Stirb und werde! (Die and to Become!)

As I was reflecting upon the themes introduced and dealt in the film, 'The Fountain', I was brought back to the common theme I did reflect some years back among the disappearing of the bees, the discovery of the hexagonal shape of the planet Saturn, and the Mayan Civilization and of 2012....etc...


In the film, there was a mention of the Mayan civilization....a dying culture honoring the dying stars - a galaxy within the Orion constellation. While 3 individuals Hugh Jackman had portrayed were trying to overcome and / or to defy Death (as a form of disease), the message of the Mayans were the acceptance of it....as Death(dissolution - letting go - sacrifice) led to the new Creation.


Many of us have heard about the end of the Mayan Calender and possible catastrophic events relating to it. While I do feel the possibility of Solar Wind affecting the global communication, etc., I do not feel the disaster to be equal to the ending of human civilization. ...even to take the recent natural disaster in Northern Japan into consideration.


With each ending, there is, and has been a new beginning. 
Even if our solar system is now traveling beneath the Galactic Equator, it is not the same as Andromeda galaxy colliding with our Milky Way...which may / most likely to happen 3 billion years from now.


It is interesting to note that it was about 4 years ago that the phenomenon of the disappearing of the bees and the discovery of the hexagonal image on the planet Saturn were reported....along with the premiere of the film 'The Fountain.' 
If my memory is correct, the disappearing of bees did happen about 50 years ago as well...along with the event of the high solar wind. 


The planet Saturn has been feared by many, bearing the 'bad' name, although, I feel the opposite about it, for Saturn is the just vice...a huge mirror which shows our unfinished Karma. It is not the Saturn that brings misery, but we do....karma is our own doing or un-doing...until we realize from our karma and learn from it, we are reminded of it. So, cosmically, Saturn may be reminding us of our collective karma.
While bees had left its colonies / hives, the hives were not destroyed....the building (hives) remained intact. This reminded me of how Mayans disappeared into the wilderness, leaving the buildings that represented the civilization. Perhaps they realized that no-thing is eternal...in fact, all the great civilizations of the past had not continued keeping and remaining the same (old) way...transformation is the part of the natural law. 


It is interesting that Aztecs could not accept the death of civilization from greed, fear, and attachment, and they became obsessed with the longevity, sacrificing the fellow humans by hundreds each day to pray to the Sun to give them life force to continue....and they were, in the end, destroyed....forced to accept its death.


In Vedic astrology / Jyotish, Kurma (कुर्म ), a divine turtle, an avatar of Lord Vishnu is associated with Saturn (Shani/Sani). It was through the churning of the divine ocean on the back of this Kurma turtle that the extraction of the divine nectar (Amrita) was done....and the central section of the back of the turtles is in the shape of the hexagon. 
Then, this shape appearing on (or avail itself to be viewed by humans) Saturn... and the shape of the individual cell of the bee hive is hexagon....both the Hebraic Holy Seal and the ancient Japanese Kagome / 籠目（かごめ） shape (...and also in the I Ching) are intertwining 2 large equilateral triangles forming the hexagram and creating the 6 smaller equilateral triangles with hexagon at the center...and many more...
The water crystal is built on the hexagram(with the hexagon in the middle). 


Death symbolize not only the 'end' but the separation.
..but the separation is the illusion...we are one....not just among the humans but with the entire universe...
'As above, so below'


Perhaps these phenomenons remind us that the old way is coming to an end...perhaps very soon...only to have the new sprout out with its vitality.


"Stirb und werde! (Die and to Become!)" - Goethe 


Let us ponder about these reminders...and appreciate the gifts we are given.


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-20070327.html

Mother Earth and our mission

I feel compelled to share a few observation I have made in regards to the element Earth. As we know, the humans have tried to understand and harness the forces of Earth and her cohabitants. What has been happening is that some humans have tried to rule the earth by force and tried to not only subjugate her but to even violate her (to the point of reaching very close to the point of no return...meaning that it is taking the toll on the ability of our Mother Earth to purify/regenerate herself 'in time'...)

