View allAll Photos Tagged Overarching
As photographers, we all understand the interplay of negative and positive space. When I took the shot, I was thinking about the pathos of the scene, but as I worked in Photoshop, my reaction to it changed. Slowly the grave lost is melancholy, I began to think of this as contemplation on the idea that birth and death might be more in balance and harmony than we normally appreciate. Perhaps they are just two expressions of the one, same, much greater, reality. And then I thought, “Without death, the birth of Christ would have very little meaning. After all it is his resurrection after death that is all important.” So for Christian, having death in the picture must not be such a sad thing after all. Not being a person of faith, I then thought, “Throughout history; the celebration of the Solstice was always linked to the preceding darkness. It was only the loss of light during the preceding months that motivated the celebration.” Which made me think that perhaps the message of the Christmas Season is that without death, life has very little significance? That in turn led me to think that perhaps death might be the one Christmas gift we are all born with, a gift that forces us to seek meaning in life, and it is this search which leads us to art, another gift. Is art how we as humans attempt to transcend the grave? All this eventually led me led me to ask, is possible that the overarching message of Christmas is that, there is a spirit, a driving force, inside us all that can and sometimes does transcend the grave, so we should not live in fear of the grave but celebrate this very short gift of life and the perspective we have been given on the value of that gift.
As photographers, in the era of the internet, we can use our art, not just to give meaning to our own life, but to share that meaning, insight and connectedness with people everywhere. Somehow all this convoluted logic led me to believe that all this was sufficient to reason for me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
in between dreams: an hour of lost sleep by jas levell
IG jaslevell
Kodak Gold 200, 35mm
"This is part of my art A Level project on ‘sleep’- I’ve been experimenting with the overarching title ‘in between dreams’, aiming to explore the experience of insomnia and the blurred lines of reality and dreams when drifting in and out of sleep. I’ve shot on Kodak Gold a couple of times through the development of this project; I love the golden haze & dreamy look it gives to my photos! I’ve also found it to be a great film for experimenting with lighting & long exposure shots, while still maintaining the dream-like quality in colour palette. One thing I thought interesting in the idea of insomnia and (varying levels of) consciousness was the clocks going forward- the loss of one hour’s sleep should be almost insignificant, and yet it represents our world getting lighter for longer, and new sleep patterns. ‘An hour of lost sleep’ could occur at any time of the year, in any sense of insomnia, yet this particular hour when the clocks go forward seems to hold an importance in our society and the way we approach sleep, dreams, and consciousness."
Allianz Global Assistance US headquarters - international travel insurance, assistance and personal services company.
My dearest Nayantara,
This is your mother, your Maa. In my head, you always call me Maa. The place where we took this photo has beautiful krishnochura (Delonix regia) trees, lined up and firing up the streets. When you were born, krishnochuras were everywhere, and how I longed for you to be able to see them.
I shouldn't be writing my own personality, I tend to be unusually biased *wink wink* I could tell you a secret about me that no one knows. See, your mother is somewhat of a tomboy and she's always loved football, rainy days, mud and cycling. Deep down inside, however, she's had a very soft corner for flowers. She doesn't like bouquets or dressing up, yet the soft smell, the bright colors, the overarching trees, the little petals all mesmerize her. Flowers aren't too bad, my dear, and I know you would have loved them secretly too.
Oh, and the hair? That's your Baba's doing. He decided he likes the way Chinese girls cut their hair, so when we were roaming around the streets of Shanghai one night in December, your Baba dragged your Maa to a hair salon, showed pictures of Chinese teenagers with baati chaat and there, your Maa was doomed forever. Just explaining to the hairdresser on which hairstyle we wanted and how his assistant had to call up his girlfriend to translate our English to Chinese... ah well, that's a story you'd live to hear. Here's another secret though - your Maa eventually fell in love with the weird hair your Baba designed for her, and in time, right after you were born, your Maa gave your Baba a long due hair cut. Oh, the joy! The pictures would crack you up, I promise.
We can't wait to cut your hair, regardless of how much you dislike us after we're done with our baati chaat. All the more reasons for you to come home, eh?
Love,
Maa
The living bond which unites us all together is the principle of evolution. Inspired by Jung who helps us to adapt and grow from a distance.
Remembering Jung's Birthday, 26th July, 1875
Critique by H.M..."Sophie Shapiro's painting The Living Bond exemplifies her distinctive approach to art, which intertwines visual expression with psychological and spiritual exploration. While specific details about this particular piece are limited, it suggests it aligns with her overarching themes of introspection and transformation.
Shapiro's artistic methodology is deeply influenced by her mentorship under Vera Diamond, a psychotherapist and founding member of the British Autogenic Society. This background informs her use of the Creative Mobilization Technique (CMT), developed by Dr. Wolfgang Luthe, which integrates therapeutic practices into the creative process. In The Living Bond, it's plausible that Shapiro explores the intricate connections between individuals, delving into themes of emotional ties and human experience. Her work often serves as a conduit for viewers to engage in personal reflection, inviting them to consider their own inner journeys and relationships."
Painting using acrylics, pigment, ink and gouache
for Flickriver - Sophie Shapiro
.
Nimbin. Population 450.
Nimbin was a special place for the Bundjalung Aboriginal people as it was believed to be the home of sacred mystical small men who were the spiritual custodians of the mountains. The word meant “home to the little man”. When white pastoralists came the district became part of the Lismore station held by William Wilson – hence the naming
of the Wilson River. He held the lease until 1880 when the government sent surveyors in to survey virgin rainforest. The first white family arrived in 1882 followed by many more in 1883. Their first task was to clear land for a few pigs, cattle and vegetables. The Red Cedar and Hoop Pine were felled and then rolled into the Wilson River and floated down to the saw mills in Lismore. It was a tough life in this district. In 1903 one local block holder H Thornburn subdivided part of his property to create the village of Nimbin. Thornburn donated one block for a School of Arts (built 1904) and another for a Presbyterian Church. The first official school opened in 1906. The town grew quickly with a hotel, bakery, butchery, café, store, bank agency, Post Office and saw mill starting up within the first couple of years. The big boost to the town was the opening of a butter factory in 1908. Then the public buildings followed with Anglican and Presbyterian churches in 1909. A Methodist church followed in 1913 and a Catholic Church and school in 1918. A new Post Officer was built in 1914. The bank of N.S.W opened their first wooden bank in 1909 but this burnt down. The bank built a distinctive Art Deco wooden bank in 1919 and an E. S & A bank opened in 1922. The Freemason’s Hotel was erected in 1926 (it is now the Nimbin Hotel) and a wooden Masonic Lodge was erected in 1937. A Police Station was not built until 1934 but a police officer was stationed in the town from 1917. The main stays of the town economy were saw milling and butter production but apart from cattle, local farmers grew bananas, peas, beans and passionfruit. The Nimbin Dairy Cooperative amalgamated with Norco dairy in 1921. The factory closed in 1961 as cream could be fast trucked to Lismore.
The fortunes and direction of the town changed in 1973 when the Aquarius Foundation of the Australian Union of Students from Sydney University got permission to hold a bi-annual arts festival in Nimbin. The Aquarians opposed the War in Vietnam and wanted a freer and more humane world with peace, love and happiness. A Rainbow Café opened on the work site being prepared for the influx of a possible 5,000 university students. Volunteers did the work and artists came to prepare. The festival in May was successful and about 100 people stayed on to run the Rainbow Café, do their art and prepare for another festival. Several groups emerged to buy properties for cooperatives and the attraction of rural living and rainforest living blossomed amongst former city people. The hippy new comers built makeshift houses, prepared home crafts, and cared about environmental responsibility, communal living and loving, and in some cases, mind altering drugs. But life was not altogether free and each commune had its own rules which had to be obeyed as well as local and state laws. When the Lismore Council ordered illegal houses to be demolished the Nimbinites formed the district Homebuilders Association to fight the Council. In the end the Homebuilders won the right for multiple residences on one property. Then in 1979 a bigger opponent emerged – logging in the rainforests at Terania Creek. Conservation made national headlines, action groups were formed and the NSW government created new national parks like nearby Nightcap and reduced forest logging. Economically the new cooperatives promoted growth of Nimbin too. The Bush Co-Op began as a community organisation but it soon had food storage and wholesale distribution arms, mechanical, metal and woodworking shops, a media group and graphic art studios, theatre troupe and general design. At the same time independent artists, writers and musicians lived and worked in the town. Commercialism crept back into the new hippy world with markets, galleries and more festivals. But the overarching principles of living and caring for others and protecting the environment and living sustainably continued. Diversity was the key and new spiritual groups found a home at Nimbin too from Thai Buddhist groups to Indian Hindu philosophical ashrams to “born again” Christian groups. Not surprisingly Nimbin has an annual Mardi Grass and a world naked Bike Ride celebration amongst its annual festivals!
Just outside of Nimbin turn right into Stony Chute Road to see some granite boulders which are sacred place to the Bundjalung people and heritage listed. The lowest rock is called the cathedral, whilst the top level of rock is called the castle. The highest peak is named Lady Cunningham’s Needle. These granite dykes are evidence of old volcanic activity the basis of the rich fertile soils of the district.
NORFOLK, Virginia – A week-long, large-scale gang enforcement operation, labeled “Operation Washout” wrapped up on Aug. 8, resulting in 32 arrests of alleged violent offenders and fugitives.
The U.S. Marshals Service led multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working around the clock Aug. 6-8, concentrating their efforts primarily on known gang members wanted in the greater Norfolk area. Many arrests were of suspected gang members or associates. Additional state and federal prosecutions are pending on those arrested where drug, gun or other crime evidence was seized during or subsequent to the person’s arrest.
The U.S. Marshals Service’s national fugitive initiative known as Operation Washout is deployed to communities to bring immediate relief from violent, gang-related crime. The collaborative law enforcement effort is focused on targeting and arresting violent fugitives wanted for high-profile crimes such as homicide, felony assault, and sexual assault, illegal possession of firearms, illegal drug distribution, robbery, and arson.
Since 2010, the USMS has led more than 70 counter-gang operations which have resulted in more than 8,000 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,800 illegal firearms. For the last 10 years, the overarching goal of the USMS nationwide Operation Triple Beam and Washout initiative has been to bring relief to the residents of communities by strategically and actively pursuing gang members and criminals most responsible for the worst crime and violence in those communities.
Photo By: Dave Oney / US Marshals
NORFOLK, Virginia – A week-long, large-scale gang enforcement operation, labeled “Operation Washout” wrapped up on Aug. 8, resulting in 32 arrests of alleged violent offenders and fugitives.
The U.S. Marshals Service led multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working around the clock Aug. 6-8, concentrating their efforts primarily on known gang members wanted in the greater Norfolk area. Many arrests were of suspected gang members or associates. Additional state and federal prosecutions are pending on those arrested where drug, gun or other crime evidence was seized during or subsequent to the person’s arrest.
The U.S. Marshals Service’s national fugitive initiative known as Operation Washout is deployed to communities to bring immediate relief from violent, gang-related crime. The collaborative law enforcement effort is focused on targeting and arresting violent fugitives wanted for high-profile crimes such as homicide, felony assault, and sexual assault, illegal possession of firearms, illegal drug distribution, robbery, and arson.
Since 2010, the USMS has led more than 70 counter-gang operations which have resulted in more than 8,000 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,800 illegal firearms. For the last 10 years, the overarching goal of the USMS nationwide Operation Triple Beam and Washout initiative has been to bring relief to the residents of communities by strategically and actively pursuing gang members and criminals most responsible for the worst crime and violence in those communities.
Photo By: Dave Oney / US Marshals
Bochum
The Ruhr area ('Ruhrgebiet') is named after the river that borders it to the south and is the largest urban area in Germany with over five million people. It is mostly known as a densely-populated industrial area. By 1850 there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke, used in blast furnaces, producing iron and steel. Because of the industrial significance, it had been a target from the start of the war, yet "the organized defences and the large amount of industrial pollutants produced a semi-permanent smog or industrial haze that hampered accurate bombing". During World War II, the industry and cities in the Ruhr area were heavily bombed. The combination of the lack of historic city centres, which were burned to ashes, and (air) pollution has given the area and the cities a bad reputation. Especially because it is so close to the Netherlands, I thought it would be an interesting area to visit for a little trip. I have spent three nights at a campsite on the Ruhr and visited six cities.
With a population of 365,000 inhabitans, Bochum is the fourth largest city in the Ruhr area and the 16th largest city in Germany. Bochum was founded in the 9th century and was granted a town charter in 1321, yet it remained a small town until the 19th century. The establishment of the mining and the steel industry resulted in a steep population rise. Coals refined as coke needed for the steel production led to the emergence of coking plants. Bochum's growth at the end of the 19th century took place without any overarching planning. Therefore, no organized infrastructure could develop at first. Industrial settlements and company apartments were built at the colliery sites, while the established farms around the industrial sites continued to farm. In 1894 the first tram line went into operation.
During the Second World War, more than 30,000 people were used as slave labor in Bochum and Wattenscheid as part of the Nazi forced labor. The town centre of Bochum was a strategic target during the Oil Campaign. In 150 air raids on Bochum, over 1,300 bombs were dropped on Bochum and Gelsenkirchen. By the end of the war, 83% of Bochum had been destroyed. 70,000 citizens were homeless and at least 4,095 dead. Of Bochum's more than 90,000 homes, only 25,000 remained for the 170,000 citizens who survived the war, many by fleeing to other areas. Most of the remaining buildings were damaged, many with only one usable room.
Source: Wikipedia (edited)
This church was constructed from 1891 to 1892.
The Kirchenfeldbrücke is overarching this view with the Bellevue Hotel to the closer right and the Swiss Parliament to the left.
And naturally the Aare!
This moc was built for the second round of the 2017 bio-cup. The overarching theme was historical and my sub theme was western.
In the traditional sense, there is no direct Chinese translation for the title “architect.” Rather, those who would have fit this description were known as jiàng (匠), or craftsman. The lead craftsmen who oversaw the design of Forbidden City included Kuai Xiang, Cai Xin, Nguyen An, and Lu Xiang, among others. Kuai Xiang was in his early thirties when he was commissioned by the Yongle Emperor, who had decided to transfer the capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1407. The team implemented established Confucian, Taoist, and astronomical vernacular, as well as the design of the former Imperial Palace in Nanjing, for the design of the new Imperial Palace in Beijing. Drawing upon this wealth of long-established precedent, every aspect of Forbidden City’s design was standardized. Odd numbers are particularly auspicious in Chinese culture. Thus, the overarching layout of the complex is organized accordingly; from the tripartite layout of the Inner and Outer courts, to the odd-numbered bays of the hypostyle halls throughout. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, for instance, is eleven bays wide and five bays deep, measuring roughly 64m x 37m (210ft x 121ft).
The extent of the standardization went from the overall layout all the way down to the construction details of the wood framing. Each and every piece of timber framing was homogenous and effectively consistent among all construction throughout China at the time. Not only does this point to an incredibly efficient building system, it also speaks to a mostly illiterate labor force. Despite the simplicity of its components, Chinese timber framing achieved incredible sophistication- most notably in the design and ornamentation of its corbels. Unlike the mostly load-bearing walls of classic Western architecture, Chinese structures supported the weight of their roofs with an interlocking latticework of brackets upon the structural columns. Known as corbels, these timber brackets consisted of two links, a dou and a gong (which roughly translate to “cap” and “block,” respectively), each of which connected to increasingly broader sets of dougong to accommodate the interior space and interlock with surrounding columns. A good visual analogy for this system would be the outward stretching of a tree’s limbs and branches as it rises from the ground. The resilience of this structural system has certainly bolstered the longevity of the site. Acquiring timber of the necessary dimensions for the columns, however, was a vast undertaking unto itself.
The columns for several of the most important halls were made of whole logs of precious Phoebe zhennan wood, referred to as nanmu at the time of construction. Found only in the jungles of southwestern China, the task of logging the necessary 100,000 nanmu logs was a perilous endeavor: so much so that it was said at the time that a thousand men went into the forest, but only 500 came out. The logs then had to be floated down from the mountains and thousands of miles north to Beijing. The journey of each log took up to four years. This incredibly costly material was not used in subsequent restorations following fires which destroyed several of the original buildings.
First of a new class of solo explorer ships equipped with antimatter drives able to make interstellar transits, the Orion One was the vessel that made the first human transit of the hyperspatial leyline between Sol and Tau Ceti. Since this was the first ever human interstellar flight, Captain Michel Laval's Orion One has gone down in System history alongside other celebrated vessels like Naomi Chang's Antares 5 Marslander and Yuri Gagarin's Vostok-1 capsule.
The Federation government insisted on a new white and black livery to serve as a cautionary marking that Orion One was fitted with an antimatter power plant. The antimatter drive being necessary to reach the interstellar leylines' threshold velocity, the new colour scheme became associated with the ships and equipment of the new colony world in the Tau Ceti system, codenamed Futuro.
~~~
Obviously, this is Futuron colours, but I still don't have any Futuron astronauts so it has a red-suited pilot. Even in Real World Classic Space sets, there was a brief overlap of a few sets that were like this before the Futuron faction really got up and running, and it makes sense for a Federation future history that there would be some sort of transitional period as well.
In developing a sort of vague overarching backstory for my version of the Classic Space universe, I feel a need to explain things like how the Futuron got their name. "Planet Futuro" was what I came up with, tying in to that history of Classic Space Federation worlds ending in -o (like the ice planet Krysto or Peter Reid and Tim Goddard's Panduro).
And I worked out how to make a ringed planet. Which was obvious in hindsight. It would have looked better if the rings were brown or tan, but I think black's the only colour I can currently make a complete ring in. Certainly not brown or tan.
And this creation marks my first use of the 1x1 round plate with handle. And what do I use it for? Attaching an antenna :P.
I took this picture the way it was portrayed because I wanted to show the minions emotion of being shocked by such a huge banana. I found it interesting since minions love bananas and the overarching theme adds to the picture. I shot at a fstop of 29, I wanted to shoot at a wider aperture but I was unable to get both the banana and the minion focused on. I had ISO of 6400 hence the grain in this picture but I wanted a quicker shutter speed so I had to do so. I shot with 42mm focal length so that I can grab the banana and the shocked minions face.
Bitonto, today a city of a population of about 55000, was probably founded by Greek settlers. Traces of a city wall dating to the 5th and 4th century BC were found. Legends tell that the name Bitonto is connected to an Illyrian king named Botone. Later "Civitas Butuntinenses" became a self-governing Roman municipium,
A Paleochristian basilica existed very early. During the 9th century, Bitonto successfully withstood a Saracen raid but got destroyed by Byzantine troops in 975. The Normans took over Apulia. In the 11th and 12th century. Under the rule of the Normans of Roger II of Sicily, William I of Sicily (aka William the Wicked) and William II of Sicily (aka William the Good), the city prospered and got new walls.
In 1227, Bitonto was the scene of ex-communication of Frederick II accused by pope Gregory IX of having come to terms with the sultan al-Malik al-Kamil.
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The Bitonto Cathedral, dedicated to San Valentino, was erected 1175/1200 in the centre of the city. The construction was probably influenced by the "Basilica of San Nicola" in Bari and was done in the typical "Apulian Romanesque" style.
It is proven that the bishopric existed in 1089, though the crypt of the cathedral has remains of a 5th-century church.
There are three portals. The central one has a double archivolt, adorned with animal and vegetable figures, on which stands an overarch, richly carved with acanthus leaves and surmounted by a pelican, a bird that symbolizes the generosity of the Church. The overarch is supported by a pair of stone griffins holding prey between the claws. The whole is in turn supported by columns resting on lions.
The rose window above is the oldest in Apulia.
Memphis, TN, August, 2019 – Operation “Bluff City Blues,” a two-week long joint federal, state and local law enforcement initiative has resulted in the arrests of 214 individuals in West Tennessee. Those arrested included 79 gang members, 65 individuals for aggravated assault, 34 individuals for homicide and 69 individuals for weapons offenses.
The United States Marshals led initiative brought together federal, state and local law enforcement partners to reduce crime in West Tennessee by identifying and arresting violent fugitives, targeting violent gang activity and collecting intelligence to allow for the systematic removal of individuals who have been charged with committing violent crimes.
In addition to the arrests, Operation Bluff City Blues resulted in the seizure of approximately 771.9 grams of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and crack, $17, 240 in cash, and 28 firearms as well as the recovery of 4 stolen vehicles. In addition, almost 30 registered sex offenders living in Madison and Shelby Counties were checked for compliance with sex offender registration requirements.
Since 2010, the USMS has led more than 70 counter-gang operations which have resulted in more than 8,000 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,800 illegal firearms. For the last 10 years, the overarching goal of the USMS nationwide Operation Triple Beam and Washout initiative has been to bring relief to the residents of communities by strategically and actively pursuing gang members and criminals most responsible for the worst crime and violence in those communities.
Photo by: Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals
A visitor looks over the Piazza del Duomo from the deep porch of the Amalfi Cathedral, under one of the with windows decorated with delicate Arab-Moorish tracery.
Nimbin. Population 450.
Nimbin was a special place for the Bundjalung Aboriginal people as it was believed to be the home of sacred mystical small men who were the spiritual custodians of the mountains. The word meant “home to the little man”. When white pastoralists came the district became part of the Lismore station held by William Wilson – hence the naming
of the Wilson River. He held the lease until 1880 when the government sent surveyors in to survey virgin rainforest. The first white family arrived in 1882 followed by many more in 1883. Their first task was to clear land for a few pigs, cattle and vegetables. The Red Cedar and Hoop Pine were felled and then rolled into the Wilson River and floated down to the saw mills in Lismore. It was a tough life in this district. In 1903 one local block holder H Thornburn subdivided part of his property to create the village of Nimbin. Thornburn donated one block for a School of Arts (built 1904) and another for a Presbyterian Church. The first official school opened in 1906. The town grew quickly with a hotel, bakery, butchery, café, store, bank agency, Post Office and saw mill starting up within the first couple of years. The big boost to the town was the opening of a butter factory in 1908. Then the public buildings followed with Anglican and Presbyterian churches in 1909. A Methodist church followed in 1913 and a Catholic Church and school in 1918. A new Post Officer was built in 1914. The bank of N.S.W opened their first wooden bank in 1909 but this burnt down. The bank built a distinctive Art Deco wooden bank in 1919 and an E. S & A bank opened in 1922. The Freemason’s Hotel was erected in 1926 (it is now the Nimbin Hotel) and a wooden Masonic Lodge was erected in 1937. A Police Station was not built until 1934 but a police officer was stationed in the town from 1917. The main stays of the town economy were saw milling and butter production but apart from cattle, local farmers grew bananas, peas, beans and passionfruit. The Nimbin Dairy Cooperative amalgamated with Norco dairy in 1921. The factory closed in 1961 as cream could be fast trucked to Lismore.
