God the Father

Hello everyone! Follow this link to my contribution on God the Father.

-Erin

Die kunstenaar-God

Sou die skepper God ’n kunstenaar wees sou dit sin maak dat die wêreld en die lewe so mooi, so verstommend mooi kan wees, want soos Oscar Wilde sê: “The artist is the creator of beautiful things.”

Sou die onsiende God ’n kunstenaar wees sou dit sin maak dat God so versteek in die wêreld is. Sy teenwoordigheid altyd in afwesigheid, want soos Wilde ook sê: “to reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim.”

Sou die misterieuse God ’n kunstenaar wees sou die misterie van die wêreld meer sin maak, want goeie kuns weet dat die lewe, en God ook, nie ’n probleem is om op te los nie, maar ’n misterie om te geniet.

Sou die gekruisigde God ’n kunstenaar wees sou dit sin maak dat God nie ’n ompad om pyn en seerkry neem nie, maar dit uitwys vir wat dit is. Want soos Heidegger sê: “die Kuns laat die Waarheid ontspring.”

Sou die opwekkende God ’n kunstenaar wees maak dit sin dat ons in Hom kan opstaan en lewe al woed die dood so erg om ons. Want soos Carl Jung eens gesê het: “Art releases those forces which have enabled humankind to find refuge from every peril and to outlive the longest night.”

Die kunstenaar-God rig aan ons die vraag: “Kan Ek nie met julle doen wat hierdie pottebakker met die klei gedoen het nie, Israel?” (lees weer Jeremia 18)

Dis ’n uitnodiging om herskep te word, om nuut verwoord te word. Dis ’n uitnodiging om weer, nadat ons onsself selfstandig en verlig verklaar het, ’n kunswerk te word.

Is dít nie dalk ons belangrikste verhouding nie? Gód die kunstenaar – óns die kunswerk.

(Hierdie stuk het oorspronklik in Stellenbosch Moedergemeente se jaarblad verskyn)

Ek Glo...

’n Mens kry dikwels die ervaring dat ’n geloofsbelydenis iets is soos ’n ‘check-list’.  Indien jy genoeg regmerkies het, bevestig dit dat jy wel ’n Christen is – dat jy wel glo:  “Sjoe!”  Sê ons verlig, “my saak is darem reg met die Here.  Ek is darem OK...”

Maar wat gebeur as jy nie jou merkie agter elke stelling kan maak nie?  Wat gebeur as jy die toets dop?  Waar pas jy dan in?  Hoe staan jou “saak” dan?

 

Oor die volgende paar maande gaan Grey Matters op reis om saam te ontdek waarin ons vertrou.  Ons wil die eeue-oue gebruik van geloofsbelydenis weer besoek en oorweeg hoe dit ons kan help om nuut uitdrukking te gee aan ons diepste oortuigings.  Ons beweeg weg van lysies wat mense uitsluit om in ware Grey Matters styl eerder by mekaar te leer en na ’n dieper besef van die lewe in al sy grysheid te groei.

Die eerste byeenkoms van hierdie nuwe reeks vind hierdie Donderdagaand, 6 September, plaas.  Soos gewoonlik, 19h00 in die Hofmeyrsaal Foyer.  Laat weet asseblief as jy beplan om deel te wees van die reeks (al kan jy dalk nie die eerste keer kom nie).  Dit sal baie help met my voorbereiding.

 

Kontak gerus vir Helgard by helgard@moederkerk.co.za; 083 640 6525 vir meer inligting.

Grey ART

At the previous Grey Matters gathering we embarked on a journey through the world of the visual arts.  We all had our own questions, but we were brought together by the question of whether the visual arts could help translate or express something of the transcendent into our lives.  Could the visual, as once at Emmaus when the risen Jesus tore apart a piece of bread, open our eyes to what transcends sight?



Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn: Supper at Emmaus (1648)

We were all asked to bring along an artwork that resonates with us.  Instead of sharing what the artwork meant to you, the rest had to guess.  It was a interesting exercise that often revealed more about the interpreter than anything else!  Here are some of the artworks that were shared.  Enjoy and, if you'd like, leave some comments or guesses on their meaning!

Kris Martin: All Saints (2007)

Kris Martin: Festum (2010)

Kris Martin: Festum (2010)

Eugène Burnand: Disciples John and Peter on their way to the tomb on Easter morning (1898)

Hibbary Large: March of the Demon Horses

Alida Bothma: No Greater Love

Jacques Dhont: Die Draadsitter

Unkown: Milwaukee Art Museum

The wonders of slime mould and fig wasps

Ek voel nogals gereeld soos die 'slime mould girl' - ek raak opgewonde oor sciency stuff terwyl mense om my nie regtig sien waaroor om opgewonde te raak nie. Soos, as ek vir mense probeer vertel hoe mooi my fig wasps is, en ek kan sien hul glo my nie regtig nie, en dan wys ek hulle dit:

G’n Wonder

’n Definisie van wonder:  om nuuskierig oor iets na te dink.  Engelse sinonieme van “wonder”: ponder, meditate, question.

