Digital Archways

Living in Dubai, I am constantly surrounded by Islamic forms of art. Even many of the futuristic looking skyscrapers that grace the city’s skyline are modern interpretations of Islamic architecture. Calligraphy, geometric patterns, domes and arches abound, and one never has to look too far to find wonderful examples of these art forms.

As many of you know, I am a keen flaneur and iphoneographer who enjoys wandering and taking photos of Dubai’s architecture when the weather permits. With the heat outside on the increase at the moment, my outdoor expeditions are becoming a bit limited. A trip to take some photographs of the Wafi Mall the other morning, found me hastily looking for some shade.  

iPhone in hand, I found myself in an interesting outdoor passageway.  I was struck by the light and the different inner and outer arches. The pointed arch so typical of Islamic architecture caught my eye especially.  Out came my recently acquired olloclip, and this picture was the result using the fisheye lens:

Today when I looked at the photograph, I noticed how my recent reading was undoubtedly influencing the way I was viewing the image. The circle hinted at by the fisheye effect was a reminder of a wholeness within which the contents of the image appeared to be enfolded.  At the same time the distorted effect of the closest arch made it appear to be coming towards me, a reminder that it was unfolding from the space in which it was contained. 

Excited by the fact that with all the photo apps available to us now I could edit this image I set to work. My editing is done intuitively and I choose various apps according to what I feel will suit the photo at hand. Using the apps decim8, image blender and snapseed, and after four steps in the edit, this was the result:

 

Upon closer inspection you will notice that the image is not entirely symmetrical.  Certain sections are, but they stand alongside the asymmetry to be found in the overall image, adding to its enchantment in my opinion. The image, filled with color, light and shadow, hints at volume but also at void. 

The pointed arch in the middle, so typical of Islamic architecture, invites me to enter the passageway. At the same time, however, it allows me to slip around it to explore the surrounds. 

I have been reading about Baroque art and how in this art form with its many scenes flowing into each other and almost into the space of the viewer, the viewer determined the centre of the spectacle at any moment in time. This centre was constantly shifting depending on the viewer’s focus. My image reminded me of this. 

How Baroque-like cyberspace is. We are able to enter various streams, whether they be of words, sounds or images. Each tweet, for example, brings a part of you and your point of view right onto my screen. Your here is brought to my here via the interface of my screen, in itself an electronic stained glass work of art.  I can choose to focus on your tweet, follow its links if they are there, or reflect upon what has been said. I can also skim over it and many others until something in particular captures my attention and focus.

However, unlike in Baroque art, we are connecting in the digital world not with forms and figures on a dome but with real people. The fact that I am able to receive an immediate response to my posting from others all over the world in this polycentric environment adds a collective dimension to the whole event and is bringing about a level of interconnectedness not imagined before.

At one stage I wanted to call this blog “DIgital Baroque”, only to discover that a book by that name already exists! This discovery just added to my musings.  Perhaps all ideas exist enfolded in potential, and at different times and in different places unfold to make themselves known to those who can hear them. 

I have decided to take the edited image above and work with it further in the weeks to come.  I will post the results on Instagram and add them to a gallery on this website. As I live in Dubai in the Middle East I want the resulting edits to reflect the region but to also have a global appeal.  I wish to discover all that this image has to tell me. It is my wish too that the images will encourage viewers to open themselves to new perspectives, hold multiple perspectives simultaneously, shift focus where necessary, drop some of the boundaries that limit their vision, and open themselves to others as well as to creative potential.    

Mindfulness - Starting Out

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”. Jon Kabat-Zinn

This implies that what is experienced, be it for example, the breath, bodily sensation, emotion, thought or event, is acknowledged, without judgement, as it occurs in the field of one’s attention.

The practice of mindfulness at specific times and at intervals throughout the day has been proven to help with amongst others, stress, pain reduction, anxiety and depression. Conscious awareness has also enabled individuals to develop more positive habits and outlooks as they become gradually aware of detrimental, habitual patterns of thought and action.

These are all added benefits, as first and foremost, mindfulness helps you to be fully present in the moment as it is happening right now.

Mindfulness helps to bring about what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “the unity of the body and the mind”. Often the body is here, but the mind is completely somewhere else.