The fortunes and direction of the town changed in 1973 when the Aquarius Foundation of the Australian Union of Students from Sydney University got permission to hold a bi-annual arts festival in Nimbin. The Aquarians opposed the War in Vietnam and wanted a freer and more humane world with peace, love and happiness. A Rainbow Café opened on the work site being prepared for the influx of a possible 5,000 university students. Volunteers did the work and artists came to prepare. The festival in May was successful and about 100 people stayed on to run the Rainbow Café, do their art and prepare for another festival. Several groups emerged to buy properties for cooperatives and the attraction of rural living and rainforest living blossomed amongst former city people. The hippy new comers built makeshift houses, prepared home crafts, and cared about environmental responsibility, communal living and loving, and in some cases, mind altering drugs. But life was not altogether free and each commune had its own rules which had to be obeyed as well as local and state laws. When the Lismore Council ordered illegal houses to be demolished the Nimbinites formed the district Homebuilders Association to fight the Council. In the end the Homebuilders won the right for multiple residences on one property. Then in 1979 a bigger opponent emerged – logging in the rainforests at Terania Creek. Conservation made national headlines, action groups were formed and the NSW government created new national parks like nearby Nightcap and reduced forest logging. Economically the new cooperatives promoted growth of Nimbin too. The Bush Co-Op began as a community organisation but it soon had food storage and wholesale distribution arms, mechanical, metal and woodworking shops, a media group and graphic art studios, theatre troupe and general design. At the same time independent artists, writers and musicians lived and worked in the town. Commercialism crept back into the new hippy world with markets, galleries and more festivals. But the overarching principles of living and caring for others and protecting the environment and living sustainably continued. Diversity was the key and new spiritual groups found a home at Nimbin too from Thai Buddhist groups to Indian Hindu philosophical ashrams to “born again” Christian groups. Not surprisingly Nimbin has an annual Mardi Grass and a world naked Bike Ride celebration amongst its annual festivals!
Just outside of Nimbin turn right into Stony Chute Road to see some granite boulders which are sacred place to the Bundjalung people and heritage listed. The lowest rock is called the cathedral, whilst the top level of rock is called the castle. The highest peak is named Lady Cunningham’s Needle. These granite dykes are evidence of old volcanic activity the basis of the rich fertile soils of the district.
Nimbin. Population 450.
Nimbin was a special place for the Bundjalung Aboriginal people as it was believed to be the home of sacred mystical small men who were the spiritual custodians of the mountains. The word meant “home to the little man”. When white pastoralists came the district became part of the Lismore station held by William Wilson – hence the naming
of the Wilson River. He held the lease until 1880 when the government sent surveyors in to survey virgin rainforest. The first white family arrived in 1882 followed by many more in 1883. Their first task was to clear land for a few pigs, cattle and vegetables. The Red Cedar and Hoop Pine were felled and then rolled into the Wilson River and floated down to the saw mills in Lismore. It was a tough life in this district. In 1903 one local block holder H Thornburn subdivided part of his property to create the village of Nimbin. Thornburn donated one block for a School of Arts (built 1904) and another for a Presbyterian Church. The first official school opened in 1906. The town grew quickly with a hotel, bakery, butchery, café, store, bank agency, Post Office and saw mill starting up within the first couple of years. The big boost to the town was the opening of a butter factory in 1908. Then the public buildings followed with Anglican and Presbyterian churches in 1909. A Methodist church followed in 1913 and a Catholic Church and school in 1918. A new Post Officer was built in 1914. The bank of N.S.W opened their first wooden bank in 1909 but this burnt down. The bank built a distinctive Art Deco wooden bank in 1919 and an E. S & A bank opened in 1922. The Freemason’s Hotel was erected in 1926 (it is now the Nimbin Hotel) and a wooden Masonic Lodge was erected in 1937. A Police Station was not built until 1934 but a police officer was stationed in the town from 1917. The main stays of the town economy were saw milling and butter production but apart from cattle, local farmers grew bananas, peas, beans and passionfruit. The Nimbin Dairy Cooperative amalgamated with Norco dairy in 1921. The factory closed in 1961 as cream could be fast trucked to Lismore.
The fortunes and direction of the town changed in 1973 when the Aquarius Foundation of the Australian Union of Students from Sydney University got permission to hold a bi-annual arts festival in Nimbin. The Aquarians opposed the War in Vietnam and wanted a freer and more humane world with peace, love and happiness. A Rainbow Café opened on the work site being prepared for the influx of a possible 5,000 university students. Volunteers did the work and artists came to prepare. The festival in May was successful and about 100 people stayed on to run the Rainbow Café, do their art and prepare for another festival. Several groups emerged to buy properties for cooperatives and the attraction of rural living and rainforest living blossomed amongst former city people. The hippy new comers built makeshift houses, prepared home crafts, and cared about environmental responsibility, communal living and loving, and in some cases, mind altering drugs. But life was not altogether free and each commune had its own rules which had to be obeyed as well as local and state laws. When the Lismore Council ordered illegal houses to be demolished the Nimbinites formed the district Homebuilders Association to fight the Council. In the end the Homebuilders won the right for multiple residences on one property. Then in 1979 a bigger opponent emerged – logging in the rainforests at Terania Creek. Conservation made national headlines, action groups were formed and the NSW government created new national parks like nearby Nightcap and reduced forest logging. Economically the new cooperatives promoted growth of Nimbin too. The Bush Co-Op began as a community organisation but it soon had food storage and wholesale distribution arms, mechanical, metal and woodworking shops, a media group and graphic art studios, theatre troupe and general design. At the same time independent artists, writers and musicians lived and worked in the town. Commercialism crept back into the new hippy world with markets, galleries and more festivals. But the overarching principles of living and caring for others and protecting the environment and living sustainably continued. Diversity was the key and new spiritual groups found a home at Nimbin too from Thai Buddhist groups to Indian Hindu philosophical ashrams to “born again” Christian groups. Not surprisingly Nimbin has an annual Mardi Grass and a world naked Bike Ride celebration amongst its annual festivals!
Just outside of Nimbin turn right into Stony Chute Road to see some granite boulders which are sacred place to the Bundjalung people and heritage listed. The lowest rock is called the cathedral, whilst the top level of rock is called the castle. The highest peak is named Lady Cunningham’s Needle. These granite dykes are evidence of old volcanic activity the basis of the rich fertile soils of the district.
Welcome to the Irrlicht Engine
The Irrlicht Engine is an open source realtime 3D engine written in C++. It is cross-platform, using D3D, OpenGL and its own software renderers. OpenGL-ES2 and WebGL renderers are also in development. It is a stable library which has been worked on for nearly 2 decades. We've got a huge community and Irrlicht is used by hobbyists and professional companies alike. You can find enhancements for it all over the web, like alternative terrain renderers, portal renderers, exporters, world layers, tutorials, editors, language bindings and so on. And best of all: It's completely free.
Irrlichtelieren (Will-o’-the-wisping-around)
Jane K. Brown
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
The lexeme Irrlichtelieren (will-o’-the-wisping-around, i.e. thinking outside the box) is Goethe’s neologism for a heterodox line of thought that displaces traditional methods of philosophy and science. Although the term occurs only once, in the student scene of Faust, Part One (FA 1.7:83.1917), the shifting value of will-o’-the-wisps in Faust and other works corresponds to the theories of scientific method Goethe advanced in essays of the 1790s and especially to the methodology of his Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Color) of 1810. While in Goethe’s letters and in the devil’s language in Faust, will-o’-the-wisps betoken illusion, they develop in the course of Faust into symbols of the ineffable truth that Kantian metaphysics had effectively substituted for God. The ironic dialectic of the will-o’-the-wisps shapes Goethe’s views of pedagogy and scientific epistemology and his positions on the idealist subject/object dichotomy, on the relationships of nature and truth, on representation and knowledge, and on knowledge and community.
Introduction
Etymological Implications
Learning as Flitting Around
Subject-Object Relations
The Relationship of Nature and Truth
Representation as Knowledge
Knowledge and Community
Notes
Related Entries
Works Cited and Further Reading
Introduction
The neologism irrlichtelieren can be defined as: “An innovative and eccentric line of thought, [. . .] a lexical innovation [. . .] that configures the ‘improper’ imperative of Goethean thought [. . .] to displace the ‘proper’ way of doing philosophy (including logic, rationalist metaphysics, and transcendental idealism) by repurposing its traditional instruments of torture.”1 Goethe invented the word and used it only once, in the student scene of Faust I. Derived from the noun Irrlicht (will-o’-the-wisp, or ignis fatuus), it initially identifies the confused thinking of the student who has yet to learn logic,
Daß er bedächtiger so fortan
Hinschleiche die Gedankenbahn,
Und nicht etwa, die Kreuz und Quer,
Irrlichteliere hin und her. (FA 1.7:83.1914–17)2
So that he creep more circumspectly
along the train of thought
and not go will-o’-the-wisping
back and forth and here and there.
However, the use of will-o’-the-wisp in Faust transforms this apparent praise of logic into its opposite, so that “will-o’-the-wisping back and forth” comes to represent the epistemology actually promoted not only in Faust but also in Goethe’s essays on scientific methodology and optics from the 1790s and in his massive Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Colors) of 1810. Derived from irren (erring), the central theme of Faust, where the Lord says “Es irrt der Mensch, so lang er strebt” (FA 1.7:27.317; man errs as long as he strives) and Licht (light), used consistently as an image for knowledge or truth in Goethe, as so often in the period, irrlichtelieren becomes a useful term for Goethe’s process of learning truth by trial and error. It engages a series of epistemological issues typical of the period: thinking outside the box, subject/object, the relation of nature and truth, the role of representation in knowledge, and the epistemology of community formation. Irrlichtelieren not only exemplifies Goethe’s tendency to heuristic rather than systematic thought (unlike that of his Romantic colleagues), but indeed embodies its own meaning—for will-o’-the-wisps and similar figures appear as characters in his (arguably) most characteristic works: Faust and the Märchen (Fairy Tale) of 1795. Furthermore, the word irrlichtelieren appears in Faust in the context of philosophical discourse when Mephistopheles is holding forth on the place of logic in the curriculum; similarly, in Faust II, a will-o’-wisp-like creature named Homunculus, seeking to become, is introduced in the context of implied questions of becoming in idealist philosophy as well as the philosophical-scientific discourse of classical antiquity invoked by the two pre-Socratics Anaxagoras and Thales. Yet because, unlike most of the terms in this lexicon, irrlichtelieren begins in Goethe’s poetic works as a metaphor that then becomes a personification, it emerges as a philosophical concept only in the metadiscourse of scholarly analysis.
Etymological Implications
The addition of “-ieren” to the word “Irrlicht” turns it into a verb, so that it means “to wisp around.” The combination of “will-o’-the-wisp” with the formal French suffix is intentionally frivolous, as is often the case with Goethe at his most ironic and most profound moments. In Goethe’s day, an Irrlicht was a still mysterious natural phenomenon (now understood as a natural fluorescence originating in the spontaneous combustion of gases from rotting matter in marshy places). Its entry into folklore, specifically as a mischievous nature spirit, is documented in Germany only beginning in the sixteenth century, when the Latin term ignis fatuus (silly flame) was invented by a German humanist to lend the long-existing German word intellectual credibility.3 Although Goethe was familiar with explanations for Irrlichter extending back to Paracelsus (1493–1541) and, beyond him, to the pre-Socratics, he used it as a scientific term only once, in a reference to two essays by his friend, the botanist and Romantic natural philosopher Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck (1776–1858).4 Esenbeck considered both will-o’-the-wisps and falling stars to be entirely natural phenomena connected to a slime (Schleim), but in a tension typical of Romantic Naturphilosophie remained uncertain as to whether its effects were natural or supernatural. Sly allusions to Esenbeck are to be found in Faust via the presence of falling stars in the “Walpurgis Night’s Dream” and the sticky roses that torment Mephistopheles in act five of Faust II. Otherwise, Goethe used Irrlicht in his poetic works, essays, and correspondence always negatively, to refer to delusions.5 Thus, in Faust, “will-o’-the-wisp” emerges primarily from the mouth of Mephistopheles, the skeptical conjuror of illusions, and its ultimate significance as the best way to learn about truth arises from the fundamental irony inherent in the devil’s role in the play.
Learning as Flitting Around
Irrlichter are delusive because they constantly move around and because their light leads travelers astray. And yet, for the author of innumerable works about characters who wander aimlessly, wandering is a primary mode of being. Examples of such characters include Faust, for whom erring is the only path to salvation; the hero of Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795/96; Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship) and almost everyone in Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre (1829; Wilhelm Meister’s Journeyman Years); the indecisive traveler of Briefe aus der Schweiz (1808; Letters from Switzerland), who worries whether he should climb the Furka in winter; and the traveler in Italienische Reise (1816/17; Italian Journey), who hesitates to go to Sicily and decides not to go to Greece. In his autobiography, Dichtung und Wahrheit (1833; Poetry and Truth), Goethe regularly defines epochs of his life in terms of place and consistently features his own lack of agency in his choice of places. He, too, was a constant wanderer, even after he was more or less settled in Weimar.
Wandering is also the primary mode of scientific experimentation in the essays of the 1790s, where a “good experiment” (Goethe’s word is “Erfahrung [. . .] einer höhern Art”; FA 1.25:34) requires multiple observations of the same object from many different points of view (see, especially, “Der Versuch als Vermittler zwischen Objekt und Subjekt” of 1793). Indeed, the word Erfahrung contains the verb fahren (to travel). In this respect, Goethe was already ahead of Hegel, whose Phänomenologie was originally called “Die Wissenschaft der Erfahrung des Bewußtseins” (The Science of the Experience of Consciousness) and who emphasizes the notion of “dialektische Bewegung” (dialectical movement) at the heart of Erfahrung. Similarly, Part 1 of the Farbenlehre calls upon the reader to engage in several long series of observations, each of which ends with analogical amplifications of central observation rather than with a theoretical conclusion. Indeed, at the end of a Goethean experiment, the phenomenon “kann niemals isoliert werden” (FA 1.25:126; can never be isolated), the truth is to remain untouched in the unarticulated center of all the different observations. The same is still true in the Wanderjahre of the late 1820s, a text that both celebrates wandering and delights in the juxtaposition of seemingly contradictory points of view in its narratives and aphorisms. Indeed, Goethe’s cultivation of aphorism, as also his history of the science of color in the form of separate descriptions of scientists without an overarching narrative, reflect this same method of what, at first, seems to be random flitting. Irrlichterlieren is the freedom to attend to each detail carefully in itself before connecting it to others.
Subject-Object Relations
The experimental method Goethe described in the 1790s, when he was doing research in botany, anatomy, geology, and optics, when he was also absorbed in Kant’s Kritik der Urteilskraft (Critique of Judgment) and bringing scientists and philosophers (like Hegel) of the new idealist movement to the university at Jena had, as its explicit purpose, the mediation between subject and object. The multiperspectivism of “Der Versuch als Vermittler” (The Experiment as Mediator) arises from the need to keep scientific knowledge from imposing the subject on the object, the basic problem of idealism. Too much subjectivity causes the investigator to draw arbitrary and often unwarranted connections among phenomena and to become too attached to hypotheses, while too much objectivity reduces scientific knowledge to a mere collection of isolated facts (FA 1.25:31–33). Goethe resolves the problem with the term “Entäußerung,” renunciation, or, literally, withdrawal of one’s self to the outside. Goethe’s “experiment” escapes subjectivity but connects facts by multiplying and varying the conditions of observation. The quality of wandering now becomes flitting around outside of the box—that is, behaving like an Irrlicht flitting around outdoors. Similarly, Faust removes himself to the outside of his study and his identity with the aid of Mephistopheles, the invoker of will-o’-the-wisps in the play, while the world of the Märchen transcends itself through the mediation of actual will-o’-the-wisps visiting from abroad. Such is the model for Goethe’s epistemology.
The Relationship of Nature and Truth
In the Farbenlehre and repeatedly in the Wanderjahre Goethe asserts that the truth, the phenomenon (and later Urphänomen, or sometimes das Absolute), remains unknowable. Ringed about by observations, it is incommensurable, a secret to be respected, in some contexts to be reverenced, but to remain unviolated. Especially the Farbenlehre makes generous use of the terms “higher” and “highest” to rank insights and phenomena and does not hesitate to address transition points from the material to the spiritual/intellectual realm. Above all, the volume communicates the profound respect the scientist owes to the purity and essential impenetrability of the natural phenomenon. Just as in the earlier methodological essays, the phenomenon proper, which Goethe calls the “Urphänomen,” remains, to the end, a riddle at the center of all the scientist’s observations. Esenbeck’s theory of the mysterious slime that characterizes will-o’-the-wisps and falling stars is a similar mystery at the heart of a scientific explanation, leaving an opening to the realm of Geist (spirit/mind). The Irrlicht is Goethe’s image for this essential part of his epistemology. The Irrlicht can never be grasped, like the rainbow in the first scene of Faust II or the jewels scattered by Knabe Lenker (Boy Charioteer) in act two that turn to insects in the hand. In its inconstant motion, it escapes the control even of Mephistopheles in the Walpurgis Night of Faust I and it is repeatedly imagined in evanescent lights in Faust I and in a series of mysterious attractive figures in Faust II, such as Knabe Lenker, Homunculus, the angels of the burning roses in act five, and, finally, the rising Mater Gloriosa, always just out of reach at the very end of the play. In the Märchen the will-o’-the-wisps, having transubstantiated the green snake, restore the world to order and harmony and end by scattering gold, always in Goethe a symbol of the vital force of life, natura naturans. As folklore figures, will-o’-the-wisps are Goethe’s ideal image of Romantic natural supernaturalism, of the permeable, ungraspable boundary between nature and spirit, between the real and the ideal.
Representation as Knowledge
While the Absolute cannot be grasped directly, it can nevertheless be known through representations the mind stages for itself. The essay “Physik überhaupt” (1798; Physics in general) already introduces aesthetic terminology: the goal of Goethe’s series of observations is not to pin down the phenomenon but to understand it in a sequence or in a series of episodes. To present it, then, requires the condensing activity of the subject to represent aspects of the object “in einer stetigen Folge der Erscheinungen” (FA 1.25:126; in a regular series of appearances). “Aesthetic” is the appropriate term here, because all of Goethe’s poetic writing of the 1790s has episodic plots consisting of a series of experiences repeated from varied perspectives. The tripartite structure of the Farbenlehre similarly reflects Goethe’s basic principle of examining any phenomenon from several different points of view, both between and within parts, and his corresponding stylistic tendency toward episodic organization.
Yet, aesthetic terminology plays an even greater role in the epistemology of the Farbenlehre. Part 1 discusses the subject-object tension, for example, by focusing on “Begrenzung” (limitation) as the essential cause of color rather than Newton’s refraction. Color, like any other phenomenon, can only be recognized as such through its boundaries. Defining the edges of color or of light, then, transforms it into an image, a Bild (“Anzeige und Übersicht des goetheschen Werkes zur Farbenlehre,” FA 1.23.1:1045). Such framing equates to looking at the phenomenon from outside, a single perspective at a time, followed by connecting single observations into patterns in order to transform attentive looking into theorizing (FA 1.23.1:14), as already in the essays of the 1790s. But the consistent focus on the word Bild for what Goethe calls “theorizing” dominates this work (see also FA 1.23.1:12, 120). The foreword to the Farbenlehre compares understanding people’s inner (hidden) character through their deeds to understanding the nature of light through color: “Die Farben sind Taten des Lichts, Taten und Leiden” (FA 1.23.1:12; Colors are the deeds of light, what it does and what it endures). The comparison of human character to light has suddenly morphed into personification when colors become the deeds and sufferings of humanity. Colors have become actors, and indeed, given the Aristotelian atmosphere evoked by “Taten und Leiden,” tragic actors. Actors are images, personifications, representations, and not essences, but these “actors” are the realia of empirical observations. Reality is now something staged. Indeed, the first part of the Farbenlehre provides illustrations to enable the reader to repeat, to reenact, the “experiments” described in the text, and Goethe justifies this move by comparing his illustrations to a play performance, which requires spectacle, sound, and motion to be realized (FA 1.23.1:18–19). Theorizing is transformed into interpretation as observation of nature is equated to observation of a play on stage.
This dramatizing personification underpins Goethe’s understanding of light. The human eye, he asserts, does not see forms, but only light, dark, and color. He continues, “Das Auge hat sein Dasein dem Licht zu danken. Aus gleichgültigen thierischen Hülfsorganen ruft sich das Licht ein Organ hervor, das seines Gleichen werde; und so bildet sich das Auge am Lichte für’s Licht, damit das innere Licht dem äußeren entgegentrete” (FA 1.23.1:24; The eye owes its existence to light. From among the lesser ancillary organs of the animals, light calls forth one organ to be its like, and thus the eye is formed by the light and for the light so that the inner light may emerge to meet the outer light).6 Now light is the creator god calling forth the human eye, made in the god’s own image. From here it is but a step back to Faust, with its little erring lights, the will-o’-the-wisps, and Faust as, in effect, the erring human eye, looking at and wanting to experience the entire creation, a notion of experience as viewing already adumbrated at the end of the Vorspiel auf dem Theater (Prelude on the Stage) and in the final line of the first scene in Faust II, “Am farbigen Abglanz haben wir das Leben” (FA 1.7.206:4727; Life is ours in the colorful reflection). Indeed, the Irrlichter in Faust actually anticipate the trajectory of color and light in the Farbenlehre. They enter the play in Mephistopheles’ frivolous neologism, irrlichtelieren, and appear on stage as speaking actors in the Walpurgis Night and in the Walpurgis Night’s Dream, then as Knabe Lenker, Homunculus, and the impish angels in Faust II. Seeming at first to be delusions leading into error, they become images, then actors, who mirror for Faust and for us the presence in the world of the invisible and incommensurable truth that gives it meaning. The whole drama is nothing but plays within the play, and, in the end, it turns out that is all anyone can expect. In the final scene, Faust floats upward and onward apparently into the infinite, but in order to know that, to perceive the infinites, images are still necessary. Hence the baroque Catholic imagery that is obviously and uncomfortably not “real.” The final “chorus mysticus” (FA 1.7:464.12104–11) speaks of “Gleichnis” (parable), an extreme form of image, and then of dramatic action (“getan” [done], “Ereignis” [event]), exactly the way the Farbenlehre describes the representation of light in color. “Das Unzulängliche” (what is inadequate/unachievable) itself is transformed in the process. In Goethe’s day, this adjective meant “inadequate” but, in Goethe’s usage, becomes “unachievable”—a category of the object becomes a category of subjective striving. The play ends with the impossible riddle, “das ewig-Weibliche” (the eternal feminine). It is the Urphänomen, the phenomenon that underlies all our observations but remains alone as a riddle in the center.