This tendency to treat the Earth without high respect may have come from the misunderstanding of the first two chapters of Genesis. In Chapter 1:28, humans (plural -meaning both male and female) were told to 'subdue' Earth. The word for 'to subdue' in original Hebrew is 'Kabash/כבש', and it does have the meanings: to force, to subdue, to keep under, violate, dominate...etc. ...while the word used for the Earth is ('Ha)Erets/ ארץ'.

The many have used this verse as the backup to try to control the nature and the ecosystem and violated the Mother Earth for countless decades.

Yet, no one seem to realize that this commandment was given to "divine/un-fallen" Adam (humans) before the "FALL!" 

After the fall of humans, they/we have lost the divine connection to the divine Mother Earth. We also have lost the way to rule her properly and divinely. She has become an object of human greed, and the humans are no longer able to perceive her as divine gift from above - Elohim. Consequently, we no longer posses the right nor authority to rule the Mother Earth.

Now, when we read the Chapter 2:5, it is different. This section is usually translated as that "there is not a human to 'till' the 'ground'." When we research the word used as 'to till', it is 'abad / עבד' in Hebrew, and it has various meanings other than 'to till'. It means: to work, to till, to cultivate....and TO SERVE! [...and the word used for the ground is not 'Erets' but '(Ha)Adamah / אדמה'.]

On top of that, the word 'kabash' is not a popular word. It only appears once in the entire Torah section (the First 5 Books of Moses) of Tanakh (Old Testament)...and that one time appearance is in Gen. 1:28. Even to include all the different meanings in that word, this word appears only about 15 times in the entire OT.

On the other hand, the word, 'abad, is popular enough that it appears more than 300 times in the entire OT. ...of which only about 10 times is this word used as 'to till'. Amazingly, as the meaning 'to serve', this word appears over 160 times, and if I were to include the past tense of 'served' and the meaning, 'service' etc., it appears more than 230 times!

When I consider the above fact, I tend to want to understand the 'assignment' given to the humans in regards to the Earth is TO SERVE the Mother Earth and not to violate her. ... and we humans must shift our consciousness from this subconscious level (of wanting to subdue earth) and understand the true meaning of the commandment.

I was once told by an eminent Vedic Astrologer Guru of Gurus that one of my missions during this life is TO SERVE the "old" mothers of the world. I understood to include the legendary/mythical mothers...and of course, the ancient Mother Earth herself. This is my first step...to attempt to 'clear her name', and 'to give her back as much glory as possible'...

Blessings to all of you.

(LOHAS is possible!)

Inherent Goodness in Nature? - Lesson from the radioactivity

{Inherent Goodness in Nature? - Lesson from the radioactivity}



Today, on this Vernal Equinox Day, I am going to write about something that can be considered controversial. I hope you can read the entire article before you make the final decision. I thank you in advance for your patience.


We all know that the radioactive rays (via radiation) can be both beneficial or harmful to our health. Some of us may not realise how much radiation we are receiving naturally.
There are so many different rays and waves whether radioactive or not. The different waves with the unique frequency emitted via the radio stations, cell phones, Internet and much more are constantly bombarding and penetrating our bodies. We just don't realise that since we cannot "see" nor experience them. I remember watching one of Akira Kurosawa's movies called, the "Dream". It is based on the compilations of different dreams dreamt by Kurosawa himself , and each segment begins with the statement, "(I have) dreamt this sort of a dream..."
Well, one of them had to do with the nuclear holocaust/accident where people were trying to escape the horror of dying the horrible, painful death by committing a mass suicide (jumping off the cliff). In it there was a man in charge of the nuclear power plant explaining the differently colored gas-like radiations. Yes, each radioactive "rays" and particles had been tinted, so that one can identify them easily. 
We are in so called, "shiranu ga hotoke", condition, roughly meaning that we are "(pretending to) be happy go lucky because of lack of knowing what's really going on" ... in a way.

