Art Vs Life.

I am amazed by this photo taken by my dear friend @Glendyn_Ivin at the Musé du Louvre. It has really triggered something in me. It is asking me a lot of questions about what technology is bringing to the human experience. Are people just so very desperate for a quick hit in this culturally homogenized western world for inspiration? Is this just double shot espresso cultural fix? Does technology actually engineer separation from the real moment? Are our lives being enhanced through technology and from this yearning to connect? So many questions! This iconic painting by the the renaissance visionary Leonardo da Vinci is undoubtedly the most ‘famous’ fine art piece in the world. From the experience relayed to me by Glendyn of the frenetic feeding frenzy that occurred in the vicinity of this image I can’t help but think what are people really wanting to obtain from being in the presence of this image? Is Leonardo cringing every time a selfie stick emerges and a pout protrudes? But secretively is this what every artist truly wants? For their art to be admired by the whole human spectrum? But to me the question that lingers is, to be admired for what? The number of likes on the ‘Gram’? A few years ago I sat in Australia’s National Gallery in Canberra and observed the work of art by Jackson Pollock, “Blue poles”. I sat there for a long time forming a relationship with that image, getting deeply lost in the layers of creative flow. I ended up buying a poster of the image to facilitate the longevity of this memory from this beautiful experience. However, the experience just wasn’t the same. I am glad though that I took the time to emotionally immerse myself in the art work. To saturate my soul with the colour and boldness of Pollock’s artefact of creativity. I am so glad that in my being I have this moment of adoration captured by my heart and not a device. I am also so fortunate to be inspired by the many walking and talking works of art in my life. No line ups, tickets or frames required. Life as a living gallery. And maybe that is why I want to look into Mona Lisa’s eyes face to face and not through FaceTime. Image Credit: Glendyn Ivin www.hoaxville.com

More on Hoaxville.com (link in bio) #hoaxvillearchive #wtf

A photo posted by Glendyn Ivin (@glendyn_ivin) on Jan 28, 2016 at 2:10pm PST

Field Work Online Education Resource This web resource has been developed to allow access for anyone wanting to conduct fieldwork to a number of helpful items including a Fieldwork Video, Fieldwork spreadsheet data, pictures, documents and links to other good resources. Please share your fieldwork questions, challenges and discoveries here to grow this knowledge and to assist others doing this activity. http://exploringfieldwork.blogspot.com.au/

Beauty in the Stomach of the Beholder

A Great initiative towards Zero Waste for our Supermarkets!!!

Click on Picture to see YouTube Clip.

The Teacher

I have long admired the work of Ram Dass. My first introduction to him was in Jack Kornfield's book, "After the ecstasy, the Laundry" I took note of his insight when he describes a valuable lesson after he suffered a stroke and needed to allow people to serve him after being of service for so many over his years as the teacher, the guide, the sage. He recently posted this on his website, an excerpt from his thoughts coined in 1970 regarding the topic of 'The Teacher'. This understanding really resonated for me as I am a teacher and have signed up also to be a student of life. I always try to remain positive during the light and the dark. I understand that the lamp of learning when it burns bright it can also cast a shadow. The shadow, the dark, the subconscious I believe is something not to be denied or feared. I work with both, the radiance and contrast. It has made my learning journey holistic, balanced and one that I am very grateful for. If you are searching for learning, if you are craving insights, a guide, it doesn’t always need to be bolt from the heavens or a thunderous roar from the mountain tops, just ask and you shall receive, be mindful and you too can perceive a lesson that will tap you on the shoulder. Being conscious, being subtle and receptive of the knowledge and teachers around you will assist you on your evolutionary adventure if that is what you seek?

From Ram Dass -1970

As far as teachers are concerned, a teacher is found wherever you are when you’re ready for that teacher. If you’re aware enough to ask the question, “How am I going to get on with my work?” and you answer it, “Well, what I ought to do is calm my mind down,” the next question would be, “Well, how do I calm my mind down?” The act of asking that question sensitizes you to see a lot of beings around you who have been busy calming their minds down, or teaching people how to calm their minds down. Until you asked the question you’ve passed by them and never noticed their existence, because you were busy thinking of them as kooks, nuts, cranks, or people that do those things but who are nice guys anyway. And so you begin to find out that your teachers are often people who have been around you all along. They’re called Upa Gurus, as opposed to Sat Guru. The Sat Guru is somebody who beckons from beyond. He’s somebody who’s all finished. The Upa Guru is anybody or anything along the way that points to the path that helps you along the way. So even your enemies often are your Upa Gurus because they wake you up to a place you’re not, which helps you get free of that place, which helps you get on with it. So you learn to honour everybody you meet as your teacher when you realize that there is nothing else you can do but be conscious, for the good of yourself and for all your fellow men and women, and to bring you closer to the place you’re trying most to get to by all the other means you thought you were working on. You work on your own consciousness, and the way to do that is to see the teaching that is in everything in the universe … about where you’re not conscious or where you’re asleep. You begin to see that everything in your universe becomes your teacher. Right? So your teacher is everywhere. Your guru is waiting for you to be ready. That’s the model you can work on. So you don’t have to rush to India because it’s always right where you are. There are beings who can get as high as any enlightened being ever got, sitting in the middle of Topeka, Kansas, or in the middle of New York, or in the middle of anywhere. It depends on your readiness, and that has to do with your karma or your readiness to get on with it all.

Anima Mundi

My at home environmental film festival continues. This film Anima Mundi has been made available online. #listentothearth #ecoconsciousness Anima Mundi Movie

Cocooning 2 Infinty

If my soul could speak...https://soundcloud.com/ragnar-haabjoern/cocooning-2-infinty

Visions, heroes and the makings of a green mythology.

Visions, heroes and the makings of a green mythology. by Ragnar Haabjoern