Knowledge and Community
As Irrlichter are promoted from metaphor to personification in Faust, they become mediators, agents of cooperation. They take on bodies, and in the course of Faust II appear in the bodies of poetry, the vital spirit of life, in effect as Beauty in the form of Helen, and eventually as the angelic messengers of Divine Love. In the course of the play, they represent everything up a great chain of being from delusive nature to higher truth, to pure spirit. In the Märchen their ontological status engages the same totality, but not in such a clearly ordered hierarchy. In that tale, they become brighter and apparently more solid after substantial meals of gold, and as they scatter their energy in showers of gold coins they lose substance and even visibility. But the fact that they generously spend their golden substance is crucial. In both their getting and spending they enable the troubled inhabitants of the fairytale world to work together as a community and to restore their golden age of unity, peace, and prosperity. Their arrival signals the beginning of the restoration, and their departure its completion. They are the circulators of gold, of the vitality of nature and spirit; they are the light of this particular world, its erring light. As the mediators between spirit and nature, they also enable the establishment of human community, the injection of ideal order into an otherwise imperfect real world. Cooperation is also an essential element of Goethe’s scientific epistemology: scientific knowledge is built up one small piece at a time, whether as the process of repeated observations by a single individual or, at least as importantly, as the accumulation of observations by many individuals over long periods. The historical section of the Farbenlehre is longer than its theoretical section and polemic against Newton put together. Irrlichtelieren, as a unique mode of engagement with others, inspires a different kind of cooperative knowledge from the chains of tradition.
Nevertheless, it would be naive and most un-Goethean to regard this view as simple optimistic progressivism. Irrlichter are transient, evanescent phenomena. They may inspire social cohesion for the moment, as in the Märchen, but they are eternal wanderers, succeeded in the tale, to be sure, by other wanderers, but hardly guarantors of a permanent future outside of a fairy tale. Similarly, Faust’s utopian draining of swamps does not last forever in the real world of Faust, and Faust’s own vision of the future foresees them constantly recreated in a permanent struggle with the sea. And the sea is not only a force of destruction, but is also, in itself, a life-giving force. It, too, is a wanderer. It takes wanderers, the force of constant change, to promote social community but, like the visitors to the New World in the Wanderjahre, they always leave again.
Goethe’s early political ideal was Justus Möser’s federalism of small states. While he read political thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Gaetano Filangieri, and Cesare Beccaria, he never favored large permanent systems. He loved Rome, center of the world, for the personal relationships and development it afforded him, but not as the great political center. Not the Aeneid, the great epic of the founding of the Roman Empire, excited him, but the Odyssey, in which the hero’s struggles increasingly have to do with escaping the lures of women to return to his small island home, when he must yet again depart on another journey to plant an oar in a place where journeying by sea and epic heroism are unknown. Goethe admired but did not celebrate Napoleon, and he juxtaposed to his demonic hero Faust the passive, bourgeois heroes Wilhelm Meister and the Hermann of Hermann und Dorothea (1797; Hermann and Dorothea). His politics favored the small-scale operations that allowed for variation, change, indeed the “frivolity” of will-o’-wisps. In a common cliché, Goethe is the last Renaissance man, the last universalist, which is another way of saying that his scientific and poetic epistemologies, or his epistemology and his poetology, are essentially linked, as in this anything but frivolous term irrlichtelieren.
Clark Muenzer, personal communication. See also Muenzer’s “Begriff” entry in this volume. ↩
All references to Faust are cited parenthetically by line number. All translations are my own unless otherwise indicated. ↩
See the entry “Irrlicht” in Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, ed. Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli and Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1931-32). ↩
G. Schmid, “Irrlicht und Sternschnuppe,” Goethe 13 (1951): 268-89. ↩
See the entries “Irrlicht,” “irrlichtartig,” and “irrlichtelieren” in the Goethe-Wörterbuch, ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, and the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1978), 2:235-43. woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=GWB#0. ↩
Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Scientific Studies, trans. Douglas Miller (Suhrkamp: New York, 1988), 164. First sentence altered by JKB. ↩
Bochum
The Ruhr area ('Ruhrgebiet') is named after the river that borders it to the south and is the largest urban area in Germany with over five million people. It is mostly known as a densely-populated industrial area. By 1850 there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke, used in blast furnaces, producing iron and steel. Because of the industrial significance, it had been a target from the start of the war, yet "the organized defences and the large amount of industrial pollutants produced a semi-permanent smog or industrial haze that hampered accurate bombing". During World War II, the industry and cities in the Ruhr area were heavily bombed. The combination of the lack of historic city centres, which were burned to ashes, and (air) pollution has given the area and the cities a bad reputation. Especially because it is so close to the Netherlands, I thought it would be an interesting area to visit for a little trip. I have spent three nights at a campsite on the Ruhr and visited six cities.
With a population of 365,000 inhabitans, Bochum is the fourth largest city in the Ruhr area and the 16th largest city in Germany. Bochum was founded in the 9th century and was granted a town charter in 1321, yet it remained a small town until the 19th century. The establishment of the mining and the steel industry resulted in a steep population rise. Coals refined as coke needed for the steel production led to the emergence of coking plants. Bochum's growth at the end of the 19th century took place without any overarching planning. Therefore, no organized infrastructure could develop at first. Industrial settlements and company apartments were built at the colliery sites, while the established farms around the industrial sites continued to farm. In 1894 the first tram line went into operation.
During the Second World War, more than 30,000 people were used as slave labor in Bochum and Wattenscheid as part of the Nazi forced labor. The town centre of Bochum was a strategic target during the Oil Campaign. In 150 air raids on Bochum, over 1,300 bombs were dropped on Bochum and Gelsenkirchen. By the end of the war, 83% of Bochum had been destroyed. 70,000 citizens were homeless and at least 4,095 dead. Of Bochum's more than 90,000 homes, only 25,000 remained for the 170,000 citizens who survived the war, many by fleeing to other areas. Most of the remaining buildings were damaged, many with only one usable room.
Source: Wikipedia (edited)
My favorite landscapes are over here....always have been!!! I love the wide open land and endless sky!!! Rarely do you see it green over here, as it gets very hot, dry and windy and the grass turns golden!!! There's something about this area that lifts my spirit....it's home! Home is where all my family live, and how I wish I would have never left. This old barn has been here as long as I can remember!! 😄
Montana earned the nickname “Big Sky Country” due to its vast, uninterrupted skies and wide-open spaces. The origin of this moniker can be traced back to a novel titled “The Big Sky” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author A.B. Guthrie Jr. In his 1947 book, Guthrie vividly depicted the untamed landscape of the American West, emphasizing the beauty and grandeur of the region. His portrayal of the rugged individuals who sought to tame this wild land resonated with readers, and the phrase “Big Sky” became synonymous with Montana’s expansive vistas and majestic beauty.
The state’s nickname reflects the abundance of natural wonders—from the towering mountain ranges to the sprawling prairies—that are always framed by the overarching sky. Whether you’ve hiked along Montana’s lakes or explored its national parks like Glacier and Yellowstone, the feeling of being surrounded by boundless sky is something you have to experience firsthand. So, next time you gaze at Montana’s horizon, remember that you’re in the heart of Big Sky Country! These articles are from the internet.
E X P L O R E # 4 9 7
Kresge Auditorium is an auditorium building for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Every seat in the concert hall has an unobstructed view, since there are no interior supports for the overarching dome. Working with renowned acoustical architects Bolt, Beranek and Newman, architect Saarinen employed free-hanging acoustic "clouds" that absorb and direct sound, instead of a traditional plaster ceiling. These clouds also contain lights, loudspeakers, and ventilation.
Source: www.wikipedia.org
September 8, 2012, Boston, Massachusetts, taken here.
Memphis, TN, August, 2019 – Operation “Bluff City Blues,” a two-week long joint federal, state and local law enforcement initiative has resulted in the arrests of 214 individuals in West Tennessee. Those arrested included 79 gang members, 65 individuals for aggravated assault, 34 individuals for homicide and 69 individuals for weapons offenses.
The United States Marshals led initiative brought together federal, state and local law enforcement partners to reduce crime in West Tennessee by identifying and arresting violent fugitives, targeting violent gang activity and collecting intelligence to allow for the systematic removal of individuals who have been charged with committing violent crimes.
In addition to the arrests, Operation Bluff City Blues resulted in the seizure of approximately 771.9 grams of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and crack, $17, 240 in cash, and 28 firearms as well as the recovery of 4 stolen vehicles. In addition, almost 30 registered sex offenders living in Madison and Shelby Counties were checked for compliance with sex offender registration requirements.
Since 2010, the USMS has led more than 70 counter-gang operations which have resulted in more than 8,000 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,800 illegal firearms. For the last 10 years, the overarching goal of the USMS nationwide Operation Triple Beam and Washout initiative has been to bring relief to the residents of communities by strategically and actively pursuing gang members and criminals most responsible for the worst crime and violence in those communities.
Photo by: Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals
Memphis, TN, August, 2019 – Operation “Bluff City Blues,” a two-week long joint federal, state and local law enforcement initiative has resulted in the arrests of 214 individuals in West Tennessee. Those arrested included 79 gang members, 65 individuals for aggravated assault, 34 individuals for homicide and 69 individuals for weapons offenses.
The United States Marshals led initiative brought together federal, state and local law enforcement partners to reduce crime in West Tennessee by identifying and arresting violent fugitives, targeting violent gang activity and collecting intelligence to allow for the systematic removal of individuals who have been charged with committing violent crimes.
In addition to the arrests, Operation Bluff City Blues resulted in the seizure of approximately 771.9 grams of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and crack, $17, 240 in cash, and 28 firearms as well as the recovery of 4 stolen vehicles. In addition, almost 30 registered sex offenders living in Madison and Shelby Counties were checked for compliance with sex offender registration requirements.
Since 2010, the USMS has led more than 70 counter-gang operations which have resulted in more than 8,000 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,800 illegal firearms. For the last 10 years, the overarching goal of the USMS nationwide Operation Triple Beam and Washout initiative has been to bring relief to the residents of communities by strategically and actively pursuing gang members and criminals most responsible for the worst crime and violence in those communities.
Photo by: Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals
Dualism in cosmology is the moral, or spiritual belief that two fundamental concepts exist, which often oppose each other. It is an umbrella term that covers a diversity of views from various religions, including both traditional religions and scriptural religions.
Moral dualism is the belief of the great complement of, or conflict between, the benevolent and the malevolent. It simply implies that there are two moral opposites at work, independent of any interpretation of what might be "moral" and independent of how these may be represented. Moral opposites might, for example, exist in a worldview which has one god, more than one god, or none. By contrast, duotheism, bitheism or ditheism implies (at least) two gods. While bitheism implies harmony, ditheism implies rivalry and opposition, such as between good and evil, or light and dark, or summer and winter. For example, a ditheistic system could be one in which one god is a creator, and the other a destroyer. In theology, dualism can also refer to the relationship between the deity and creation or the deity and the universe (see theistic dualism). This form of dualism is a belief shared in certain traditions of Christianity and Hinduism.[1] Alternatively, in ontological dualism, the world is divided into two overarching categories. The opposition and combination of the universe's two basic principles of yin and yang is a large part of Chinese philosophy, and is an important feature of Taoism. It is also discussed in Confucianism.
Many myths and creation motifs with dualistic cosmologies have been described in ethnographic and anthropological literature. These motifs conceive the world as being created, organized, or influenced by two demiurges, culture heroes, or other mythological beings, who either compete with each other or have a complementary function in creating, arranging or influencing the world. There is a huge diversity of such cosmologies. In some cases, such as among the Chukchi, the beings collaborate rather than competing, and contribute to the creation in a coequal way. In many other instances the two beings are not of the same importance or power (sometimes, one of them is even characterized as gullible). Sometimes they can be contrasted as good versus evil.[2] They may be often believed to be twins or at least brothers.[3][4] Dualistic motifs in mythologies can be observed in all inhabited continents. Zolotaryov concludes that they cannot be explained by diffusion or borrowing, but are rather of convergent origin: they are related to a dualistic organization of society (moieties); in some cultures, this social organization may have ceased to exist, but mythology preserves the memory in more and more disguised ways.[5]
Moral dualism[edit]
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Moral dualism is the belief of the great complement or conflict between the benevolent and the malevolent. Like ditheism/bitheism (see below), moral dualism does not imply the absence of monist or monotheistic principles. Moral dualism simply implies that there are two moral opposites at work, independent of any interpretation of what might be "moral" and—unlike ditheism/bitheism—independent of how these may be represented.
For example, Mazdaism (Mazdean Zoroastrianism) is both dualistic and monotheistic (but not monist by definition) since in that philosophy God—the Creator—is purely good, and the antithesis—which is also uncreated–is an absolute one. Zurvanism (Zurvanite Zoroastrianism), Manichaeism, and Mandaeism are representative of dualistic and monist philosophies since each has a supreme and transcendental First Principle from which the two equal-but-opposite entities then emanate. This is also true for the lesser-known Christian gnostic religions, such as Bogomils, Catharism, and so on. More complex forms of monist dualism also exist, for instance in Hermeticism, where Nous "thought"—that is described to have created man—brings forth both good and evil, dependent on interpretation, whether it receives prompting from the God or from the Demon. Duality with pluralism is considered a logical fallacy.
History[edit]
Moral dualism began as a theological belief. Dualism was first seen implicitly in Egyptian religious beliefs by the contrast of the gods Set (disorder, death) and Osiris (order, life).[6] The first explicit conception of dualism came from the Ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism around the mid-fifth century BC. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion that believes that Ahura Mazda is the eternal creator of all good things. Any violations of Ahura Mazda's order arise from druj, which is everything uncreated. From this comes a significant choice for humans to make. Either they fully participate in human life for Ahura Mazda or they do not and give druj power. Personal dualism is even more distinct in the beliefs of later religions.
The religious dualism of Christianity between good and evil is not a perfect dualism as God (good) will inevitably destroy Satan (evil). Early Christian dualism is largely based on Platonic Dualism (See: Neoplatonism and Christianity). There is also a personal dualism in Christianity with a soul-body distinction based on the idea of an immaterial Christian soul.[7]
Duotheism, bitheism, ditheism[edit]
When used with regards to multiple gods, dualism may refer to duotheism, bitheism, or ditheism. Although ditheism/bitheism imply moral dualism, they are not equivalent: ditheism/bitheism implies (at least) two gods, while moral dualism does not necessarily imply theism (theos = god) at all.
Both bitheism and ditheism imply a belief in two equally powerful gods with complementary or antonymous properties; however, while bitheism implies harmony, ditheism implies rivalry and opposition, such as between good and evil, bright and dark, or summer and winter. For example, a ditheistic system would be one in which one god is creative, the other is destructive (cf. theodicy). In the original conception of Zoroastrianism, for example, Ahura Mazda was the spirit of ultimate good, while Ahriman (Angra Mainyu) was the spirit of ultimate evil.
In a bitheistic system, by contrast, where the two deities are not in conflict or opposition, one could be male and the other female (cf. duotheism[clarification needed]). One well-known example of a bitheistic or duotheistic theology based on gender polarity is found in the neopagan religion of Wicca. In Wicca, dualism is represented in the belief of a god and a goddess as a dual partnership in ruling the universe. This is centered on the worship of a divine couple, the Moon Goddess and the Horned God, who are regarded as lovers. However, there is also a ditheistic theme within traditional Wicca, as the Horned God has dual aspects of bright and dark - relating to day/night, summer/winter - expressed as the Oak King and the Holly King, who in Wiccan myth and ritual are said to engage in battle twice a year for the hand of the Goddess, resulting in the changing seasons. (Within Wicca, bright and dark do not correspond to notions of "good" and "evil" but are aspects of the natural world, much like yin and yang in Taoism.)
Radical and mitigated dualism[edit]
Radical Dualism – or absolute Dualism which posits two co-equal divine forces.[8] Manichaeism conceives of two previously coexistent realms of light and darkness which become embroiled in conflict, owing to the chaotic actions of the latter. Subsequently, certain elements of the light became entrapped within darkness; the purpose of material creation is to enact the slow process of extraction of these individual elements, at the end of which the kingdom of light will prevail over darkness. Manicheanism likely inherits this dualistic mythology from Zoroastrianism, in which the eternal spirit Ahura Mazda is opposed by his antithesis, Angra Mainyu; the two are engaged in a cosmic struggle, the conclusion of which will likewise see Ahura Mazda triumphant. 'The Hymn of the Pearl' included the belief that the material world corresponds to some sort of malevolent intoxication brought about by the powers of darkness to keep elements of the light trapped inside it in a state of drunken distraction.
Mitigated Dualism – is where one of the two principles is in some way inferior to the other. Such classical Gnostic movements as the Sethians conceived of the material world as being created by a lesser divinity than the true God that was the object of their devotion. The spiritual world is conceived of as being radically different from the material world, co-extensive with the true God, and the true home of certain enlightened members of humanity; thus, these systems were expressive of a feeling of acute alienation within the world, and their resultant aim was to allow the soul to escape the constraints presented by the physical realm.[8]
However, bitheistic and ditheistic principles are not always so easily contrastable, for instance in a system where one god is the representative of summer and drought and the other of winter and rain/fertility (cf. the mythology of Persephone). Marcionism, an early Christian sect, held that the Old and New Testaments were the work of two opposing gods: both were First Principles, but of different religions.[9]
Theistic dualism[edit]
In theology, dualism can refer to the relationship between God and creation or God and the universe. This form of dualism is a belief shared in certain traditions of Christianity and Hinduism.[10][1]
In Christianity[edit]
The Cathars being expelled from Carcassonne in 1209. The Cathars were denounced as heretics by the Roman Catholic Church for their dualist beliefs.
The dualism between God and Creation has existed as a central belief in multiple historical sects and traditions of Christianity, including Marcionism, Catharism, Paulicianism, and other forms of Gnostic Christianity. Christian dualism refers to the belief that God and creation are distinct, but interrelated through an indivisible bond.[1] However, Gnosticism is a diverse, syncretistic religious movement consisting of various belief systems generally united in a belief in a distinction between a supreme, transcendent God and a blind, evil demiurge responsible for creating the material universe, thereby trapping the divine spark within matter.[11]
In sects like the Cathars and the Paulicians, this is a dualism between the material world, created by an evil god, and a moral god. Historians divide Christian dualism into absolute dualism, which held that the good and evil gods were equally powerful, and mitigated dualism, which held that material evil was subordinate to the spiritual good.[12] The belief, by Christian theologians who adhere to a libertarian or compatibilist view of free will, that free will separates humankind from God has also been characterized as a form of dualism.[1] The theologian Leroy Stephens Rouner compares the dualism of Christianity with the dualism that exists in Zoroastrianism and the Samkhya tradition of Hinduism. The theological use of the word dualism dates back to 1700, in a book that describes the dualism between good and evil.[1]
The tolerance of dualism ranges widely among the different Christian traditions. As a monotheistic religion, the conflict between dualism and monism has existed in Christianity since its inception.[13] The 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia describes that, in the Catholic Church, "the dualistic hypothesis of an eternal world existing side by side with God was of course rejected" by the thirteenth century, but mind–body dualism was not.[14] The problem of evil is difficult to reconcile with absolute monism, and has prompted some Christian sects to veer towards dualism. Gnostic forms of Christianity were more dualistic, and some Gnostic traditions posited that the Devil was separate from God as an independent deity.[13] The Christian dualists of the Byzantine Empire, the Paulicians, were seen as Manichean heretics by Byzantine theologians. This tradition of Christian dualism, founded by Constantine-Silvanus, argued that the universe was created through evil and separate from a moral God.[15]
The Cathars, a Christian sect in southern France, believed that there was a dualism between two gods, one representing good and the other representing evil. Whether or not the Cathari possessed direct historical influence from ancient Gnosticism is a matter of dispute, as the basic conceptions of Gnostic cosmology are to be found in Cathar beliefs (most distinctly in their notion of a lesser creator god), though unlike the second century Gnostics, they did not apparently place any special relevance upon knowledge (gnosis) as an effective salvific force. In any case, the Roman Catholic Church denounced the Cathars as heretics, and sought to crush the movement in the 13th century. The Albigensian Crusade was initiated by Pope Innocent III in 1208 to remove the Cathars from Languedoc in France, where they were known as Albigesians. The Inquisition, which began in 1233 under Pope Gregory IX, also targeted the Cathars.[16]
In Hinduism[edit]
The Dvaita Vedanta school of Indian philosophy espouses a dualism between God and the universe by theorizing the existence of two separate realities. The first and the more important reality is that of Shiva or Shakti or Vishnu or Brahman. Shiva or Shakti or Vishnu is the supreme Self, God, the absolute truth of the universe, the independent reality. The second reality is that of dependent but equally real universe that exists with its own separate essence. Everything that is composed of the second reality, such as individual soul (Jiva), matter, etc. exist with their own separate reality. The distinguishing factor of this philosophy as opposed to Advaita Vedanta (monistic conclusion of Vedas) is that God takes on a personal role and is seen as a real eternal entity that governs and controls the universe.[17][better source needed] Because the existence of individuals is grounded in the divine, they are depicted as reflections, images or even shadows of the divine, but never in any way identical with the divine. Salvation therefore is described as the realization that all finite reality is essentially dependent on the Supreme.[18]
Ontological dualism[edit]
The yin and yang symbolizes the duality in nature and all things in the Taoist religion.
Alternatively, dualism can mean the tendency of humans to perceive and understand the world as being divided into two overarching categories. In this sense, it is dualistic when one perceives a tree as a thing separate from everything surrounding it. This form of ontological dualism exists in Taoism and Confucianism, beliefs that divide the universe into the complementary oppositions of yin and yang.[19] In traditions such as classical Hinduism (Samkhya, Yoga, Vaisheshika and the later Vedanta schools, which accepted the theory of Gunas), Zen Buddhism or Islamic Sufism, a key to enlightenment is "transcending" this sort of dualistic thinking, without merely substituting dualism with monism or pluralism.
In Chinese philosophy[edit]
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The opposition and combination of the universe's two basic principles of yin and yang is a large part of Chinese philosophy, and is an important feature of Taoism, both as a philosophy and as a religion, although the concept developed much earlier. Some argue that yin and yang were originally an earth and sky god, respectively.[20] As one of the oldest principles in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang are also discussed in Confucianism, but to a lesser extent.
Some of the common associations with yang and yin, respectively, are: male and female, light and dark, active and passive, motion and stillness. Some scholars believe that the two ideas may have originally referred to two opposite sides of a mountain, facing towards and away from the sun.[20] The yin and yang symbol in actuality has very little to do with Western dualism; instead it represents the philosophy of balance, where two opposites co-exist in harmony and are able to transmute into each other. In the yin-yang symbol there is a dot of yin in yang and a dot of yang in yin. In Taoism, this symbolizes the inter-connectedness of the opposite forces as different aspects of Tao, the First Principle. Contrast is needed to create a distinguishable reality, without which we would experience nothingness. Therefore, the independent principles of yin and yang are actually dependent on one another for each other's distinguishable existence.
The complementary dualistic concept seen in yin and yang represent the reciprocal interaction throughout nature, related to a feedback loop, where opposing forces do not exchange in opposition but instead exchange reciprocally to promote stabilization similar to homeostasis. An underlying principle in Taoism states that within every independent entity lies a part of its opposite. Within sickness lies health and vice versa. This is because all opposites are manifestations of the single Tao, and are therefore not independent from one another, but rather a variation of the same unifying force throughout all of nature.