Perhaps it maybe is a good thing that we cannot know otherwise some people may start to panic. In the movies, "Nihon Chinbotsu (Japan Sinking)", and "2012", the people in the government had to make the difficult decisions whether to inform the people of eminent disaster or not.
It is always an issue for the government to whether to tell the truth and risk the mass hysteria and "destroy the country", or to not inform them until the very end and make it the mass hysteria proof for as long as possible. When we look back on "some" of the historic events, we can understand that the mass hysteria can be devastating as a natural disaster. ...think about "looting" and arson... so, in a way, I don't blame the officials not being able to trust the reaction of some of the people. It is a difficult task to achieve harmony in any situation. It is much easier to talk only of idealism. Of course, the reality in the stoic reactions of people in Japan are some of the exceptions, and it also needs to be considered. The reality is quite complex.


What is more complex is to know the possibly harmful byproduct coming out of trying to achieve the stability and balance... sort of a necessary evil.  The world/universe is not an "either or"/ "black and white" place.


The good example is the radioactivity.


"Atoms found in nature are either stable or unstable. An atom is stable if the forces among the particles that make up the nucleus are balanced. An atom is unstable (radioactive) if these forces are unbalanced--if the nucleus has an excess of internal energy. Unstable atoms are called radionuclides. The instability of a radionuclide's nucleus may result from an excess of either neutrons or protons. An unstable nucleus will continually vibrate and contort and, sooner or later, attempt to reach stability by some combination of means:


- ejecting neutrons, and protons
- converting one to the other with the ejection of a beta particle or positron
- the release of additional energy by photon (i.e., gamma ray) emission."


(citation: http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/understand/radiation.html#why_rad)


It is interesting to note in the statement above that "an unstable nucleus will ... attempt to reach stability..."  Emission of radiation is a byproduct of radioactive decay where nucleus is trying to achieve stability and balance, sort of.


There is an inherent condition or nature in this tiny universe called the atoms to seek stability whether the movement of each atom is predictable or not. If we are to equate the word, "stability", with the word, "goodness", can't we state that it is the inherent condition of nature/universe to be and to become "GOOD"?

Emperor Akihito's video message! (in English)

[Emperor Akihito's speech - video message]


Yesterday, Emperor Akihito of Japan had given a video message to the people of Japan. The intention of the Emperor was to enable the emergency news to override the speech. It is extremely rare for the Emperor to appear in the news to give the official public speech. Yet, as an honorable human being, he was putting the emergency broadcast as the highest priority, In the event of emergency (catastrophic event), he was allowing the news media to cut him off...


Following are the very rough translation of mine. I was compelled to do so as my contribution to the victims and the rescue workers in Japan and, of course, to the Emperor Akihito. Although I have translated it to the best of my knowledge and ability, some areas may need to be corrected. You are free to re post this, and share this with anyone. If possible, give me the credit for the translation.


If you would like to read the Japanese original version, please go to:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/jnn?a=20110316-00000068-jnn-soci


You can view and listen to the message via youtube below.

...and here is the English translation.



"At this time, Tohoku earthquake was unprecedentedly large earthquake with 9.0 magnitude, and my heart is aching towards the devastating/tragic status quo of the disaster areas.


The death toll, due to the earthquake and tsunami, are rising/increasing daily, also the (total sum of) number of victims are unknown. I am hoping that the safety of as many people would be confirmed.


Furthermore, I am currently deeply concerned about the unpredictable situation at the Nuclear Power Plant, and I sincerely hope that with the endeavor of the persons concerned/involved, much worse situation will be averted. 


Currently, the whole nation is going into the rescue operation, in the middle of the severely cold weather, many people are taking refuge at the shelter in the dire condition, due to lack of food, drinking water, and the fuels, owing to circumstances beyond their control.