Being lost in thought, caught up in regrets, fears, anger, anxiety, plans or perceptions, prevents you from being fully there for yourself or others. Awareness of what is occurring as it occurs, helps you over a period of time to not identify with feelings, emotions or thoughts as they arise. You begin to realize that you are not the pain you are feeling right now. You are not your anger or your happy feeling. The perceptions you hold onto, often hold you as a victim, and awareness of them, without judgement, loosens their grip.

As the breath is a link between the body and the mind it is a good friend to have when you start your practice.

Whether you practice at a set time every day for a certain number of minutes (5, 10 or 15 mins a session is more than enough to begin with); whether you practice once or twice a day; whether you practice seated in a particular chair with your back straight and your feet on the ground; whether you practice lying down upon waking or before going to sleep or both; whether you stop at brief intervals throughout the day for a few seconds - in all of these instances become aware of each breath as it enters your body and then as it leaves. Don’t worry if the breath is shallow or deep. Simply observe it and then repeat the process. Concentration on the in-breath and the out-breath is your practice. When your mind wanders off, notice it and then return your focus to the breath.

After a while you will begin to notice the length of your in-breaths and your out-breaths and the space of time in-between them. Do so without judgment.

After you become more familiar with this practice, you can extend your awareness to bodily sensations as they are occurring in your body. “Oh, my right knee is paining”. “There is a tingling in my neck”.

As you continue your practice over time, you can then extend your awareness to your emotions and thoughts. “I am livid with so-and-so”. “I have to plan for tomorrow’s meeting”. Observe these but do not engage them. By that I mean, do not allow yourself to get caught up in the emotion or go down the lane the thought is wanting to lead you. Simply, observe, and then return to a conscious awareness of the in and out breath if necessary.

A mindfulness practice helps you to observe yourself looking out at the world and all that living entails. Gradually and as your practice overflows into all you do, you are set free to experience life as it is happening right now and in this moment.

If you are able to set aside just over an hour to watch an excellent video on mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn it can be found here.

There is much being written about mindfulness at the moment. If you would like to follow a blog, Elisha Goldstein’s “Mindfulness - Your Present Moment” is a good place to start.

The #mindfulness Daily has various sections with daily articles on mindfulness.

“You are here” by Thich Nhat Hanh is an excellent little book to read.

For those of you with an academic interest in mindfulness, the website of UCLA is a good one.

Mindfulness, I believe, is one of the major keys to a healthier society. If you have already started on a practice of mindfulness and have a favorite book, blog, website, idea, etc that you would like to share, please do so in the comments section below. Shared resources are an encouragement to those starting out with a mindfulness practice.

The Anniversary Dinner - A Story

“The young app, although not used to taking her meals this way, sat down at the table for the celebratory anniversary dinner of her grandparents. She dearly loved her grandparents, two successful web companies, and they had taught her much. She considered herself especially fortunate to have grandparents who always listened to her ideas, discussed them with her and acknowledged that she lived in times different to the ones they had grown up in.

She knew too that not all her friends were that lucky.  Many complained that they were written off as being young upstarts with no idea of what they were talking about.

Her grandparents were an exception, in that most web companies of their age, were used to presenting the data they had created to viewers who received the content passively with no ways of responding. “This is how it is; take it or leave it” was the motto often heard in the corridors of their upbringing. There were traditions that had to be followed if they were to succeed.  Search engines puffed through the countrysides of their days. 

Their brothers and sisters in the entertainment industry had known that in return for their hard work, the passive viewer could be subjected to commercials. It was the price that had to be paid to view what one was interested in. 

Also present at the dinner were her parents, both successful social websites in their different ways. It was her father who suggested that as an after dinner event they share stories of the worlds they grew up in.  Hearing circumstances and world views across generations often led to heated discussion but could also lead to better understanding. 

Social connections were the “in” thing for her parents. In their youth, they had developed emails and blogs before going on to become social websites, always however, with the aid of the trustworthy tool used by their parents - the computer.. 

Her grandparents, the 1994-2001 generation, had friends called Yahoo, Google, Amazon and eBay.  Her parents, born between 2002 and 2009 liked to hang out with guys like Facebook and LinkedIn. They ran their own blogs, posted their pics on Flickr and were recently Twitter experts. She, although only almost three years old, knew what it was to make it possible for people to communicate with each other even when away from their desktops and laptops.  She thought topless was a cool concept, much to the shock of the other generations present! 