In traditional religions[edit]
Samoyed peoples[edit]
In a Nenets myth, Num and Nga collaborate and compete with each other, creating land,[21] there are also other myths about competing-collaborating demiurges.[22]
Comparative studies of Kets and neighboring peoples[edit]
Among others, also dualistic myths were investigated in researches which tried to compare the mythologies of Siberian peoples and settle the problem of their origins. Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov compared the mythology of Ket people with those of speakers of Uralic languages, assuming in the studies, that there are modelling semiotic systems in the compared mythologies; and they have also made typological comparisons.[23][24] Among others, from possibly Uralic mythological analogies, those of Ob-Ugric peoples[25] and Samoyedic peoples[26] are mentioned. Some other discussed analogies (similar folklore motifs, and purely typological considerations, certain binary pairs in symbolics) may be related to dualistic organization of society—some of such dualistic features can be found at these compared peoples.[27] It must be admitted that, for Kets, neither dualistic organization of society[28] nor cosmological dualism[29] has been researched thoroughly: if such features existed at all, they have either weakened or remained largely undiscovered;[28] although there are some reports on division into two exogamous patrilinear moieties,[30] folklore on conflicts of mythological figures, and also on cooperation of two beings in creating the land:[29] the diving of the water fowl.[31] If we include dualistic cosmologies meant in broad sense, not restricted to certain concrete motifs, then we find that they are much more widespread, they exist not only among some Siberian peoples, but there are examples in each inhabited continent.[32]
Chukchi[edit]
A Chukchi myth and its variations report the creation of the world; in some variations, it is achieved by the collaboration of several beings (birds, collaborating in a coequal way; or the creator and the raven, collaborating in a coequal way; or the creator alone, using the birds only as assistants).[33][34]
Fuegians[edit]
See also: Fuegians § Spiritual culture
All three Fuegian tribes had dualistic myths about culture heros.[35] The Yámana have dualistic myths about the two [joalox] brothers. They act as culture heroes, and sometimes stand in an antagonistic relation with each other, introducing opposite laws. Their figures can be compared to the Kwanyip-brothers of the Selk'nam.[36] In general, the presence of dualistic myths in two compared cultures does not imply relatedness or diffusion necessarily.[32]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualistic_cosmology
In spirituality, nondualism, also called non-duality, means "not two" or "one undivided without a second".[1][2] Nondualism primarily refers to a mature state of consciousness, in which the dichotomy of I-other is "transcended", and awareness is described as "centerless" and "without dichotomies". Although this state of consciousness may seem to appear spontaneous,[note 1] it usually follows prolonged preparation through ascetic or meditative/contemplative practice, which may include ethical injunctions. While the term "nondualism" is derived from Advaita Vedanta, descriptions of nondual consciousness can be found within Hinduism (Turiya, sahaja), Buddhism (emptiness, pariniṣpanna, nature of mind, rigpa), Islam (Wahdat al Wujud, Fanaa, and Haqiqah) and western Christian and neo-Platonic traditions (henosis, mystical union).
The Asian ideas of nondualism developed in the Vedic and post-Vedic Upanishadic philosophies around 800 BCE,[3] as well as in the Buddhist traditions.[4] The oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought are found in the earlier Hindu Upanishads such as Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, as well as other pre-Buddhist Upanishads such as the Chandogya Upanishad, which emphasizes the unity of individual soul called Atman and the Supreme called Brahman. In Hinduism, nondualism has more commonly become associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara.[5]
In the Buddhist tradition non-duality is associated with the teachings of emptiness (śūnyatā) and the two truths doctrine, particularly the Madhyamaka teaching of the non-duality of absolute and relative truth,[6][7] and the Yogachara notion of "mind/thought only" (citta-matra) or "representation-only" (vijñaptimātra).[5] These teachings, coupled with the doctrine of Buddha-nature have been influential concepts in the subsequent development of Mahayana Buddhism, not only in India, but also in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism, most notably in Chán (Zen) and Vajrayana.
Western Neo-Platonism is an essential element of both Christian contemplation and mysticism, and of Western esotericism and modern spirituality, especially Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, Universalism and Perennialism.Etymology[edit]
When referring to nondualism, Hinduism generally uses the Sanskrit term Advaita, while Buddhism uses Advaya (Tibetan: gNis-med, Chinese: pu-erh, Japanese: fu-ni).[8]
"Advaita" (अद्वैत) is from Sanskrit roots a, not; dvaita, dual, and is usually translated as "nondualism", "nonduality" and "nondual". The term "nondualism" and the term "advaita" from which it originates are polyvalent terms. The English word's origin is the Latin duo meaning "two" prefixed with "non-" meaning "not".
"Advaya" (अद्वय) is also a Sanskrit word that means "identity, unique, not two, without a second," and typically refers to the two truths doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism, especially Madhyamaka.
One of the earliest uses of the word Advaita is found in verse 4.3.32 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (~800 BCE), and in verses 7 and 12 of the Mandukya Upanishad (variously dated to have been composed between 500 BCE to 200 CE).[9] The term appears in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in the section with a discourse of the oneness of Atman (individual soul) and Brahman (universal consciousness), as follows:[10]
An ocean is that one seer, without any duality [Advaita]; this is the Brahma-world, O King. Thus did Yajnavalkya teach him. This is his highest goal, this is his highest success, this is his highest world, this is his highest bliss. All other creatures live on a small portion of that bliss.
— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.32, [11][12][13]
The English term "nondual" was also informed by early translations of the Upanishads in Western languages other than English from 1775. These terms have entered the English language from literal English renderings of "advaita" subsequent to the first wave of English translations of the Upanishads. These translations commenced with the work of Müller (1823–1900), in the monumental Sacred Books of the East (1879).
Max Müller rendered "advaita" as "Monism", as have many recent scholars.[14][15][16] However, some scholars state that "advaita" is not really monism.[17]
Definitions[edit]
See also: Monism, Mind-body dualism, Dualistic cosmology, and Pluralism (philosophy)
Nondualism is a fuzzy concept, for which many definitions can be found.[note 2]
According to Espín and Nickoloff, "nondualism" is the thought in some Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist schools, which, generally speaking:
... teaches that the multiplicity of the universe is reducible to one essential reality."[18]
However, since there are similar ideas and terms in a wide variety of spiritualities and religions, ancient and modern, no single definition for the English word "nonduality" can suffice, and perhaps it is best to speak of various "nondualities" or theories of nonduality.[19]
David Loy, who sees non-duality between subject and object as a common thread in Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta,[20][note 3] distinguishes "Five Flavors Of Nonduality":[web 1]
The negation of dualistic thinking in pairs of opposites. The Yin-Yang symbol of Taoism symbolises the transcendence of this dualistic way of thinking.[web 1]
Monism, the nonplurality of the world. Although the phenomenal world appears as a plurality of "things", in reality they are "of a single cloth".[web 1]
Advaita, the nondifference of subject and object, or nonduality between subject and object.[web 1]
Advaya, the identity of phenomena and the Absolute, the "nonduality of duality and nonduality",[web 1] c.q. the nonduality of relative and ultimate truth as found in Madhyamaka Buddhism and the two truths doctrine.
Mysticism, a mystical unity between God and man.[web 1]
The idea of nondualism is typically contrasted with dualism, with dualism defined as the view that the universe and the nature of existence consists of two realities, such as the God and the world, or as God and Devil, or as mind and matter, and so on.[23][24]
Ideas of nonduality are also taught in some western religions and philosophies, and it has gained attraction and popularity in modern western spirituality and New Age-thinking.[25]
Different theories and concepts which can be linked to nonduality are taught in a wide variety of religious traditions. These include:
Hinduism:
In the Upanishads, which teach a doctrine that has been interpreted in a nondualistic way, mainly tat tvam asi.[26]
The Advaita Vedanta of Shankara[27][26] which teaches that a single pure consciousness is the only reality, and that the world is unreal (Maya).
Non-dual forms of Hindu Tantra[28] including Kashmira Shaivism[29][28] and the goddess centered Shaktism. Their view is similar to Advaita, but they teach that the world is not unreal, but it is the real manifestation of consciousness.[30]
Forms of Hindu Modernism which mainly teach Advaita and modern Indian saints like Ramana Maharshi and Swami Vivekananda.
Buddhism:
"Shūnyavāda (emptiness view) or the Mādhyamaka school",[31][32] which holds that there is a non-dual relationship (that is, there is no true separation) between conventional truth and ultimate truth, as well as between samsara and nirvana.
"Vijnānavāda (consciousness view) or the Yogācāra school",[31][33] which holds that there is no ultimate perceptual and conceptual division between a subject and its objects, or a cognizer and that which is cognized. It also argues against mind-body dualism, holding that there is only consciousness.
Tathagatagarbha-thought,[33] which holds that all beings have the potential to become Buddhas.
Vajrayana-buddhism,[34] including Tibetan Buddhist traditions of Dzogchen[35] and Mahamudra.[36]
East Asian Buddhist traditions like Zen[37] and Huayan, particularly their concept of interpenetration.
Sikhism,[38] which usually teaches a duality between God and humans, but was given a nondual interpretation by Bhai Vir Singh.
Taoism,[39] which teaches the idea of a single subtle universal force or cosmic creative power called Tao (literally "way").
Subud[25]
Abrahamic traditions:
Christian mystics who promote a "nondual experience", such as Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich. The focus of this Christian nondualism is on bringing the worshiper closer to God and realizing a "oneness" with the Divine.[40]
Sufism[39]
Jewish Kabbalah
Western traditions:
Neo-platonism [41] which teaches there is a single source of all reality, The One.
Western philosophers like Hegel, Spinoza and Schopenhauer.[41] They defended different forms of philosophical monism or Idealism.
Transcendentalism, which was influenced by German Idealism and Indian religions.
Theosophy
New age
Hinduism[edit]
"Advaita" refers to nondualism, non-distinction between realities, the oneness of Atman (individual self) and Brahman (the single universal existence), as in Vedanta, Shaktism and Shaivism.[42] Although the term is best known from the Advaita Vedanta school of Adi Shankara, "advaita" is used in treatises by numerous medieval era Indian scholars, as well as modern schools and teachers.[note 4]
The Hindu concept of Advaita refers to the idea that all of the universe is one essential reality, and that all facets and aspects of the universe is ultimately an expression or appearance of that one reality.[42] According to Dasgupta and Mohanta, non-dualism developed in various strands of Indian thought, both Vedic and Buddhist, from the Upanishadic period onward.[4] The oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, which pre-dates the earliest Buddhism. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may also have been responding to the teachings of the Chandogya Upanishad, rejecting some of its Atman-Brahman related metaphysics.[43][note 5]
Advaita appears in different shades in various schools of Hinduism such as in Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), Suddhadvaita Vedanta (Vaishnavism), non-dual Shaivism and Shaktism.[42][46][47] In the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara, advaita implies that all of reality is one with Brahman,[42] that the Atman (soul, self) and Brahman (ultimate unchanging reality) are one.[48][49] The advaita ideas of some Hindu traditions contrasts with the schools that defend dualism or Dvaita, such as that of Madhvacharya who stated that the experienced reality and God are two (dual) and distinct.[50][51]
Vedanta[edit]
Main article: Vedanta
Several schools of Vedanta teach a form of nondualism. The best-known is Advaita Vedanta, but other nondual Vedanta schools also have a significant influence and following, such as Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and Shuddhadvaita,[42] both of which are bhedabheda.
Advaita Vedanta[edit]
Main article: Advaita Vedanta
Swans are important figures in Advaita
The nonduality of the Advaita Vedanta is of the identity of Brahman and the Atman.[52] Advaita has become a broad current in Indian culture and religions, influencing subsequent traditions like Kashmir Shaivism.
The oldest surviving manuscript on Advaita Vedanta is by Gauḍapāda (6th century CE),[5] who has traditionally been regarded as the teacher of Govinda bhagavatpāda and the grandteacher of Adi Shankara. Advaita is best known from the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara (788-820 CE), who states that Brahman, the single unified eternal truth, is pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss (Sat-cit-ananda).[53]
Advaita, states Murti, is the knowledge of Brahman and self-consciousness (Vijnana) without differences.[54] The goal of Vedanta is to know the "truly real" and thus become one with it.[55] According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the highest Reality,[56][57][58] The universe, according to Advaita philosophy, does not simply come from Brahman, it is Brahman. Brahman is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe.[57] Brahman is also that which is the cause of all changes.[57][59][60] Brahman is the "creative principle which lies realized in the whole world".[61]
The nondualism of Advaita, relies on the Hindu concept of Ātman which is a Sanskrit word that means "real self" of the individual,[62][63] "essence",[web 3] and soul.[62][64] Ātman is the first principle,[65] the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual. Atman is the Universal Principle, one eternal undifferentiated self-luminous consciousness, asserts Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism.[66][67]
Advaita Vedanta philosophy considers Atman as self-existent awareness, limitless, non-dual and same as Brahman.[68] Advaita school asserts that there is "soul, self" within each living entity which is fully identical with Brahman.[69][70] This identity holds that there is One Soul that connects and exists in all living beings, regardless of their shapes or forms, there is no distinction, no superior, no inferior, no separate devotee soul (Atman), no separate God soul (Brahman).[69] The Oneness unifies all beings, there is the divine in every being, and all existence is a single Reality, state the Advaita Vedantins.[71] The nondualism concept of Advaita Vedanta asserts that each soul is non-different from the infinite Brahman.[72]
Advaita Vedanta – Three levels of reality[edit]
Advaita Vedanta adopts sublation as the criterion to postulate three levels of ontological reality:[73][74]
Pāramārthika (paramartha, absolute), the Reality that is metaphysically true and ontologically accurate. It is the state of experiencing that "which is absolutely real and into which both other reality levels can be resolved". This experience can't be sublated (exceeded) by any other experience.[73][74]
Vyāvahārika (vyavahara), or samvriti-saya,[75] consisting of the empirical or pragmatic reality. It is ever-changing over time, thus empirically true at a given time and context but not metaphysically true. It is "our world of experience, the phenomenal world that we handle every day when we are awake". It is the level in which both jiva (living creatures or individual souls) and Iswara are true; here, the material world is also true.[74]
Prāthibhāsika (pratibhasika, apparent reality, unreality), "reality based on imagination alone". It is the level of experience in which the mind constructs its own reality. A well-known example is the perception of a rope in the dark as being a snake.[74]
Similarities and differences with Buddhism[edit]
Scholars state that Advaita Vedanta was influenced by Mahayana Buddhism, given the common terminology and methodology and some common doctrines.[76][77] Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi state:
In any event a close relationship between the Mahayana schools and Vedanta did exist, with the latter borrowing some of the dialectical techniques, if not the specific doctrines, of the former.[78]
Advaita Vedanta is related to Buddhist philosophy, which promotes ideas like the two truths doctrine and the doctrine that there is only consciousness (vijñapti-mātra). It is possible that the Advaita philosopher Gaudapada was influenced by Buddhist ideas.[5] Shankara harmonised Gaudapada's ideas with the Upanishadic texts, and developed a very influential school of orthodox Hinduism.[79][80]
The Buddhist term vijñapti-mātra is often used interchangeably with the term citta-mātra, but they have different meanings. The standard translation of both terms is "consciousness-only" or "mind-only." Advaita Vedanta has been called "idealistic monism" by scholars, but some disagree with this label.[81][82] Another concept found in both Madhyamaka Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta is Ajativada ("ajāta"), which Gaudapada adopted from Nagarjuna's philosophy.[83][84][note 6] Gaudapada "wove [both doctrines] into a philosophy of the Mandukaya Upanisad, which was further developed by Shankara.[86][note 7]
Michael Comans states there is a fundamental difference between Buddhist thought and that of Gaudapada, in that Buddhism has as its philosophical basis the doctrine of Dependent Origination according to which "everything is without an essential nature (nissvabhava), and everything is empty of essential nature (svabhava-sunya)", while Gaudapada does not rely on this principle at all. Gaudapada's Ajativada is an outcome of reasoning applied to an unchanging nondual reality according to which "there exists a Reality (sat) that is unborn (aja)" that has essential nature (svabhava), and this is the "eternal, fearless, undecaying Self (Atman) and Brahman".[88] Thus, Gaudapada differs from Buddhist scholars such as Nagarjuna, states Comans, by accepting the premises and relying on the fundamental teaching of the Upanishads.[88] Among other things, Vedanta school of Hinduism holds the premise, "Atman exists, as self evident truth", a concept it uses in its theory of nondualism. Buddhism, in contrast, holds the premise, "Atman does not exist (or, An-atman) as self evident".[89][90][91]
Mahadevan suggests that Gaudapada adopted Buddhist terminology and adapted its doctrines to his Vedantic goals, much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and adapted its doctrines to Buddhist goals; both used pre-existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings.[92] Dasgupta and Mohanta note that Buddhism and Shankara's Advaita Vedanta are not opposing systems, but "different phases of development of the same non-dualistic metaphysics from the Upanishadic period to the time of Sankara."[4]
Vishishtadvaita Vedanta[edit]
Ramanuja, founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, taught 'qualified nondualism' doctrine.
See also: Bhedabheda
Vishishtadvaita Vedanta is another main school of Vedanta and teaches the nonduality of the qualified whole, in which Brahman alone exists, but is characterized by multiplicity. It can be described as "qualified monism," or "qualified non-dualism," or "attributive monism."
According to this school, the world is real, yet underlying all the differences is an all-embracing unity, of which all "things" are an "attribute." Ramanuja, the main proponent of Vishishtadvaita philosophy contends that the Prasthana Traya ("The three courses") – namely the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras – are to be interpreted in a way that shows this unity in diversity, for any other way would violate their consistency.
Vedanta Desika defines Vishishtadvaita using the statement: Asesha Chit-Achit Prakaaram Brahmaikameva Tatvam – "Brahman, as qualified by the sentient and insentient modes (or attributes), is the only reality."
Neo-Vedanta[edit]
Main articles: Neo-Vedanta, Swami Vivekananda, and Ramakrishna Mission
Neo-Vedanta, also called "neo-Hinduism"[93] is a modern interpretation of Hinduism which developed in response to western colonialism and orientalism, and aims to present Hinduism as a "homogenized ideal of Hinduism"[94] with Advaita Vedanta as its central doctrine.[95]
Neo-Vedanta, as represented by Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan, is indebted to Advaita vedanta, but also reflects Advaya-philosophy. A main influence on neo-Advaita was Ramakrishna, himself a bhakta and tantrika, and the guru of Vivekananda. According to Michael Taft, Ramakrishna reconciled the dualism of formlessness and form.[96] Ramakrishna regarded the Supreme Being to be both Personal and Impersonal, active and inactive:
When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive – neither creating nor preserving nor destroying – I call Him Brahman or Purusha, the Impersonal God. When I think of Him as active – creating, preserving and destroying – I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God. But the distinction between them does not mean a difference. The Personal and Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness, the diamond and its lustre, the snake and its wriggling motion. It is impossible to conceive of the one without the other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one.[97]
Radhakrishnan acknowledged the reality and diversity of the world of experience, which he saw as grounded in and supported by the absolute or Brahman.[web 4][note 8] According to Anil Sooklal, Vivekananda's neo-Advaita "reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non-dualism":[99]
The Neo-Vedanta is also Advaitic inasmuch as it holds that Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, is one without a second, ekamevadvitiyam. But as distinguished from the traditional Advaita of Sankara, it is a synthetic Vedanta which reconciles Dvaita or dualism and Advaita or non-dualism and also other theories of reality. In this sense it may also be called concrete monism in so far as it holds that Brahman is both qualified, saguna, and qualityless, nirguna.[99]
Radhakrishnan also reinterpreted Shankara's notion of maya. According to Radhakrishnan, maya is not a strict absolute idealism, but "a subjective misperception of the world as ultimately real."[web 4] According to Sarma, standing in the tradition of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Advaitavāda means "spiritual non-dualism or absolutism",[100] in which opposites are manifestations of the Absolute, which itself is immanent and transcendent:[101]
All opposites like being and non-being, life and death, good and evil, light and darkness, gods and men, soul and nature are viewed as manifestations of the Absolute which is immanent in the universe and yet transcends it.[102]
Kashmir Shaivism[edit]
Main articles: Shaivism and Kashmir Shaivism
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Advaita is also a central concept in various schools of Shaivism, such as Kashmir Shaivism[42] and Shiva Advaita.
Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Śaivism, described by Abhinavagupta[note 9] as "paradvaita", meaning "the supreme and absolute non-dualism".[web 5] It is categorized by various scholars as monistic[103] idealism (absolute idealism, theistic monism,[104] realistic idealism,[105] transcendental physicalism or concrete monism[105]).
Kashmir Saivism is based on a strong monistic interpretation of the Bhairava Tantras and its subcategory the Kaula Tantras, which were tantras written by the Kapalikas.[106] There was additionally a revelation of the Siva Sutras to Vasugupta.[106] Kashmir Saivism claimed to supersede the dualistic Shaiva Siddhanta.[107] Somananda, the first theologian of monistic Saivism, was the teacher of Utpaladeva, who was the grand-teacher of Abhinavagupta, who in turn was the teacher of Ksemaraja.[106][108]
The philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism can be seen in contrast to Shankara's Advaita.[109] Advaita Vedanta holds that Brahman is inactive (niṣkriya) and the phenomenal world is an illusion (māyā). In Kashmir Shavisim, all things are a manifestation of the Universal Consciousness, Chit or Brahman.[110][111] Kashmir Shavisim sees the phenomenal world (Śakti) as real: it exists, and has its being in Consciousness (Chit).[112]
Kashmir Shaivism was influenced by, and took over doctrines from, several orthodox and heterodox Indian religious and philosophical traditions.[113] These include Vedanta, Samkhya, Patanjali Yoga and Nyayas, and various Buddhist schools, including Yogacara and Madhyamika,[113] but also Tantra and the Nath-tradition.[114]
Contemporary vernacular Advaita[edit]
Advaita is also part of other Indian traditions, which are less strongly, or not all, organised in monastic and institutional organisations. Although often called "Advaita Vedanta," these traditions have their origins in vernacular movements and "householder" traditions, and have close ties to the Nath, Nayanars and Sant Mat traditions.
Ramana Maharshi[edit]
Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) explained his insight using Shaiva Siddhanta, Advaita Vedanta and Yoga teachings.