I do hope from the deepest of my heart for the swift rescue of the people by putting all of the might towards it, and for the improvement of victims' condition, and to be lead to the hope for the rebuilding/recovery/revival of the people.  


More importantly, I am deeply touched by the courage of these people who have lived through the disaster, and while encouraging oneself despite being a victim, planning to live for their future.


I am grateful for the effort and would like to show the deep appreciation for the works/troubles of the people, who are continuing to be involved in the rescue missions day and night through the National gov. and the local self-governing body starting with the Self-Defence forces, the Police department, the Fire department, the Coast Guards, and the people who had arrived in Japan from various countries for the rescue missions, and the people who belong to the various rescue operations within this country, while being in the dangerous situation involving the after shocks of earthquake.


At this time, various condolences from the world leaders/heads of the countries were delivered, and the many of those were carrying the messages that the hearts of the people from various countries are with the disaster victims. I shall report these messages to the people at the disaster areas.


I have heard that there were many comments touching upon the subject of Japanese people showing the orderly correspondence and calmly helping each other, despite being in deep sadness.
I am hoping from the bottom of my heart that everyone would continue to join and have sympathy for each other and overcome these unfortunate time. 


I feel that it is very important for all of us to share as much of the load (and the painful days) through various forms with the disaster victims. I am wishing from my heart for the victims to never to lose hopes and live through the days from tomorrow (afterwards) while caring for their bodies(health), and for each person (citizen) of this nation would continue to draw the hearts closer for a long time, and to continuously watch over the path of recovery of each (affected) area with the disaster victims."

Aoki Gallery hosts "Oblique"Exhibition by IFAA

｛Aoki Gallery hosts "Oblique"Exhibition by IFAA｝


I am very excited to announce that I am involved in the exhibition organized by IFAA (International Fantastic Art Association)!


IFAA, an art association predominantly consisting of Japanese artists, is committed to explore the fantastic and the imaginative. These are very dedicated, talented artists offering their exquisite creations. 


Aoki Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo, has been hosting and supporting the artists with the fantastic, the surreal, and the imaginative expression for quite some time. The Gallery has hosted the Solo exhibition of Dr. Ernst Fuchs, a proponent of Viennese Fantastic Realism, back in 1965.


(Since there are a lot of members in IFAA with the limited space at the gallery, the exhibition is divided in half. The first period is from Jan. 17th through the 22nd, and the second period is from the 24th through the 30th.)




Here are the information:




The New Year Exhibition IFAA "OBLIQUE" 


@ Aoki Gallery - Luft ( http://www.aokigallery.jp/)
Shima Building 3rd Floor
3-5-16 Ginza,
Chuuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
Japan
TEL. 03-3535-6858


from: Jan. 17th to Jan. 30th, 2011
Open：11:00～19:00
Ｃｌｏｓｅｄ：　Ｊａｎ．　２３ｒｄ


=================
IFAAの皆様、オメデトウございます。
展覧会にみなさんと御一緒出来て光栄です！　素晴らしい展覧会になることをここボールダーから祈らせていただきます。




IFAA/OBLIQUE展


前期：2011年1月17日～1月22日（※22日は17:00迄）
後期：2011年1月24日～1月30日（※24日は13:00開場、30日は12:00～17:00迄）


