SOLUTIONS IN THE END

“Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.” – Alphonse de Lamartine

A poem that was written quite a few years ago and seemed at the time to presage an imminent finality, which really only heralded a new beginning. As Jean Giraudoux wisely observes: “Sadness flies on the wings of the morning and out of the heart of darkness comes the light.” But how slowly that dawn is in coming, and how the night tarries… How hopelessly lost hope seems and how easy it is to think that the only solution is the end?

Solutions in the End

Early morning, wan light creeping in through half-shut window,
Remembrance of the full-moonlight last night; your indifference;
The phone that refused to ring, refused to ring, refused to ring…
And above all the smell of bitter almonds, cyanide.

Your smile, how I read into it so much, so many hidden meanings…
But it’s really silent, inarticulate, mute – I imagined it all,
While a false hope stops me solving everything neatly, quickly, finally.
And the bitter taste, that pungent acridity of strychnine.

My thoughts, the rain, the tyranny of your relentless presence;
Even when absent, you’re by my side, with me.
My fantasy, a secret mythology - how endless, inexhaustible my patience…
And there, now, I feel the keen caress of sharp razor on my wrist.

Pleasure so dear, of its precious draught I tasted only a single drop,
Like a drop of water on parched lips of desert traveller lost in the sands;
Your oasis a cruel mirage, a simple illusion by physics explained.
And next to my ear, the deafening sound of a discharging pistol.

The endless night, the dawn that comes, comes, comes,
And never arrives; while in futility, I wait and wait and wait…
You never arrive, never beside me, never with me.
Yet death comes in a thousand guises,
He hurries, running to keep our appointment
Bringing with him, the end, solutions and redemption…

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

“Would I might rouse the Lincoln in you all.” – Vachel Lindsay

The inauguration of President Elect Barack Obama is making headlines around the world today and Washington is preparing for a massive influx of people from all over the US who want to be present at this historic event. The charismatic Obama succeeds the gauche Bush who has been described by many newspapers around the world as the “worst president the USA has had”. The Iraq war, a controversial re-election, the response to Katrina, the lying to Congress, the personal exemption of himself from the laws of the country he was president of, the unleashing of a “war on terrorism”, that if anything made things worse than better, and many more such acts have made outgoing President Bush a good contender for the title of “Worst President”. His presidency is ending with one of the worst economic crises to hit the world since the 1930s depression. His popularity is sinking to new lows not seen since the Nixon years (now, there’s another contender for the title of “Worst President”!).

Now that Obama-fever has swept the globe there is great hope that the incoming US president will lead the world into a new crisis-free era. The “Obama Effect” is being hailed as being enough to shorten the global recession. Analysts are more realistic and have warned that we should temper our expectations for his rule somewhat. Obama has already planned two trips to Europe in April for attending an international summit on the economic crisis and a NATO alliance meeting. European politicians are optimistic that more cooperation will be possible with the Obama administration than what has occurred with the Bush administration. This seems to be the general opinion in most countries around the world, with an average of 67% of people polled in various countries believing that Obama will strengthen America's relations abroad. Questioned about what the priorities of Obama should be, the answers were hardly surprising: The global financial crisis should be top priority, followed by pulling US troops out of Iraq, tackling climate change, brokering peace in the Middle East, improving social conditions at home, the health system, etc.

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was one of the few world leaders to express skepticism of the “Obama Effect”. Putin stated with Slavic pragmatism that: “I am deeply convinced that the biggest disappointments are born out of big expectations”. I would certainly agree, and once the celebrations are over, once the early days of the “honeymoon” are over, once Obama begins to tackle the immense problems that he finds on his desk (and no doubt finds a few skeletons in the White House cupboards, also), the immensity of the task ahead of him will become manifest. Although I have confidence in Obama’s ability, the situation worldwide is not one that will be repaired with a few signatures here and there, a couple of state visits in a few countries and the passing of a few bills through Congress.

Barack Obama has a momentous task ahead of him. This is possibly the worst time that a President Elect has been in the position of assuming power in the most powerful political office in the world. Decisive action, immense diplomacy, boldness coupled with sensitivity, tact and moderate views, tolerance and goodwill are some of the many traits and qualities that Obama need resort to in order to deal with the many political, economic and social wildfires that are raging around the world. I only wish that the “Obama Effect” will help. My experience and logic say that things will get a lot worse before they get better – my innate optimism and hopeful nature want to believe that things can only get better, and they will begin to do so soon…

MOVIE MONDAY - BREAKING & ENTERING

“Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.” - Simone Signoret

The joys of marriage have been extolled through the ages by all the great authors and its woes have been bemoaned by countless ordinary folk who have to live through its misfortunes (here of course I define marriage in its broadest sense, de facto couples and all forms of other partnerships included). Marriage can be heaven or it can be hell, depending on whether you marry an angel or a devil. Marriage can be the highest estate or the basest torture. However, most marriages seem to amble along through the years reaching neither the heights of ideal union, nor do they plunge into the depths of Gehenna. Most marriages last for years and the two partners drift apart and come back together again in paths that criss-cross with affections that waver, feelings that twinkle sometimes dim and sometimes bright.

The movie I’ll review for Movie Monday examines a relationship that has reached a crisis point. A partnership that is forced to re-examine itself through an external agency. Most marriages of course will be affected by external stressors and it is usually an factor from the outside that will prove to be the undoing of the marriage. The film we watched last weekend is Anthony Minghella’s 2006 “Breaking and Entering”, which was also written by him. It stars Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright-Penn, Martin Freeman and Rafi Gavron. It is a quirky film, well directed and acted, with sufficient interest to maintain interest despite the rather slow pace and the 120 minute length.

The plot unfolds in Kings Cross, London, where the British architect Will lives with his Swedish mate Liv. Theirs is a tired relationship, where passion has died and where Liv’s sole occupation is to devote herself to the needs of Bea, her autistic daughter. Will and his partner Sandy move into a warehouse in Kings Cross in quite an unsavoury neighbourhood. Their grand plan is an architectural urban renewal project of magnificent proportions which will transform the seedy neighbourhood into prime residential and retail paradise. Miro is an orphan and a refugee from Serbia, and he lives close by with his mother Amira, who is a seamstress.

Miro is influenced by his crooked uncle and cousin who are thieves. Miro is a traceur - practitioner of “parkour”, an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. It is meant to help one overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment, from branches and rocks to rails and concrete walls. He uses his considerable abilities to break into Will and Sandy’s company to burgle computers. This happens twice in a row, and after the police give Will and Sandy little hope of catching the burglars, Will decides to stake-out during the nights to find the culprit, and he witnesses Miro trying to break-into the firm again. Will runs after Miro and finds out where he lives.

