Watching Being in the World, a small film about some pretty big ideas, opened my eyes to the state of philosophy in the 21st century. It had everything from Plato to Creole cooking, Heidegger to juggling. Modern day philosophers weighed in on the age old question of the meaning of life as well as what makes us human. Artisans and masters in their fields of work shared what they do best and how it brings them alive.

There were more than a few sessions of brain aerobics as I attempted to follow the rational roads of philosophic ponderings laid out by such mental masters as Hubert Dreyfus, Charles Taylor, and Mark Wrathall. After relating the story of MIT’s 1960’s foray into artificial intelligence and Dr. Dreyfus’s admonition that a computer could never be intelligent, John Haugeland, a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, said something that resonated with sublime simplicity. What makes us unique, what sets us apart from any computer is that we give a damn. It’s ultimately our give-a-damnness that makes us human.

In the film Leah Chase, a New Orleans chef, shared her recipes, but also that the ingredients and directions on paper wouldn’t guarantee the same cooking results as hers. Manuel Molina only plays flamenco on a handmade guitar because that is where he touches another’s humanity. The colours of wood Hirosui Sakaguchi uses in his buildings speak to him as a lover speaks to their beloved. It is in our caring for what we do and for who we encounter that meaning can emerge in life.

The lesson is in allowing the master within ourselves to emerge whether we are washing a dish or conducting an orchestra. A meaningful life doesn’t depend on what happened in your childhood or even a minute ago. Meaning comes with the next breath, the next step, the next moment of wonder that arises within us. It’s in following inspiration, in allowing the best of us to witness the best in each other. To show up with every cell in our being for this show we call life.

And I think that’s worth a damn.

Being in The World Movie Trailer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo Credits

Feature Image – Microsoft Office Clip Art Collection

Thumbnail and Image in Post are Screen Caps From The Video – Being In The World

Being Human is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

The people of Kangiqsujuaq in Canada go to great lengths to add variety to their diet of seal meat, venturing under the sea ice during the extreme low tides of the spring equinox to gather mussels.

It’s a race against time. They have less than half an hour to search these temporary caverns before the tide rushes back in. A look-out keeps watch for the returning tide, but warning shouts can’t be too loud in case the echoes bring down the ice. ~ From BBC ONE

This, is truly amazing …

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thank you to Jan Wall from bringing this to my attention.

Photo Credits

Thumbnail and Feature Image – Screen Caps From Video By BBC ONE

Race Against The Tide is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

The principal thing in the world is to keep the soul aloft. ~ Gustave Flaubert

A year ago I moved back to the city after living for nearly three years on a tiny remote island in British Columbia. I remember the palpable exhaustion I felt in every cell of my body after the 24+ hours of packing three households into one U-Haul van, a winter storm of insane proportions, no sleep, ferry rides and cats yowling for the entire eight hours of the drive. Arriving at my friend’s home that evening, I slid down from the driver’s seat and gazed up at the big, golden orb hanging low in the sky. I smiled at its pure brilliance, and marveled aloud to my friends about how bright the moon was that night. Both of them doubled-over laughing. You see it wasn’t the moon. It was a streetlight.

There is a video making the viral rounds on the internet. Check it out:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The first time I saw this film my mouth dropped and I was gobsmacked. The sensation I felt as I watched the diving, swirling dance playing out before me was incomparable. Wonder was my companion as I watched this phenomenon, not knowing at the time what was in the sky, if it was some sort of special effects wizardry or the pure presence of the unknowable. As I watched I tried not to name what I was seeing, to be in a state of sati, as my Buddhist teachings guide me, the space of knowing but not naming what I was experiencing. To witness it as a child might see something for the first time, with a boundless landscape of innocence and joy.

The title of the film is a big, bad spoiler alert. The magic in the sky is a flocking together, or murmuration, of starlings. Interesting that the other definition of murmuration is “a low continuous indistinct sound often accompanied by movement of the lips without the production of articulate speech.” A murmur, a whisper, an expression, perhaps, of awe and an ample amount of gobsmackness.

There are so many phenomenal moments in life, moments that call to our souls to lift them higher without explanation or the mind’s reason. Every time I hear Prelude to Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G, it touches a cord deep inside of me that speaks to goodness and realms beyond my earthly state. I don’t need to know how the strings are touched or the placement of the bow, the musician’s name or the maker of the instrument. Those are all wanderings of the mind that can take me away for the pure essence of embracing this piece of music and inviting it into my cells. My wonder at seeing the orange globe in the sky dissolved when I discovered it was a street light, not just because it was a far less romantic image to admire, but by labeling it the experience itself was diminished. Think of Dorothy’s impression of the Wizard before seeing the man behind the curtain and you can feel the wind of astonishment being knocked out of you.

In meditation we are asked to bring our awareness to each breath, to experience the wonder of air moving in and out of our bodies. If we pay attention to each moment of the day, a murmuration of wonderings can gather before us. The wet rain touching your eyelashes, the man reaching out a hand as you pass him on the street, the smiling unheard whisper of a dying woman.

If you’ve seen the film, “American Beauty”, you may remember the scene of a dancing plastic bag. Watch it sometime and let go of the idea of a plastic bag. Bring your child’s mind to the seat and watch the film clip from a place of innocent observation. What do you see? What do you feel? How many moments each day does wonder like that tap you on the shoulder?

Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world. It’s in the waltz of birds and a forgotten piece of plastic and a golden orb floating in the sky.