Open：11:00～19:00 ※1月23日定休日


青木画廊LUFT
〒104-0061 東京都 中央区 銀座3-5-16島田ビル3階 
TEL. 03-3535-6858. FAX, 03-3567-3944


－－－－－－－－－－－－


Ｅｘｈｉｂｉｔｏｒｓ　（出品者）


Ｔｈｅ　Ｆｉｒｓｔ　Ｐｅｒｉｏｄ　【前期】
稲垣恭子/Kyoko Inagaki 
井関 周/Shu Iseki 
大竹茂夫/Shigeo Otake 
大手京子/Kyoko Ote 
加藤大介/Daisuke Kato 
木村紗由香/Sayuka Kimura 
桑原聖美/Satomi Kuwahara 
近藤宗臣/Sawsin Kondo 
坂上アキ子/Akiko Sakagami 
佐々木六介/Roku Sasaki 
セガワ智コ/Tomoko Segawa 
たつき川樹/Itsuki Tatsukikawa 
高松ヨク/Yoku Takamatsu 
田中照三/Teruzo Tanaka 
中川知洋/Tomohiro Nakagawa 
萩原ヤスオ/Yasuo Hagiwara 
馬場京子/Kyoko Baba 
前澤ヨシコ/Yoshiko Maezawa 
三柳智子/Tomoko Miyanagi 
渕岡康子/Yasuko Fuchioka 
レオ澤鬼/Leo Sawaki 
森 妙子/Taeko Mori 
桃田有加里/Yukari Momota 
安本亜佐美/Asami Yasumoto 
山地博子/Hiroko Yamaji 
若林さやか/Sayaka Wakabayashi 


Ｔｈｅ　Ｓｅｃｏｎｄ　Ｐｅｒｉｏｄ　【後期】
相原みゆき/Miyuki Aihara 
浅野勝美/Katsumi Asano 
浅野信二/Shinji Asano 
伊豫田晃一/Koichi Iyoda 
江崎五恵/Itsue Ezaki 
及川晶子/Akiko Oikawa 
大森伸樹/Nobuki Omori 
佳嶋/KaShiMa 
北 和晃/Kazuaki Kita 
木村友美/Tomomi Kimura 
呉宜純/Izu Cre 
古賀 郁/Kaoru Koga 
佐藤恭子/Kyoko Sato 
アンドリュー・ジョーンズ/Andrew Jones 
平 千賀子/Chikako Taira 
高田美苗/Minae Takada 
田中章滋/Shoji Tanaka 
中嶋清八/Seihachi Nakashima 
長島 充/Mitsuru Nagashima 
Toru Nogawa 
白翠皇夜/Kouya Hakusui 
林 千絵/Chie Hayashi 
宮川 光/Hikaru Miyakawa 
百瀬靖子/Yasuko Momose
山村まゆ子/Mayuko Yamamura

Pandora's paradox

>>>>>

You might have heard about the story of Pandora and/or the Pandora's box.

To sum up the story, Pandora, a beautiful woman bestowed with the multi-gifts (Pandora means "all the gifts" ) from the gods, was created by the Greek god, Hephaestus, through order made by Zeus. Pandora was given the box/jar containing difficult toil, pain, and sickness, etc., and she was to give these "gifts" to mankind.
It was due to Zeus's anger against Prometheus, who had stolen the fire from heaven and gave it to the humans.
Although Prometheus warned his brother, Epimetheus, not to accept any gifts from Zeus, Epimetheus received Pandora, and she opened this jar/box, and we the humans has been infested with the toil, pain, and disease.
Somehow within this jar/box was "hope'', and Pandora closed the lid just in time to keep the hope from escaping.

Now comes the problem...

This story is usually understood that since Pandora closed the lid, we have "hope" and not just the pain and sickness in the world, but...

If opening of the jar/box let the sickness, etc. out in the world but kept the hope within the jar/box, what is that mean? It can mean that hope is not released into the world... meaning, we have no hope!?!

If you are interested, please go to:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora
... and scroll down to the section, "Difficulties of interpretation."

What would you make of this story???????

The Fruits of Labor- The story of Adam and Eve

I hope you are enjoying this Labor Day.

I have been writing a book (in conjunction to my research on Leonardo da Vinci / the Holy Grail, etc) which requires me to research the Holy Scriptures (of Judeo-Christian Bible) in Hebrew, Aramaic, ancient Greek, Latin, etc. I am doing this as an artist-creator rather than a academic scholar, linguist (textual critic), sociologist... etc. I hope to complete this soon. Today, I would like to share with you my reflection of creation-labor via the story in Genesis.