Will does not call the police, and the next day visits Amira on the pretext of having a coat of his repaired. Will is attracted to Amira, visiting her everyday, while becoming more estranged from Liv. Amira finds out that Miro has been involved in the burglary of Will’s company and as Will is attracted to her, she has sex with him in order to obtain compromising photographs with which to blackmail him and assure that her son doesn’t end up in gaol…

The film is quite atmospheric in parts, very earthy and seedy in others. A couple of sub-plots prove to be rather distracting instead of enriching the main story line. However, the plot itself is strong enough to shine through and one enjoys seeing the movie, despite its minor weaknesses. Juliette Binoche is a wonderful Amira and the young Rafi Gavron plays the confused, displaced and hurt Miro marvellously. Jude Law is more decorative than accomplished as Will and Robin Wright-Penn plays the fragile Liv very well.

The theme of the movie is love and the type of love that can survive shocks and external stressors versus the “love” that is based on sexual attraction, lust, passion. Affection and love are contrasted as are different types of love, such as the love between mother and child and the love between son and (absent or lost) father. The fading relationship of Liv and Will is beautifully presented and in a conversation,Will says to Liv:
“I feel as if I'm tapping on a window. You're somewhere behind the glass but you can't hear me. Even when you're angry, like now, it's like someone a long long way away is angry with me.”

Amira who initially sees in Will a romantic love, and finds in her broken heart some sparks of love being reignited. She suffers when she suspects that Will is using her to put her son and brother in law behind bars. In defence of her son’s crimes she screams at Will:
“You steal someone's heart, that's really a crime.”

See the movie, I think it’s worth your while to hunt it out at your local video shop and rent it out, rather than wait for our TV to show it. In the meantime, tell what do you think of marriage? What are your experiences of it? Has it been Heaven or Hell for you? Or is it something that you wear, like a comfortable pair of jeans that gets more and more faded and threadbare with time?

VENUS AND MARS

“A woman can say more in a sigh than a man can say in a sermon.” T. Arnold Haultain

“Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars” by John Gray was published in 1992 and created quite a stir, although there was nothing much in it that was new. Gray was considering the age-old question, “Are men and women different and in what way?” The author uses the metaphor of women being Venusians and men being Martians as a way of illustrating the fundamental differences between the two sexes, that are so vast, they may as well be from different planets. Contrary to most psychologists Gray stresses these differences more than the similarities and uses examples to highlight them, especially in the way the two sexes react to stress and the way they resolve problems.

Venus and Mars were the Roman equivalents to the Greek Aphrodite and Ares, the gods of love and war respectively. That these two gods personified the archetypal female and male is not chance as they each as characteristics essential female and male traits. Numerous pieces of art in ancient Greece and Rome glorified these two gods, especially so Aphrodite/Venus. In the renaissance the ancient ideals were revivified and the ancient gods were resurrected.

Today a painting from 1483 by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) that depicts Venus and Mars after an adulterous assignation (Venus was married to the lame god Vulcan). Mars, exhausted, slumbers while Venus keeps vigil, her face calm yet alert, serene yet hiding much internal turmoil. Around them young fauns cavort and play with Mars’ armour, but not even the clash of iron nor the conch’s sound will wake the god of War. The clothed Venus, a picture of modesty, conceals an adulteress. Mars’ undress underlines the unruly young god’s insouciance and his only concern the sowing of wild oats…
Enjoy the week ahead…

SILVANA

“We do not remember days; we remember moments.” – Cesare Pavese

Nostalgia again today for Song Saturday. Silvana Mangano was one of the great actresses of post-WWII Italy and she made several classic films. One of these was the 1951 weepie, “Anna”.

Anna is the story of a woman with a past that catches up with her. A young girl, Anna, falls in love with a soldier during the war and their acquaintance develops into a love affair. The soldier is reassigned, Anna becomes depressed and takes a wrong turn, becoming a cabaret singer and dancer. She receives news that her lover has been killed and decides to leave her life of sin and atone for it by becoming a nun. The past, however, will not leave her in peace especially as she is brought face to face with a man from her past…

Several catchy songs were in this movie, which became world-wide hits in the 50s. Here is “El Negro Zumbon”, with Silvana doing her thing in the night club.



The other song which is remembered more as sung by Nat King Cole is “Non Dimenticar…”: Don’t forget that I’ve loved you deeply… What if fate separated us, what if you are so far away from me, I always feel I’m next to you…

However, this is the original version!



Ahhhh, they don’t write songs like that any more!

FOOD ALLERGIES AND INTOLERANCE

“In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to men.” - Cicero

I was speaking to a family friend the other day and she was talking about her food intolerance and how adversely it affects her life. She constantly has to be on her guard because if she consumes any of the foods that cause her distress, it can lead to an extremely unpleasant set of consequences that make her life miserable. One the things that she always had to do is read very carefully the ingredients list on all packaged avoiding those that contain the offending foodstuffs. Other acquaintances suffer from food allergies, with rather dramatic and even more dangerous consequences than those of a simpler intolerance. Contrary to popular belief, food allergies are rare. Most reactions to food are an intolerance. The symptoms of allergies and intolerances usually affect three main sites of the body, the skin, the respiratory and the digestive systems.
Allergies are an over-reaction of the body’s immune system to a specific component, usually a protein. These proteins may be from foods, pollens, house dust, animal hair or moulds and these substances are known as allergens. The word ‘allergy’ means that the immune system has responded to a harmless substance as if it were toxic. Allergic reactions occur in genetically predisposed people, which explain why “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”…

Food intolerance is a specific adverse reaction that some people have after eating or drinking; it is not an immune response. Food intolerance has been associated with asthma, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Food intolerance is much more common than food allergy. Food intolerances also have a genetic component and in some cases are associated with abnormal metabolic reactions occurring because some metabolic pathway in the body is somehow compromised. The symptoms of food allergies are often difficult to distinguish from those of intolerance. As these symptoms can also be caused by other conditions, medical diagnosis is always needed.

Symptoms of food intolerance may be immediate or delayed and are often triggered only after a threshold level of exposure is reached. They can include the following: Nervousness, tremor; sweating, palpitations, rapid breathing, headache, migraine, diarrhoea, burning sensations on the skin, tightness across the face and chest, allergy-like reactions due to histamine and other amines in some foods, asthma from food containing benzoates, salicylates, MSG and sulphite derivatives.

Symptoms of food allergy tend to be more immediate and can be life-threatening. Common symptoms include: Itching, burning and swelling around the mouth, runny nose, skin rash and hives, eczema, urticaria (skin becomes red and raised), diarrhoea, abdominal cramps breathing difficulties, including wheezing and asthma, vomiting, nausea, life-threatening anaphylaxis.