The young app looked around her, aware that she was totally mobile.  With the aid of smartphones and tablets she could help people reach an audience and communicate with them in ways unheard of only two years ago! Mobile interaction lay at the core of what she stood for. Only yesterday she had met her cousin Instagram to discuss the benefits of being born an app.  Reachability was her second name, something that had not always been possible with computers.  Many of her friends had no intention of ever launching a website!

Some of her grandparents’ friends had tried to adapt to the times but their apps were only simple versions of the desktop experience. Some, and only some, of her parents’ friends had more easily adapted but were still trying to make the subtle shifts required of them. 

She was fully aware that the tech world was speeding up. Soon she too would bear offspring.  What the child would be she was not totally sure.  Perhaps, she thought, as she excused herself from the confines of the dinner table, she should ask Siri!”

The chances that you have just read the above story on a mobile device are great.  The concept of here2here is ever evolving and always fascinates me. 

Eric Jackson in a recent article in the Forbes Magazine has suggested that Google and Facebook might disappear in the next five to eight years. His article, which I invite you to read, set off my thinking and resulted in the above story as an alternative way of looking at technology.  

There will always be previous stages present no matter what stage a technology has reached.  That is the nature of evolution.  Learning to transcend and include what has gone before is key to healthy development and failure to do so can lead to regression. 

These are challenges that face both the creators and users of new technologies, as the evolutionary train of technology speeds up to reach what only appears to be a futuristic destination.

Hard Rock Cafe

Knowing that I am a keen photographer of Dubai’s architecture, a fellow instagrammer, @femsta, recently asked me if I had a photo of the Hard Rock Cafe on Sheikh Zayed Road. I replied that I would set out to take one upon my return from Canada. 

This morning saw me heading that way only to discover a building with signs that said it was to be demolished. I went around taking photos of what remained.

 

Unaware of the history of this building I had to do a bit of research upon my return home. 

Dubai’s Hard Rock Cafe opened in 1997 in an area that was then the outskirts of Dubai. Its architectural theme of a mini Empire State Building in the desert, with a globe at the top that read “Save the Planet” and two great mock electric guitars outside the building, gave rise to many differing opinions. 

Chuck Berry performed at its opening, and despite its architecture and location Dubai’s Hard Rock Cafe grew in popularity.  The cafe’s rock ‘n roll style became highly popular and people “trekked” across the city to visit it. Michael Jackson had lunch there in 2005, confirming that his shoes on display there were indeed his.

2002 saw the property boom in Dubai, and soon the Hard Rock Cafe, once in the middle of nowhere, was surrounded by construction and major development. The hotel to which the cafe was attached was shut down in 2008 when the land it was on was sold to developers. As a result the cafe lost its alcohol licence. Thanks to the lobbying of the public the cafe managed to stay open for a while but eventually had to shut its doors in 2009 and await demolition.  

A new Hard Rock Cafe has since opened in Festival City in Dubai but redevelopment of the old site has been delayed by the collapse of the property boom. As a result the old Hard Rock Cafe is still standing in a state of decay as I found it this morning.

Looking at photos on the internet of what it had once been and then looking at the photos I had taken, was a strong reminder that nothing is permanent. Everything is in a state of flux. 

Night becomes day and day becomes night, spring will soon become summer, technologies will change and develop, my website is already a year old, my holiday to Canada is over, and I will soon be moving apartments. The knowledge that my jet lag will pass too is a comforting one! 

Clinging to an idea of permanence only causes suffering.  Mindfulness of the ever-changing now brings with it an openness to the new, a realization of the importance of compassion for all beings, and a willingness to be part of the creative process. 

In the seventies Eric Clapton used to hang out in the very first Hard Rock Cafe. When he asked the young proprietors to save him a regular table by putting up something like a plaque, they suggested they put up Clapton’s guitar. This was done and then a week later they were sent a guitar by Pete Townsend of The Who. The concept that made the Hard Rock Cafe famous had taken root. 

 

The two guitars outside the decaying building on Sheikh Zayed Road might be weeping, but I would like to think they do so gently because they know and accept that they too will one day no longer be. And that too will be okay.

“I look at the world and I notice it’s turning

While my guitar gently weeps”. 

Tribute to George - While My Guitar Gently Weeps by k_rhcp

Interludes

"Are you South African?"