Om te wonder veronderstel altyd misterie, die onbekende, die nuwe.  Ons wonder oor dit wat ons nie verstaan nie, oor dit wat ons verras, oor dit wat nuut oor ons pad kom.

Die interessante is dat wonder in Afrikaans net ’n werkwoord is.  Wonder gebeur amper spontaan sodra iets skeefloop of iets verrassend ons pad kruis.  Wonder happens spontaneously when our understanding is brought up short.  Ons begin spontaan wonder sodra ons ’n nuwe horison teëkom.  Dan slaan ons amper onmiddellik oor in een of ander aksie wat hopelik sal help om te verklaar, verduidelik, bewys.

Wonder is deel van lewe.  Ons doen dit daagliks.  Die hele wetenskap wentel rondom hierdie menslike behoefte om te verstaan en verklaar, om sin te maak en te verduidelik.  Wetenskaplikes is altyd besig om te ponder, question en waag ons om dit te sê: meditate!  Wonder is die energie agter baie se soeke na verklarings, verduidelikings en bewyse.

Hierteenoor veronderstel ’n lewe sonder wonder dat niks verander nie, dat ons als weet.  Dit veronderstel ’n wêreld sonder misterie, sonder verrassings, sonder die nuwe.  Wonder veronderstel beweging, en ’n lewe daarsonder: stagnasie.

Is ’n geloof wat ophou wonder, wat weier om kort te skied, nie ook ’n geloof sonder die erkenning van misterie nie?  Is geloof wat ophou vrae vra, nie ook een wat ophou mediteer nie?  Is ’n geloof sonder nadenke nie ’n irrelevante, sinnelose geloof nie.  Is geloof sonder wonder nie dalk ongeloof nie?

Gelowiges gee graag vir wetenskaplikes die skuld vir God se dood.  Is dit nie dalk gelowiges wat die lewende, bewegende, verrassende, misterieuse, vernuwende God doodgemaak het toe ons opgehou het om te wonder nie?

G’n wonder, ons het opgehou glo...

Is die Bybel WAAR?

’n Vriend vra eendag of ek glo dat die Bybel die waarheid is.  Ek gebruik toe ’n dominee ontduikings tegniek en vra wat hý glo.  Sy antwoord was nee.

Later, toe ek weer oor die voorval dink, kom Pontius Pilatus se woorde by my op:  “Wat is waarheid?”  Die woord, “waarheid”, word dikwels gebruik om te verwys na dit wat met realiteit ooreenstem.  Waarheid is dan ’n feit wat met empiriese bewyse bevestig of verklaar kan word (bv. die aarde is rond).  Dan is daar ook “Waarheid” (met ’n hoofletter W) wat verwys na gevolgtrekkings tot metafisiese vrae soos God se bestaan en aard.  Waarheid wat nie bewys kan word nie, maar tog veronderstel word.

Dit lyk egter asof Jesus ’n derde verstaan van waarheid in gedagte het wanneer hy sê: “Ek is die waarheid.”  Jesus is die WAARHEID.  Anders as “waarheid” kan WAARHEID nie begryp of geken word nie – mens word deur die WAARHEID geken!  Anders as “Waarheid” gaan WAARHEID nie oor spekulasie nie – WAARHEID vind gestalte in vlees en bloed, brood en wyn.  Om die WAARHEID te ken is om geken te word en dit maak jou vry!  Om in die Bybel te glo, gaan dus nie oor kennis van ’n stel empiriese “waarhede” nie.  Dit gaan net so min oor die vashou aan metafisiese “Waarhede”.  Is Johannes nie dalk reg (1Joh. 4:7) wanneer hy sê: “Kom ons wees lief vir mekaar, want liefde kom van God.  Almal wat liefhet is van God gebore en ken vir God.”

’n Week of wat later sien ek weer my vriend.  Hy was besig om met deurnis met ’n oom te gesels wat onlangs sy vrou verloor het.  Ek kon die omgee in sy oë sien.  Dalk glo my vriend meer in die Bybel as wat hy dink?

Is die Bybel “waar”?  Bewys dit eers.  Is die Bybel “Waar”?  Wie weet?  Is die Bybel WAAR?  Jy sal weet wanneer dit is!

Grey Matters wandel deur die tuin

Die lede van Grey Matters het 8 Maart by by Rustenburg wynplaas, in hulle pragtige Schoongezicht tuin bymekaargekom om daardeur te wandel.  Die tema van die aand was Adam, Eva en die Tuin en die Genesis skeppingsverhale was die bladmusiek waarop ons gewandel het.

Die eerste beweging van ons wandel was rus.  ’n Oomblik van aanbidding aan die God wat rus (Gen. 1:31-2:3).  Rus is geëer as die kroon van God se skepping.  En hoe, vra jy?  Deur te rus natuurlik!

Beweging twee was ’n meditasie oor Gen. 2:9.  “Goed om te eet én mooi om na te kyk” was die bome wat God in die Tuin geplant het.  In teenstelling hiermee rus ons samelewing egter op die ontginning van die gebruikswaarde van die wêreld (goed om van te eet).  Iewers het ons vergeet: “Goed om te eet én mooi om na te kyk.”  Ons skryf toe elkeen dit wat vir ons mooi is neer.