Allergies are on the increase worldwide and in recent times, food allergies have become more prevalent, particularly peanut allergy in preschool children. In June 2002, 6.2% of preschool children in NSW had a food allergy, with the reported prevalence of peanut and nut allergy at less than 2 per cent. About 60 per cent of allergies appear during the first year of life, with cow’s milk allergy being one of the most common in early childhood. Most children grow out of it before they start school. Less than one per cent of adults have food allergy. About 90% of allergies are caused by nuts, eggs, milk or soy. Peanut allergy is one of the most common allergies in older children. Other foods that cause allergies include (in order from the most common):
* Egg
* Peanut
* Milk
* Other nuts
* Sesame
* Fish
* Grains such as rye, wheat, oats
* Soy
* Molluscs, such as oysters, mussels, clam, squid and octopus
* Crustaceans, such as lobster, prawn, crab, shrimp
* Fruit, berries, tomato, cucumber, white potato or mustard.

The foods that tend to cause intolerance reactions in sensitive people include:
* Dairy products, including milk, cheese and yoghurt
* Chocolate
* Egg, particularly egg white
* Flavour enhancers such as MSG (monosodium glutamate)
* Food additives
* Strawberries, citrus fruits and tomatoes
* Wine, particularly red wine.

Reactions may not always occur, as they are usually related to the amount of food consumed. A small amount may not cause any reaction. In most cases, symptoms appear within a few minutes of eating the particular food, which makes pinpointing the allergen an easy task. However, if the cause is unknown, diagnostic tests may be needed such as:
* Keeping a food and symptoms diary to check for patterns.
* Cutting out all suspect foods for two weeks, then reintroducing them one at a time to test for reactions (except in cases of anaphylaxis).
* Skin prick tests using food extracts.
* Blood tests.

The easiest way to treat a food allergy or intolerance is to eliminate it from the diet. Sometimes, the body can tolerate the food if it is avoided for a time, then reintroduced in small doses. Before you eliminate foods from your diet, seek advice from a doctor or dietitian. In Australia, the December 2002 Food Standards Code requires food labelling to declare certain substances in foods and certain foods including:
* Cereals containing gluten and their products
* Crustacea and their products
* Egg and egg products
* Fish and fish products
* Milk and milk products
* Nuts and sesame seeds and their products
* Peanuts and soybeans, and their products
* Added sulphites in concentrations of 10mg/kg or more
* Royal Jelly presented as food or present in food, bee pollen and propolis.

These foods must be declared whenever they are used as an ingredient or part of a compound ingredient (even if they are carry-over ingredients); a food additive or compound of a food additive; a processing aid or component of a processing aid.

All foods produced after December 2002 must bear labels that comply with new labelling laws. To avoid allergic foods, learn the terms used to describe these foods on foods labels, for example:
* Milk protein - milk, non-fat milk solids, cheese, yoghurt, caseinates, whey, lactose.
* Lactose - milk, lactose.
* Egg - eggs, egg albumen, egg yolk, egg lecithin
* Gluten - wheat, barley, rye, triticale, wheat bran, malt, oats, cornflour, oatbran.
* Soy -soybeans, hydrolysed vegetable protein, soy protein isolate, soy lecithin.
* Salicylates - strawberries and tomatoes.

Your doctor and a dietician may be able to help you live a more or less normal life even if you have a serious allergy, but it vey definitely a case where your health and well-being lies squarely in your own hands and you have to take responsibility personally.

MOLIÈRE'S TARTUFFE

“One should examine oneself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others.” - Molière

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Jean Baptiste Poquelin Molière, French playwright born in 1622. Molière is rated by most critics as the greatest comic dramatist of all times and considered worthy to stand beside Aristophanes and Shakespeare. He wrote:

“’Tis a mighty stroke at any vice to make it the laughing stock of everybody; for men will easily suffer reproof; but they can by no means endure mockery. They will consent to be wicked but not ridiculous.”

These lines were written in defense of his play “Tartuffe” ranked as his most outstanding and most representative of plays. In the 17th century powerful cliques attempted to censor every play that did not happen to coincide with their own views or selfish interests. We can realise the bitterness of the campaign against Tartuffe from the fact that it was not finally licensed for public performance until more than three years after its first performance before Louis XIV. “Tartuffe” is about a religious hypocrite and the public outcry that followed the play was initiated by a group of ‘Dévots’ (ostensibly devout people, very influential in the French court at the time, but also very opportunistic and hypocritical).

“Molière” was in reality only the stage name assumed when as a young man the playwright joined a group of strolling players. So famous did he make it, that few of us today recognise the surname “Poquelin”. Molière’s father was a prosperous tradesman, upholsterer to the King by appointment. Since this was a hereditary honour, the son shrewdly made use of it to establish and strengthen himself in the King’s favour, when, after twelve years in the provinces, he returned to Paris.

These twelve years of trouping and training not only made Molière a comedian of unsurpassed ability, but they also gave him that insight into life and character that were to make his later comedies outstanding. He was 36 years old when he returned to establish himself in Paris. At 40, successful in his profession and in prosperous circumstances, he married the twenty-year-old sister of Madeleine Bejart, his leading lady. Owing probably to the disparity in their ages and to his own jealousy, the marriage was not wholly a success. This with the death of a favorite son, and the constantly increasing attacks of the various groups who had found themselves and their pretensions the butt of Molière's biting satire, made his later years unhappy. He still wrote and acted his own plays, however, and it was in the midst of a stage performance that he burst a blood vessel in a fit of coughing and died shortly thereafter.

Fit to be ranked with his masterpiece, “Tartuffe”, are other of his such as “Don Juan”, “The Misanthrope”, “The Learned Ladies”, “The Bourgeois Gentleman”, “The Imaginary Invalid” and a host of lesser comedies all of which are still read and revived to this day.
The word of the day is fittingly:

Tartuffe |tärˈtoōf| noun poetic/literary or humorous
A religious hypocrite, or a hypocritical pretender to excellence of any kind.

ORIGIN: from the name of the principal character (a religious hypocrite) in Molière's Tartuffe (1664).

DERIVATIVES
Tartufferie |-ˈtoōfərē| (also Tartuffery) noun

The 2007 French film of Laurent Tirard, “Moliére”, is an enjoyable and semi-fictionalised account of a “lost period” in Moliére’s life and is reminiscent of the play “The Bourgeois Gentleman”. Quite a treat if you can lay your hands on it.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES

“Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.” - Albert Schweitzer

Each day I commute to work on the train. In the City around the railway station one sees all sorts of people: Many of the regular fellow-commuters, the newspaper sellers, the waiters and café owners who are up early opening their businesses, some early morning tourists walking around with map in hand, delivery men parking their trucks and unloading their consignments, workmen fixing some faults on the road and of course all of the morning hustle and bustle of a city waking up to a new day and preparing for a day’s work. Today there was someone unusual, someone I hadn’t seen before. A woman sitting on the steps of the train station begging. We don’t have many beggars in Melbourne, so it is rather a strange thing to see one in the City. There are many buskers, but beggars, no.

