Virginity is praiseworthy, but humility more so. Virginity is counseled, but humility is commanded. If you cannot be a virgin, you can at least be humble. He who is without virginity can still please God by his humility, but without humility even the Virgin Mary would not have been pleasing to God; and though her virginity was pleasing to God, it was her humility that caused her to conceive the Word, because if she had not been humble, the Holy Spirit would not have rested upon her (see Isaias 66: 2). The obedience of Jesus to Mary teaches us the greatest humility and obedience. “As often as I wish to be placed in command over men, I desire to go ahead of my God and therefore I do not really know the things of God” (60). 168 Here again, we can say that St. Bernard is doing what he did above: penetrating from external signs to the inner mystery of our life in God. Virginity and purity may be signs of sanctity, but humility and obedience are closer to the essence. The deepest reality in the moral and ascetic life is participation by love in the total obedience and humility of Christ.
-The Cistercian Fathers and their monastic theology : initiation into the monastic tradition 8 / by Thomas Merton ; edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell ; preface by James Finley.
Gate of Humility, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 27 Feb 2016
One of the most historic features of Gonville and Caius college is its iconic trio of gateways. The Gateways of Humility, Virtue and Honour can be found in the grounds of the college. They are said to symbolize the pathway of academic life.
One arrives through the Gateway of Humility, humble before the task of academia before you.
In the centre of the college is the Gate of Virtue. Students must pass regularly through this gate during life at the college, representing the values of virtue that creator Keys saw as synonymous with learning.
Finally upon graduation students pass through the Gate of Honour on their way to receive their degrees at the Senate House.
Obviously the Gate of Humility is the simplest and the Gate of Honour the grandest.
Rest your body on the threshold of my reality
Awaken with a new strength to excel valorously
Live each day with honesty and humility
Walk in the footsteps of excellence through righteousness
Make each day’s journey clean and fresh like mountain streams
Ascend and descend in the cycle of renewal, sons and daughters
Use the ladder of life to teach your children well
Pathway to the Divinity is by climbing the ladder of... "love to oneself and to all things"
I was reading the Christian Bible about the story of Jacob and thought
all the messages of all the great teachers, from all the great lands, became distorted to serve man and
to help man control man out of fear and persecution.
This is a huge flaw in human development…again “Separation” of humans
because of spiritual beliefs, geographic location and the color of our skin.
To grow into ourselves, to Love ourselves and to Love each other,
is the key to a…… Bright Future….. We need to stop the madness…..
Lies, Hate and Tyranny has crippled us and transgresses us all to a group of one legged men in an ass kicking contest…..
We are all in the same……. “Human Family”
It’s time to wake-up…..
How many wounds will our mother take from us, before she tires of our petty self-serving
indulgent behavior.
Will she sacrifice all for one….she never has in the past…..History, and our actions will decide our fate
Since Tiruvannamalai is the place where Lord Shiva (Destroyer-cum-Rejuvenator) takes form of one of the five elements - Fire - the purifier or sins - since this is the place where he taught humility to Lord Vishnu (Savior) and Lord Brahma (Creator).
For record, the 5 pilgrimage spots for each of the 5 elements are:
1. Fire - Tiruvannamalai - Annamalayar Temple;
2. Water - Thivaanaikkaa, Trichy - Jambukeswarar Temple;
3. Earth - Kanchipuram - Ekambareswarar Temple;
2. Air - Sri Kalahasthi, Andhra Pradesh - Kalahasteeswarar Temple; and
3. Sky / Space / Ether - Chidambaram - Natarajar Temple.
Coming back to Tiruvannamalai, when Vishnu and Brahma had an argument amongst themselves as to who is greater and could not decide amongst themselves, they chose to have Shiva as a mediator. Remember that Shiva tends to be very playful and mischievous almost all the times, except when he is angry (normally for a good cause).
Shiva told the other two மும்மூர்த்திகள் (Trinity members) that he would conduct a competition and will stand as a flame that would rise to the skies and dwell through the earth's underground and whoever finds the end would win. Shiva stood as a fire in Tiruvannamalai. Vishnu is known for his Varaha avatar (boar form) and bore through the ground to find the root of the flame. On the other hand, Brahma called for his வாகனம் (vehicle) - the swan and flew up towards the sky to find the head of the flame.
However, both could not succeed in finding the ends of the flame. Vishnu gave up realizing humility. Brahma happened to meet தாழம்பூ (Fragrant Screw Pine) on the way, which was used to decorate Shiva's head earlier. Brahma made a pact that meeting this pine flower is as good as seeing the head and asked the flower to witness, for which the flower agreed too. When Brahma claimed that he saw the topmost tip of the flame and Fragrant Screw Pine fake-witnessed it, this enraged Shiva who ordered that there would not be any temple with prime God as Brahma and that the Fragrant Screw Pine will never be used as items used in any aspect of worshiping Shiva. Owing to this, Brahma has only one own temple in the whole world where He is the primary God (மூலவர்) and the flower is never used in worshiping of Shiva.
It is good to worship him by burning camphor (but not this quantity). Scientifically, eyes need some traces of sulphur and phosphorous for good health and this is obtained by burning camphor. The same practice has been adopted by Jewism and Christianity who replaced camphor with candles, which is less smoky.
Devotees conglomerate in Tiruvannamalai on every Full Moon Night for கிரிவலம் (Girivalam, which is a combination of Giri - hill and valam - round), which is to go around the hill (about 16 km barefoot walk) to see and worship Lord Shiva in his purest of forms in the place where the whole hill is considered to be Lord himself, where Shiva appeared as fire. From the spot called as பஞ்சமுக தரிசனம (Panchamuga Dharisanam), one can see the shape of Shiva Lying with features of face, arms, chest, legs clearly depicted by the five peaks in the hill. From நந்திமுக தரிசனம் (Nandhimuga Dharisanam) and 3 other spots, the outline of the hill shows the shape of the bull's head, which is Shiva's வாகனம் (vehicle).
With so many spiritual factors in this place, It is claimed that those who think of this holy place (Tiruvannamalai) would get out of the vicious life-death cycle and become eternal. Apart from being a spiritual spot, taking up Girivalam has its own medicinal effects, since the barefoot 16-km walk is a good session of Accupressure and excites all nerves on the surface of the feet, thereby realigning all simple malfunctions in the body, thereby rejuvenating the senses. Moreover, this village is yet to be polluted and fresh air from the medicinal plants and minerals from the hill and countryside is a refreshing experience in itself. No wonder a lazy guy like me does not bother to pursue Girivalam seriously since Jan 2006 every full-moon night without a break in between, come what may!
Don't you hate it when you think you're almost done making something and then you realize that you've screwed up royally? My mom calls times like that humility moments. Yup, I forgot to finish the back edges of these lovely dresses, and now I have to take their skirts off entirely to fix them. Humility sucks!
Must be fall... I've been away from you a few days as I've been busy hosting a visit from my mom who lives far away. Precious time with a special person. Hope you've all been well. Hope you each had someone like her to teach you kindness, compassion, determination, and service. And may they all live long.
Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much. - Helen Keller
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Original photo credit: Lukas Johnns
Humility in the Oratorio del Rosario in Santa Cita. Maybe the pigeon on her head forces her to be humble, through mortification!
A lone scientist peering over the crater rim of White Island volcano, New Zealand. Steam is a mixture of hydro-chloric and sulpuric acids.
There were more people around - but framed this shot at time of taking to get the 'solo explorer' feel - only defeated by the person's shadow at lower left.
More impact at larger sizes