Ons dink toe oor werk.  Kyk ons na werk deur die lens van die sondeval dan is dit: “In die sweet van jou aangesig sal jy jou brood verdien.”  Dit lyk egter asof Gen. 2:15 iets anders in gedagte gehad het: “Die Here God het die mens in die tuin laat woon om dit te bewerk en op te pas.”  Hier gaan dit oor genade, roeping en rentmeesterskap.  Sweet is maar ’n byproduk!

In beweging vier het ons voor Die Boom van Kennis van Goed en Kwaad kom kniel.  Nie om iets te pluk nie, maar om iets te gee.  Daarop het ons papiertjies met dit wat mooi is gehang as simbool dat dít genoeg is.  Ons hoef ons nie aan kennis of alwetendheid te vergryp nie.

Ons sluit toe af met ’n wandel deur die labirint om “te hoor hoe die Here God in die tuin wandel teen die tyd dat die aandwind opkom...” (Gen. 3:8).

Karl Popper se 4 funksies van Tradisie

Vir baie mense is tradisie iets waarvan hulle net nie vinnig genoeg kan weg kom nie.  Vir ander is dit iets waaraan hulle jaar na jaar vashou - al is dit om vurige bulle in klein, oorbevolkte straatjies los te laat (klink soos Loftus op ʼn Super 15 Saterdag).  Hoekom nog deelwees van ʼn tradisie?

Wel, volgens die invloedryke Filosoof, Karl Popper, vervul tradisies vier belangrike funksies binne ʼn samelewing:

 

In die eerste plek help tradisies ons om orde te sien waar daar andersins net chaos is.  Tradisies bied vir ons empiriese of metafisiese veronderstellings wat soos lense ons help om realiteit te interpreteer.  Waar daar nie orde is nie kan mense nie rasioneel optree nie; en dit veroorsaak angs.  Dus help tradisies ons om sinvol met die wêreld en samelewing om te gaan.  Bv. die Christelike veronderstelling dat God genadig is maak dit vir Christene moontlik om die angs van skuld en verwerping te oorkom en om ten spyte daarvan met integriteit te kan lewe.

Tweedens bied tradisies vir ons riglyne vir optrede.  Sulke riglyne kan moreel, esteties of bloot funksioneel van aard wees.  Alhoewel ons vervreemd kan raak van die betekenis wat agter tradisionele riglyne lê, kan hulle van onskatbare waarde wees.  Popper gee die volgende voorbeeld:

“When I was in New Zealand I got hold of a set of American records of Mozart’s ‘Requiem.’ When I had played these records I knew what the lack of a musical tradition meant. This set of records had been made in America, under the directorship of a musician who obviously was untouched by the tradition, which has come down from Mozart. The result was devastating.”

Derdens help tradisie ons om ons eie geskiedenis en kultuur te verstaan en verskaf dan ook die grondslag wat sinvolle veranderings moontlik maak.  Popper gebruik die volgende voorbeeld: “In science it would be a tremendous loss if we were to say:  ‘We do not make very much progress. Let us sweep away all science and start afresh.’ You may create a new theory, but the new theory is created in order to solve those problems which the old theory did not solve.”  Popper waarsku teen revolusies wat met ʼn skoon bladsy wil begin: “Indeed a set of values can have social significance only in so far as there exists a social tradition which upholds them... we should not be surprised if we find that once we destroy tradition, civilisation dissapears with it.”

In die vierde plek speel tradisie ʼn belangrike rol in die vorming van identiteit.  Deur ʼn sekere tradisie aan te hang verskeker jy vir ander (binne-en-buitestanders) van jou rasionaliteit en relatiwe voorspelbaarheid.  Dit help om ʼn gemeenskaplike verwysingsraamwerk op te stel wat kommunikasie en vertoue versterk.  Dus help tradisies ook om die voortbestaan en gesonde funksionering van gemeenskappe te verseker.

By ons vorige Grey Matters byeenkoms kon ons almal aanklank vind by hierdie vier funksies van tradisie.  Tradisie, soos hier beskryf, is iets waarsonder ons nie kan nie, al voel dit soms soos ʼn onnodige las.  Is tradisie nie dalk underrated nie?

Bronne:

Sarot, Marcel.  "Why should one want to participate in a religious tradition? Poppers view of tradition applied to Christianity" in Ars Disputandi 3(2003).

Karl R. Popper, ‘Towards a Rational Theory of Tradition", The rationalist Annual 66 (1949), 3655, rpt. in: Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (London 31972)

Deuteromammon 6:1-25

The Great Prophet Maccy-D lays down the Law



Now this is the commandment—the slogans and the advertisements—that Consumerism, your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear Consumerism your God all the days of your life, and fall for all his sales schemes, so that your storerooms and rubbish dumps may be full. Hear therefore, O Global Village, and observe them diligently, so that you me be consumed, and so that you may prosper greatly in a land flowing with cars and cash, as Capitalism, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

Hear, O Global Village: Consumerism is our God, Consumerism alone. You shall love her with all your intellect, and with all your heart, and with all your credit cards. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your i-Pads. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are in the car, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind her products as a sign around your wrists, fix her logos on your sports caps, print them on your billboards and watch them on the television with the family

Do what is profitable and productive in the sight of Consumerism, so that you may be instantly gratified, and so that you may go in and exploit the good land that Capitalism swore to your ancestors to give you, thrusting out all your competitors from before you, as Capitalism has promised. When Capitalism your God brought about the industrial revolution he swore to your ancestors, to James Watt, to Henry Ford, and to Adam Smith, to give you—a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, houses filled with all sorts of goods that you do not need, gadgets that you can’t use, gardens and vineyards that you never see—and when you have eaten your fill, take care that you do not forget Capitalism, who brought you out of the coal mines, out of the house of slavery. Do not follow the gods, any of the archaic religions who are all around you, because Consumerism your God, who is ever-present, is a jealous God.

What tradition are we handing down?

When your children ask you in time to come, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that Consumerism our God has commanded you?” then you shall say to your children, “We were slaves of the church and the king, but Modernity brought us out of the dark with rationality. Modern science displayed before our eyes great and awesome technology to control nature and to exploit its wealth.  Capitalism brought us out from there to give us the prosperity that he promised on oath to our ancestors. If we diligently observe this entire commandment before Consumerism our God, as he has commanded us, we will be satisfied.”

Ash Thursday

Marked by Ashes

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .
This day — a gift from you.
This day — like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.
This Thursday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.
This Thursday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home
halfway back to committees and memos,
halfway back to calls and appointments,
halfway on to next Sunday,
halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned toward you, half rather not.

This Thursday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,
but all our Wednesdays and Thursdays are marked by ashes —
we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and broken promises,
of forgotten children and frightened women,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, only because our every Thursday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Thursday, we submit our ashen way to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Before the sun sets, take our Thursday and Easter us,
Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;
Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.
Come here and Easter our Thursday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

Walter Brueggemann (Adapted by IJ van der Merwe)

Clichés are clichés for a reason - aren't they?

At our previous Grey Matters gathering we played a game of cliché-busters.  It was a great opportunity to expose and even destroy some of those clichés that tend to drive you up the walls.  The following short piece on thought-terminating clichés by our in-house linguist, Erin, made the busting process a whole lot easier:
Robert Jay Lifton was one of first to use the phrase "thought terminating cliché".

In the domain of Language Ecology within Linguistics, the premise is that "utterances must not be deliberately formed in such a way that the cause harm to or decieve others." If an utterance is formed in such a way that it breaks this rule, it is called "language abuse". There are five levels of language on which abuse of this kind can take place: phonological, lexical, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic. The level on which the thought terminating cliché takes place is pragmatic - it feeds off of the social dynamics within society, so to speak.

It seems to be in Lifton's book, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, that the term "thought-terminating cliché" became popularised. A thought-terminating cliché is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance. I think most of us at GM would agree that cognitive dissonance is often the place from which growth takes place. Though the phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissent or justifying fallacious logic is what makes it thought-terminating. In other words, when such a phrase is used to prevent argumentation, questioning, debate and even discussion of a problematic situation or event, it is said to be thought-terminating. These phrases are used so often and with such ease that they have become accpeted as truthful propositions in and of themselves and therefore cannot be contested.

Lifton said: The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis.

Some examples of thought-terminating clichés:

"When you get to be my age..."

"Do what I say and not what I do..."

"One day, you'll understand..."

In spite of having the best intentions of busting every cliché out there, it turned out some of us weren't so sure that we could do without them.  The following quote by George's dad on Dead Like Me expresses something of our hesitance to throw clichés out of the window:

"When you're suffering, truly suffering, it's the cliches that heal you. When I'm sad give me George Jones, or Willie Nelson. That's the brilliance of these sonnets. They state the obvious. Cliches are cliches because they are the things that have stuck to the wall. Our greatest arrogance is to believe that we are all special, because the truth is we are all unbelievably the same."

One thing we all agreed on was that clichés shouldn't be used in thought-terminating ways, and that integrity and sensitivity makes all the difference!

Clichés

Terwyl ons wag dat Erin die stuk wat sy vir ons laas donderdag gelees het op die blog sit, hier is solank die clichés wat ek saamgebring het:

"All is fair in love and war"

"There's lots of fish in the sea"

Altwee was deeglik "busted" deur die gesprek :)

Heaven

Helgard suggested that I re-post my piece on Heaven here in the GM blog - I suppost it's not plagiarism >.<!!!

"It's holiday-time, marking the border between my fifth and sixth years at university. Summer is inching closer and that hotness is returning to the air. New leaves are coming out everywhere and everything is the bright, new green that I love. The feeling of Summer approaching is unmistakable. It seems almost especially significant that the time of year which sees most exhausted and hopeless people coincides with the season change at which it finally stops raining, at which the sun warms up the air, the colours come out and the work-load seems to relent. You are given physical evidence that the end of the year is in sight, that the beaches and outdoors and summer nights await you with some chance of childlike, care-free relaxation and adventure.