Is it a sign of the times? A sign of the worsening economic crisis and the difficult months ahead? Is it a sign of the increasing problems we have with gambling? Is it a sign of the increasing numbers of street people we have to deal with? I looked at the woman and there was at first a negative reaction towards her, which I am glad to say was only momentary and passed as quickly as it had made its presence felt. I looked at her and in a few seconds I had taken stock of her clothes, her physical condition, her bearing, and decided that this human being was to be pitied and one should feel compassion towards her rather than aversion and distaste. A few coins that one can part with and not think further about may make a big difference to her survival.

What forces people to beg, to lose their dignity and rely on the kindness of strangers in order to survive? How many tragic stories of human frailty and how many examples of human failings are hidden in each of these people living in the streets? Vices may cause the offenders to end up in gaol, foibles are generally regarded as mere eccentricities, but serious faults that fail to be corrected, human errors that go unchecked, repeated failures that may cause someone to become so demoralised and hopeless as to end up in the street begging are to be regretted and one cannot help but feel sadness and be moved to compassion for a person’s reduction to this state…

Forgotten

She sits alone, forgotten on the steps
Her head bowed low as she recollects:
She too lived once, so long ago,
Amidst bright lights all aglow…

She sits, now grey-haired, past her prime
Her clothes all torn, her shoes in grime;
Once she was garbed in furs and satin
A queen, the toast of all Manhattan.

Her mind is numb as she tries stopping thought,
She knows regret and bitterness will lead to nought.
Her cold and bony body now demurs
To admit that fame and glory once were hers.

A coin clinks in the can, thrown at her feet
Her huddled form forlorn, black in the icy street.
Once, suitors kissed her jewelled shoes,
She found it so amusing all to refuse.

Now gloom and darkness, hopelessness, despair
Even her lips deny to chant a simple prayer.
When all is lost, how harsh the world
Into the dark abyss of Lethe she is hurled.

She sits alone, forgotten on the steps
In nothing does she hope, none she expects.
She too lived once, so long ago,
Where once was sun, now only snow;
Death comes and she wishes him to be quick
The candle sputters, dies, it’s burnt its wick…

GURDJIEFF

“A ‘sin’ is something which is not necessary.” George Gurdjieff

It is the anniversary of the birth of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff today. Gurdjieff was an Armenian-Greek, born this day in Alexandropolis, Armenia, in 1877 (although some claim it was in 1866). His father, a Pontian Greek, had inherited a rich ancient culture mainly through the oral tradition and it was thanks to him that Gurdjieff’s childhood was filled with stories and poems of the distant past. He grew up in the southern Caucasus where many different races, nationalities, traditions, religions and customs meet. Although he was brought up in the Eastern Catholic faith, Gurdjieff was interested throughout his life in many other faiths and cultures. As he grew up, he became convinced through his contacts that true knowledge of man and nature had existed in the past, but modern man had lost it. He made it the object of his life to rediscover these ancient mysteries and it was this conviction that shaped his whole life.

He formed the group “Seekers of the Truth” comprising archaeologists, doctors, linguists, artists, musicians, etc and he was thus able to connect with many strata of the communities in the Middle East and Central Asia where he travelled in order to discover a rich storehouse of traditions and obscure knowledge. He disappeared for 20 years and practiced an existence devoted to self-examination, a honing of his personal philosophy and a refinement and distillation of the numerous ideas he was exposed to. In 1912, he went to Russia, living in Moscow and St Petersburg, dedicating his life to transmitting his knowledge and philosophy.

In 1922 he moved to France and settled near Fontainebleau, beginning in 1924 to write many of his famous works: “Meetings with Remarkable Men”, “Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson” and “Life is real Only When ‘I Am’”. Gurdjieff claimed that people do not perceive reality, as they are not conscious of themselves, but live in a state of hypnotic “waking sleep.” He said: “Man lives his life in sleep, and in sleep he dies.” Gurdjieff taught that each person perceived things from a completely subjective perspective and essentially, each one of us manufactures his own reality. Gurdjieff stated that maleficent events such as wars and so on could not possibly take place if people were more awake. He asserted that people in their typical state were unconscious automatons, but that it was possible for a man to wake up and experience life more fully.

Something which has become associated with Gurdjieff is the enneagram and the system of personality analysis it has engendered. Although Gurdjieff never explained the significance of the enneagram in detail in this context, he did allude to it as a means of self exploration, Gurdjieff maintains that the enneagram figure is a symbol that represents the “law of seven” and the “law of three” (the two fundamental universal laws) and, therefore, the figure can be used to describe any natural whole phenomenon, cosmos, process in life or any other piece of knowledge. It is a nine-sided figure inscribed in a circle and vertices can be associated with musical notes and can be used allegorically to represent passages from one state to another.

Gurdjieff shared his ideas in a multitude of ways, including meetings and lectures, music, sacred dance, writings, and group work. He was not consistent in his use of these methods through his lifetime, with his six years in Paris being devoted primarily to writing, while composition of music and movement centered around a few distinct periods. In Russia he was described as keeping his teaching confined to a small circle of “disciples”, while in Paris and North America he gave numerous public lectures and demonstrations. Gurdjieff’s music has great inner simplicity, purity and clarity. It is beautiful and has an indefinable, special character that seems to touch our soul. It is definitely music that one may listen to and explore one’s inner world with introspectiveness and reflection. Gurdjieff collaborated in writing some of his music with Ukrainian composer Thomas de Hartmann, one of his pupils.

Gurdjieff died in Paris on the 29th of October, 1949. Since his death, his ideas have spread widely and have found a resonance with many people all over the world, particularly the USA. As a mystic and a philosopher Gurdjieff with his life’s work has the ability even nowadays to galvanise people into increasing and focussing their attention and energy in various ways, and to minimise daydreaming and absentmindedness. According to his teaching, this inner development of oneself is the beginning of a possible further process of change, whose aim is to transform a man into what Gurdjieff believed he ought to be and has the capability of being.

