Passionate About – Living

1match_stick_vase.jpg
Matchstick vase

Quite an eye opener to see what can be achieved with matchsticks and glue + dollops of patience and perseverance. This vase is one of a pair which is part of a mini altar set up. One can’t help but bow to the skill and stick-with-it drive that has people building these most amazing models. And make Buddha heads too! Amazing!

We applaud people with stick ability. The Olympic athletes, men with matchsticks (women too no doubt). This level of passion and drive is something else isn’t it. For example how about the chap in Southampton who spent 15 years making a replica of the Brent Bravo oil rig, attempting to get into the record books for the number of matches he had used. Unbelievable!

Nagging in the background though is the question – WHY? I ask this question mostly because I don’t seem to be made of the stuff of stick ability to something. Not in the way of devoting time and energy to a project sustained over time like these matchstick models. Building those huge and complex models out of matches takes commitment.

In this post on Field of Merit I pondered this whole matter of making manifest ones visions. The question of commitment, to stick with it after the initial enthusiasm and drive has faded, is interesting. As with sports training or model making so too with the day-in-day-out perseverance needed to manifest ones vision – there has to be something deeply satisfying in just the doing of it.

A round of applause for human endeavours. A pause to reflect on Precepts.

Cry Me A River

We have seen public tears aplenty recently. Mostly in the sphere of sport. There was Wimbledon and now the Olympics. Tears happen to the best of us, happen to me. Happened to me today. Now many hours later I struggle to remember what it was about. They didn’t last long. How quickly tears come and how quickly they go, given half a chance. But what’s this? Crying clubs?

In Japan, however, crying is all the rage. The Japanese call it the “crying boom” – everyone wants a bit of sadness in their lives. Instead of going to a karaoke bar after work to wind down, businesspeople watch weepy films (called “tear films”) at these crying clubs. There is also a huge demand for sad TV dramas and books, each graded by its ability to induce tears.
Join the blub: The benefits of crying – The Independent.

I’m going to have to think about this….

Alive And Well – Photographs As Evidence

Yes, there are modern day hermits. Here are photographs to prove it. The photographer apparently spent time with each hermit along the way, sampling the life. All not for me though.

And here is the interesting thing about the photographs themselves that emerged after the article was published. The New York Times editor was not amused:

Updated Aug. 1, 7:57 p.m. | Editors’ Note: After this post was published, the editors learned that at least two of the images, Slides 3 and 10, were composites and had been digitally altered by the photographer to include elements from other photographs taken that same day. Additionally, elements were altered in Slides 6 and 17.

If the editors had known how those images were produced, they would not have been published.

It would seem that public sentiment around photographs as evidence are alive and well.

The Tyranny Of Numbers – Counting Sheep!

Tyranny is a strong word to use here. However it speaks of the strength and pull that numbers can have in our minds, towards the positive or towards the negative. Numbers, numbers and more numbers are quoted on the news and elsewhere. Constantly. But what do they actually MEAN. Just the sum of something or other. I’ll leave it there though, I’d not want to get into a whole debate about numbers. We need them. They most likely are useful. And I’ll not be getting overly up or down about the numbers we are exposed to.

I was given a postcard the other day of this old sign which lists the words used by sheep farmers to count their sheep. The counting goes up to ten however, apparently, the counting went on indefinitely to account for fields full of them woolly beasts! I’ll maybe ask a farmer what he uses, what language he uses, to count his sheep now.

Counting_Sheep1.jpg
Counting Sheep

This post has given me the opportunity to link to this delightful animated video. Several readers will appreciate the banjo playing characters are dressed head to toe in “knits”! All together now, One! Two! Three!

And you might want to watch the English Version which speaks of our knitted friends mission…. With a hat tip to Mailchimp the free Newsletter distributing service we (fieldofmerit.org) are using who directing me over to these vids.

Thanks to all of you who have signed up for the Field of Merit Newsletter, who have left comments and sent emails via the contact form. Yes, I have been watching the number of subscribers rise and rise. Numbers do, of course, mean something. They mean a lot in terms of being supported in our, how do we put it, “inspirational” project!

So sorry for not posting so regularly. Perhaps you can appreciate why that has been the case.

Field Of Merit – New Project Launched

buttercups_top_field2.jpg
Field of Merit website banner photograph

I’ve been hinting in past posts that there is a project about to be launched which I am involved with. Well here it is…. fieldofmerit.org We opened the doors eight hours ago and we hope you will support our efforts any way you can. Why not be the first to leave a comment and sign-up for our monthly Newsletter for starters? Read the first two posts of our blog, read our About page. Let us know via the contact form if the pages don’t display correctly on your computer.

The photograph, which we are using as the website banner image, was taken in the grounds of Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey a month ago. Newcastle had just had the devastating storm which left houses and businesses washed out, the black cloud to the right speaks of serious weather near by. Incidentally, when conditions calmed down, people were kayaking up and down the flooded streets! Everybody loves a bit of fun even in the midst of serious conditions. And why not?

Rev. Alicia and I have been working towards opening up our website Field of Merit and it’s great to see it go live for all to see. It’s the public face of our efforts to establish a new temple of our Order in Britain. Given it’s history the buttercup field seemed like a good photograph for our banner image. In my own mind I offer my best thoughts, spiritual merit, to the situation that unfolded at the time the photo was taken. No doubt people are still dealing with the aftermath of the flash flood that hit them so suddenly.

Perhaps those of you who have been visiting here, and early on Moving Mountains, or know me personally, will appreciate how significant this project is. There is enlightened self interest in that I’ll have a permanent place to live, eventually. More importantly though is the opportunity to collaborate with another monastic working towards providing a facility close to our hearts.