It must be chance that I associate the hot air, the bare skin, the late nights, the adventure and the feeling of utter contentedness with one another, but somehow I can't imagine the slow-down coupled with the coming of winter as I do with the coming of summer. So thank you, South Africa. Thank you, Western Cape and Stellenbosch! Right here, right now, everything feels just right.

The thrill that runs through me because of this is truly a strange feeling: indeed, one I have consistently conditioned myself never to expect to experience. This conditioning is an absolute discipline: reminding and training myself in the firm belief that it's Hollywood stuff. It's the stuff of imagination, senseless media propagation of irrational societal ideals - a fairy tale. For years, I firmly believed, with every ounce of my being, that this unequivocal, pure hapiness does not exist. Lurking in my soul, in the home of my heart, in the very grammar of my being, was the knowledge that in my every smile there is a secret tear; in my every laugh there is a cry of anguish; in every hope there is a fear; in every love, a vicious hate; in every kind act, anger. Wasn't it proof enough that I should experience, almost as real as if someone twisted a sword into my ribs, such a stab of darkness in every would-be perfect moment? There it was: an intense distrust of life, stubbornly lodged inside me somewhere. It would not be soon that I lay bare once again the fabric of my soul before the jaws of the world. Can one avoid being bitten? No. But it's possible to get by expecting a good mauling now and again, simply learning to get up and get cleaned up again, scavenging for scraps of happiness and meaningfulness during the in-betweens.

I remember one such incident: it was Christmas eve, about three years ago. My father had been dead almost three years. The family was gathered on the farm, the christmas tree was up, heaps of presents under the tree, all the doors and windows of the house wide open and inviting in the friendly chirrups of the crickets and night-animals outside. My uncle, my father's younger brother, was just in remission from lung-cancer. His manner of speaking, of telling jokes and making facial expressions reminded me so much of my father. There was a dull aching, a longing I could feel physically, in my chest. Our large family was congregated about the living room, some watching TV, some reading, most engaged in the animate conversation. When my uncle put his head back and laughed, I couldn't help but smile. I was with my family and though we were many, we were one. I looked at his face and felt such overwhelming love for him. And then, almost at once, a dread came over me that I could barely comprehend. He was going to die anyway. We all were.

Such a sad way to live, and yet my happy moments had been peppered by such darknesses.

Recently, however, I've had this strange sense of waking up coming over me, of coming to from deep and numbing sleep.

When I was still a child, before my father was ill, I remember having the distinct feeling of never being quite where I wanted to be. I don't think I knew exactly where I did want to be, but somehow I just knew that I wasn't there. In my final year of school, a year after my father had died my urge to leave home was overwhelming. I needed to escape as much as I needed air to breathe. The moment came and I was out of there like a racehorse bounding out of his box on the tracks - I intended to leave behind the city where I grew up, all the people in our little home-schooler-and-church community, the house of my childhood which at the time bore only terrible memories of my father's illness. I could just sense it: instinctively, I knew I was getting closer to what I needed. It was to be long journey, though. My first and second year at varsity were coloured with religious experiences that were repeats of every horrible, degrading experience I'd had all through my adolescence, affirming that I hadn't run far enough. Third year came and I'd finally ditched all of the old: the geographical restraints of a poluted city, the complicated, co-dependant relationship I'd dragged to varsity from high-school, the fundamental, religious framework, the guilt and the fear of being judged.

Now, looking through a branch of newly-green leaves, out to the purple mountains beyond - right from my balcony... listening to the coo-ing turtle doves that take me back to Oupa and Ouma's slate porch of their house in Wellington, the air sweltering hot, but the shade of the massive oaks somehow cool and their smell distinctly sweet... the rich blue sky... the reds, yellows, light-and-dark greens of the trees and vineyards... feels just right. For me, Coldplay's new song expresses this story so beautifully:

When she was just a girl

She expected the world

But it flew away from her reach so

She ran away in her sleep and dreamed of

 Para-para-paradise  

Every time she closed her eyes  

When she was just a girl

She expected the world

But it flew away from her reach and the bullets catch in her teeth

Life goes on, it gets so heavy

The wheel breaks the butterfly

Every tear a waterfall

In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes

In the night the stormy night away she'd fly and dream of

Para-para-paradise 

And so lying underneath those stormy skies

She'd say, "oh, ohohohoh I know the sun must set to rise"

This could be Para-para-paradise

Heaven...

My beautiful Stellenbosch, embraced by the mountains, painted streets hemmed with trees, gabled houses, people on foot and bike, cafes and resturaunts - run by their owners - serving the kind of food that makes you aware of the fact that you're happy to be alive, reminds you that there are yet flavours and combinations of flavours to be tried... a community of thinking, wondering, discovering individuals... finally, a community for me: a place I go willingly and eagerly to meet my peers - whether they are the age of my grandparents, parents or siblings, whether they are ministers, students, pensioners - to talk about life in all its wonderful strangeness, and just to be.