Credits

Feature Image – Light through Trees – Tess Wixted – All Rights Reserved
Murmuration Video and Screen Capture For Thumbnail by Sophie Windsor Clive 
Murmuration Reference Sesquiotica: Words, Words, Words
Film clips from “The Wizard of Oz” and “American Beauty”

Murmurs Of Wonder is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Halloween… the aftermath.

I decided to do it to our kids.  The curiosity was killing me.  I needed to see how they would react.  They were sitting at the kitchen table when I told them.  Corbin immediately crossed his arms over his chest, gave me the evil eye, got off his chair and said. “Come on Hamish, we’re leaving.”  Hamish, of course, followed him down the hallway with his own arms crossed over his chest and eyebrows furrowed in a mock-cross expression.  Then, he turned and cheerfully said, “good bye, Mama, good bye Dad.”  And off they went.  It was pretty funny.  Then, I called them back, told them I was kidding and showed them the video.  Corbin asked me to turn it off because crying irritates his sensitive ears. I don’t blame him.  I was pretty horrified myself and seriously considered removing sugar from my kids’ diets permanently.  The video is worth enduring for the last two kids, however.  

Now, how can I earn the title “sneaky mom?”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thumbnail Credit

Screen Cap From Video

Hey Jimmy Kimmel! I Told My Kids I Ate their Halloween Candy. is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

We’ve posted thing by Rick Mercer before. Things that make us laugh. This, on the other hand, is no laughing matter. 

Rick starts by saying that “every year in this country, 300 kids take their own lives” and he ends with “300 kids is 300 too many“.

What he says in between is what we need to act on. “We have to make it better … now!”

Watch this video, and then watch it again. The message is crucial! What actions can we take?

What actions WILL we take?

How do we make it better … now?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Big thanks to Heather Hess for pointing this out to me.

Rick Mercer’s Rant On Teen Suicide is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Recently, my friend and excellent artist Janet Vanderhoof showed me some of her latest works, created using an iPad. Being a totally new medium for Janet, she has found that the iPad allows her to push the limits of her creativity.

Using an application called Brushes, Janet is able to capture the work, stroke by stroke, and play the drawing from start to finish. I asked her if we could show one of her pieces and she graciously agreed. I am sure you will find it fascinating and inspiring. For those interested in how Janet was able to convert this playback to video, she has written a blog post called  How to Record iPad Brushes Playback which includes 3 other great videos.

Red – A Self Portrait – By Janet Vanderhoof

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The Finished Product

About Janet Vanderhoof

Janet Vanderhoof is a Colorist and Regionalist, influenced by the Fauves, the German Expressionists and the School of Color and Light, introduced by Hawthorne and Henry Henche, an approach originated by Monet. 

She likes to call her work “Modern Impressionism.” Her oil and acrylic paintings are dramatic, with attention to composition, color and light, showing large flat planes of color, offset by areas of bold expressionistic strokes. She enjoys using rich neutrals to counter balance the use of pure bright color. “My first love is color; it is the emotional force behind all my paintings.” I love to paint figures and landscapes, capturing moments and memories.

Her digital work has brought another dimension to her creativity. This is where Janet captures the whimsical, channeling personality and figures from another world. Although, it is a completely different style, it does capture her love of design, color and composition.

Janet Vanderhoof is an award-winning artist. Artaissance, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, now publishes her giclees. She has been shown by numerous galleries, but now has her studio in Morgan Hill, CA. You may visit her studio by appointment for originals, prints and commissions.

Visit Janet’s Website

Photo Credits

All Images By Janet Vanderhoof - All Rights Reserved

Red – From Start To Finish – Created With An iPad is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

After watching an unusual sheep-herding video, light finally dawns for a slow shepherdess…

Julia the Shepherdess, after a long hard winter with her sheep in Normandy, during which she lost so many to the predations of the wily local fox, finally found the solution to her problems in this inspirational video created by some innovative and possibly bored Welshmen. Morwen, Julia’s blind Border collie, will certainly be able to deal with the sheep under these conditions.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What Bored Sheepherders Do is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

What advice would you give yourself before you had children?

I remember when my best friend asked me how it was that women survived preganancy and motherhood without the internet.  We both giggled.  But, deep down we knew that all the advice in the world doesn’t prepare you and sometimes doesn’t even help you when you are in one of the many challenging moments in this job called “Mama.”

Here are the 5 things I would tell my pre-child self:

1. Love your babe intensely, cherish him dearly and Let go early
2. If you don’t fit into those jeans, that’s OK
3. You will understand all the heartache you caused your mom in a brand new way
4. It will be the hardest job you’ve ever done
5. It will be the most rewarding job you’ve ever done and you will love like you’ve never loved before

Google doesn’t have Children: 5 Morsels of Advice I Would Give Myself is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

A few days ago, Karen York  who is one of our authors and also a good friend sent me a link to a video. In her email to me, she said:

Hi Gil,
All I can say is: Can the beautiful pea-green boat be far behind??
A bientot!
Karen

Well, I totally missed the reference to the Owl And The Pussycat. My bad! However, this video is really something. If they can learn to get along, why can’t we? I hope you enjoy it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Owl And The Pussycat is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

I came across this short video today while using StumbleUpon. I find it thought provoking and want to share it with you.

It asks a question: What if the world’s population was reduced to a community of 100 people? How would that small village look? How would it’s nationalities, religions and economies break out?

This video answers that question in a way that is easy to grasp and is powerful food for thought.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video comes from The Miniature Earth website.

The Miniature Earth is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN