Plastic in Bordeaux, pigeons in Amsterdam – ways to connect

The days are full of wonder as they always are, and there is nothing more than today that one could ever need and wish for. In that wonder I share with you words by David Whyte:

THE OPENING OF EYES

That day I saw beneath dark clouds

the passing light over the water

and I heard the voice of the world speak out,

I knew then, as I had before

life is no passing memory of what has been

nor the remaining pages in a great book

waiting to be read.

It is the opening of eyes long closed.

It is the vision of far off things

seen for the silence they hold.

It is the heart after years

of secret conversing

speaking out loud in the clean air.

It is Moses in the desert

fallen to his knees before the lit bush.

It is the man throwing away his shoes

as if to enter heaven

and finding himself astonished,

opened at last,

fallen in love with solid ground.

Words that could carry countless meanings to their countless readers.

With some dear friends we often conclude how we eventually make up our meanings of things we encounter, alone and together.. what ever then is real and not real? Our thoughts, imagined.. our actions, results of our thoughts, sometimes.. signs on our way; lucky happenings!

I made my way to Bordeaux last week. The trip down took me two days, because I first wanted to hitch-hike but it took a whole one day to just get through the Netherlands and Belgium.. Wonderful, wonderful people took me with and shared their little moments and journey with me. Finally three Italians made space for me in their already full car, they were truly lovely and dropped me off at a petrol station right before Paris at my request.. but there was nowhere to stay, or even camp close by, and it was getting late, so I found one more lift into the city to spend the night there and continued on my way in the morning. But going into Paris was not the greatest of ideas, for I just couldn’t get out again – after waiting by the roadside for three hours I decided eventually to take the bus to Bordeaux, just to get there that day as I had hoped for. Before the bus I played a bit at Gare de Lyon, on a sunny morning, with a full-hearted enthusiasm, and a few songs with the clarinet earned me a lunch and metro money which I was very thankful for and happy to have had the courage, as all these times have been, to actually just do it and play.

In Bordeaux I was welcomed by Ariane, my “little sister” from the time together in Equatorial Guinea. How good it was to meet again! I had also for long somehow wished to visit Bordeaux. The girls concentrated on job search, and I was also inspired with that by them, while part of the time I explored the city, and sang my heart out in a friendly, pretty street where I was delighted by people’s reception.. I must share this personal amazement, how nice it feels when someone stays and listens for a little while longer.. I was given a traditional Bordeaux cake by a shop keeper, and there was one lovely girl who drew me a little message and a flower on a piece of paper. Sweet, little things; some of these sessions playing and singing are such that time is forgotten, there is nothing else than the music, the people and that moment and place we’re sharing.. rather magical, truly, and I am only trying, exploring so am thoroughly grateful for such moments.

We went to the sea one day. To see the ocean, again.. makes my heart soar and soul feel peace that is not to be determined, dynamic and yet so full and ever present. Huge waves, wind, sun and sand.. This late winter’s day was pretty amazing.

However, we were surprised by the amount of garbage on the beach. Ariane had just finished an internship researching the possibilities of using satellites as tools in detecting plastic in the oceans, so this topic was altogether fresh in her mind.. this was a popular beach where usually they haven’t encountered what we saw there that day. Rubbish is everywhere of course.. many things thrown out even at land might eventually end up in the oceans, where of course they will end up in places and washing up ashore where no one could guess.’

Sometimes of course we do all we can to recycle our goods, to not buy that much, to make sure things wouldn’t end up where they are not that beneficial.. and still, it is also so very easy to act otherwise. To produce garbage is such a strange thing – how easy it has become..! Of course everything is of nature, all that we do and produce – and eventually everything turns back into earth, or stardust, or whatever after maybe a long while..! But right now in these days that we have at hand we could choose to live one way or another, and yet to choose to live garbage-less for example means a whole lot of things that most of us would not even in the slightest measure, not to speak of changing behaviours completely, want to accept in life and pursue.