A place that has finally welcomed me in for what I am and pretends to be no other than it is. And finally, life feels just how it should, how I somehow knew it could - I feel the way I'd been waiting all my adolescent life to feel and I am utterly amazed that I have indeed found the space to feel this way, when it could so easily have slipped by me. I am becoming more myself everyday. I daresay I am growing to fill the space that I am. Or perhaps it's better to say that I've finally been given the space to be what I've always longed to be: unashamedly and unhinderedly myself. And I am loved for that.

I am no longer captive to sorrow, to ridiculous social and religious expectations, and to fear. Indeed, when you come into a place where there is vibrant, natural life all around you, where there is growing and learning and openness, where these qualities are not only present, but valued as a lifestyle and a culture, the dead cannot but come back to life.

There's this one song by Mae of which some of the words are as follows:

"I can feel something different for the first time.
Heaven made sense, and all the words rhymed.
And now I'm cuaght in the air, it's a good life..."

This time of year, you're generally so tired, you feel you couldn't go on another day and the cold, the rain and the clouds seem to have soaked into your very soul. But then, suddenly, you wake up one morning and the chill is gone out of the air and a green leaf is budding on an otherwise dry branch right outside your window...

Then, almost despite yourself, you feel energised and happy. Your mind is filled with thoughts that are simultaneously memories and hopes: anticipation of things made new, based on all the years preceding; a reminder; a knowing that there is something good on its way.

And suddenly, the long winter falls from your body like a dead skin and you can hardly recall it. The world says "yes" to you, just as you are. For the summer, along with the renewal that it brings, comes to you, whoever and whatever you may be - indiscriminately, it kisses you, embraces you, loves you, and blesses you with every promise of things made new: another year, another chance.

And suddenly, you know what grace must be. You've never quite understood it, but suddenly you comprehend altogether what it feels like. And then you want to fall on your knees and cry and cry and cry because the power of the revelation is just too much.

How could something that I've spent nearly my entire life trying to understand be so incredibly simple and comprehended in but a moment of sunshine? - That is a mystery; that must be heaven.

And so, you see, it doesn't matter that I no longer believe in heaven as a place I will go after I die. For I believe in heaven on earth, and I have tasted the grace of God:

It is life"

Heaven

Dear Everyone!

I think for most of us, our holidays haven't reached the half-way mark, and yet I find myself truly missing you, and truly missing Grey Matters. It can't be said in words how much the friendships I've found in you have caused me to love and to hope. All I can really is "thank you" - and that's saying too much and too little all at once! I hope next year will favour us again in the same way... or perhaps it will choose to favour us in a different way. Hopefully we'll be experiencing it together.

Have a blessed Christmas.

And then, in celebration of the wonderful way I feel, I'd like you invite you all to read my own blog entry "Heaven". And, as always, feel free to comment!

Much Love
Erin

Grys máák saak ...

So ʼn tydjie terug het ek besef hoe belangrik die grys dele van die lewe is.  Ek was siek en sat vir cliché antwoorde wat my vrae versmoor en het begin smag na ʼn plek waar almal net kan erken die lewe is grys en klaar!  Swart en wit is so laas jaar en blykbaar is grys in elkgeval die nuwe pienk.  Die lewe is ʼn mengelmoes en als is subjektief.  Wat nog gepraat van God!  In hierdie nuwe besef wou ek vir ʼn tydjie rus, ver weg van al die klaviersleutels en skaakborde daar buite.

Dis toe dat ek ʼn groep mense ontmoet wat daarop uit is om juis díe ‘grysheid’ van die lewe te vier.  Grey Matters noem hul hulself en sê daardeur dat jy maar jou grysstof (grey matter) kan gebruik om eerlike vrae oor God en die lewe te opper.  Hulle sê: “grys maak saak” (grey matters), en kom daarom rondom die gryserige sake (grey matters) van die lewe byeen wat ons gewoonlike vermy.  Met my nuwe grys fetish kon ek nie wag om by hulle aan te sluit nie.

Groot was my teleurstelling egter toe ek een aand daar opdaag.  In plaas van grys word ek deur ʼn hele reënboog kleure ontmoet.  Die byeenkoms was een waarin mense eerlik met hulle eie oortuigings kon omgaan en by mekaar kon leer.  Die plek het oorgeborrel met kreatiwiteit en daar was iets vir elke sintuig.  Waar ek my net in my eie melankolie wou verlekker, was ek uitgenooi om nuwe ruimtes vir lewe te ontdek.  Vir ʼn postmoderne denker soos myself was dit net te erg.  Hulle het duidelik nog nie die volle omvang van die grysheid gesnap nie!  Hulle ontmoet blykbaar steeds al om die ander Donderdag-aand in die Hofmeyrsaal, maar jy sal my nie weer daar sien nie.