Main article: Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi (30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) is widely acknowledged as one of the outstanding Indian gurus of modern times.[115] Ramana's teachings are often interpreted as Advaita Vedanta, though Ramana Maharshi never "received diksha (initiation) from any recognised authority".[web 6] Ramana himself did not call his insights advaita:
D. Does Sri Bhagavan advocate advaita?
M. Dvaita and advaita are relative terms. They are based on the sense of duality. The Self is as it is. There is neither dvaita nor advaita. "I Am that I Am."[note 10] Simple Being is the Self.[117]
Neo-Advaita[edit]
Main article: Neo-Advaita
Neo-Advaita is a New Religious Movement based on a modern, western interpretation of Advaita Vedanta, especially the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.[118] According to Arthur Versluis, neo-Advaita is part of a larger religious current which he calls immediatism,[119][web 9] "the assertion of immediate spiritual illumination without much if any preparatory practice within a particular religious tradition."[web 9] Neo-Advaita is criticized for this immediatism and its lack of preparatory practices.[120][note 11][122][note 12] Notable neo-advaita teachers are H. W. L. Poonja[123][118] and his students Gangaji,[124] Andrew Cohen,[note 13], and Eckhart Tolle.[118]
According to a modern western spiritual teacher of nonduality, Jeff Foster, nonduality is:
the essential oneness (wholeness, completeness, unity) of life, a wholeness which exists here and now, prior to any apparent separation [...] despite the compelling appearance of separation and diversity there is only one universal essence, one reality. Oneness is all there is – and we are included.[126]
Natha Sampradaya and Inchegeri Sampradaya[edit]
Main articles: Nath, Sahaja, and Inchegeri Sampradaya
The Natha Sampradaya, with Nath yogis such as Gorakhnath, introduced Sahaja, the concept of a spontaneous spirituality. Sahaja means "spontaneous, natural, simple, or easy".[web 13] According to Ken Wilber, this state reflects nonduality.[127]
Buddhism[edit]
There are different Buddhist views which resonate with the concepts and experiences of non-duality or "not two" (advaya). The Buddha does not use the term advaya in the earliest Buddhist texts, but it does appear in some of the Mahayana sutras, such as the Vimalakīrti.[128] While the Buddha taught unified states of mental focus (samadhi) and meditative absorption (dhyana) which were commonly taught in Upanishadic thought, he also rejected the metaphysical doctrines of the Upanishads, particularly ideas which are often associated with Hindu nonduality, such as the doctrine that "this cosmos is the self" and "everything is a Oneness" (cf. SN 12.48 and MN 22).[129][130] Because of this, Buddhist views of nonduality are particularly different than Hindu conceptions, which tend towards idealistic monism.
In Indian Buddhism[edit]
The layman Vimalakīrti Debates Manjusri, Dunhuang Mogao Caves
According to Kameshwar Nath Mishra, one connotation of advaya in Indic Sanskrit Buddhist texts is that it refers to the middle way between two opposite extremes (such as eternalism and annihilationism), and thus it is "not two".[131]
One of these Sanskrit Mahayana sutras, the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra contains a chapter on the "Dharma gate of non-duality" (advaya dharma dvara pravesa) which is said to be entered once one understands how numerous pairs of opposite extremes are to be rejected as forms of grasping. These extremes which must be avoided in order to understand ultimate reality are described by various characters in the text, and include: Birth and extinction, 'I' and 'Mine', Perception and non-perception, defilement and purity, good and not-good, created and uncreated, worldly and unworldly, samsara and nirvana, enlightenment and ignorance, form and emptiness and so on.[132] The final character to attempt to describe ultimate reality is the bodhisattva Manjushri, who states:
It is in all beings wordless, speechless, shows no signs, is not possible of cognizance, and is above all questioning and answering.[133]
Vimalakīrti responds to this statement by maintaining completely silent, therefore expressing that the nature of ultimate reality is ineffable (anabhilāpyatva) and inconceivable (acintyatā), beyond verbal designation (prapañca) or thought constructs (vikalpa).[133] The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, a text associated with Yogācāra Buddhism, also uses the term "advaya" extensively.[134]
In the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of Madhyamaka, the two truths or ways of understanding reality, are said to be advaya (not two). As explained by the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, there is a non-dual relationship, that is, there is no absolute separation, between conventional and ultimate truth, as well as between samsara and nirvana.[135][136] The concept of nonduality is also important in the other major Indian Mahayana tradition, the Yogacara school, where it is seen as the absence of duality between the perceiving subject (or "grasper") and the object (or "grasped"). It is also seen as an explanation of emptiness and as an explanation of the content of the awakened mind which sees through the illusion of subject-object duality. However, it is important to note that in this conception of non-dualism, there are still a multiplicity of individual mind streams (citta santana) and thus Yogacara does not teach an idealistic monism.[137]
These basic ideas have continued to influence Mahayana Buddhist doctrinal interpretations of Buddhist traditions such as Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Zen, Huayan and Tiantai as well as concepts such as Buddha-nature, luminous mind, Indra's net, rigpa and shentong.
Madhyamaka[edit]
Main articles: Madhyamika, Shunyata, and Two truths doctrine
Nagarjuna (right), Aryadeva (middle) and the Tenth Karmapa (left).
Madhyamaka, also known as Śūnyavāda (the emptiness teaching), refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy [138] founded by Nāgārjuna. In Madhyamaka, Advaya refers to the fact that the two truths are not separate or different.,[139] as well as the non-dual relationship of saṃsāra (the round of rebirth and suffering) and nirvāṇa (cessation of suffering, liberation).[42] According to Murti, in Madhyamaka, "Advaya" is an epistemological theory, unlike the metaphysical view of Hindu Advaita.[54] Madhyamaka advaya is closely related to the classical Buddhist understanding that all things are impermanent (anicca) and devoid of "self" (anatta) or "essenceless" (niḥsvabhāvavā),[140][141][142] and that this emptiness does not constitute an "absolute" reality in itself.[note 14].
In Madhyamaka, the two "truths" (satya) refer to conventional (saṃvṛti) and ultimate (paramārtha) truth.[143] The ultimate truth is "emptiness", or non-existence of inherently existing "things",[144] and the "emptiness of emptiness": emptiness does not in itself constitute an absolute reality. Conventionally, "things" exist, but ultimately, they are "empty" of any existence on their own, as described in Nagarjuna's magnum opus, the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK):
The Buddha's teaching of the Dharma is based on two truths: a truth of worldly convention and an ultimate truth. Those who do not understand the distinction drawn between these two truths do not understand the Buddha's profound truth. Without a foundation in the conventional truth the significance of the ultimate cannot be taught. Without understanding the significance of the ultimate, liberation is not achieved.[note 15]
As Jay Garfield notes, for Nagarjuna, to understand the two truths as totally different from each other is to reify and confuse the purpose of this doctrine, since it would either destroy conventional realities such as the Buddha's teachings and the empirical reality of the world (making Madhyamaka a form of nihilism) or deny the dependent origination of phenomena (by positing eternal essences). Thus the non-dual doctrine of the middle way lies beyond these two extremes.[146]
"Emptiness" is a consequence of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent arising),[147] the teaching that no dharma ("thing", "phenomena") has an existence of its own, but always comes into existence in dependence on other dharmas. According to Madhyamaka all phenomena are empty of "substance" or "essence" (Sanskrit: svabhāva) because they are dependently co-arisen. Likewise it is because they are dependently co-arisen that they have no intrinsic, independent reality of their own. Madhyamaka also rejects the existence of absolute realities or beings such as Brahman or Self.[148] In the highest sense, "ultimate reality" is not an ontological Absolute reality that lies beneath an unreal world, nor is it the non-duality of a personal self (atman) and an absolute Self (cf. Purusha). Instead, it is the knowledge which is based on a deconstruction of such reifications and Conceptual proliferations.[149] It also means that there is no "transcendental ground," and that "ultimate reality" has no existence of its own, but is the negation of such a transcendental reality, and the impossibility of any statement on such an ultimately existing transcendental reality: it is no more than a fabrication of the mind.[web 14][note 16] Susan Kahn further explains:
Ultimate truth does not point to a transcendent reality, but to the transcendence of deception. It is critical to emphasize that the ultimate truth of emptiness is a negational truth. In looking for inherently existent phenomena it is revealed that it cannot be found. This absence is not findable because it is not an entity, just as a room without an elephant in it does not contain an elephantless substance. Even conventionally, elephantlessness does not exist. Ultimate truth or emptiness does not point to an essence or nature, however subtle, that everything is made of.[web 15]
However, according to Nagarjuna, even the very schema of ultimate and conventional, samsara and nirvana, is not a final reality, and he thus famously deconstructs even these teachings as being empty and not different from each other in the MMK where he writes:[41]
The limit (koti) of nirvāṇa is that of saṃsāra
The subtlest difference is not found between the two.
According to Nancy McCagney, what this refers to is that the two truths depend on each other; without emptiness, conventional reality cannot work, and vice versa. It does not mean that samsara and nirvana are the same, or that they are one single thing, as in Advaita Vedanta, but rather that they are both empty, open, without limits, and merely exist for the conventional purpose of teaching the Buddha Dharma.[41] Referring to this verse, Jay Garfield writes that:
to distinguish between samsara and nirvana would be to suppose that each had a nature and that they were different natures. But each is empty, and so there can be no inherent difference. Moreover, since nirvana is by definition the cessation of delusion and of grasping and, hence, of the reification of self and other and of confusing imputed phenomena for inherently real phenomena, it is by definition the recognition of the ultimate nature of things. But if, as Nagarjuna argued in Chapter XXIV, this is simply to see conventional things as empty, not to see some separate emptiness behind them, then nirvana must be ontologically grounded in the conventional. To be in samsara is to see things as they appear to deluded consciousness and to interact with them accordingly. To be in nirvana, then, is to see those things as they are - as merely empty, dependent, impermanent, and nonsubstantial, not to be somewhere else, seeing something else.[150]
It is important to note however that the actual Sanskrit term "advaya" does not appear in the MMK, and only appears in one single work by Nagarjuna, the Bodhicittavivarana.[151]
The later Madhyamikas, states Yuichi Kajiyama, developed the Advaya definition as a means to Nirvikalpa-Samadhi by suggesting that "things arise neither from their own selves nor from other things, and that when subject and object are unreal, the mind, being not different, cannot be true either; thereby one must abandon attachment to cognition of nonduality as well, and understand the lack of intrinsic nature of everything". Thus, the Buddhist nondualism or Advaya concept became a means to realizing absolute emptiness.[152]
Yogācāra tradition[edit]
Asaṅga (fl. 4th century C.E.), a Mahayana scholar who wrote numerous works which discuss the Yogacara view and practice.
Main article: Yogacara
In the Mahayana tradition of Yogācāra (Skt; "yoga practice"), adyava (Tibetan: gnyis med) refers to overcoming the conceptual and perceptual dichotomies of cognizer and cognized, or subject and object.[42][153][154][155] The concept of adyava in Yogācāra is an epistemological stance on the nature of experience and knowledge, as well as a phenomenological exposition of yogic cognitive transformation. Early Buddhism schools such as Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika, that thrived through the early centuries of the common era, postulated a dualism (dvaya) between the mental activity of grasping (grāhaka, "cognition", "subjectivity") and that which is grasped (grāhya, "cognitum", intentional object).[156][152][156][157] Yogacara postulates that this dualistic relationship is a false illusion or superimposition (samaropa).[152]
Yogācāra also taught the doctrine which held that only mental cognitions really exist (vijñapti-mātra),[158][note 17] instead of the mind-body dualism of other Indian Buddhist schools.[152][156][158] This is another sense in which reality can be said to be non-dual, because it is "consciousness-only".[159] There are several interpretations of this main theory, which has been widely translated as representation-only, ideation-only, impressions-only and perception-only.[160][158][161][162] Some scholars see it as a kind of subjective or epistemic Idealism (similar to Kant's theory) while others argue that it is closer to a kind of phenomenology or representationalism. According to Mark Siderits the main idea of this doctrine is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions which manifest themselves as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind."[163] For Alex Wayman, this doctrine means that "the mind has only a report or representation of what the sense organ had sensed."[161] Jay Garfield and Paul Williams both see the doctrine as a kind of Idealism in which only mentality exists.[164][165]
However, it is important to note that even the idealistic interpretation of Yogācāra is not an absolute monistic idealism like Advaita Vedanta or Hegelianism, since in Yogācāra, even consciousness "enjoys no transcendent status" and is just a conventional reality.[166] Indeed, according to Jonathan Gold, for Yogācāra, the ultimate truth is not consciousness, but an ineffable and inconceivable "thusness" or "thatness" (tathatā).[153] Also, Yogācāra affirms the existence of individual mindstreams, and thus Kochumuttom also calls it a realistic pluralism.[82]
The Yogācārins defined three basic modes by which we perceive our world. These are referred to in Yogācāra as the three natures (trisvabhāva) of experience. They are:[167][168]
Parikalpita (literally, "fully conceptualized"): "imaginary nature", wherein things are incorrectly comprehended based on conceptual and linguistic construction, attachment and the subject object duality. It is thus equivalent to samsara.
Paratantra (literally, "other dependent"): "dependent nature", by which the dependently originated nature of things, their causal relatedness or flow of conditionality. It is the basis which gets erroneously conceptualized,
Pariniṣpanna (literally, "fully accomplished"): "absolute nature", through which one comprehends things as they are in themselves, that is, empty of subject-object and thus is a type of non-dual cognition. This experience of "thatness" (tathatā) is uninfluenced by any conceptualization at all.
To move from the duality of the Parikalpita to the non-dual consciousness of the Pariniṣpanna, Yogācāra teaches that there must be a transformation of consciousness, which is called the "revolution of the basis" (āśraya-parāvṛtti). According to Dan Lusthaus, this transformation which characterizes awakening is a "radical psycho-cognitive change" and a removal of false "interpretive projections" on reality (such as ideas of a self, external objects, etc).[169]
The Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra, a Yogācāra text, also associates this transformation with the concept of non-abiding nirvana and the non-duality of samsara and nirvana. Regarding this state of Buddhahood, it states:
Its operation is nondual (advaya vrtti) because of its abiding neither in samsara nor in nirvana (samsaranirvana-apratisthitatvat), through its being both conditioned and unconditioned (samskrta-asamskrtatvena).[170]
This refers to the Yogācāra teaching that even though a Buddha has entered nirvana, they do no "abide" in some quiescent state separate from the world but continue to give rise to extensive activity on behalf of others.[170] This is also called the non-duality between the compounded (samskrta, referring to samsaric existence) and the uncompounded (asamskrta, referring to nirvana). It is also described as a "not turning back" from both samsara and nirvana.[171]
For the later thinker Dignaga, non-dual knowledge or advayajñāna is also a synonym for prajñaparamita (transcendent wisdom) which liberates one from samsara.[172]
Other Indian traditions[edit]
Buddha nature or tathagata-garbha (literally "Buddha womb") is that which allows sentient beings to become Buddhas.[173] Various Mahayana texts such as the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras focus on this idea and over time it became a very influential doctrine in Indian Buddhism, as well in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddha nature teachings may be regarded as a form of nondualism. According to Sally B King, all beings are said to be or possess tathagata-garbha, which is nondual Thusness or Dharmakaya. This reality, states King, transcends the "duality of self and not-self", the "duality of form and emptiness" and the "two poles of being and non being".[174]
There various interpretations and views on Buddha nature and the concept became very influential in India, China and Tibet, where it also became a source of much debate. In later Indian Yogācāra, a new sub-school developed which adopted the doctrine of tathagata-garbha into the Yogācāra system.[166] The influence of this hybrid school can be seen in texts like the Lankavatara Sutra and the Ratnagotravibhaga. This synthesis of Yogācāra tathagata-garbha became very influential in later Buddhist traditions, such as Indian Vajrayana, Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism.[175][166] Yet another development in late Indian Buddhism was the synthesis of Madhymaka and Yogacara philosophies into a single system, by figures such as Śāntarakṣita (8th century). Buddhist Tantra, also known as Vajrayana, Mantrayana or Esoteric Buddhism, drew upon all these previous Indian Buddhist ideas and nondual philosophies to develop innovative new traditions of Buddhist practice and new religious texts called the Buddhist tantras (from the 6th century onwards).[176] Tantric Buddhism was influential in China and is the main form of Buddhism in the Himalayan regions, especially Tibetan Buddhism.
Iris is a flowering plant genus of 310 accepted species with showy flowers. As well as being the scientific name, iris is also widely used as a common name for all Iris species, as well as some belonging to other closely related genera. A common name for some species is flags, while the plants of the subgenus Scorpiris are widely known as junos, particularly in horticulture. It is a popular garden flower.
The often-segregated, monotypic genera Belamcanda (blackberry lily, I. domestica), Hermodactylus (snake's head iris, I. tuberosa), and Pardanthopsis (vesper iris, I. dichotoma) are currently included in Iris.
Three Iris varieties are used in the Iris flower data set outlined by Ronald Fisher in his 1936 paper The use of multiple measurements in taxonomic problems as an example of linear discriminant analysis.
Description
Irises are perennial plants, growing from creeping rhizomes (rhizomatous irises) or, in drier climates, from bulbs (bulbous irises). They have long, erect flowering stems which may be simple or branched, solid or hollow, and flattened or have a circular cross-section. The rhizomatous species usually have 3–10 basal sword-shaped leaves growing in dense clumps. The bulbous species also have 2–10 narrow leaves growing from the bulb.
Flower
The inflorescences are in the shape of a fan and contain one or more symmetrical six-lobed flowers. These grow on a pedicel or peduncle. The three sepals, which are usually spreading or droop downwards, are referred to as "falls". They expand from their narrow base (the "claw" or "haft"), into a broader expanded portion ("limb" or "blade") and can be adorned with veining, lines or dots. In the centre of the blade, some of the rhizomatous irises have a "beard", a row of fuzzy hairs at the base of each falls petal which gives pollinators a landing place and guides them to the nectar.
The three, sometimes reduced, petals stand upright, partly behind the sepal bases. They are called "standards". Some smaller iris species have all six lobes pointing straight outwards, but generally limb and standards differ markedly in appearance. They are united at their base into a floral tube that lies above the ovary (This flower, with the petals, and other flower parts, above the ovary is known as an epigynous flower, and it is said to have an inferior ovary, that is an ovary below the other flower parts). The three styles divide towards the apex into petaloid branches; this is significant in pollination.
The iris flower is of interest as an example of the relation between flowering plants and pollinating insects. The shape of the flower and the position of the pollen-receiving and stigmatic surfaces on the outer petals form a landing-stage for a flying insect, which in probing for nectar, will first come into contact with the perianth, then with the three stigmatic stamens in one whorled surface which is borne on an ovary formed of three carpels. The shelf-like transverse projection on the inner whorled underside of the stamens is beneath the overarching style arm below the stigma, so that the insect comes in contact with its pollen-covered surface only after passing the stigma; in backing out of the flower it will come in contact only with the non-receptive lower face of the stigma. Thus, an insect bearing pollen from one flower will, in entering a second, deposit the pollen on the stigma; in backing out of a flower, the pollen which it bears will not be rubbed off on the stigma of the same flower.
The iris fruit is a capsule which opens up in three parts to reveal the numerous seeds within. In some species, the seeds bear an aril, such as Iris stolonifera which has light brown seeds with thick white aril.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_(plant)
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE IN SUGBU
Rajah Tupas and Tetlaquatlaxopeuh
An Expeditionary Image. So we go to the question of whether a relationship can be established between the events at TEPEYÁC and TULPETLAC and the expedition of Legazpi and the Augustinian, de Urdaneta? If the Image of Guadalupe was installed on the flagship of the Christian Fleet during the Battle of Lepanto, did Legazpi and Urdaneta on their voyage to evangelize the Orient bring with them a pennant bearing the image of our Lady at Tepeyac to the Islas Felipinas?
The answer is Yes.
In the first edition of this book published in 1995 under the title “The Virgin of Mexico and the Philippines" the author reported that there was no such record. During the voyages of the galleons plying the Manila-Acapulco route, no mention is made of a devotion to the Guadalupana. Instead we have Virgin statues ‘tallado a mano‘ made at the start in the shops of Acapulco, such as is the popular Nuestra Señora de Paz y Buen Viaje of Antipolo, but it is not the Lady of Guadalupe. Or the Nuestra Señora de Guia of La Ermita. Much later the woodcarvers of Manila, Pampanga and Paete would take over the floourishing trade.
Thanks to a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Mexico in 1995, the negative conclusion tentatively arrived at in the First Edition gave way to a positive finding. In an article quoting D. Antonio Pompa y Pompa, the eminent Guadalupe historian, P. Lauro Lopez Beltrán recounts to us the historical antecedents of the advent of Christianity in the Islands, and the intervention of our Lady of Mexico that led to our giving a listening ear to the Spanish missionaries. (For the distinct flavor of the Spanish account, go to Appendix 22:Rajah Tupas and Tequatlaxopeuh: citing Patronatos Guadalupanos, Tomo VI. Obras Guadalupanas de Lauro Lopez Beltrán. Editorial Tradición, Mexico. 1982. pp. 86-94).
Sources. The provenance of this account of the Blessed Mother’s intervention in bringing the Faith to the Philippine islands is taken from two sources: a Document called “Balangay sa Guadalupe” and a Manuscript last seen in the Augustinian archives in Manila according to this tip from the Mexican historian and anthropologist, Dra. Ana Rita Valero de Garcia-Lazcurain:
“. . .segun el relato de D. Antonio Pompa y Pompa: fray Andres de Urdaneta y el capitan Miguel Lopez de Legaspi llevaron una Virgen de Guadalupe a las islas de los Ladrones y de las Filipinas. El dato esta tomado de “Balangay sa Guadalupe” y de un manuscrito encontrado en el Archivo Agustiniano de Manila. Bibliografia al respecto: Urdaneta y la Conquista de Filipinas: Estudio histórico, San Sebastian, 1907: “Relacion del viaje del comendador Loaysa y cartas al rey Felipe II con descripciones de los puertos de Acapulco y Navidad,” de fray Andres de Urdaneta en: Fermin de Uncilla y Arroitajauregui, O.A.; Monje y Marino. La vida y los tiempos de Fray Andres de Urdaneta: Mariano Cuevas S.J., Mexico, 1943; The Manila Galleon: W. L. Schurz, New York, 1059, 2a edicion; Urdaneta y el Tornaviaje: Enrique Cardenas de la Peña, Mexico, 1965” (Una carta al autor fechada 1997 de la Dra. Ana Rita V. de Garcia-Lazcurain, historiador y antropologo)
The Album del IV Centenario Guadalupano, obra publicada por la Insigne y Nacional Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe, Mexico, 1938 published in commemoration of the 4th centenary of the Apparitions has this on its pages 87 and 89:
“Muchos religiosos, gobernantes, marinos o soldados que habian residido en mexico al ser llevados a otras tierras se convertian en propagandores del culto a la Virgen del Tepeyac: y es asi como fray Andres de Urdaneta y el capitan Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, al conquistar las islas de los Ladrones y Filipinas en 1565, llevaron una Virgen de Guadalupe. (“Balangay sa Guadalupe” y MS. Arch. Agustiniano de Manila). citado en (Album del IV Centenario Guadalupano, obra publicada por la Insigne y Nacional Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe, Mexico, 1938, p. 87
“Ahora recordamos que muchos años antes, don Rodrigo de Vivero, pariente de don Luis de Velasco, segundo Virrey de Mexico, cuando fue enviado como Capital General de Filipinas, impulsó el culto guadalupano iniciado por Urdaneta y Lopez de Legazpi.” (citado en (Album del IV Centenario Guadalupano, obra publicada por la Insigne y Nacional Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe, Mexico, 1938, p. 89)
This rare narration is echoed by by Herbert F. Leies, S.M. in his book “Mother for a New World.” (Our Lady of Guadalupe: St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1954)
Search. Diligent search for our primary source, the “Balangay sa Guadalupe” and the Agustinian manuscript mentioned above has been largely negative.