Yet.. it is good I think to explore those areas in one’s mind, communication with others and behaviours – what actually is possible. So easy it is to say that this or that is not possible – while mostly it is just that we don’t choose it, open up to it, or allow it. So one could try, to think and maybe to act, be garbage-less for a day for example..! How difficult would it be? Or to decide to gratefully accept letting go of some old items that are no more use to one and could be recycled.. or come up with uses for old items that as such are not useful anymore. Take that little moment to consider.. just that, little bit of awareness with one’s thoughts and actions, allows for a whole other world of possibility.

We throw away something we don’t need anymore, and it may end up in the ocean.. the thing may be eaten by an animal in the sea that dies because of it, or the item has substances that are not beneficial to sea-dwelling creatures – and all of this might be difficult to know or realize at that moment when we throw away our old, used thing. So, it is just so easy to not think all the way ‘till the end.. neither is it possible..! But we can choose to remember that our thoughts and actions have effects, whether we wish it or not, whether we intend it to be “positive or negative” – it is hard to know what the effects eventually will be – perhaps any action may somehow bring something positive to one, and something negative to another. In the moments when we remember to consider, we can remember these connections that exist between things – seen or unseen, known or strange, unpredictable or unquestionable.. How we might come to think that we are all in the same boat, as we maybe quite literally are, travelling on this common planet Earth, where each thought or thing we do to one person or being might be seen as something we do to ourselves. If we believe we are here to support each other, love, give and receive, seeing others happy and thriving means happiness for ourselves, and the other way around, since we are an interlinked entity of unique individuals – expressions of one Source..

So we might think, or not, but overall, what it maybe is all about is just that we have a wonderful capacity of thinking and doing many things, and we also are able to choose, and to care. Thus, excuses are easy.. staying in the known and comfortable is easy. Whereas, acting against learnt, comfortable, or commonplace is probably always difficult. Caring, in thought and action, takes courage..

   

The philosophies and religions of the world have throughout time and in current times been largely about this in their very core. Who knows what the human soul truly is like.. it seems to have sides as many as, well, anything else in the world! 🙂 Why we produce garbage, or why we get depressed quite a lot, such greed-driven wars, and ecological destruction.. may be because there is this disconnect of mind and action from the natural order of the world. Humans are probably some of the only creatures that consciously plan their futures and brood over their pasts. Not often do we humans grow, flow and learn in the manner such as the trees, animals, or the water.. without question. Our mind is what it is and questioning and planning is very normal for it. These wonderful minds, that are so easily tormented.. and so easily cheered up..! Amazing things, amazing creatures of whom every single one has a purpose and place right where they are right now. But how much we question, even that purpose.. 😉 Perhaps that is the great uniqueness and value of humans. Of that, we probably all make our own assumptions and meanings again. Whatever one might believe, I do think there is always a chance to remind ourselves, re-remember and reconnect, with all that is around. That possibility is there.

The past few days now I’ve been enjoying the immense hospitality and wonderful friendship of a most amazing Bolivian couple there can be. Exploring the feel and atmosphere of Amsterdam city, once again.. yesterday I went on a bicycle ride and one just cannot help but feel appreciative of this aspect of the Dutch culture – how easy and convenient it has been made to cycle to places!

There was a lovely birthday party of Chris’s on the weekend as well, get-together of friends.. some atmospheres of Amsterdam in the images below:

We’ve been all doing our things.. looking for work and opportunities as in my case, preparing for starting new job as in the case of Pamela.. working at the home-office, in the case of Christian. Chatting and wondering by the kitchen table with Pame, we’ve been inspiring each other and reflecting on thoughts and things of many kinds, in amazement by the troubles and miracles of the world. 🙂 The yard outside is crowded by pigeons, they make their nests on the balconies or attics when possible.. such common animals, pigeons are found everywhere, and how often do we see them rather as a nuisance or ignore them altogether..!

In our moments of reflecting, we’ve been wondering about these pigeons – looking at them with new eyes. Their activities, their search and quest for continuing their lives through an offspring.. they don’t seem to be questioning their doing and purpose all too much, though I would easily imagine they are at least feeling very frustrated at the moment, because they are having a very hard time finding a nesting spot at this inner yard – of that the people watching over their balconies, do take care..!