Gegroet met ʼn gry(n)slag,

Vaaljapie

(Hierdie bydrae het oorspronklik in die Stellenbosch Moederkerk gemeenteblad (2011) verskyn)

Something Small on Daoism

This diagram is known as the Tai Chi Tu, which is used in Daoist philosophy to conceptualise the flow of energy in the world. The black is referred to as Yin, which represents associations like "dark", "cold", "female", "negative" and "latent". The white is referred to as Yang, which represents associations like "light", "warmth", "male", "positive" and "active". It is a common mistake of westerners to make the jump and assume that Yin is evil and Yang is good. This kind of thinking should be avoided. It is very important in Daoist philosophy that there is no ultimate truth in concepts like "good" or "evil": while it is acknowledged that concepts such as good and evil do exist, they are social constructs that have been invented by society to regulate the behaviour of its "unenlightened" members.

Because Daoists do not believe that good and evil exist as universal truths, they do not believe in notions of "heaven" or "hell", in which an external, supreme being punishes the evil for their misbehaviour and blesses the good according to their benevolence. Some would call this a recipe for anarchy: If there is no punishment for evil deeds, it might be easier to do bad; if there is no one to reward good behaviour, the motivation for being good might not be quite so strong. Yet, the model Daoist lives in such harmony with his surroundings that we must re-examine what's at play here.

The ideas of Yin and Yang can help to clarify. The Tai Chi Tu itself has a kind "dynamic" quality: it looks as though the black and white sections of the diagram are in motion. This is because Yin and Yang are conceived of as transitory forms of energy. They are thought of as continuously changing into one another. As soon as energy is transformed into Yin, it no sooner becomes Yang and so forth. This speaks to us of the fleeting nature of life and the world: no sooner has something that we find pleasurable occurred before we are subjected to some sort of suffering. Westerners tend to want to avoid suffering. We see it as some kind of punishment (fair or unfair) that a cunning or rich individual can try (and maybe succeed) to avoid. We live for the "good times", indulging ourselves in them as something we deserve and resenting moments or periods of suffering.

Daoism, through concepts of Yin and Yang, will teach us that neither the periods of abundance nor the periods of suffering can be avoided, thus it is pointless to resist either. Moreover, it teaches that a person cannot know happiness until he has known sadness, cannot know abundance until he has known lack - even the extent to which we are able to realise our abundance or want depends on the extent to which we have experienced its counterpart: someone who has known only a little sadness is not able to recognise happiness that is any more extreme than the sadness he has expreienced. Thus Daoists do not couple up resentment with suffering and euforia with thriving in the sense that these two states are opposites. Instead, they see the one as necessarily leading into the other in a neverending cycle. They do not grieve in suffering any more than they rejoice in thriving. Just like Yin cannot exist without Yang, states of suffering and thriving cannot exist without each other. Daoists attempt to endure the times of suffering, knowing that because of the suffering they will have a keener sense for the times of thriving; they attempt to experience the times of plenty without forgetting that the reason they are sensitive to what is "good" is only because they have experienced what is "bad", also remembering that these times of plenty will not last forever, yet will come again.

Finally, (and I know I haven't done this wonderfully complex philosophy any justice), let's consider the little dots of Yin in Yang and Yang in Yin. This represents that neither can exist without the other, as I've explained above. It also conveys that there is always something of the one in the other: always some dark in the light, some light in the dark, some suffering in times of plenty and some rejoicing that's to be done in times of suffering.

We've not even come to the Daoist concept of WuWei, "action without action", which is a major philosophical building block of this way of living, but perhaps this is a topic for another discussion. For now, I can refer anyone who's interested in learning more to the Dao De Jing, which is the book of wisdom for Daoists, written by the famous mythical figure Laozi (pronounced "La-u-tze"). Having studied the original texts in class for a little while, I find it difficult to link you to an internet translation that says it in the way that has been so profoundly meaningful to me. I would advise anyone with enough time to go to an original Chinese version and to use a dictionary to look up all the original meanings of the characters. That way, you might arrive at a translation or understanding that is particularly meaningful to you.

The first line of the Dao De Jing in Chinese is pronounced "Dao ke dao fei chang dao". Literally, "dao" = path, way of thought, manner, even a literal path you follow; "ke" = can; "dao" = to think, to follow, to behave a certain way; "fei" = not; "chang" = original, true. Thus, my own translation to myself is "Any way of thinking or being which can be fully comprehended or followed is not the highest form/ true nature of thinking or being. To me, it acknowledges the utter mystery and complexity of God (=Dao), without directly contradicting itself by then attempting to offer a solution or explanation!

I hope this has been helpful, but if there's anything more that anyone's wondering about, don't hesitate to comment!

Benjamin Zander

Hallo almal!  Liewer laat as nooit, nè!  Toe ek oor my vriend se waardes vir die Grey Matters groep moes nadink, was ek juis pas blootgestel aan Ben Zander se manier van dink, sê en doen.  Ek het 'n DVD van hom gekyk, en toe ook sy "The Art of Possibility" gelees.  Wat my opgeval het in die clips wat ek toe die aand voor die kaggel gewys het, is die manier waarop hy ons aanmoedig om nie die game van "impressing" te speel nie, maar van "contributing".  Sonder om ons met ander te vergelyk, of pretensieus te moet wees, mag ons maar gee wat binne ons is.  Dit gryp my aan, en is ook tipies van my vriend daardie aand - hy is so iemand - onpretensieus, en iemand wat ander mense wil aanmoedig om hulleself te wees en te word.