THE BUCKET LIST

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” - Mark Twain

If you had a choice, would you like to know exactly when you were going to die? Just think, you could schedule it in your diary: “6:15 pm Wednesday evening, October 6th 2010 – Dying”. You could plan ahead, ensure that everything was in order, and prepare yourself for the appointment with the Grim Reaper. Does this appeal to you? Many people have cogitated over this and the majority concur that no, this is not something human beings take a shine to. Most people (96% of them) prefer NOT to know when they will die…

This topic came up in a film we watched last weekend. It was an excellent movie with two very good actors in it, – Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman – but also well directed and with a good plot. The movie is Rob Reiner’s 2007 “The Bucket List” . The plot revolves around a car mechanic, Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman), who is a man with a good life education and culture and the embittered billionaire, Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) who owns many hospitals. Carter has been married for 45 years to Virginia and has a happy family, Edward has many divorces on his record and one daughter with whom he has not spoken for years. What is common to both of these men is that they each have a terminal illness and they meet in one of Edward’s hospitals, where (according to general policy), they have to share a room. As they get to know one another, they develop a friendship and when Edward finds a discarded list (the “ Kicking the Bucket List” of title) written by Carter where he has started to write all the things he would like to do before he dies, Edward decides to make the list a reality. Edward includes his own items and invites Carter on a journey of friendship, personal growth and redemption.

The film is strangely uplifting, given its topic, but also very moving and although it could descend into bathos and moralising, it doesn’t. There are some great one-liners in it, delivered with appropriate aplomb by both of the leads, some very sad moments, some laugh out aloud moments, but one is apt to wipe a tear from one’s eye at the end. A fun film, a serious film, a road film, a coming of age film – all the more interesting as both characters who come of age are well past middle age…

Now, going back to my question, “would you like to know when you are going to die?” My answer is that I would rather be in the 4% of the population. Death is part of life. We all die and as much as we may want to postpone death, it remains an inescapable inevitability. We live our life better if we resign ourselves to the fact that we are mortal and that we could die at any moment. If we prepare ourselves for death, then the when doesn’t matter one whit. As Marcel Proust says:

“
We say that the hour of death cannot be forecast, but when we say this we imagine that hour as placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun or that death could arrive this same afternoon, this afternoon which is so certain and which has every hour filled in advance.”

We live a better life if we prepare for our death as if it were to arrive this very day, this afternoon. To try and preserve our life as long as possible is certainly commendable, but the quality of life is as important as its quantity. And always of course we should aim to die as young as possible, although we may want to survive for as many years as possible…
What about you? What do you think about death? If it were possible would you like to know the time you were to die?

ART SUNDAY - DEGAS

“Dancing is the poetry of the foot.” - John Dryden

For Art Sunday today, a painting by Edgar Degas (born July 19, 1834, Paris; died, Sept. 27, 1917, Paris) 
a French artist, acknowledged as the master of drawing the human figure in motion. Degas worked in many mediums, preferring pastel to all others. He is perhaps best known for his paintings, drawings, and bronzes of ballerinas and of race horses.

The art of Degas is concerned with the psychology of movement and expression and the harmony of line and continuity of contour. These characteristics set Degas apart from the other impressionist painters, although he took part in all but one of the 8 impressionist exhibitions between 1874 and 1886. Degas was the son of a wealthy banker, and his aristocratic family background instilled into his early art a haughty yet sensitive quality of detachment. As he grew up, his idol was the painter Ingres, whose example pointed him in the direction of a classical draughtsmanship, stressing balance and clarity of outline. After beginning his artistic studies with Louis Lamothes, a pupil of Ingres, he started classes at the Ecole des Beaux Arts but left in 1854 and went to Italy. He stayed there for 5 years, studying Italian art, especially Renaissance works.

Returning to Paris in 1859, he painted portraits of his family and friends and a number of historical subjects, in which he combined classical and romantic styles. In Paris, Degas came to know Édouard Manet, and in the late 1860s he turned to contemporary themes, painting both theatrical scenes and portraits with a strong emphasis on the social and intellectual implications of props and setting.

In the early 1870s the female ballet dancer became his favorite theme. He sketched from a live model in his studio and combined poses into groupings that depicted rehearsal and performance scenes in which dancers on stage, entering the stage, and resting or waiting to perform are shown simultaneously and in counterpoint, often from an oblique angle of vision. On a visit in 1872 to Louisiana, where he had relatives in the cotton business, he painted The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans (finished 1873; Musée Municipal, Pau, France), his only picture to be acquired by a museum in his lifetime. Other subjects from this period include the racetrack, the beach, and cafe interiors.

Here is his “Four Ballerinas” of 1899, now in the National Gallery, Washington DC. The composition is simple yet sophisticated, with the four figures partially shown, crowded together in the left half of the canvas, while the right half is the indistinct scenery of the stage set, depicted in swards of colour and brooding shapes in indigo. The sinuous movements of the dancing arms of the ballerinas eloquently describe the grace of the dance while their torsos are highlighted by the background and their flaring tutus. The red/bronze highlights of the sky are picked up by the heads and bodices of the dancers. This is a highly original and deeply beautiful work of art.

Enjoy your week!

CIAO, CIAO...

“Love's first snow-drop, virgin kiss.” - Robert Burns

It’s 11:30 pm and I’m looking out of the window at the moon, which is nearly full. The sky is clear and the silvery light is making everything delicate and fragile. The garden looks as though it’s something out of a fairy tale. And yet the silvery light makes the shadows look even darker. The delicacy of the moonlight makes the leaves shine and sparkle, but in the darkness a cat’s eyes are fiery like a devil’s. What to sing this moonlit night for Song Saturday?

Here is Maria Nazionale singing a popular Neapolitan song, “Ciao, Ciao”. Star-crossed lovers who are separated and meet up again years later after much has changed, or has it?

Ciao, ciao…

Goodbye, you mustn’t cry,
Goodbye, if you want to, write to me,
Goodbye, I love you, believe me, I do!
Goodbye, you’ll see that I’ll come back…

You loved him the minute you saw him,
He was the man of your dreams.
He was the tenderness you were looking for.
He was the first man you kissed.
And now, a hug you know will be the last…

Ciao, ciao…
Goodbye, you mustn’t cry,
Goodbye, if you want to, write to me,
Goodbye, I love you, believe me, I do!
Goodbye, put your coat on, it’s cold,
Goodbye, leave me now, they’ve called you already,
Goodbye, you’ll see that I’ll come back…

……

Even if he came back, he’s got married.
You see him and you still feel your heart miss beats,
Yes, maybe you still love him..
He was the first man you kissed.
You’ve never forgotten him,
You’ve never forgotten that kiss…

Ciao, ciao…
Goodbye – but how many kids must he have now?
Goodbye – he’s put on a bit of weight…
Goodbye – where does he live now?
Goodbye – let’s meet, let’s see one another…
Goodbye – how’s your mother?
Goodbye – and his wife? What’s her name?
Goodbye – maybe she’s prettier than me…