We imagined a sort of a utopia where everybody has enough food, shelter and love due to our magnificent inventions, technology and human innovation that would allow us to use efficiently just the resources we need, and all in a sustainable and equitable manner. What would we do with our days then? How would each person decide to spend their time, if mostly there wasn’t a need to ponder on or worry over getting enough food, shelter and love.. that is maybe something each person could think for a bit in their lives, as one means of gaining perspective.

But well, anyway, we came to the conclusion that observing pigeons would certainly be a nice activity was there time and only time in our hands. How very much can we learn by observing pigeons..!!

They are so clever, too, by the way. The guys have tried to keep the balcony clear of pigeons by using a string that stretches across the balcony railing, hopefully confusing the birds that search for the perfect Nesting Spot. Maybe it worked for a while, but surely so this one couple that have been several times to a nesting spot showing on Chris & Pame’s balcony have learnt to just carefully sit on the string in order to have a good view of the space from the top of the railing. So it is turning into an evolutionary arms-race, and amiable solutions are keenly being sought to accommodate everybody’s wishes and intentions! 🙂

Again, a reminder, how there is always at least that possibility to stop and consider.. with any thought or action.

Now as to me, I’ll stay a few days longer in Amsterdam, and then hopefully visit the old dear study town of Wageningen, with further plans (little by little) taking shape.

love, peace and light to every single soul out there!

Driving – and wondering what “drives” us

We spent the Valentine’s day, whatever its meaning or non-meaning to each person, in the lovely company of old and new friends in Amsterdam city. A long full day of doing and “stepping out”..! With Chris a dear friend since the first day of studies in the Netherlands we somehow made each other enthusiastic about the prospect of playing some songs together here in the city.. I left for this little tour of this time aspiring to visit some people and play a bit of music, and how amazing it is to play with someone a bit as I really would love to do that more. So we practiced for an evening and an afternoon and gave our best near the Leidseplein of Amsterdam.. 🙂 Gained some happy listeners, puzzled looks and a few euros to pay for the evening’s tram – but most of all, wonderful moments of daring, pushing some limits, and making reality something that both have long wished to do..! This felt great.. this playing and singing for me personally is opening up, and a peculiar but lovely process altogether.

Another Finnish friend Anni was there too, and these moments together are like being with this one family again, so it is all welcomed with ample wonder and gratitude.

On the way I met another friend in Berlin, from the time of being an exchange student in Australia..! That our ways cross again for a short moment also feels very precious!

One of the rides I got on the way from Berlin to Luxembourg was with a man who works in a German environmental company facilitating workshops with school children about climate change. Sitting in a traffic jam near Cologne he told me about his work and about how he actually travels tens of thousands of kilometres a year to travel to schools to speak about climate change and the effects of private commuting and other presented reasons for greenhouse gas emissions and resulting change in climatic conditions worldwide. We went on to talk about driving, and all these cars.. all these trucks on those busy broad central European highways taking goods from place to another.. Norwegian salmon to be sliced and spiced in southern Europe only to be taken back to Norway again; all the people alone in their cars, on common routes for work perhaps. Wondering these things, question marks filling our mind and sight, we wondered if anything has changed or is changing. With another ride in Finland we also wondered about it and his conclusion was of a rather pessimistic sort. This friendly German also was of the general opinion that things have actually not changed at all.

Sitting there in the traffic jam it should be quite easy to come to have that very point of view.

I was just very interested in this actually, speaking of change, and trends.. on a larger level perhaps. On the so called societal level. Are people behaving any differently now than 10 or 20 years ago? Not that we always wouldn’t, as we always keep changing.. but then in our actions and such, can changes be seen? If so, what sort of change is it.. and what actually made the change happen..? Sitting a lot in cars during this trip, I wanted to dig just a tiny bit into the trends of private, public and shared commuting in the past times. Just as one thing in the web of life that may reflect the state of human beings overall and perhaps be an indicator of the “inner, profound changes” that might be taking place.