The absence from Manila of these archives may be explained by two occurrences: 1. A decision was made in the 1930s by the Padres Agostinos in anticipation of concerns of a brewing Pacific war to make two copies of every document in the archives. This was done; 2. All the archives including the two copies were removed to Villadolid, Spain just before the Japanese invaasion of World War II. (Fray Francis Musni, OSA)
On the other hand, the renowned Padre Isacio Rodriguez, OSA, opines that Don Antonio Pompa, who reports this manuscript in his seminal 1938 Album del IV Centenario Guadalupano, may have been mistaken, or at worse, mislead. This is conjecture. Don Antonio was a consummate archivist himself, and of things Guadalupe, we must take his word that these documents were in Manila before the second world war. A perusal of the “Album of the 4th Centenary of Guadalupe,” published by the renowned National Basilica of Holy Mary of Guadalupe, Mexico, 1938, has this:
La conclusion de este Album trae la necesidad de dar a conocer que la fuerza historica del mismo, se apoyo en la documentacion referida en sus diferentes paginas. Nada hay de lo asentado en el, que historicamente no este apoyado en documento que haga fe el criterio historico. Nada hay de lo publicado, que pueda tenerse por apócrifo.
Translation: In conclusion this Album bases its historical justification on records referenced in its many pages. Every statement is supported by documentation that satisfy historical criteria. There is nothing published that may be viewed as aprophycal.
Han sido fuentes de ilustracion, los archivos, General y Publico de la Nacion, el de la Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe, el de la Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores y del ex Ayuntamiento, en la ciudad de Mexico; ilustran estas paginas, documentos del Archivo General de Indias, en Sevilla, de la Universidad de Upsala, en Suecia, de la coleccion Goupil, de Paris; de la Universidad John Carter Brown, en Providence, Rhode Island; de la Biblioteca Publica de New York; del Archivo Historico de Madrid; del Archivo del Ayuntamiento de Guatemala; del Archivo de los RR. PP. Agustinos de Manila, I. F.; y de los archivos de la Compañia de Jesus en Roma y Bolonia; en este ultimo se encuentra el informe que en 1601 le enviaron al R. P. Claudio Aquaviva, General de la Compañia de Jesus, referente a ser venerada en Manila, I.F., la imagen de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Mexico.
Translation: The sources for the illustrations and the documentation in the Album are listed below, among which may be noted the Archivo General de Indias in Sevilla, Spain; the Public Library of New York, the Archivo Historico de Madrid, the Archivo de los RR. PP. Agustinos de Manila, Islas Filipinas; the archives of the Society of Jesus in Rome and Bolognia; and in this last reference was found the information sent to the Rev. F. Claudio Aquaviva, then Father General of the Society, that in 1601 the image of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Mexico was being venerated in Manila, I.F. (APPENDIX 24: Sources - Fuentes de Ilustración y de Información del Album del IV Centenario Guadalupano)
Military narratives. It appears that the history of the Spanish colonies is drawn up by military historians and therefore all take the form of a conquest. The predominance of the military point of view seems to be the common denominator in all these narratives of Spanish hegemony. Not to minimize or gainsay the importance of a combat force but in almost every account the story is to demonstrate the superiority of Spanish arms as the carrier of the conquest of the New World. The initial missionary aspect of Spanish entry into a new country has mainly been a footnote, if at all, to the supremacy of Spanish arms. The few instances of native success are put down as treachery or satanic cultism necessitating the use of violence to extinguish the local leadership structure and the extirpation of its concomitant culture. This is true also of the treatment by European colonizers of the original inhabitants of the north american continent.
See the widely differing accounts depending on the point of view or the point of reference: John of Austria vs. Gian Andrea Doria, Urdaneta vs. Goiti in the Cebu of Rajah Tupas.
So back to the finding on Legazpi’s expeditionary pennant. When the Vth Expedition left Mexico for the conquest of the Philippine Islands in September 7, 1564, it carried the first image of Our Lady TEQUATLAXOPEUH on the flagship the San Pedro.
It was a full-size hand-painted replica of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe located in what was then just a Hermitage on the Hill of Tepeyac in Mexico. The reproduction, as was the custom of those days, was touched to the original image.
Installed as the expeditionary pennant or flag on board the “San Pedro," flagship of Legazpi, it arrived in Sugbo (present-day Cebu) on a Friday, the 27th of April 1565. The name Sugbo means “to walk in the water,” a reference to those who had to leave their boats in the deep waters of the trench and wade across the shallows to reach dry land.
During the impasse between Rajah Tupas, King of Sugbo, and the Spaniard Legazpi, the Image played a key role in bringing the Cebuano king to listen to the Agustinian missionaries.
Encounter at Togoan Hill. The historic meeting between Filipino and Our Lady TEQUATLAXOPEUH took place at the foot of the hill known as Togoan. According to the Spanish account, the forces of Rajah Tupas, the King of Cebu had been routed by superior Spanish arms and had fled to the forests of the Togoan.
This is typical put-down by invading troops confronting bellicose natives. Consider how the Spanish missionaries, no military men with overarching ambitions of hegemony, thought of the natives of the islands at that time:
“The Indians of this country are not simple or foolish, nor are they frightened by anything whatever. They can be dealt with only with the arquebus or by gifts of gold or silver. If they were like those of Nueva España, Peru. Tierra Templado, Tierra Fria, and in other places where the ships may enter, sound reasoning might have some effect. But these Indians first inquire if they must be Christians, pay money, forsake their wives, and other similar things. They kill the Spaniards so boldly...” (Francisco de Sande to Philip II. Relacion de las Condiciones hallados en las Islas Filipinas, 1527. op. cit. in The Colonization & Conquest of the Philippines by Spain, Vol. VIII, Filipiniana Book Guild)
A historical reconstruct. The Rajah was only 5 years old at the time Magellan came in 1521 to the court of his father in Sugbu. In an attempt to demonstrate Spanish superiority before his father who was having internal problems with the great datuk Lapulapu, Magellan and his crew came at dawn and burned down the homes of the people of Maktan in Lapu-Lapu’s village The people remembered this treachery and their satisfaction when Magellan met his death at the hands of Datuk Lapulapu who put them to flight.
And now they were at it again. Legazpi was apprehensive of their reception and fired his canons to display Spanish arms. This angered Rajah Tupas and determined his resolve to expel the Spaniards. He signalled his kinsfolk in the hinterlands, calling on the datus and panglimas in the other islands for thousands of reinforcements to come in force to repel once again these foreign invaders.
There was a standoff. Magellan’s miscalculation had put an end not only to conquistador ambitions, but to missionary efforts in the islands. Fearing that the new effort to bring Christ to the islands would again be dashed, Fray Andres de Urdaneta, decided to intervene between the two prideful men whose intransigence would derail the entry of the Faith into the Islas Felipinas - again. He removed the expedition’s pennant of Our Lady at Tepeyac from the prow of the San Pedro, and disembarked with his three Agustinian companions, and their interpreter. They crossed the shallows into the no-man’s land between the two forces holding aloft the banner of Our Lady. It was borne on a tall shaft upon which swung the upright cloth of the Lady of Mexico. It had been instrumental in the conversion of millions of Mexican Aztecs. Fray Andres was confident that She would do the same for the Sugboanon and rest of the peoples in the numerous islands.
The Rajah’s warriors informed Tupas of the approach of the black robed men. Recognizing the men in black as unarmed and peaceful, Rajah Tupas ordered them brought before him. The Spaniards in the lines to their rear feared an ambush. They saw a number of native warriors emerge from the covering forest, surround the friars, and escort into the hinterland. Legazpi thought he would rue the day he allowed the priest to out-talk him. But he owed him - he understood that Urdaneta never wanted to come to the Islands, but had been deceived by him upon orders of the King - now he wanted to do his own thing, and no one was going to stop him.
Fray Andres cast his eyes heavenwards, and walked with the group of belligerent Sugbuanos. When they were before the king, Rajah Tupas, who had never seen an image, asked who the beautiful Lady was. Fray Andres knew the moment had come. With the aid of the interpreter, he started to explain the apparition from heaven of the beautiful Lady to the natives of Mexico, how they abandoned their pagan religion, and joined Her and Her Son. He said that this Beloved Lady had made it known that She is the Mother of all peoples, the Spaniards, the Aztecs, the Sugbuanon, and all the races of the world.
He pressed home the point that She was his Mother, and Rajah Tupas’, too. That broke the ice -- and the wily King agreed to dialogue with the Spaniards -- and ordered the brewing counterattack to halt.
This was the real beginning not only of the church - but of the Philippines as a country (Fr David Clay, Columbian). This event firmly inserted Christianity into the Asian hemisphere.
The Interpreter Of Legazpi & Fray Andres. According to the historical record, the interpreter of Fray Andres during this encounter with the Sugboanon, was a Moluccan from the island of Mangola christened Geronimo Pacheco. He was brought to Spain via India by Pedro Pacheco, a crewmember of the Expedition of Ruy Lopez de Villolobos in 1542, and from there to Mexico. (Diccionario Biográfico Agustiniano, Privincia de Filipinas, por Isacio Rodriguez Rodriguez, OSA y Jesus Alvarez Fernandez, OSA, volumen primero (1565-1588), Estudio Agustiniano, Valladolid , 1992, p. 53)
The narrative of D. Antonio Pompa ends with the note that when Fray Andres departed for Manila (or returned to Mexico) he or Legazpi took the image with him, but left a statuette of the same image with the Rajah.
Indeed, it appears that in the mountains of Cebu there was a shrine to the Virgen Morena where an image of Her has been venerated since early Spanish times. The image was found in a cave, and a chapel was built for it in a nearby plateau. Generations of pilgrims have toiled up the mountain to pray before the Virgin. During the Philippine American war the shrine was destroyed and the image was tucked away in the Church of San Nicolás in Cebu City. The pilgrimages have moved there and She is honored on December 12 indicative of its connection with Our Lady at Tepeyac. Pilgrims still go up the hills to offer candles before the Cave of the Virgin (The Philippine Rites of Mary, A Votive Offering of Luz Mendoza Santos, Manila, 1982).
Interception at Togoan. As observed earlier there are strange coincidences indeed, but not for those who discern into the design of things. Take this occurrence at Togoan Hill in the island of Sugbo (present-day Cebu) in the year 1565.
In December 12, 1531 very early on the dawn of a Tuesday morning, Juandiego Cuauhtlatoatzin was to keep an appointment with the Blessed Virgin, his “NOTECUIYOÉ, CIHUAPILLÉ," at Tepeyac Hill. But he chose to lay it aside in favor of a secondary intention to bring succor to his dying uncle, more pressing in his estimation to get a priest to give the last rites and save his soul, than keeping his appointment with the Lady from Heaven.
In 1565 a nation across the seas from Tepeyac was likewise intent on a secondary motivation that would have drawn it away again from Her plan for that nation. She intercepted, stepped in so to speak, to dissuade Her sons from proceeding in their task of war, and from Her image held aloft by Her new messenger, She asks this nation ‘where are you going my sons’ and ‘ what is this that you are doing?’ 'do not worry I will take care of you, what else do you need?'
As reported above (Historical Context Of Apparitions - What They Say) one favorite explanation for the Tepeyac event was that the Blessed Mother came to prevent a war of extermination between the abusive conquistador Spaniards and the aroused Aztec nation.
And so it may likewise be said (in pro of a military explanation) that the reason for the intervention in the Philippines by the Blessed Mother was to avert a bloody finish to Spanish ambitions in the islands both secular or otherwise. For indeed the newy arrived forces of Legazpi were looked upon as no less a threat to the Sugboanos than those of the ill-fated Magellan expedition.
Her role in bringing her Castillian sons across the Pacific has been overlooked. It is high time we give her due importance. It was the right thing to do in pagan, even muslim Philippines. Psychologically the cross would have been shunned, but not the Mother.
4. Togoan Aftermath
Following the encounter at Togoan, the evangelization of the Philippine Islands was one of the most peaceful and rapid in the history of the missions. (see The Encounter, Fr. Jose Vicente Braganza SVD) Citing Edward G. Bourne, Fr. Clark quotes:
“In the light, then, of impartial history raised above racial prejudice and religious prepossessions, after a comparison of the early years of the Spanish conquest in America or with the first generation or two of the English settlements, the conversion and civilization of the Philippines in the forty years following Legazpi’s arrival must be pronounced an achievement without parallel in history.” (Bourne was not a Catholic. A Professor at Yale, he was an authority on Spanish colonization. (op. cit. Francis X. Clark S.J.: The Philippine Missions - The Story of the Apostolate in the Islands from King Philip of Spain to Pope Pius XII) (Historical Introduction, Blair & Robertson, vol. 1, p. 37)
Over the next 350 years, the Spaniards crushed 34 separate rebellions against their political rule, approximately one per decade. But the Faith spread.
It goes without saying that as far back as when these islands was known as the Lupa Sug by its seafaring inhabitants, Ma-Yi by the Chinese, later the Islas Felipinas (Islas Filipinas) by the Spaniards, the Philippine Islands by the Americans, and renamed the Republic of the Philippines, the first and the original devotion to Mary, the Blessed Mother of God, was Nuestra Señora TEQUATLAXOPEUH of Mexico, who came to Her pagan children and who in turn recognized and gave honor to Her singular beauty.
Spread of the Faith. Under the influence of Legazpi and the Augustinians, and later the Franciscans, the Jesuits, the Dominicans, and the Recollects who had the benefit of the Mexican experience in dealing with native peoples, the Catholic faith was readily accepted by the Bisayans, and subsequently by the Tagalogs and the rest of the races in the different islands. All this despite the presence, if not dominance, in the area of Muslim missionaries and the votaries of the Sultan of Sulu. In effect, through Spanish civil and ecclesiastical government, the spread of Islam was checked. Efforts of the imperial reign in Sulu to arrest the inward surge of european thought and institutions were fruitless. The so-called Moro Wars were nothing more than the legitimate defense of the Sulu heartland from alien trespassers, and the exaction of tribute, obedience and fealty from their far flung settlements. The phrase"no hay Moros en la costa" - The coast is clear, was the original all-clear call from the watch towers along the coasts. These had decided to turn their backs on the sultanate and cast their future with the newcomers. There is an exotic Philippine fruit which is used to depict a turn-coat - the BALIMBING which presents the same face whichever way you turn it.
But as a people the Muslim Taosug and Maranaon resisted the Spanish. The constant wars with the West, first the Spaniards, then the Americans, and lately the Republic whom they consider nothing more than surrogates of foreign powers, cost them in terms of development as a nation. As the Indian in the Americas, their socio-economics is at zero levels, and endlessly debate the hows and whys the Moro has become a stranger to the land they had nurtured for centuries (op. cit. "A Nation Under Endless Tyranny," 2nd Edition, By Salah Jubair) While the natives of the Visayas and Luzon succumbed to the propaganda of the Spaniards, the Muslim continued to defend their Bangsa, tau, iban, agama (nation, people, and religion) to this day. (op. cit. Cesar Adib Majul, “Muslims in the Philippines. ” ) It is a nation that cannot reconcile its past with its present and faces an uncertain future.
The historians now say that had the arrival of the Spaniards been delayed, all of the Islas Felipinas which were already effectively Muslim, would have been irretrievably lost to Islam. But as it turned out the same Spanish Nation that had reconquered altar and throne from the Muslims in the home country also effectively stopped its progress in the Far East. It is incredible that that Nation crossed two oceans to bring the Faith to the Islands. It would be interesting to surmise the turn of world history and the present balance of power if Mohamedanism had spread unchecked from the Philippines to China and then to Japan. (op cit. Edward Gaylor Bourne, Historical Introduction to the Philippine Islands, Blair and Robertson. Vol. I, pp 34-35; John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines, p 8) It was, in the words of Fr. Braganza, “superb timing.”
Today there is a Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Togoan Hill. But when I visited it in 1995, indicative of the hispanization of the event, there was nothing at all among murals don its walls to connect it to Tepeyac. I hope they wake up to their history. And if I may make a suggestion, to correct what seemed to me inexcusable neglect, the apparition on the Tepeyac was her hint about how her Teocalli should be: precious stones, gold, silver, shimmering in light.
(Excerpted from “TEPEYAC - Our Lady of ‘Guadalupe’ revisited, Ramon A. Pedrosa, 2006)
Bochum
The Ruhr area ('Ruhrgebiet') is named after the river that borders it to the south and is the largest urban area in Germany with over five million people. It is mostly known as a densely-populated industrial area. By 1850 there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke, used in blast furnaces, producing iron and steel. Because of the industrial significance, it had been a target from the start of the war, yet "the organized defences and the large amount of industrial pollutants produced a semi-permanent smog or industrial haze that hampered accurate bombing". During World War II, the industry and cities in the Ruhr area were heavily bombed. The combination of the lack of historic city centres, which were burned to ashes, and (air) pollution has given the area and the cities a bad reputation. Especially because it is so close to the Netherlands, I thought it would be an interesting area to visit for a little trip. I have spent three nights at a campsite on the Ruhr and visited six cities.
With a population of 365,000 inhabitans, Bochum is the fourth largest city in the Ruhr area and the 16th largest city in Germany. Bochum was founded in the 9th century and was granted a town charter in 1321, yet it remained a small town until the 19th century. The establishment of the mining and the steel industry resulted in a steep population rise. Coals refined as coke needed for the steel production led to the emergence of coking plants. Bochum's growth at the end of the 19th century took place without any overarching planning. Therefore, no organized infrastructure could develop at first. Industrial settlements and company apartments were built at the colliery sites, while the established farms around the industrial sites continued to farm. In 1894 the first tram line went into operation.
During the Second World War, more than 30,000 people were used as slave labor in Bochum and Wattenscheid as part of the Nazi forced labor. The town centre of Bochum was a strategic target during the Oil Campaign. In 150 air raids on Bochum, over 1,300 bombs were dropped on Bochum and Gelsenkirchen. By the end of the war, 83% of Bochum had been destroyed. 70,000 citizens were homeless and at least 4,095 dead. Of Bochum's more than 90,000 homes, only 25,000 remained for the 170,000 citizens who survived the war, many by fleeing to other areas. Most of the remaining buildings were damaged, many with only one usable room.
Source: Wikipedia (edited)
The Christuskirche was constructed between 1877 and 1879. The church was destroyed on May 14, 1943 during the first of the major bombing raids on the city of Bochum. The nave was rebuilt from 1956 to 1959.
Bochum
The Ruhr area ('Ruhrgebiet') is named after the river that borders it to the south and is the largest urban area in Germany with over five million people. It is mostly known as a densely-populated industrial area. By 1850 there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke, used in blast furnaces, producing iron and steel. Because of the industrial significance, it had been a target from the start of the war, yet "the organized defences and the large amount of industrial pollutants produced a semi-permanent smog or industrial haze that hampered accurate bombing". During World War II, the industry and cities in the Ruhr area were heavily bombed. The combination of the lack of historic city centres, which were burned to ashes, and (air) pollution has given the area and the cities a bad reputation. Especially because it is so close to the Netherlands, I thought it would be an interesting area to visit for a little trip. I have spent three nights at a campsite on the Ruhr and visited six cities.
Bochum dates from the 9th century and was granted a town charter in 1321, yet it remained a small town until the 19th century. The establishment of the mining and the steel industry resulted in steep population rise. Coals refined as coke needed for the steel production led to the emergence of coking plants. Bochum's growth at the end of the 19th century took place without any overarching planning, and so no organized infrastructure could develop at first. Industrial settlements and company apartments were built at the colliery sites, while the established farms around the industrial sites continued to farm. In 1894 the first tram line went into operation. During the Second World War, more than 30,000 people were used as slave labor in Bochum and Wattenscheid as part of the Nazi forced labor, while 38 percent of the city was destroyed by bombings. With a population of 365,000 inhabitans, Bochum is the fourth largest city in the Ruhr area and the 16th largest city in Germany.
With a population of 365,000 inhabitans, Bochum is the fourth largest city in the Ruhr area and the 16th largest city in Germany. Bochum was founded in the 9th century and was granted a town charter in 1321, yet it remained a small town until the 19th century. The establishment of the mining and the steel industry resulted in a steep population rise. Coals refined as coke needed for the steel production led to the emergence of coking plants. Bochum's growth at the end of the 19th century took place without any overarching planning. Therefore, no organized infrastructure could develop at first. Industrial settlements and company apartments were built at the colliery sites, while the established farms around the industrial sites continued to farm. In 1894 the first tram line went into operation.
During the Second World War, more than 30,000 people were used as slave labor in Bochum and Wattenscheid as part of the Nazi forced labor. The town centre of Bochum was a strategic target during the Oil Campaign. In 150 air raids on Bochum, over 1,300 bombs were dropped on Bochum and Gelsenkirchen. By the end of the war, 83% of Bochum had been destroyed. 70,000 citizens were homeless and at least 4,095 dead. Of Bochum's more than 90,000 homes, only 25,000 remained for the 170,000 citizens who survived the war, many by fleeing to other areas. Most of the remaining buildings were damaged, many with only one usable room.
Source: Wikipedia (edited)
Poem.
Quintessentially Scotland, wrapped in a burnt amber autumnal cloak.
Lochan islet overarched by the noble, native Scots Pine.
Rosehips, gorse and sapling silver birch frame a breathless stillness and combine to form the archetypal landscape of Caledonia.
A perfect moment of utter calm where time ceases and beauty overwhelms.
How rare.
How special.
How therapeutic
to mind, body and soul.
One month after Russia attacked Ukraine, MEPs unanimously condemned the brutal invasion and urged the EU to further sanction Moscow and protect the European economy.
In a plenary debate with Presidents Michel and von der Leyen on the Versailles informal summit (10-11 March) and the upcoming European Council (24-25 March), MEPs praised EU member states for their quick response in adopting unprecedented sanctions against Russia immediately after the attack. They also applauded the manner in which millions of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine have been welcomed.
“Russia is responsible for this war”, underlined European Council President Charles Michel, condemning the death, destruction and suffering inflicted on the Ukrainian people and their cities. Michel assured MEPs that there will be no impunity for those responsible for war crimes and commended the international coalition that has come together with the “common goal of defeating Vladimir Putin”. With peace and prosperity as an overarching objective, the EU needs to reduce its energy dependence, enhance its security architecture and strengthen its economy’s fundaments, he concluded.
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220321IPR2591...
This photo is free to use under Creative Commons license CC-BY-4.0 and must be credited: "CC-BY-4.0: © European Union 2022 – Source: EP". (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) No model release form if applicable. For bigger HR files please contact: webcom-flickr(AT)europarl.europa.eu
One month after Russia attacked Ukraine, MEPs unanimously condemned the brutal invasion and urged the EU to further sanction Moscow and protect the European economy.
In a plenary debate with Presidents Michel and von der Leyen on the Versailles informal summit (10-11 March) and the upcoming European Council (24-25 March), MEPs praised EU member states for their quick response in adopting unprecedented sanctions against Russia immediately after the attack. They also applauded the manner in which millions of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine have been welcomed.
“Russia is responsible for this war”, underlined European Council President Charles Michel, condemning the death, destruction and suffering inflicted on the Ukrainian people and their cities. Michel assured MEPs that there will be no impunity for those responsible for war crimes and commended the international coalition that has come together with the “common goal of defeating Vladimir Putin”. With peace and prosperity as an overarching objective, the EU needs to reduce its energy dependence, enhance its security architecture and strengthen its economy’s fundaments, he concluded.