Goodbye, you mustn’t cry,
Goodbye, if you want to, write to me,
Goodbye, I love you, believe me, I do!
Goodbye, leave me now, they’ve called you already,
Goodbye, you’ll see that I’ll come back…
Goodbye, it’s cold, I must put my coat on…

GUACAMOLE

“In Mexico we have a word for sushi: Bait.” - José Simons

Avocadoes are in season here at the moment and they are a very versatile fruit/vegetable, which as well being healthy and nutritious, taste delicious. There are numerous ways one may eat avocadoes, raw or cooked, but one can’t go past the classic way that they often served in Latin America, in guacamole. Guacamole is a word derived from Latin American Spanish, from Nahuatl ahuacamolli, from ahuacatl “avocado” + molli “sauce”. There are many different ways to make guacamole, but mashed avocado mixed with chopped onion, tomatoes, chili peppers, and seasonings are the base ingredients. Here is a recipe for guacamole the way we make it at home. Feel free to vary it and experiment with it, until you arrive at your own definitive version.

Guacamole
Ingredients
2 Avocadoes
1 Onion, finely minced
2 Limes juiced
3 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste (about 1 tsp. to 1 tbsp.)

Method
Cut open the avocadoes, remove the seed, scoop out the flesh and crush them in a bowl in which you have squeezed the lime juice, mixing well all the while. Add the minced onion and the salt. Blend in the olive oil, a little at a time. Add more lime juice if you want to.
Serve with tortilla chips, salsa and bean dip (see below).

Salsa
Ingredients
1 Onion, diced
2 Tablespoons lime juice
3 Medium tomatoes, diced in small pieces
A bunch coriander leaves, chopped
Jalapeno peppers
Serano peppers
Salt to taste

Method
Chop and mix all ingredients. The chunkiness of the salsa depends on how big you chop the ingredients, so it is up to you to give it your individual preference. Jalapeno peppers are very hot and have irritant compounds in them (do not touch your eyes when you are chopping them up and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards!). Obviously the hotness/spiciness of the salsa will depend on the quantity of jalapenos used. Season to taste and let the salsa sit for 1 –2 hours before serving.

Bean Dip Ingredients
1 Small can of white beans
2 Heaped tablespoons sour cream
1 Tablespoon of powdered onion soup
Salt to taste
Olive oil

Method
Drain the beans well. Heat the oil in a pan and quickly fry the beans until they are well heated through. Add the onion soup powder and stir well, cooking until the beans are just beginning to turn golden brown. Remove from heat and add the sour cream, stirring well (you may add more cream depending on how creamy you want the dip). Season and let the dip to cool.

Bon Appétit!

THE PREGNANT "MAN"

“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.” - Oscar Wilde

Thomas Beatie, the “pregnant man” achieved notoriety last year when he gave birth to a daughter. “He” is now pregnant again.

We watched Thomas Beatie and his wife Nancy being interviewed on a Greek talk show program on satellite TV yesterday. They talked about his first pregnancy and his current one, about the couple’s relationship, their ideas about their family, and the way the pregnancies occurred. The discussion went on to explore gender, sex, traditional sex and family roles, and several guests including a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a gynaecologist, a paediatrician and a journalist also put their two bobs worth in.

We were left rather puzzled by this program. I would like to consider myself a tolerant and open-minded person who respects people’s freedom to live their life as they choose, provided they do not harm others when doing so. Science and medicine have advanced enough in order to help us understand homosexuality, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, hermaphroditism, etc, etc. In a civilised society we no longer burn these people at the stake, but rather try to understand them and help them live their life in a way that makes them feel part of the community and live in a way that they can contribute to society and have a fulfilling life.

I say all of this because the Thomas Beatie case created quite a great deal of confusion in my mind. Thomas Beatie maintains he is a man and the state of Oregon in the USA recognizes him legally as a man. However, Thomas Beatie has a uterus and ovaries (which he chose not to have removed when he started taking male hormones) and this to my mind makes “him” more of a biological woman than a man, no matter what the state of Oregon or he says he is. The case of “his” pregnancy –biologically is ludicrous. Biologically Thomas Beatie is female and “he” had a normal, uterine female pregnancy. “He” delivered “his” baby normally, through the birth canal.

A man does not have a uterus and the only way he could become pregnant would be to firstly be dosed up with female hormones, making his body receptive to the implantation of an embryo. The fertilised ovum (prepared easily via in-vitro methods – a donated ovum and the man’s own sperm if so desired) would then be surgically implanted into the peritoneal cavity. This results in what is called an ectopic pregnancy. It can also occur naturally in a woman if the fertilised ovum implants outside the uterine cavity. In this latter case, the pregnancy in the abdominal cavity has a viability rate of about 5%. Most ectopic pregnancies result in the death of the embryo and/or a massive, life-threatening haemorrhage for the mother. One would assume that the same complications (or even worse) would be seen in an ectopic pregnancy in a man. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that an ectopic pregnancy could be carried to term by a man.

I don’t think that a normal man would ever want to have such a pregnancy in his body, although there are several other biological men with gender dysphorias, or of different sexual orientation, or of specific circumstances who may be attracted to the idea. One is reminded of the urban myth several years back, that promised the first man to have a baby a gift of a million British pounds…

And this is where my unease with the Beaties began. They could have done whatever they wanted and kept it to themselves. A little discretion on their part and the confidentiality of medical records would have assured them of privacy and a more or less normal family once the pregnancy ended. Instead they chose to make of their circumstances a media circus. Why? I suspect that money lies at the bottom of this rather (as it has become) sordid story. For every interview, for every media appearance, for every photograph, the Beaties’ bank account gets a little fatter. The million British pounds story may in fact become reality!

We have become a society of virtual ghouls that like to feast on salacious gossip. Nothing is private any more, nothing is sacred, nothing is sacrosanct. We speak about everything publically and we do not think of the consequences. Did this couple think of the consequences their preset actions will have on their child as it grows up? Will the strange sex roles at home imprint on its young psyche in adverse ways?

Thomas Beatie came from a home environment that was disrupted. His mother committed suicide when he was young and he grew up in a house full of males. He describes how he always felt “male” and at the first opportunity (interestingly after he met Nancy, his current partner) he took male hormones. He had a breast reduction operation. However, he chose to retain the fundamental female biology – ovaries, uterus and birth canal. That to me denotes a “she” not a “he”, no matter how hairy the face is and how muscular the physique. I am a little concerned for the little girl growing up in this unusual family. If Thomas Beatie’s new baby is a male one, then that child may grow up even more confused. Growing up in a loving family, whatever that family comprises may be a good step in bringing up well-adjusted children, but fundamental biological, psychological, behavioural and deeply ingrained instinctive patterns not only determine who we are, but how we influence people’s behaviour around us.