So, just as a quick glance: it does seem there are quite a bit of research done in the past years or so reflecting on the trends of car commuting that show that some slowing down has actually been taking place. For example, Journal of Transport Geography from 2012, about driving trends in Germany suggests that young adults don’t rely as strongly on cars for their transport as they used to, and male drivers on average drive less than before:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692312001317

Or another article on the Economist imply that recession of the 2000’s has certainly influenced partly the trends in means of travel but it doesn’t count for all of the stagnation that has been seen; the study compiled for the Australian Government in 2012 suggests that “ 20 countries in the rich world show a “saturating trend” to vehicle-kilometres travelled”:

http://www.economist.com/node/21563280

They also refer to the trend of internet influencing car use of young adults especially: “A global survey of teen attitudes by TNS, a consultancy, found that young people increasingly view cars as appliances not aspirations, and say that social media give them the access to their world that would once have been associated with cars”. And, speaking still of Germany now that it was where the conversation started, the guys who wrote this article on the Economist equally provide some notion of research that showed that the share of young German households without cars increased from year 1998 to 2008.

The research surely covers vast areas.. as ever, things influence and are dependent on each other in complicated ways and so, to speak of “certain trends” across age groups, countries and cultures is a fascinating and surely rather complex swamp that I wonder if anyone ever can really hope to make real sense of.. here I chat about these things, scraping from the top just to open it up for thoughts to take flight and maybe wander to places they haven’t been before. To consider this one thing that is part of our lives, transportation, though transportation is not separate and can’t really be separately considered from all other aspects of our lives, lest the consideration would seem rather “useless” to me so to say.

One meta-analysis on the transportation trends (over 8 industrialised countries) gives careful suggestions that the trends in transportation that were “on the increase” until roughly early 2000s may have been halting or starting to halt in the more recent years.. preview the story here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01441647.2010.518291#.VN8NYPmsUUQ

Some research suggests a slow-down in the very recent years of CO2 emissions world-wide.. just for a little example:

http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/news_docs/pbl-2013-trends-in-global-co2-emissions-2013-report-1148.pdf

But oh, to be pessimistic, if one wants to turn that way, some researchers suggest (example here below) that the increase in air travel will just offset other efforts of reducing greenhouse gas emissions!

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/08/air-traffic-growth-emission-reductions

And so surely the list could go on and on, to ponder on the efficiencies of measures, actions, ways of being.. Just going from place to place, in a car, with all the other cars around, there is so little room for efficiently believing that any “great shift or change” might be taking place. And there you go, thinking on it while sitting in a car, going from one place to another.. Then again, things of many sorts change slowly.. whether we are consciously part of the change or not, things do change.

Sometimes very, very slowly, sometimes fast! On the steering wheel of this friendly German driver I got a ride with, was lying a bright orange cute little looming-band-hand-made octopus. This was not the first time that looming bands became the reminder to me of the strangeness of today’s world in that information and ideas can reach anyplace in the world very, very fast.. If you have not heard of looming bands:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Loom

Now, kids (and adults) make things of looming bands everywhere.. I was introduced to them in a South African pre-school, my old neighbourhood kids made them in Finland, and clearly the German children are no exception! I would be certain that you can find looming bands in the farthest corners of the Earth!

Could lead one to think about why and how things, information, ideas spread? A looming band frenzy goes around the world.. and catches the interest of many. What things actually spread in this manner? Information, ideas, can reach almost any place on Earth instantly. Things that are of interest.. of importance.. news, thoughts, lifestyles, advice.. messages, material, people.

Without going too far into it.. how do we convey and take in messages for processing and maybe using in our lives? So selective are our brains. So much information there is available.. sometimes to become of use to us, sometimes not so much. We could easily be swamped in it if so allow to be. While one might quite often think that what takes place in front of us right here, right now, is the only “information” that you ever need, the world also seems to work through coming up with new combinations, new-like things that surely are made of something that was before but just come together in new ways.. and so, new information and consequent actions also emerge and are of great value (maybe equally great as anything else).

What then is enough to become a topic of discussion, a thing to consider, take on, start practicing? Our great human brain has led us to not “only react” to things, but consider and ponder on decisions.. again, what a wonder, curse and blessing it maybe is.