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220321IPR2591...
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NORFOLK, Virginia – A week-long, large-scale gang enforcement operation, labeled “Operation Washout” wrapped up on Aug. 8, resulting in 32 arrests of alleged violent offenders and fugitives.
The U.S. Marshals Service led multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working around the clock Aug. 6-8, concentrating their efforts primarily on known gang members wanted in the greater Norfolk area. Many arrests were of suspected gang members or associates. Additional state and federal prosecutions are pending on those arrested where drug, gun or other crime evidence was seized during or subsequent to the person’s arrest.
The U.S. Marshals Service’s national fugitive initiative known as Operation Washout is deployed to communities to bring immediate relief from violent, gang-related crime. The collaborative law enforcement effort is focused on targeting and arresting violent fugitives wanted for high-profile crimes such as homicide, felony assault, and sexual assault, illegal possession of firearms, illegal drug distribution, robbery, and arson.
Since 2010, the USMS has led more than 70 counter-gang operations which have resulted in more than 8,000 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,800 illegal firearms. For the last 10 years, the overarching goal of the USMS nationwide Operation Triple Beam and Washout initiative has been to bring relief to the residents of communities by strategically and actively pursuing gang members and criminals most responsible for the worst crime and violence in those communities.
Photo By: Dave Oney / US Marshals
Kathakali (Malayalam: കഥകളി, kathakaḷi; Sanskrit: कथाकळिः, kathākaḷiḥ) is a stylized classical Indian dance-drama noted for the attractive make-up of characters, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It originated in the country's present day state of Kerala during the 17th century and has developed over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming.
HISTORY
Popular belief is that kathakali is emerged from "Krishnanattam", the dance drama on the life and activities of Lord Krishna created by Sri Manavedan Raja, the Zamorin of Calicut (1585-1658 AD). Once Kottarakkara Thampuran, the Raja of Kottarakkara who was attracted by Krishnanattam requested the Zamorin for the loan of a troupe of performers. Due to the political rivalry between the two, Zamorin did not allow this. So Kottarakkara Thampuran created another art form called Ramanattam which was later transformed into Aattakatha. Krishnanaattam was written in Sanskrit, and Ramanattam was in Malayalam. By the end of 17th century, Attakatha was presented to the world with the title 'Kathakali'.
Kathakali also shares a lot of similarities with Krishnanattam, Koodiyattam (a classical Sanskrit drama existing in Kerala) and Ashtapadiyattam (an adaptation of 12th-century musical called Gitagovindam). It also incorporates several other elements from traditional and ritualistic art forms like Mudiyettu, Thiyyattu, Theyyam and Padayani besides a minor share of folk arts like Porattunatakam. All along, the martial art of Kalarippayattu has influenced the body language of Kathakali. The use of Malayalam, the local language (albeit as a mix of Sanskrit and Malayalam, called 'Manipravaalam'), has also helped the literature of Kathakali sound more transparent for the average audience.
As a part of modernising, propagating, promoting and popularizing Kathakali, the International Centre for Kathakali at New Delhi has taken up a continuing project since 1980 of producing new plays based on not only traditional and mythological stories, but also historical stories, European classics and Shakespeare's plays. Recently they produced Kathakali plays based on Shakespeare's Othello and Greek-Roman mythology of Psyche and Cupid.
Even though the lyrics/literature would qualify as another independent element called Sahithyam, it is considered as a component of Geetha or music, as it plays only a supplementary role to Nritham, Nrithyam and Natyam.
KATHAKALI PLAYS
Traditionally there are 101 classical Kathakali stories, though the commonly staged among them these days total less than one-third that number. Almost all of them were initially composed to last a whole night. Nowadays, there is increasing popularity for concise, or oftener select, versions of stories so as the performance lasts not more than three to four hours from evening. Thus, many stories find stage presentation in parts rather than totality. And the selection is based on criteria like choreographical beauty, thematic relevance/popularity or their melodramatic elements. Kathakali is a classical art form, but it can be appreciated also by novices—all contributed by the elegant looks of its character, their abstract movement and its synchronisation with the musical notes and rhythmic beats. And, in any case, the folk elements too continue to exist. For better appreciation, perhaps, it is still good to have an idea of the story being enacted.
The most popular stories enacted are Nalacharitham (a story from the Mahabharata), Duryodhana Vadham (focusing on the Mahabharata war after profiling the build-up to it), Kalyanasougandhikam, (the story of Bhima going to get flowers for his wife Panchali), Keechakavadham (another story of Bhima and Panchali, but this time during their stint in disguise), Kiratham (Arjuna and Lord Shiva's fight, from the Mahabharata), Karnashapatham (another story from the Mahabharata), Nizhalkuthu and Bhadrakalivijayam authored by Pannisseri Nanu Pillai. Also staged frequently include stories like Kuchelavrittam, Santanagopalam, Balivijayam, Dakshayagam, Rugminiswayamvaram, Kalakeyavadham, Kirmeeravadham, Bakavadham, Poothanamoksham, Subhadraharanam, Balivadham, Rugmangadacharitam, Ravanolbhavam, Narakasuravadham, Uttaraswayamvaram, Harishchandracharitam, Kacha-Devayani and Kamsavadham.
Recently, as part of attempts to further popularise the art, stories from other cultures and mythologies, such as those of Mary Magdalene from the Bible, Homer's Iliad, and William Shakespeare's King Lear and Julius Caesar besides Goethe's Faust too have been adapted into Kathakali scripts and on to its stage. Synopsis of 37 kathakali stories are available in kathakalinews.com.
MUSIC
The language of the songs used for Kathakali is Manipravalam. Though most of the songs are set in ragas based on the microtone-heavy Carnatic music, there is a distinct style of plain-note rendition, which is known as the Sopanam style. This typically Kerala style of rendition takes its roots from the temple songs which used to be sung (continues even now at several temples) at the time when Kathakali was born.
As with the acting style, Kathakali music also has singers from the northern and southern schools. The northern style has largely been groomed by Kerala Kalamandalam in the 20th century. Kalamandalam Neelakantan Nambisan, an overarching Kathakali musician of those times, was a product of the institute. His prominent disciples include Kalamandalam Unnikrishna Kurup, Kalamandalam Gangadharan, Kalamandalam P.G. Radhakrishnan, Rama Varrier, Madambi Subramanian Namboodiri, Tirur Nambissan, Kalamandalam Sankaran Embranthiri, Kalamandalam Hyderali, Kalamandalam Haridas, Subramanian, Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan and Kalamandalam Bhavadasan. The other prominent musicians of the north feature Kottakkal Vasu Nedungadi, Kottakkal Parameswaran Namboodiri, Kottakkal P.D. Narayanan Namboodiri, Kottakkal Narayanan, Kalamandalam Anantha NarayananKalamandalam Sreekumar Palanad Divakaran, Kalanilayam Rajendran, Kolathappilli Narayanan Namboodiri, Kalamandalam Narayanan Embranthiri, Kottakkal Madhu, Kalamandalam Babu Namboodiri, Kalamandalam Harish and Kalamandalam Vinod. In the south, some of whom are equally popular in the north these days, include Pathiyur Sankarankutty. Southerner musicians of the older generation include Cherthala Thankappa Panikker, Thakazhi Kuttan Pillai, Cherthala Kuttappa Kurup, Thanneermukkam Viswambharan and Mudakkal Gopinathan.
PERFORMANCE
Traditionally, a Kathakali performance is usually conducted at night and ends in early morning. Nowadays it isn't difficult to see performances as short as three hours or fewer. Kathakali is usually performed in front of the huge Kalivilakku (kali meaning dance; vilakku meaning lamp) with its thick wick sunk till the neck in coconut oil. Traditionally, this lamp used to provide sole light when the plays used to be performed inside temples, palaces or abodes houses of nobles and aristocrats. Enactment of a play by actors takes place to the accompaniment of music (geetha) and instruments (vadya). The percussion instruments used are chenda, maddalam (both of which underwent revolutionary changes in their aesthetics with the contributions of Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval and Kalamandalam Appukutty Poduval) and, at times, edakka. In addition, the singers (the lead singer is called “ponnani” and his follower is called “singidi”) use chengila (gong made of bell metal, which can be struck with a wooden stick) and ilathalam (a pair of cymbals). The lead singer in some sense uses the Chengala to conduct the Vadyam and Geetha components, just as a conductor uses his wand in western classical music. A distinguishing characteristic of this art form is that the actors never speak but use hand gestures, expressions and rhythmic dancing instead of dialogue (but for a couple of rare characters).
ACTING
A Kathakali actor uses immense concentration, skill and physical stamina, gained from regimented training based on Kalaripayattu, the ancient martial art of Kerala, to prepare for his demanding role. The training can often last for 8–10 years, and is intensive. In Kathakali, the story is enacted purely by the movements of the hands (called mudras or hand gestures) and by facial expressions (rasas) and bodily movements. The expressions are derived from Natyashastra (the tome that deals with the science of expressions) and are classified into nine as in most Indian classical art forms. Dancers also undergo special practice sessions to learn control of their eye movements.
There are 24 basic mudras—the permutation and combination of which would add up a chunk of the hand gestures in vogue today. Each can again can be classified into 'Samaana-mudras'(one mudra symbolising two entities) or misra-mudras (both the hands are used to show these mudras). The mudras are a form of sign language used to tell the story.
The main facial expressions of a Kathakali artist are the 'navarasams' (Navarasas in anglicised form) (literal translation: Nine Tastes, but more loosely translated as nine feelings or expressions) which are Sringaram (amour), Hasyam (ridicule, humour), Bhayanakam (fear), Karunam (pathos), Roudram (anger, wrath), Veeram (valour), Beebhatsam (disgust), Adbhutam (wonder, amazement), Shantam (tranquility, peace). The link at the end of the page gives more details on Navarasas.
One of the most interesting aspects of Kathakali is its elaborate make-up code. Most often, the make-up can be classified into five basic sets namely Pachcha, Kathi, Kari, Thaadi, and Minukku. The differences between these sets lie in the predominant colours that are applied on the face. Pachcha (meaning green) has green as the dominant colour and is used to portray noble male characters who are said to have a mixture of "Satvik" (pious) and "Rajasik" (dark; Rajas = darkness) nature. Rajasik characters having an evil streak ("tamasic"= evil) -- all the same they are anti-heroes in the play (such as the demon king Ravana) -- and portrayed with streaks of red in a green-painted face. Excessively evil characters such as demons (totally tamasic) have a predominantly red make-up and a red beard. They are called Red Beard (Red Beard). Tamasic characters such as uncivilised hunters and woodsmen are represented with a predominantly black make-up base and a black beard and are called black beard (meaning black beard). Women and ascetics have lustrous, yellowish faces and this semi-realistic category forms the fifth class. In addition, there are modifications of the five basic sets described above such as Vella Thadi (white beard) used to depict Hanuman (the Monkey-God) and Pazhuppu, which is majorly used for Lord Shiva and Balabhadra.
NOTABLE TRAINING CENTRES & MASTERS
Kathakali artistes need assiduous grooming for almost a decade's time, and most masters are products of accomplished institutions that give a minimum training course of half-a-dozen years. The leading Kathakali schools (some of them started during the pre-Independent era India) are Kerala Kalamandalam (located in Cheruthuruthy near Shoranur), PSV Natya Sangham (located in Kottakal near Kozhikode), Sadanam Kathakali and Classical Arts Academy (or Gandhi Seva Sadan located in Perur near Ottappalam in Palakkad), Unnayi Varier Smaraka Kalanilayam (located in Irinjalakuda south of Thrissur), Margi in Thiruvananthapuram, Muthappan Kaliyogam at Parassinikkadavu in Kannur district and RLV School at Tripunithura off Kochi and Kalabharathi at Pakalkkuri near Kottarakkara in Kollam district, Sandarshan Kathakali Kendram in Ambalapuzha and Vellinazhi Nanu Nair Smaraka Kalakendra in Kuruvattor. Outside Kerala, Kathakali is being taught at the International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi, Santiniketan at Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, Kalakshetra in Chennai and Darpana Academy in Ahmedabad among others. PadmaSree Guru Chengannur Raman Pillai mostly known as 'Guru Chengannur'was running a traditional Gurukula Style approach to propagate Kathakali.
‘Guru Chengannur” is ever renowned as the Sovereign Guru of Kathakali. His precision in using symbols, gestures and steps were highest in the field of Kathakali. Guru Chegannur's kaththi vesham, especially the portrayal of Duryodhana enthralled the audience every time he performed. A master of the art, he found immense happiness and satisfaction in the success and recognition of his disciples.
Senior Kathakali exponents of today include Padma Bhushan Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Padma Shri Kalamandalam Gopi, Madavoor Vasudevan Nair, Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair, Kottakkal Krishnankutty Nair, Mankompu Sivasankara Pillai, Sadanam Krishnankutty, Nelliyode Vasudevan Namboodiri, Kalamandalam Vasu Pisharody, FACT Padmanabhan, Kottakkal Chandrasekharan, Margi Vijayakumar, Kottakkal Nandakumaran Nair, Vazhenkada Vijayan, Inchakkattu Ramachandran Pillai, Kalamandalam Kuttan, Mayyanad Kesavan Namboodiri, Mathur Govindan Kutty, Narippatta Narayanan Namboodiri, Chavara Parukutty, Thonnakkal Peethambaran, Sadanam Balakrishnan, Kalanilayam Gopalakrishnan, Chirakkara Madhavankutty, Sadanam K. Harikumaran, Thalavadi Aravindan, Kalanilayam Balakrishnan, Pariyanampatta Divakaran, Kottakkal Kesavan, Kalanilayam Gopi and Kudamaloor Muralikrishnan. The late titan actor-dancers of Kathakali's modern age (say, since the 1930s) include Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon, Chenganoor Raman Pillai, Chandu Panicker, Thakazhi Guru Kunchu Kurup, Padma Shri Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, Padma Shri Vazhenkada Kunchu Nair, Kavalappara Narayanan Nair, Kurichi Kunhan Panikkar, Thekkinkattil Ramunni Nair, Padma Shri Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair, Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair, Mankulam Vishnu Namboodiri, Oyur Kochu Govinda Pillai, Vellinezhi Nanu Nair, Padma Shri Kavungal Chathunni Panikkar, Kudamaloor Karunakaran Nair, Kottakkal Sivaraman, Kannan Pattali, Pallippuram Gopalan Nair, Haripad Ramakrishna Pillai, Champakkulam Pachu Pillai, Chennithala Chellappan Pillai, Guru Mampuzha Madhava Panicker, and Vaikkom Karunakaran.
Kathakali is still hugely a male domain but, since the 1970s, females too have made entry into the art form on a recognisable scale. The central Kerala temple town of Tripunithura has, in fact, a ladies troupe (with members belonging to several part of the state) that performs Kathakali, by and large in Travancore.
KATHAKALI STYLES
Known as Sampradäyaṃ(Malayalam: സമ്പ്രദായം); these are leading Kathakali styles that differ from each other in subtleties like choreographic profile, position of hand gestures and stress on dance than drama and vice versa. Some of the major original kathakali styles included:
Vettathu Sampradayam
Kalladikkodan Sampradyam
Kaplingadu Sampradayam
Of late, these have narrowed down to the northern (Kalluvazhi) and southern (Thekkan) styles. It was largely developed by the legendary Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon (1881-1949) that is implemented in Kerala Kalamandalam (though it has also a department that teaches the southern style), Sadanam, RLV and Kottakkal. Margi has its training largely based on the Thekkan style, known for its stress on drama and part-realistic techniques. Kalanilayam, effectively, churns out students with a mix of both styles.
OTHER FORMS OD DANCE & OFFSHOOTS
Kerala Natanam is a kind of dance form, partly based on Kathakali techniques and aesthetics, developed and stylised by the late dancer Guru Gopinath in the mid-20th century. Kathakali also finds portrayal in Malayalam feature films like Vanaprastham, Parinayam, Marattam, and Rangam. Besides documentary films have also been shot on Kathakali artistes like Chenganoor Raman Pillai, Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair, Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Kalamandalam Gopi and Kottakkal Sivaraman.
As for fictional literature, Kathakali finds mention in several Malayalam short stories like Karmen (by N.S. Madhavan) and novels like Keshabharam (by P.V. Sreevalsan). Even the Indo-Anglian work like Arundhati Roy's Booker prize-winning The God of Small Things has a chapter on Kathakali, while, of late, Anita Nair's novel, Mistress, is entirely wrapped in the ethos of Kathakali.
Similar musical theater is popular in Kasaragod and the coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, viz. Yakshagana. Though Yakshagana resembles Kathakali in terms of its costume and makeup to an extent, Yakshagana is markedly different from Kathakali as it involves dialogues and method acting also the narration is in Kannada, wherein philosophical debates are also possible within framework of the character. As per records the art form of Yakshagana was already rooted and well established at the time of Sri Manavedan Raja. There is possibilities of its significant influence in formation of Kathakkali as the troupe of performers of "Krishnanattam" designed the basic costume of the art form already established in other parts of south India including Males playing the female roles (until more recently).
Kottayam thamburan's way of presenting kathakali was later known as Kalladikkoden sambradayam. Chathu Paniker,the introducer of Kallikkoden Sambrathayam, stayed in Kottayam for five years with Kottayam Thamburan's residence and practiced Kalladikkoden Sambrathayam. Then he returned to his home place. After a short period Chathu Paniker reached Pulapatta as instructed by Kuthiravattath nair. That was around the year ME 865. Many deciples from Kadathanadu, Kurumbra nadu, Vettathu nadu, Palakkadu and Perumpadappu studied kathakali(Kalladikkoden Sambrathayam ) By that time Chathu Paniker was an old man. Some years later he died from Pulapatta.
NOTED KATHAKALI VILLAGES & BELTS
There are certain pockets in Kerala that have given birth to many Kathakali artistes over the years. If they can be called Kathakali villages (or some of them, these days, towns), here are some of them: Vellinezhi, Kuruvattoor, Karalmanna, Cherpulassery, Kothachira, peringode, sreekrishnapuram Kongad and Ottapalam in Palakkad district, Vazhenkada in Malappuram district, Thichur or Tichoor, Guruvayur, Thiruvilwamala and Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district, Tripunithura, Edappally, Thekkan Chittoor in Ernakulam district and Kuttanad, Harippad belt in Alappuzha district besides places in and around Thiruvanathapuram in south Travancore and Payyannur in north Malabar.
AWARDS FOR KATHAKALI ARTISTS
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardees - Kathakali (1956–2005)
Nambeesan Smaraka Awards—For artistic performances related kathakali{1992-2008}
KATHAKALI ATTAMS (ELAKI ATTAMS)
Attams or more specifically "elaki attams" are sequences of acting within a story acted out with the help of mudras without support from vocal music. The actor has the freedom to change the script to suit his own individual preferences. The actor will be supported ably by Chenda, Maddalam, and Elathalam (compulsory), Chengila (not very compulsory).
The following are only some examples. 'Kailasa Udharanam' and 'Tapas Attam' are very important attams and these are described at the end. Two of the many references are Kathakali Prakaram, pages 95 to 142 by Pannisheri Nanu Pillai and Kathakaliyile Manodharmangal by Chavara Appukuttan Pillai.
VANA VARNANA: BHIMA IN KALYANA SAUGANDHIKA
Modern man looks at the forest, indeed the birthplace of primates, with a certain wonder and a certain respect. Kathakali characters are no exception.
When Pandavas were living in the forest, one day, a flower, not seen before, wafted by the wind, comes and falls at the feet of Panchali. Exhilarated by its beauty and smell, Panchali asks Bhima to bring her more such flowers. To her pleasure Bhima is ready to go at once. But Panchali asks him what he shall do for food and drink on the way. Bhima thinks and says "Food and Drink! Oh, this side glance (look) of yours. This look of longing. This look of anticipation. The very thought fills me up. I don't need any food and drink at all. Let me go." He takes his mace and off he goes. Ulsaham (enthusiasm) is his Sdhayi Bhavam (permanent feature).
"Let me go at once in search of this flower," says Bhima. "The scented wind is blowing from the southern side. Let me go that way." After walking some distance he sees a huge mountain called Gandhamadana and three ways. He decides to take the middle one which goes over the mountain. After going further "The forest is getting thicker. Big trees, big branches in all directions. The forest looks like a huge dark vessel into which even light can not penetrate. This is my (Bhima's) way. Nothing can hinder me." So saying he pulls down many trees. Sometimes he shatters the trees with his mace. Suddenly he sees an elephant. "Oh! Elephant." He describes it. Its trunk. Sharp ears.
The itching sensation in the body. It takes some mud and throws on the body. Oh good. Then it sucks water and throws on the body. Somewhat better. Slowly it starts dosing even though alert at times. A very huge python is approaching steadily. Suddenly it catches hold of the elephant's hind leg. The elephant wakes up and tries to disengage the python. The python pulls to one side. The elephant kicks and drags to the other side. This goes on for some time. Bhima looks to the other side where a hungry lion is looking for food. It comes running and strikes the elephants head and eats part of the brain and goes off. The python completes the rest. "Oh my god, how ruthless!" says Bhima and proceeds on his way.
UDYANA VARNANA: NALA IN NALACHARITHAM SECOND DAY
Descriptions of gardens are found in most dance forms of India and abroad. These are also common in Kathakali.
Newly married Nala and Damayanthi are walking in the garden. When Nala was lovingly looking at Damayanthi a flower falls on her. Nala is overjoyed and thinks that this is a kindness nature has shown on his wife. Nala says "On seeing the arrival of their queen, the trees and climbers are showing happiness by dropping flowers on you." He tells her, "See that tree. When I used to be alone the tree used to hug the climber and seemingly laugh at my condition." Then he looks at the tree and says, "Dear Tree, look at me now. See how fortunate I am with my beautiful wife."
Both wander about. A bumblebee flies towards Damayanthi. Immediately Nala protects her face with a kerchief. He looks at the bee and then at Damayanthi. He says, "On seeing your face the bee thought it was a flower and came to drink the nectar." Nala and Damayanthi listen to the sounds coming out of the garden. Damayanti says, "It appears that the whole garden is thrilled. The flowers are blooming and smiling. Cuckoos are singing and the bees are dancing. Gentle winds are blowing and rubbing against our bodies. How beautiful the whole garden looks." Then Nala says that the sun is going down and it is time for them to go back and takes her away.
SHABDA VARNANA: HANUMAN IN KALYANA SAUGANDHIKAM
While Bhima goes in search of the flower, here Hanuman is sitting doing Tapas with mind concentrated on Sri Rama.
When he hears the terrible noises made by Bhima in the forest he feels disturbed in doing his Tapas. He thinks "What is the reason for this?" Then the sounds become bigger. "What is this?" He thinks, "The sounds are getting bigger. Such a terrible noise. Is the sea coming up thinking that the time is ripe for the great deluge (Pralaya). Birds are flying helter-skelter. Trees look shocked. Even Kali Yuga is not here. Then what is it? Are mountains quarreling with each other? No, That can't be it. Indra had cut off the wings of mountains so that they don't quarrel. Is the sea changing its position? No it can't be. The sea has promised it will not change its position again. It can't break the promise." Hanuman starts looking for clues. "I see elephants and lions running in fear of somebody. Oh a huge man is coming this way. Oh, a hero is coming. He is pulling out trees and throwing it here and there. Okay. Let him come near, We will see."