As well as the family, we depend on society for our conditioning and our successful assumption of the roles that we traditionally associate with a normal family unit and which biologically and sociologically have worked for centuries. The publicity surrounding the Beatie children will generate much negativity while they grow up. Not everyone is as loving and as non-conditionally accepting as these children’s parents. Some people already see the Beaties as freaks and they will extend the same characterization to their children. Hence my question earlier. Why did they not keep their activities private? Surely, all the money in the world is not worth the possible hardship that their children will have to live through while growing up?
Aptly, my word for the day is “gender”:

gender |ˈjendər| noun
1 Grammar (in languages such as Latin, Greek, Russian, and German) each of the classes (typically masculine, feminine, common, neuter) of nouns and pronouns distinguished by the different inflections that they have and require in words syntactically associated with them. Grammatical gender is only very loosely associated with natural distinctions of sex.
• the property (in nouns and related words) of belonging to such a class: Adjectives usually agree with the noun in gender and number.
2 the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones): Traditional concepts of gender | [as adj. ] gender roles.
• the members of one or other sex: Differences between the genders are encouraged from an early age.

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French gendre (modern genre), based on Latin genus ‘birth, family, nation.’ The earliest meanings were [kind, sort, genus] and [type or class of noun, etc.] (which was also a sense of Latin genus).

USAGE The word gender has been used since the 14th century primarily as a grammatical term, referring to the classes of noun in Latin, Greek, German, and other languages designated as masculine, feminine, or neuter. It has also been used since the 14th century in the sense ‘the state of being male or female,’ but this did not become a common standard use until the mid 20th century. Although the words gender and sex both have the sense ‘the state of being male or female,’ they are typically used in slightly different ways: sex tends to refer to biological differences, while gender tends to refer to cultural or social ones.

DESTRUCTION vs SALVATION

“Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.” - Mark Twain

The more I listen to the news the more disheartened I become and the more convinced I am that we heading towards imminent disaster. The Fool of the tarot pack comes to mind, who recklessly walks right up to the precipice despite the best efforts of his little dog who tries to warn him and bring him back to safety. What is happening to us? Is the human race doomed to destroy itself? Have we become so corrupt, so degenerate, so arrogant, so selfish, so violent and so foolish that there is no other option open to us except self-destruction? The darkness that has taken hold of our collective souls seems hard to shake off. To hope for a dawn seems to be pointless.

However, as I think of it, there have surely been many other times in history when the world seemed close to destruction. How did the Romans feel when the Vandal hordes sacked their empire and brought Rome to its knees? How did the Byzantines cope with the fall of Constantinople when the Ottoman warriors painted the streets red with blood and burnt the civilisation of centuries to cinders? How did soldiers in WW I trenches feel as they saw the wasteland of the Western Front and they breathed in death in the form of poisonous clouds of phosgene?

To survive as a species is difficult in the best of times, even for a dominant one (ask the dinosaurs!). In difficult times would it be best to hope for intervention by an external agency – whatever that may be? I feel not. I think both our destruction and our salvation lies within ourselves. We have the capability of either destroying ourselves or saving ourselves. What it will be, will be determined by how soon we wake up to the immense magnitude of the threat that lies ahead us. It is time to take heed of the yapping little dog at our feet, as the precipice below us is deep, dark and promises us certain self-destruction.

Peripheral Vision

In darkness how blind the eyes,
When they look straight ahead:
Peripheral vision much more acute,
And strangely, more perceptive.

How cool logic is often dulled
In drear darknesses of the soul,
Emotion responds more sensitively,
Not surprisingly, more perceptive.

Our preconceptions, how they shade
The bright colours of our existence!
Innocence, if we let it, will allow
Our heart to be more perceptive.

The blindness of unquestioning dogma,
Of mindless religiosity,
How often has it cast us into darkness?
Tolerance lets us be, more perceptive.

Darkness and light can both blind us,
Excess of either cannot be distinguished.
A fine line divides sufficiency from surfeit,
Wise moderation is difficult,
Enlightenment so chimeric,
True perception almost unattainable…

EPIPHANY AND THEOPHANY

“Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.” - Rabindranath Tagore

January 6th is celebrated in the Western Church as Epiphany and in the Orthodox faith it is known as the Holy Theophany. The churches following the “old style” (Julian) calendar celebrate Theophany on January 19th. In Hispanic and Latin culture, as well as some places in Europe, it is known as Three Kings’ Day (Spanish: El Dia de los Tres Reyes, la Fiesta de los Reyes, or el Dia de los Reyes Magos; Dutch: Driekoningendag).

Epiphany is the climax of the Advent/Christmas Season and the Twelve Days of Christmas, which are usually counted from the evening of December 25th until the morning of January 6th, which is the Twelfth Day. In following this older custom of counting the days beginning at sundown, the evening of January 5th is the Twelfth Night. This is an occasion for feasting in some cultures, including the baking of a special Kings’ Cake as part of the festivities of Epiphany (a Kings’ Cake is part of the observance of Mardi Gras in French Catholic culture of the Southern USA). In some church traditions, only the full days are counted so that January 5th is the Eleventh Day of Christmas, January 6th is the Twelfth Day, and the evening of January 6th is counted as the Twelfth Night.

For many Protestant church traditions, the season of Epiphany extends from January 6th until Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent leading to Easter. Depending on the timing of Easter, this longer period of Epiphany includes from four to nine Sundays. Other traditions, especially the Roman Catholic tradition, observe Epiphany as a single day, with the Sundays following Epiphany counted as Ordinary Time. In some western traditions, the last Sunday of Epiphany is celebrated as Transfiguration Sunday.

The term epiphany means “to show” or “to make known”. In Western churches, it commemorates the visit of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing “reveal” Jesus to the world as Lord and King. In some Central and South American countries influenced by Catholic tradition, Three Kings’ Day, or the night before, is the time for opening Christmas presents. In most eastern churches, and especially so the Orthodox ones, Epiphany or the Theophany (meaning “manifestation of God”) commemorates Jesus’ baptism, the visit of the Magi in these churches linked to Christmas.

As with most aspects of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has theological significance as a teaching tool in the church. The Wise Men or Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as “King” and so were the first to “show” or “reveal” Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. The day is now observed as a time of focussing on the mission of the church in reaching others by “showing” Jesus as the Saviour. It is a time of focussing on Christian brotherhood and fellowship, especially in healing the divisions of prejudice and bigotry that we all too often create between God’s children.

In the Eastern churches, the holiday is associated with the manifestation of Christ as Son of God and is a feast day associated with brilliance and light, blessing of the waters and the celebration of the end of the Christmas Season.