“Different things are converging which suggest that we are witnessing a long-term cultural shift,” said Mimi Sheller, a sociology professor at Drexel University and director of its Mobilities Research and Policy Center. She cites various factors: the Internet makes telecommuting possible and allows people to feel more connected without driving to meet friends. The renewal of center cities has made the suburbs less appealing and has drawn empty nesters back in. Likewise the rise in cellphones and car-pooling apps has facilitated more flexible commuting arrangements, including the evolution of shared van services for getting to work. (http://www.drexel.edu/mobilities/news/archive/the-end-of-car-culture/)

Just a tiny bit of research on the drivers of driving (and other) behaviour, referring to the deeper cultural and social changes that maybe are taking place.

We are so many.. all sorts of persons and beings. No wonder that finding common ground is difficult sometimes. That there are clashes, differing opinions and behaviours. Still.. if I were to just think what I’ve heard, and seen happening around within groups of people I know or have met, in minds young and old, in the places I’ve been.. I’d actually come out with thinking there are some major changes taking place indeed. On many levels.. Is this because I’m rather resonating with things that reflect these “major changes”, that’s why I see what “I want to see”.. or is there truly some changes happening? Changes that I guess reflect the deep understanding of our connectedness, or the simple need to care in order to be cared for, give in exchange for receiving.. with consideration.

I wonder! And believe that we are learning, in any case, whatever else takes place. What would you think? I find it fascinating to discuss these with people, as we tend to discuss and ponder, come up with conclusions and solutions, only to find more questions and ways to answer them again.. 😉

I include here some images from on the road and also from Luxembourg with Anni. That place has a great deal of history in it, in the very robust form of ancient fortresses and stories.. old and new, mystic spiritual and materialistic all mingled in one, it somehow felt like its own little bubble of sorts. It was a wonderful place to feel inspired, play a little, smile and receive smiles back with strangers and a dear old friend alike. Why not, happy to have been a visitor to this place for sure.

Stories from the bus

Sitting in the bus from Tallinn to Riga, Vilnius and eventually Berlin, I got inspired to write some again after quite a while. Well, I’ve been writing, but not publishing.. What would have inspired this now? Hard to say; maybe the sunny weather that is so welcome and rare after weeks and weeks of cloudy days. Or maybe it is the lovely, calm atmosphere in the bus.. some people sleeping, some checking their smart phones, some having a snack or just sitting and taking in the passing country side. Russians, Estonians, Chinese, Finnish, Spanish.. all on their way from somewhere to somewhere. The little warmth of the sunrays as they enter through the windows, reminding of summer.. with snow white on the ground.

Finland is often called a country of plenty of forest, but of how many places can the same be said, including Estonia..!

In the city it was a lovely day and night with a most friendly stranger who is no longer stranger that I met through couch surfing. I dared myself to play a few songs in the streets of the Old Town, and we strolled in circles around the corners of that spectacular old city centre, rain falling and turning to snow, a bit of a bitter wind in the air and still at least that part of Tallinn was full of people wishing to appreciate, first-hand, the beauty and calm of this medieval town.

In the city this morning the rain had stopped and I wandered through the empty streets towards the bus station. There were certain things that caught my eye, in the structures, people, something, that reminded me of things as it seemed.. Just the smallest of things made me feel like remembering some times past, maybe as though from another age – or perhaps I was remembering something of my childhood, from trips to Estonia, or from Finland, where the infrastructure and ways of being surely also were somewhat different twenty years past than today.. Maybe it was a dip into a past through memory of another life, or something just totally not like that, but it was peculiar and interesting to feel part of this, or it was part of me.

Yesterday I went into an art gallery, and there in the cellar was a little exhibition by a young, just past twenty, male artist who portrayed war and soldiers here in the north, maybe Estonia. His introductory text about his exhibition explained how he thinks that today it is easy to sense in Estonia this overall air or fear of sorts due to the looming threat from Russia. This took me by surprise somehow, to read this coming from a young man.. and having just come from Finland where occasionally our lengthy discussions with brothers and friends would evolve around the themes of war, humanity and prospects of future. Having no other knowledge of what the “public atmosphere” is in Estonia, I wonder if there is more of this sort of true fear in people’s hearts about a possible new war or invasion.. In Finland we spoke how the younger generations have knowledge and understanding of what the older generations have gone through, how they fought to make Finland independent.. and built the country afterwards. How it is something deeply respected, yet also the younger generation who have no first hand experience of war, find it hard to relate to fearful beliefs. It almost might not in any way make sense to think that there could even be the possibility of war.. whereas in the minds of some old veterans who’ve actually been those that defended the country against a then-foe, generate plenty of prospects sometimes of how the old enemy might again come up with a reason to actually force themselves upon us with some goal of gaining benefit.