THANDEDATTAM: RAVANA IN BALI VADHAM
After his theranottam Ravana is seen sitting on a stool. He says to himself "I am enjoying a lot of happiness. What is the reason for this?" Thinks. "Yes I know it. I did Tapas to Brahma and received all necessary boons. Afterwards I won all ten directions. I also defeated my elder brother Vaishravana. Then I lifted Kailas mountain when Siva and Parvathi were having a misunderstanding. Parvathi got frightened and embraced Siva in fear. Siva was so happy he gave a divine sword called Chandrahasa. Now the whole world is afraid of me. That is why I am enjoying so much happiness." He goes and sits on the stool. He looks far away. "Who is coming from a distance. he is coming fast. Oh, it is Akamba. Okay. Let me find out what news he has for me."
ASHRAMA VARNANA: ARJUNA IN KIRATHAM
Arjuna wants to do Tapas to Lord Siva and he is looking a suitable place in the Himalayan slopes. He comes to place where there is an ashram. Arjuna looks closely at the place. "Oh. What a beautiful place this is. A small river in which a very pure water is flowing. Some hermits are taking baths in the river. Some hermits are standing in the water and doing Tapsas. Some are facing the Sun. Some are standing in between five fires." Arjuna salutes the hermits from far. He says to himself "Look at this young one of a deer. It is looking for its mother. It seems to be hungry and thirsty. Nearby a female tiger is feeding its young ones. The little deer goes towards the tigress and pushes the young tiger cubs aside and starts drinking milk from the tigress. The tigress looks lovingly at the young deer and even licks its body as if it were its own child. How beautiful. How fulfilling."
Again he looks "Here on this side a mongoose and a serpent forgetting their enmity are hugging each other. This place is really strange and made divine by saints and hermits. Let me start my Tapas somewhere nearby."
A sloka called "Shikhini Shalabha" can be selected instead of the above if time permits.
AN ATTAM BASED ON A SLOKA
Sansrit slokas are sometimes shown in mudras and it has a pleasing and exhilarating effect. Different actors use slokas as per his own taste and liking. However, the slokas are taught to students during their training period. An example is given below.
Kusumo Kusumolpatti Shrooyathena Chathushyathe
Bale thava Mukhambuje Pashya Neelolpaladwayam
Meaning a flower blooming inside another flower is not known to history. But, my dear, in your lotus like face are seen two blue Neelolpala flowers (eyes).
A CONVERSATION BASED ON A SLOKA
Sanskrit slokas can also be used to express an intent. One such example is a sloka used by Arjuna addressed to Mathali the charioteer in Kalakeya Vadham. Sloka:
Pitha: Kushalee Mama hritha Bhujaam
Naatha Sachee Vallabha:
Maatha: kim nu Pralomacha Kushalinee
Soonurjayanthasthayo
Preethim va Kushchate Thadikshnavidhow
Cheta Samutkanuthe
Sutha: tvam Radhamashu Chodaya vayam
Dharmadivam Mathala
Meaning: The husband of Indrani and the lord of gods my father - Is he in good health? His son Jayantha - Is he strictly following the commands of his father? Oh, I am impatient to see all of them.
SWARGA VARNANA: ARJUNA IN KELAKEYA VADHAM
Arjuna goes to heaven on the invitation of his father, Indra. After taking permission from Indrani he goes out to see all the places in Swarga. First he sees a building, his father's palace. It is so huge with four entrances. It is made of materials superior to gold and jewels of the world. Then he goes ahead and sees Iravatha. Here he describes it as a huge elephant with four horns. He is afraid to touch it. Then he thinks that animals in Swarga can't be cruel like in the world and so thinking he goes and touches and salutes Iravatha. He describes the churning of the white sea by gods and demons with many details and how Iravatha also came out of the white sea due to this churning.
He walks on and sees his father's (Indra's) horse. It is described as being white and its mane is sizzling like the waves of the white sea from which it came. He touches and salutes the horse also. Then he goes to see the river of the sky (or milky way). He sees many birds by this river and how the birds fly and play is shown.
Then he sees the heavenly ladies. Some are collecting flowers, and one of them comes late and asks for some flowers for making garland. The others refuse. She goes to the Kalpa Vriksha and says "please give me some flowers." Immediately a shower of flowers occurs which she collects in her clothes and goes to make garlands chiding the others. "See... I also got flowers." After this he sees the music and dance of the heavenly ladies. First it starts with the adjustments of instruments Thamburu, Mridangam, Veena. Then the actual music starts along with the striking of cymbals. Then two or three types of dances are shown. Then comes juggling of balls. It is described by a sloka thus:
Ekopi Thraya Iva Bhathi Kandukoyam
Kanthayaa: Karathala Raktharaktha:
Abhrastho Nayanamareechi Neelaneelo
Popular belief is that kathakali is emerged from "Krishnanattam", the dance drama on the life and activities of Lord Krishna created by Sri Manavedan Raja, the Zamorin of Calicut (1585-1658 AD). Once Kottarakkara Thampuran, the Raja of Kottarakkara who was attracted by Krishnanattam requested the Zamorin for the loan of a troupe of performers. Due to the political rivalry between the two, Zamorin did not allow this. So Kottarakkara Thampuran created another art form called Ramanattam which was later transformed into Aattakatha. Krishnanaattam was written in Sanskrit, and Ramanattam was in Malayalam. By the end of 17th century, Attakatha was presented to the world with the title 'Kathakali'. Kathakali also shares a lot of similarities with Krishnanattam, Koodiyattam (a classical Sanskrit drama existing in Kerala) and Ashtapadiyattam (an adaptation of 12th-century musical called Gitagovindam). It also incorporates several other elements from traditional and ritualistic art forms like Mudiyettu, Thiyyattu, Theyyam and Padayani besides a minor share of folk arts like Porattunatakam. All along, the martial art of Kalarippayattu has influenced the body language of Kathakali. The use of Malayalam, the local language (albeit as a mix of Sanskrit and Malayalam, called ), has also helped the literature of Kathakali sound more transparent for the average audience. As a part of modernising, propagating, promoting and popularizing Kathakali, the International Centre for Kathakali at New Delhi has taken up a continuing project since 1980 of producing new plays based on not only traditional and mythological stories, but also historical stories, European classics and Shakespeare's plays. Recently they produced Kathakali plays based on Shakespeare's Othello and Greek-Roman mythology of Psyche and Cupid.
Even though the lyrics/literature would qualify as another independent element called Sahithyam, it is considered as a component of Geetha or music, as it plays only a supplementary role to
Bhumau Talcharana Naghamshu Gaurgaura:
Meaning One ball looks like three balls. When it is in the hands of the juggler, it takes the redness of the hands, when it goes up it takes the blueness of the eyes, when it strikes the ground it becomes white from the whiteness of the leg nails. Once a juggled ball falls down. Then she, the juggler, somehow manages to proceed and remarks "See.. how I can do it".
At one time a garment slips from a lady's body and she adjusts the cloth showing shameful shyness (Lajja). Then the ladies go in for a Kummi dance. As Arjuna was enjoying this dance, suddenly somebody calls him. Arjuna feels scared. "Oh God, where am I?" he says and beats a hasty retreat.
TAPAS ATTAM: RAVANA IN RAVANA ULBHAVAM
[Background: Mali, Sumali and Malyavan were three brothers ruling Sri Lanka. During a war between them and Indra, Indra requested help from Lord Vishnu and as a consequence Lord Vishnu killed Mali. Sumali and Malyavan escaped to Patala. Kaikasi was the daughter of Sumali. She wandered in the forest. She belong three boys through a great sage called Vishravassu. (Vishravassu had an earlier son called Vaishravana who became the richest among all people.) The eldest boy of Kaikasi was Ravana followed by Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana.]
SCENE 1
When Ravana was a young boy (Kutti Ravana vesham), one day he was sleeping on his mothers lap in a place called madhuvanam. At that time Kaikasi sees Vaishravana flying overhead in his vimana (mythical aeroplane). She thinks “Oh, that is Vaishravana, technically a brother of my son who is sleeping on my lap. He is rich and strong. My son is so poor and weak. While thinking thus a drop of tear from her eyes drops on Ravana’s face. Ravana suddenly wakes up and sees his mother crying. When he knew the reason he could not bear it. He says he is going to do tapas to Brahma to get boons so that he will be strong and rich.
SCENE 2
(The tapas itself is shown as a part of autobiographical narration of adult ravana)
Ravana (adult Ravana, not kutti Ravana) is sitting on a stool. He thinks “Why am I so happy? How did I become so rich and strong? Oh yes. It is because of the tapas I did. What made me do the tapas? When I was a young boy, one day I was sleeping on my mother’s lap in a place called Madhuvanam. A drop of tear from her eyes falls on my face. I asked her why she was crying. She said she saw Vaishravana flying overhead in his vimana (plane). She told me Vaishravan was a brother of mine now flying in a plane. He is rich and strong. I am so poor and weak. When I heard this comparison between me and my brother, I could not bear it. I am going to do tapas to Brahma to get boons so that I will be strong and rich.
I made five different types of fires (while doing tapas gods are approached through Agni the god of fire). Then I started my tapas. I asked my brothers to stand guard and also keep the fires burning. Then I fully concentrated on tapas. Time passed but Brahma did not appear. I looked. Why is Brahma not appearing? I doubled my concentration. Time passed. Brahma is not appearing. Still not appearing? I cut one of my heads and put it in the fire. Waited, Brahma did not come. One more head rolls. Still no Brahma comes. Heads roll and roll. No Brahma. Only one head is left. First I thought of stopping my tapas. But no! Never! That will be an insult to me and my family. It is better to die than stop. Also when I die Brahma will be judged as being partial. With great determination I swung the sword at my last neck, when, lo and behold, suddenly Brahma appeared and caught my hand. I looked at him with still un-subsided, but gradually subsiding anger. Brahma asked me what boons I wanted. I asked for a boon that I should win all the worlds and have all the wealth and fame and that I should not be killed except by man. I also asked him to give boons for my brothers.
In the next scene Ravana asks Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana what boons they got. Unfortunately Kumbhakarna’s tongue got twisted while asking for boon and he got ‘sleep’ instead of becoming the ‘king of gods’. Ravana laughed it off. As for Vibhishana, he being a bhaktha of Vishnu, asked for Vishnu’s blessings and got it. Ravana laughs it off and also decides to conquer all the worlds and starts preparing his grand army for the big conquest of the worlds.
[This method of presentation with a peculiar sequence has a tremendous dramatic affect. The main actor redoes a small part of what happened to kutti Ravana vesham, and this gives a view of the high contrast between the boy and the man Ravana. Similarly the presence of Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana in the subsequent scene offers a good smile on the face of the viewer at the end of the play.]
KAILASA UDDHARANAM: RAVANA IN BALI VIJAYAM
[Background and Previous scene: After receiving the boons, and widening his kingdom in all directions, Ravana lives in Sri Lanka with great pomp and splendor. One day he sees Saint Narada approaching his palace singing songs in praise of him ‘Jaya jaya Ravana, Lanka Pathe’. Happily he receives Narada and seats him next to him. After telling Narada about the victory of his son Indrajith on Indra, Ravana tells Narada “Now there is nobody on earth or other worlds who can fight with me”. To this Narada replies “ Very true indeed, but there is one huge monkey called Bali who says he can defeat you. He even said that you are just like a blade of grass to him. Well let him say what he wants. You are unbeatable.” Then Narada says ‘let us go there and see him’. Both decide to go. But Ravana takes his famous sword called “Chandrahasam”. Then Narada asks the history of this sword. Ravana’s Attam Starts.]
Ravana says “I received this sword from Lord Siva. It happened thus. Once when I was conquering new places and expanding my empire I happened to be going across the Kailasa mountain. The plane got stuck on the mountain unable to move forward. I got down from the plane and looked at the mountain. (Looks from one end to the other first horizontally and then vertically.) So huge it was. Then I decided to lift it with my bare hand and keep it aside and move forward. I started sticking my hands under it one by one. Then I tried to lift it. It doesn’t move. I put more force and more force. It moved just a bit. I pushed harder and harder, slowly it started moving then again and again and it moved easily. Then I lifted it up with my hands and started juggling it (exaggeration evident).
“At that particular time Lord Siva was quarreling with his wife Parvathi. Why did they fight? The story is as follows. Parvathi had gone for enjoying swimming and bathing in some beautiful pond. At that time Siva opened his jata (disheveled long hair) and called Ganga for some entertainment after asking Ganapathi and Subramania to go for some errands. Somehow becoming suspicious, right at that time, Parvathi came back in a hurry with wet clothes and saw Siva with Ganga. Siva was wondering what to do and it was at that time that Ravana started lifting the Kailasa. When Kailasa started shaking Parvathi got scared and ran to Siva and hugged him. So the quarrel ended and Siva was happy. “As a reward Siva called me and gave me this famous Chandrahasa sword.”
Then Narada and Ravana leave to meet Bali. Ravana wanted to take the sword along with him, but Narada suggested that the sword is not required for teaching a lesson to Bali who is after all an unarmed monkey.
WIKIPEDIA
You know, I nearly held back from sharing this because there is so much wrong in my photography. Wishing for thoughtful composition, elimination of hot spots, a considered foreground, no branches in faces, a normal perspective, and of course, film… That said, the smiles and overarching sentiment makes it for me in spite of the flaws.
I spent this past week in the Debsconeags Lakes Wilderness Area measuring forest conditions (similar to USFS FIA work for those interested) with a super enthusiastic field crew. As you can see here, they all drank the conservation Kool-Aid. Regardless of incessant biting insects, wet feet and clothes from rain, smashed shins as a result of my crazy map and compass navigation through the woods, general heat and humidity, and no running water or electricity, Nancy, Marissa, Mariana, Hillary, and Andrew reveled with our plant monitoring tasks and the beauty found at our forest plots. Not one complaint beyond my own grumblings and bellyaching… Nothing but smiles and laughs all around… What a fantastic bunch!
To learn more about the Debsconeags Lakes Wilderness Area...
Mandate Drawing - addison karl - Original On Cardstock - 2012 - 100 x 80cm
Drawing Illustrations By Karl Addison
To See More:
For More: www.idrawalot.com/
www.flickr.com/photos/partybots/
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As Karl Addison’s art and vision evolves—from blank slate, to paper, to mural, to installation, to unoccupied public space—our understanding and comprehension of the world around us begins to unfold as well. We may not notice his input, infiltrating our subconscious—our everyday—but it’s there. A beautiful woman’s face composed of negative space watching peacefully over a cemetery in Wedding, a fragile old Jewish woman towering over a decommissioned factory in Berlin, an urban zoo of imagined creatures deposited all over the globe, an abandoned room filled with 4,500 fat babies…Addison’s art and commentary on history and culture are everywhere, becoming part of the collective unconscious.
Through his travels to Italy, Israel, Japan, throughout the US, and his current residence in Berlin, Addison’s overarching theme of people and the spaces they occupy and interact with has taken shape. By focusing on pieces, which work to become part of public space rather than interrupt it, his intent to create regenerative art through murals and other mediums is being actualized. He has achieved this both independently and collaboratively with other contemporary artists and painters, most notably James Boullough. Addison’s recent and current collaborative projects also highlight his more narrowed focus of interconnectedness, “connecting humanity around the world with different cultures from different places,” he wants us to value tiny lines, details, to appreciate a world view and hopefully, start extolling minute details of our own.
It takes an extraordinary person, one with talent, courage, and patience, to express himself the way Addison does. To project his voice and vision for the world to see—to rip it out of a sketch book or a blank page in his mind—and produce it. To take it beyond the two-dimensional and spray paint, wheat paste, bomb, the side of a building with an illimitable piece of art. To exhibit in public space—on walls, on clothing, in art galleries—what a beautiful fucking thing. Art—“a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind” leaving the watching to the watched.
- written by jennifer weitman
NORFOLK, Virginia – A week-long, large-scale gang enforcement operation, labeled “Operation Washout” wrapped up on Aug. 8, resulting in 32 arrests of alleged violent offenders and fugitives.
The U.S. Marshals Service led multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working around the clock Aug. 6-8, concentrating their efforts primarily on known gang members wanted in the greater Norfolk area. Many arrests were of suspected gang members or associates. Additional state and federal prosecutions are pending on those arrested where drug, gun or other crime evidence was seized during or subsequent to the person’s arrest.
The U.S. Marshals Service’s national fugitive initiative known as Operation Washout is deployed to communities to bring immediate relief from violent, gang-related crime. The collaborative law enforcement effort is focused on targeting and arresting violent fugitives wanted for high-profile crimes such as homicide, felony assault, and sexual assault, illegal possession of firearms, illegal drug distribution, robbery, and arson.
Since 2010, the USMS has led more than 70 counter-gang operations which have resulted in more than 8,000 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,800 illegal firearms. For the last 10 years, the overarching goal of the USMS nationwide Operation Triple Beam and Washout initiative has been to bring relief to the residents of communities by strategically and actively pursuing gang members and criminals most responsible for the worst crime and violence in those communities.
Photo By: Dave Oney / US Marshals
Commentary.
Opposite the footpath to Juniper Top, on the
back-slope of Box Hill, there is this considerable flight of steps.
It climbs steeply up to Juniper Woodland and White Down
from Headley Lane near the village of Mickleham.
It is a veritable ecological tunnel, overarched by
Chalk-loving flora including:
Yew, Wild Clematis, Beech and, predictably, Juniper.
As Sir David Attenborough recently reminded us,
in his television series, “The Wild Isles,”
85% of the Chalk ecosystem, in the world,
is to be found here in the British Isles.
So, we must keep it as special as it is beautiful!
Nimbin. Population 450.
Nimbin was a special place for the Bundjalung Aboriginal people as it was believed to be the home of sacred mystical small men who were the spiritual custodians of the mountains. The word meant “home to the little man”. When white pastoralists came the district became part of the Lismore station held by William Wilson – hence the naming
of the Wilson River. He held the lease until 1880 when the government sent surveyors in to survey virgin rainforest. The first white family arrived in 1882 followed by many more in 1883. Their first task was to clear land for a few pigs, cattle and vegetables. The Red Cedar and Hoop Pine were felled and then rolled into the Wilson River and floated down to the saw mills in Lismore. It was a tough life in this district. In 1903 one local block holder H Thornburn subdivided part of his property to create the village of Nimbin. Thornburn donated one block for a School of Arts (built 1904) and another for a Presbyterian Church. The first official school opened in 1906. The town grew quickly with a hotel, bakery, butchery, café, store, bank agency, Post Office and saw mill starting up within the first couple of years. The big boost to the town was the opening of a butter factory in 1908. Then the public buildings followed with Anglican and Presbyterian churches in 1909. A Methodist church followed in 1913 and a Catholic Church and school in 1918. A new Post Officer was built in 1914. The bank of N.S.W opened their first wooden bank in 1909 but this burnt down. The bank built a distinctive Art Deco wooden bank in 1919 and an E. S & A bank opened in 1922. The Freemason’s Hotel was erected in 1926 (it is now the Nimbin Hotel) and a wooden Masonic Lodge was erected in 1937. A Police Station was not built until 1934 but a police officer was stationed in the town from 1917. The main stays of the town economy were saw milling and butter production but apart from cattle, local farmers grew bananas, peas, beans and passionfruit. The Nimbin Dairy Cooperative amalgamated with Norco dairy in 1921. The factory closed in 1961 as cream could be fast trucked to Lismore.
The fortunes and direction of the town changed in 1973 when the Aquarius Foundation of the Australian Union of Students from Sydney University got permission to hold a bi-annual arts festival in Nimbin. The Aquarians opposed the War in Vietnam and wanted a freer and more humane world with peace, love and happiness. A Rainbow Café opened on the work site being prepared for the influx of a possible 5,000 university students. Volunteers did the work and artists came to prepare. The festival in May was successful and about 100 people stayed on to run the Rainbow Café, do their art and prepare for another festival. Several groups emerged to buy properties for cooperatives and the attraction of rural living and rainforest living blossomed amongst former city people. The hippy new comers built makeshift houses, prepared home crafts, and cared about environmental responsibility, communal living and loving, and in some cases, mind altering drugs. But life was not altogether free and each commune had its own rules which had to be obeyed as well as local and state laws. When the Lismore Council ordered illegal houses to be demolished the Nimbinites formed the district Homebuilders Association to fight the Council. In the end the Homebuilders won the right for multiple residences on one property. Then in 1979 a bigger opponent emerged – logging in the rainforests at Terania Creek. Conservation made national headlines, action groups were formed and the NSW government created new national parks like nearby Nightcap and reduced forest logging. Economically the new cooperatives promoted growth of Nimbin too. The Bush Co-Op began as a community organisation but it soon had food storage and wholesale distribution arms, mechanical, metal and woodworking shops, a media group and graphic art studios, theatre troupe and general design. At the same time independent artists, writers and musicians lived and worked in the town. Commercialism crept back into the new hippy world with markets, galleries and more festivals. But the overarching principles of living and caring for others and protecting the environment and living sustainably continued. Diversity was the key and new spiritual groups found a home at Nimbin too from Thai Buddhist groups to Indian Hindu philosophical ashrams to “born again” Christian groups. Not surprisingly Nimbin has an annual Mardi Grass and a world naked Bike Ride celebration amongst its annual festivals!
Just outside of Nimbin turn right into Stony Chute Road to see some granite boulders which are sacred place to the Bundjalung people and heritage listed. The lowest rock is called the cathedral, whilst the top level of rock is called the castle. The highest peak is named Lady Cunningham’s Needle. These granite dykes are evidence of old volcanic activity the basis of the rich fertile soils of the district.
NORFOLK, Virginia – A week-long, large-scale gang enforcement operation, labeled “Operation Washout” wrapped up on Aug. 8, resulting in 32 arrests of alleged violent offenders and fugitives.
The U.S. Marshals Service led multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working around the clock Aug. 6-8, concentrating their efforts primarily on known gang members wanted in the greater Norfolk area. Many arrests were of suspected gang members or associates. Additional state and federal prosecutions are pending on those arrested where drug, gun or other crime evidence was seized during or subsequent to the person’s arrest.
The U.S. Marshals Service’s national fugitive initiative known as Operation Washout is deployed to communities to bring immediate relief from violent, gang-related crime. The collaborative law enforcement effort is focused on targeting and arresting violent fugitives wanted for high-profile crimes such as homicide, felony assault, and sexual assault, illegal possession of firearms, illegal drug distribution, robbery, and arson.
Since 2010, the USMS has led more than 70 counter-gang operations which have resulted in more than 8,000 arrests and the seizure of more than 1,800 illegal firearms. For the last 10 years, the overarching goal of the USMS nationwide Operation Triple Beam and Washout initiative has been to bring relief to the residents of communities by strategically and actively pursuing gang members and criminals most responsible for the worst crime and violence in those communities.
Photo By: Dave Oney / US Marshals