Here is a traditional Greek carol sung on the day of the Theophany.

MOVIE MONDAY - WEDDING IN GALILEE

“Peace hath higher tests of manhood than battle ever knew.” - John Greenleaf Whittier

For Movie Monday today, a film we watched some months ago and which has stayed in my mind and is quite apt given the events in the Gaza Strip. It is the 1987 “Wedding in Galilee”, written and directed by Michel Khleifi. It is an Israeli/Palestinian/French/Belgian co-production and is a film that is complex and rich, even though quite episodic and of almost documentary, anthropological interest.

The film as the title suggests is about a wedding in Galilee (which immediately brings to mind the biblical wedding at Cana). A Palestinian asks the Israeli administration permission so as to have the curfew waived such that he is able to give his son a fine wedding. The military governor agrees, on the condition that he and his officers attend the wedding. The father of the groom accepts, but the groom berates his father for agreeing to this condition.

Much of the film is taken up with the traditions surrounding a Palestinian wedding with the women ritually preparing the bride; men preparing the groom. The guests begin to arrive and to gather, giving opportunity to Palestinian youths to plot violence against the Israelis. A female Israeli officer swoons in the heat and the Palestinian women take her into the cool house to recover. A valuable horse gets loose and runs into a minefield. Israeli soldiers and Palestinians must cooperate if they are to rescue it. Darkness falls and tensions between the army and the villagers become more acute. The film is hampered in this part by the very dark exposure and bewildering action that confuses and befuddles the viewer. Although this may be symbolic, there is no question about he symbolism of the groom’s wedding-night anger and impotence, which threaten family dignity and honour. Will the situation implode in on itself with massively destructive results or will the two conflicting sides reach some sort of amicable understanding?

As I mentioned before this is an interesting film, examining traditional village customs and a study of the tensions inherent in the Israeli/Palestinian coexistence in a land they both claim as their own through centuries of occupation. The exploration of ethnic, generational, political and gender divides was patchy, but an astute viewer will read between the lines and perhaps this is what the director is aiming at. The portrayal of Palestinian men as proud but powerless, ashamed and angry epitomizes the situation we see even today in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian father is powerless to keep the Israelis away from his son’s wedding, but once they are his guests, relieved that there is incompetency in planning and carrying out an attack against them. The code of hospitality and the code of honour clash but the highly symbolic horse episode brings to the fore the need for cooperation in order to achieve a commonly acceptable and beneficial goal.

Palestinian women are portrayed as more sensitive, sensual, peaceful and more willing to work together with the “enemy”. There was a none too subtle eroticism portrayed in the interactions between the women, but this may be my very simplistic reading of it. One could argue that these erotic overtones simply demonstrated the regard the women have for one another and the sisterly love that they feel for one another.

This was not a great movie by any means – it had too many “cinematic double faults” in it - however, it was a movie that was fascinating to watch and extremely thought-provoking. It tackled some core issues of the Middle East and showed that reconciliation is the only way that survival of all can be assured.

ART SUNDAY - PALESTINE

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” - Mahatma Gandhi

The horror of the pictures from the conflict in the Gaza Strip continues to assault our senses in all of the news bulletins here and it is hard to ignore this new escalation of the violence in the region. Is peace possible in this troubled land or is Nostradamus right – this is where World War III will start? Is this the Holy Land, where unholy warfare is being carried out and Jews, Moslems and Christians try to outdo one another in the depths of their atrocities?

For Art Sunday today, art and a poem from Palestinians:

Wall Against Our Breath

We witness October in flames,
and every other month following,
is the same, the streets

we walk through a reminder

of who we are and what they will

never make of us…

human portraits in corners
we forget to look at or forget to reach…

pictures stuck on walls as if
they belong nowhere

a groom and bride forced to wed
anywhere but where they should,

and yet, we keep asking:

what victory blows candles out

what sea speaks of another sea
Nathalie Handal

The artist is Faten Tobasi and the title of the work is “View from Akka”

BUILDING BRIDGES

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The events in the Middle East have once again filled me with dismay. Yet again, Israelis and Palestinians have engaged in hostilities and as each bomb explodes, as each shell reaches its target, as each suicide bomber detonates his fatal load, more death and destruction, more innocent lives pay the price of a war that is being fought without honour on both sides.

I pity the children who have to grow up in such an environment. The children whose lives are at risk each and every minute of every day. Children whose backyards are demolished buildings, whose playgrounds are cemeteries, whose playthings are guns and bombs.

The song this Saturday is by Ofra Haza (1957-2000), a Yemenite-Jewish singer who grew up in a poor neighbourhood of Tel Aviv. Inspired by a love of her Yemenite-Jewish culture, the appeal of her musical art quickly spread to a wider Middle Eastern audience, somehow bridging the divide between Israel and the Arab countries. As her career progressed, the multi-lingual Haza was able to switch between traditional and more commercial singing styles without jeopardising her credibility. The music, too, fused elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat. Success was to follow in Europe and the US; during her singing career, she earned many platinum and gold albums.

This song is about building bridges. Bridges across cultures, across races, across enemy sides.

ST MACARIUS & PANFORTE

“I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert.” - Jason Love

Today is the feast day of St Macarius, who is the patron saint of confectioners. The reason St Macarius is the patron saint of cooks, confectioners and pastry chefs is because he was a successful merchant in fruits, candies and pastries in Alexandria, Egypt. He was born in the 4th century in Alexandria and died about 401 BC. When he converted to Christianity he gave up his business to be a monk and lived as a hermit. After several years, he was ordained among other monks practicing severe austerities. Sugarplums during the time of Saint Macarius were various candied fruits. In Portugal, green plums are cooked in sugar syrup to celebrate his feast day.

Here is a recipe for a delightful Italian sweetmeat. Make it and eat it while remembering St Macarius!

PANFORTE DI SIENA

Ingredients
3/4 cupful hazelnuts (toasted, skinned and chopped)
1 cupful almonds (blanched, toasted and chopped)
1 cupful finely chopped, candied peel
1/2 cupful plain flour
1/4 cupful cocoa
3 teaspoonfuls ground cinnamon
1/3 cupful honey
1/2 cupful white sugar
rice paper
icing sugar

Method
Combine the nuts, peel, flour, cocoa and cinnamon, mixing thoroughly. Put the honey and sugar together in a saucepan, bring to the boil and then pour over the fruit and nuts, stirring well the sticky mixture. Line a greased 20 cm flan tin with rice paper and pour the panforte mixture in, pressing down firmly. Bake in a cool oven (150˚C) for 30 to 35 minutes. Allow to cool, turn out and sprinkle the top with icing sugar. Cut into wedges and wrap in cellophane.