Who’s to say this might not happen? But how is it that we even think this way anymore.. how is it really that it still may not be easy to choose not to even consider war-like actions, to step down from thinking of “defending OUR borders”.. what borders are those? Defending.. from what..? Or against what? Who are we, and who are they, that we can speak of these as something separate, in truth?

The young Estonian artist urged us all to remember how important it is to realize the threats we may be facing, and brave ourselves to be ready to defend ourselves.

The intrinsically effortless yet seemingly complicated quest for life we mustn’t give up, or generally won’t. But there are plenty of structures and borders that lose their meaning when our relatedness and connectedness with everyone else is understood, and not only that, but lived, felt.

Yesterday we watched the movie “Lucy”. Rather a hectic movie session, with all that action and effects! Lovely though with good food and warm blankets. But in the core of it, an interesting play with the thoughts about the potentials of human mind.. where we are coming from, and where we might be going to. Taking it quite far, combining spheres of study of human mind, quantum physics, philosophies and natural order, or chaos, that maybe can’t be explained..

Now sitting here I felt like it was equally well wrapped up, or opened up to endless possibility, through a little chapter in the book “Zen” by Alan Watts. As he writes (my translation from Finnish):

“.. Since the earliest times, the basis of Indian life and thinking has been a great mythological theme, atma-jadzna – the act of “self-sacrifice”, through which God gives birth to the world and through which people reach the God-connection again by following the godly example. The act through which the world was created, is the same act through which it replenishes itself, or becomes “fuller” – the giving up of own life – , just as though the whole functioning of the universe was a game, where it is necessary to pass on the ball as soon as it is received. Thus the basic myth in Hinduism is that the world is God who’s hiding from itself.. The Lord of many names creates the world through forgetting self, when One becomes many and one actor plays countless roles. Eventually he returns to himself only to begin the game once more – One dies into many, and many die into One. …. for God has divided himself “for the game”, but in truth he (she, it..) remains undivided.”

Self sacrifice.. to pull things into once thinking “box”, similar thought patterns can be seen in multiple religions, belief systems, if one looks at it that way.

Lucy, in the movie, asked a professor who had studied and created theories of human mind that would function at 100% capacity, what she should do when she’s got all the knowledge, when there are no restrictions, when she functions that way. What should she do then? The professor answers that as it seems to be a nature of life to divide, give, multiply.. he suggests Lucy to just pass it on.

By giving ourselves, maybe we are doing that indeed. By offering what there is to offer, by being and letting others be all that they are.. war and fighting rather lose their meaning. One becomes many, and many become one.

Probably we’ve all heard of “Lucy”, but here is still one little link to the original findings and story:

http://www.voanews.com/content/discovery-of-lucy-skeleton-continues-to-be-relevant/2636041.html

And there in, why it may matter that we think of our origins and being: “”There is a single common origin for humanity. No matter the shape of our eyes, no matter the color of our skin, no matter the shape of our hair, no matter what kind of culture we live in, we all carry those same genes in our body. We are united by our past. We are united by this common beginning,” said Johanson. …. Discoveries such as Lucy not only led scholars to understand the common origins of all humans; it also highlights the uniqueness of the modern man. Today’s human has a complex brain, language and culture. Johanson said these traits allow humans to adapt and overcome the environmental challenges that have occurred and will continue to occur over time.” What kind of adaptations will there be, I wonder!

Such bus stories, passed on to you.. Perhaps the writing bug will bite again in the coming days, while I venture into the west to see some old and new friends, play a bit of music and find what there is to be found – be what there is to be! 🙂 To the best of these capacities of the brain.