First, I would like to ask you a question. What would you do and/or feel had one of your master pieces... be it a book, a painting, a CD (of your musical activity), a movie...etc took on the human personality and decided to "Hide" from you and from the entire universe because it is ashamed of its presence and ashamed of been seen and acknowledged by the universe? What if it feels that you've done a horrible job!?

Wouldn't you be sad or even be angry about such action/reaction on the part of your creation?

You see, to me, the theme of "Fall of Adam/Eve" is not about the "Original Sin" per se, but it has everything to do with the creation....ART!
Also, this theme of creation and the origin and the Originator of the Creation is the most important message in the Tanakh (Old Testament).

The beauty of the creation was "seen ( וירא )" and was acknowledged by its Creator as "Good ( טוב )."

Eve(Chavah-חוה)also "saw( ותרא )" the beauty in everything ...even in the fruits which may teach her what is unpleasant/not good. It is not the fair thing to accuse Eve of corrupting the universe, for she saw the goodness, pleasantness, and the beauty in Creation which was reflected by its Creator as Good...(...and NOT partially good nor consisting some good and some evil).
Besides, awakening to the awareness of: not good/ evil/ unpleasant feeling/ DEATH ...was only occurred after her eyes were opened due to eating/tasting of the fruit. She may have been innocent but not evil.
Also, Eve gave the fruit to Adam out of her love and kindness...and before her eyes were opened! She simply wanted to share the fruit with its beautiful appearance. That's all!
The Creation was good and the created saw it and "trusted" the goodness of his/her own within. Such "Visual" appreciation of creation sadly over-ruled/over-ridden the "Audio/auditory" command of the Creator.

Have you ever wondered: "Well, where were the angels and the beings that later interceded on behalf of humans back then? Why didn't they protect Adam and Eve... or warn specifically about the "cunning" aspect of the serpent before hand? Why didn't they ward off the serpent? 
Adam and Eve weren't sophisticated enough at this point. They may not have had the awareness of associating the idea of "not obeying the commandment" with the 'sin'.

My friends, it may have been due to the Great Plan of Creator. Adam and Eve had to go through the experience no other divine beings could imagine nor withstand at the time...namely, to experience the "separation" from its Creator, to have the individuality-Ego and to risk the direct connection, and to experience "death".

What were some of their assignments (other than the experience mentioned above)? ... To learn to create. To "taste" the hardship and joy of Labor.
...to Adam, it was the outer Labor and to Eve, it was the inner Labor.
In other words, Adam had to learn how to create via "touching" the objects (i.e., soil/water/tools)with his hands just as Elohim the Creator did when Adam was created.
Eve, on the other hand, had to learn how to create via "not touching with her hand", through pregnancy. Why inner creation from Eve? One of the reasons could be that she was not created out of the combination of dust/soil and the moisture as Adam was but born out of Adam. In other words, Eve was born from within. Perhaps it was also due to her superb ability to "feel" the words of Creator and answered the serpent that Creator warned them not only not to eat the fruits from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil but not even to "touch ( תגעו )" When Elohim commanded about the fruits and the trees, Eve was within Adam. She was not created yet per se.

This was one of the reasons why Yeshwa (Jesus) later tells Mary Magdalene not to "touch(approach)- ܬܬܩܪܒܝܢ " him. It had nothing to do with Mary being less than Jesus but to remind her of the "Original" event where Eve had to go through... to remind Mary of the words of Eve!

(I am not trying to be sexist here. The lessons of inner and outer creation could have been reversed/exchanged between Eve and Adam.)

At any rate, most of the creation/creative activities fall into the two I have mentioned above: inner and outer

Their(our)lessons were (are) to understand and to experience what it means to create... to complete, manifest, and to see the fruits of labor... and to appreciate the beauty of creation as the creators!