 "Yes. Could you tell from my accent?"

A big smile. "No, I saw your passport."

I looked down at my passport, which I had placed on the table. Sitting opposite me in an airport lounge in Dubai was a little girl with a pink coat and boots.  Her hair was swept back from her face and she wore big red glasses. 

"I'm Nigerian", she proudly told me, "but I live in Los Angeles".

"Were you in Dubai on holiday?" I asked, and so began a chat and many questions. How long did it take for the lift to reach the lookout point in the Burj Khalifa? She had seen the tower but not been up it. She did not like going so high. She did not like take off and landing when flying either. Actually, she declared, with distinct wisdom beyond her years, it was not so much a case of likes and dislikes but more a matter of what she feared. 

I told her that when the plane took off that day she should think about how cool it was that she was travelling so fast. I would think of her during take off.  Would she think of me? Another big grin and a big nod, followed by yet another big smile when I told her her glasses suited her face. 

The fourth child of five children, she was born in Chicago, now lived in Los Angeles and was in the sixth grade. Her favorite subject at school was, "Mmm, Science. Yes, Science". 

As it turned out we were on the same flight. Unfortunately, sleep got the better of me the minute I was settled on board (it was 2 o'clock in the morning!) and I did not even realize we had taken off! When I woke I realized I had not thought of my little friend as I had said I would. Whether she had thought of me and maybe faced one of her fears in a different way I do not know. I did however, during the course of my journey, send her love and light and wish her joy. 

In Frankfurt we passed each other briefly and waved goodbye. 

A seven hour layover in Frankfurt before our flight to Calgary gave me more than enough time to catch up on emails, check in on Twitter and post one photo on Instagram. I instant messaged with my one daughter eagerly awaiting our arrival in Canada, and Skyped with the other who was looking after some children for the day in South Africa. I had not met these children before but they too participated in the conversation and were fascinated when I took my iPad to the window and showed them all the planes coming and going on a busy Frankfurt airport. 

It was turning out to be a day of interludes - happenings in-between the main events. 

On our way to our connecting flight I stopped off to get something in the duty free shop. Standing next to me in the queue and in front of a shelf was a young man holding a box of chocolates and an exquisite pottery jar with a lid covered by a material cloth. 

Perhaps he saw me gazing in admiration at the jar, because the next minute he looked at me and said, "Excuse me, do you speak German?".  My affirmative reply resulted in me having to tell him what was in the jar. Reading the label I could tell him that it was a delicate mustard made in a monastery in Germany. Oh no, he did not want mustard and the jar was replaced on the shelf.

"Do you live in Germany?"

"No, in Dubai but I am originally from South Africa. And you?"

"I am from Kazakhstan but have just been to Vienna on a conference for law students. There were 1500 student from different universities all over the world attending."

"How interesting and great to meet so many different people. Kazakhstan! And your accent?"

"I studied law in the US for four years, picked up the accent while there and funnily enough have never lost it". 

At this point it was time for me to pay, but while I was paying he told me he had picked up a few German phrases while in Vienna, such as Gruess Gott. I told him that that was also a common form of greeting in Bavaria where we had lived and that it actually means I greet the God in you. Oh, that was interesting.

Till slip in hand, it was time to part ways. We wished each other a good flight and I walked away feeling pleased to have met him. 

People tell me that strangers often talk to me. Over the years I have come to see this as something special for which I am grateful. We make so many plans, but most often it is the unexpected happenings in between that are the ones we most remember.

For the next while I will be in Red Deer in Alberta, Canada.  After traveling for twenty four-hours I have gone back ten hours in time and have arrived on the same day on which I departed. My body-clock is adjusting. I am perhaps physically closer than usual to many of you reading this and for the next while might even be sharing the same time zone. 

The architecture of online space, however, allows us to be always close in a special way. Its design is such that interludes are encouraged. Time and space are no barriers to here2here encounters.  Invisible connections are being made every time we make the effort to connect with another. The web of relationships is growing and bonds are being strengthened.  At the heart of this all is the realization of interconnectedness and the need for compassion for self and other in the world we find ourselves in today. 

Next time you enter a social media site, stop for a moment or two beforehand and become mindful of what you are doing. This awareness could alter your way of interacting and provide the gap for an interlude and the mystery of creation!