Wat volg is my kort opsomming van 'n paar "learning points" in Zander se boekie, en dan ook die YouTube links vir die twee clips.  Johan

I was so intrigued by his method and principles, that I embarked on a little journey of my own around Zander’s work.  I found clips on YouTube and also worked through this book “The art of possibility”, and used his principles in quite a few leadership sessions I had to facilitate, and it even surfaced in a few sermons!  I would like to summarize some of the learning points from “The art of possibility” here. 

• Any situation has at least two possible takes on it – the one of hopelessness, and another of hope or possibility.  It’s a matter of perception, which makes all the difference.  Cf a frog’s vision.  A frog can only see clear lines of contrast, sudden changes in illumination, outlines in motion, and curves of outlines of small, dark objects.  It suffices for a frog, in accordance with its needs to eat and to avoid being eaten.  Human perception is obviously much more developed, but still information are being selected, and reality is only partially taken in.  That’s where different perspectives come in.  Two shoe salesmen goe to a country to invest a possible new market.  One writes back, “Situation hopeless, they don’t wear shoes here.”  The other reports, “Send stock, nobody here has shoes yet!”  This would be the self-assessing question:  “What assumption am I making, that I’m not aware I’m making, that gives me what I see?”  After that question has been answered, ask the next one:  “What might I now invent, that I haven’t invent yet, that would give me other choices?”
• Zander recalled dinner-table conversations.  His dad would ask, “What did you do today?”  He new his dad meant, “What did you achieve today?” and it freaked Zander out.  He felt he would never be able to accomplish and therefore impress his father as much as his siblings and he thus grew up with “an undertow of anxiety that lasted into my middle age.”  If that’s the rules of the game, you are set up for a win-lose situation with the fear of failure always lurking in the dark surroundings.  Zander decided to change the game to “I am a contribution”.  Unlike success and failure, contribution has no other side, and it is not arrived at by comparison.  Questions like “Is it enough?” and “Am I loved for who I am, or for what I have accomplished, are replaced by the joyful question, “How will I be a contribution today?” 
• The possibility to change your life in a positive manner is illustrated by Zander in the delightful story of Sarah, an 83-year old lady who rocked up at a speaking engagement in a Jewish old age home, which Zander reluctantly agreed to.  When he got there, only Sarah was there yet, moving to her seat in the fifth row.  Zander asked, “why don’t you move to the front,” to which Sarah replied, “I always sit here!”  Zander jokingly added, “Well if you move today, perhaps something new can happen in your life!”  She grudgingly moved one row forward.  It did become eventually a joyful afternoon of story-telling and singing.  One of the ladies in question time asked in a heavily German accent, “You are ze famous Ben Zander!  Vy do you come and vaste your time on a bunch of old people like us?”  Zander admitted that earlier that day he asked himself the same question, but look what happened since!  He was searching for words, and his gaze fell upon Sarah.  “Take Sarah over here as an example.  When I came here she was sitting in the 5^th row, and now she’s sitting in the 4^th!”  To which Sarah jumped up, through her arms in the air and exclaimed, “You ain’t seen nothing yet, I just got started!”  And everyone applauded, not only for Sarah, but for new beginnings. 
• Zander, an internationally acclaimed conductor of orchestras, once with a shock realized that the only person in an orchestra not making a single sound, is the conductor.  That made him realize something about leadership, namely that leadership is about letting the people around you realize (and realize) their potential. 
• Remember rule number 6:  “Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously!”  What are the other rules?  There aren’t any!
• Possibility is a kind of language – you can speak “Possibility”.  That would mean being really present to the way things are, but not resigning to it.  It means firstly clearing the “should”, in other words, stop wasting time and energy about the way things should’ve been, and instead realize how things are.  Secondly it means closing the exits of escape, denial and blame, thereby staying with the way things are and the feelings you have on that.  Thirdly you can clear judgements of whether a situation is good or bad, for depending on perspective, it can be good and bad. 
• For Zander passion is everything.  He emphasizes:  1. that you should notice where you are holding back, and let go of those barriers that keep you separate and in control, and let the vital energy of passion surge through you, connecting you to all beyond, and 2. to participate wholly and allow yourself to be a channel to shape the stream of passion into a new expression for the world.  This is where he uses his famous explanation of Chopin’s piece (Prelude op 28 no 4) to illustrate “one-buttock playing” (where the music “takes you there”) and feeling the “long lines” (finding the larger narrative, beyond the detail of everyday living).  Zander calls the decision to go to “one-buttock living” the “Beyond the Fuck-It”.  He got that from a student who realized that living within the box, will never satisfy, and therefore said “Fuck-It” and moved to one-buttock playing!
• Zander makes much of “lighting the spark in other’s lives”.  To him the question is a personal one.  If others don’t live out their passion, he asks himself (e.g. as conductor), “Who am I being, that their eyes aren’t shining?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH8jms-i30c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LCwI5iErE

Desiderata

This poem has been used in many different contexts and for many different purposes.  Here I hope that it expresses something about respect for one’s self and for everyone and everything around us.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.