North Wind and the Sun

[[North Wind and the Sun]] 

In Waldorf/Steiner schools, the story telling (fairy tales /. fables) is very important. Many of the teachers would even write their own.

Today, I would like to share one of my favorite stories with you with my addition at the end (in attempt to bring some sort of the resolution/redemption).
It is to do with the story of the North Wind and the Sun...and this is the way I remember the way my mother had told me (...and added some variation to it...). In other words, this may not be the version you know of...

Once upon a time, there were a North Wind and the Sun , and as energetic and proud as he was, the North Wind decided to challenge the Sun. "You are always smiling and content, so I want to challenge you."  The Sun kept smiling back. "You see over there...?" ..the North Wind pointed towards a man who was walking in the field , wearing a dark, long coat. "I want to challenge you that whom-ever can make him take off his coat shall be declared a winner!....so what say you?"  The Sun kept smiling...which upset the North Wind even more, so he swiftly went to work.... He blew and blew the most awesome, cold wind at this man hoping to blow his coat away from him. But the more the North Wind blew, the tighter he grasped the coat to the point that this man became like a frozen rock...one with the coat! Eventually, the North Wind stopped from exhaustion...."I give up!" said the North Wind exasperatedly.... Meanwhile, the Sun is still smiling....which irritated the North Wind even more and told the Sun...'"Let's see how you do it...that is if you can...????"
So, it came to be the Sun's turn. He just smiled and began to send out to this poor freezing man the most gentle warm ray filled with light. It not only warmed this man but gave birth to the flowers around him and the birds began to sing. Soon or later, this man was surrounded with the beauty and warmth.  Eventually,  it became too warm ...too hot to keep wearing the coat...so he gladly took off the coat with the smile in his face.
The Sun then turned to the North Wind....and he just smiled....
The North Wind was devastated..not just because he did lose...(he didn't care too much for that by then)...he was devastated of witnessing the true power of the Sun...its gentle, effortless quality that could disarm a man....the North Wind realized the Sun's supreme power....and felt that he was no match to the ability of the Sun.

(my addition)

He told the Sun...."I have lost, and I am lost. What's the use? I do not belong here...there is no place for me....everyone respects me but hates me!"
He was sad...for his best effort and his ability did not come to fruition.....and not appreciated.
The Sun kept smiling, and spoke to him gently..."Dear friend, lift your eyes and see. I cannot take the credit for giving warm, gentle rays, for had it been only me and my power, I would have burned this man's coat through and his surroundings. 
"It was she." ...pointing to the beautiful lady, Mother(Earth)... "It was her veil that embraced this man and his surrounding and  protected them from my rays. It was she who took her own veil off to shield off my rays partially so that my rays will not touch this man harshly...."  
The North Wind was touched. He was touched for her kindness, but also for the Sun's integrity and honesty....but inside of him was still sad....for he still did not feel that he belong to this environment. 
Then the gentle Sun added, "Dear friend, she need you now."
The North Wind looked up in wonder, for he could not understand what the sun was saying.

"She need you now because look at her shoulder..." as the Sun pointing to her red shoulder and continued, "Because she took off her veil to protect this man, she did receive my scorching ray fully and suffering from the burn. If you gently breathe out upon her, it will sooth her burn.. You see my friend, we all are necessary....we all have our places."

The North Wind smiled. :D

Exercises for cultivating the Imagination

[Exercises for cultivating the Imagination]

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

What is imagination?

When you open up Wiki, it states that imagination "is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses. Imagination is the work of the mind that helps create fantasy. Imagination helps provide meaning to experience and understanding  to knowledge; it is a fundamental facility through which people make sense of the world,  and it also plays a key role in the learning  process." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination)

One needs not to be an artist to use imagination. As a matter of fact, we all have the faculty to imagine. When we daydream, we use imagination. The parents can imagine the smile of their children while they are shopping for the birthday gifts. The children are wonderful at imagining the special friends, places, heroes and heroins...
When we read books, especially the theatrical works and dramas, we hear the character "speaking" within our mind. Hamlet may have a certain voice. A little prince may have completely different one from Alice.

In the world of art, during the 20th century, we have encountered many artworks with rich in imagination. Franz Marc had painted the animals with the colors not usually seen in the natural world. Cubists tried to paint the pictures having multiple view points at once. ...so on and so forth.

One of the exercises I have introduced to my students at the Waldorf/Steiner high schools was derived from the special exercises used especially in the lower-middle school level called, the Form Drawing/Formenzeichnen.
One of the basic exercises of the form drawing is to do with the mirror image. One would draw a certain curved "line" on one side of the paper and try to draw the mirror imaged shape of the same "line" on the other side. The form drawing can become very complex, certainly cultivates the imagination of the children.

Nowadays, we can download a image converter software and, with a click, one can flip the image either vertically or horizontally. The exercises I have developed would let our mind use our imagination instead of the software to do the same (eventually).

One can expand this visual imagination exercise to the even more complex one... to imagine what others may be feeling and thinking "without projecting ourselves onto the others". In other words, we have the faculty to objectively observe the reality and also to be in someone's shoe, so to speak. We can shift our view points and see the world with the different eyes and from the different view points.

We know of the great mural of "The Last Supper" of Leonardo da Vinci. One thing is to ponder about the identities and the gender of the disciples, but to me, we would be doing much more service to the humanity when and if we can use our imaginative faculty to imagine what each disciple is seeing in such traumatic environment. What is James' visual field? What is he seeing? What is Judas seeing? ...etc...

What are human beings seeing every moment?
How are the others seeing us?

...something to ponder about...