Transmigration

The term transmigration, for the ancient Greeks, referred to the migration of the soul, a re-birth.
In Hinduism, the character of a soul from a previous life is imprinted on the new one. The recent tragedies in India remind us that our thoughts must always linger on the present in contemplation of both the past and the present.

From the new translation of The Bhagavad Gita by my friend and colleague, Laurie Patton:

I have never

not existed;

nor have you

. . . . .

Nor will we

cease to exist,

all of us,

from now onwards.

In his work Transmigration of Souls, John Adams assembled a text from brief fragments taken from missing person signs, personal reminescences, and a random list of names of victims from 9/11.

Some recent reminders of the richness of the present.

We tend to think of our country as a land of immigrants, yet we also migrate across the world to new places. As I prepare to transmigrate to a new land, here are some photos of a family gathering over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving

The situation in India being too horrific to fathom . . . .




. . . . we chose to celebrate Thanksgiving in the usual fashion: a feast with family and friends on an unseasonably sunny day in Atlanta.

Namaste

I'm reading Love Delhi, a specialty guide book of Rebecca's. I'm astonished by the size and complexity of Delhi, new and old.

It's a city described by Jan Morris as "unimaginably antique," continually inhabited since at least 1000 BC. More than the oft-referenced seven cities of Delhi, there are at least 16 and maybe even 20. It's also a modern day political powerhouse with over 800 babus or politicians (no comment!).

Luckily, there are many small cafes, tea houses, and shops to visit. I've already picked out Triveni Tea Terrace which is apparently a Delhi institution for radicals, artists, writers, and thinkers. In fact, it has has sign which welcomes "staff, students, artists and art lovers only. Outsiders not permitted." I expect to fit right in immediately, perhaps after a visit to The Book Shop or another place called Fact & Fiction. I can already see myself reading an Indian novel over a piping hot cup of chai.

India is calling me.

Interlude

In the midst of Thanksgiving and India preparations, the rest of life goes on. Along with loss.

I've been mourning the passing of John Stone: friend and colleague; poet and physician. The Emory Symphony Orchestra is dedicating its upcoming concert to John on December 4th, where they will be playing Ralph Vaughn Williams "A Lark Ascending." I wrote a brief reflection in memory of John's spirit and heart for that event. But there is no way to put into words the profound sense of loss so many of us are feeling.

The doctor in his poem "He Makes a House Call" reflects, "I was just beginning to learn the heart inside out." More than anything else, and even beyond his many accolades and accomplishments, it was John Stone's heart--and his knowledge of our hearts--that gave him such uncommon grace. His poetry continues to live among us.

poetry consists less of finding

what you set out to find, than in learning to live

with what you've stumbled across.

Travel Well

One way to prepare for India is to focus on body as well as mind. I went to the Travel Well Clinic this week, where I received immunizations for polio, tetanus, cholera, and hepatitis A.

And I continue to take Pilates with Joyce, my young and dedicated instructor, who is helping me "strengthen the powerhouse" to create a fusion of body and mind through breathing, centering, concentration, and control.

India Pilgrim

I recently heard this question in response to a traveler expressing her new plans: business, pleasure, or soul-searching?

In this time of Thanksgiving, as we consider the paths our forefathers and foremothers forged (and what new ideas and conditions--good and ill--sprang from their explorations), it seems to me that while the journey may be the destination, the destination is indeed a previously unexplored terrain, one that inevitably invokes and encourages the searching of the soul--and heart.

Chalo Delhi!

My daughter Rebecca will be leaving soon to spend a year in India. She will be living in Delhi most of that time. I will visit her for two weeks in December. This entry officially extends the Irish series into South Asia as I begin the process of preparing for this journey.

Creativity Conversations

I've been conducting a series of "creativity conversations" on the Emory campus. These conversations have included E. O. Wilson, Umberto Eco, Hanif Kureishi, Natasha Tretheway and Steve Everett, and Philip Glass--along with Seamus Heaney and Salman Rushdie, already noted elsewhere on this blog. Edward Albee is next in line for March!

I suppose they are also a source of ramblings for me. I'm posting a few pictures as one way to capture these ramblings. Most of these conversations have also been taped (video and/or audio). I'm not certain what to do with all of them, but I'm hoping some creative idea will emerge from this process.

"Everything that is Picturesque"

Quick! We have but a second,

fill round the cup, while you may;

For Time, the churl, hath beckoned,

And we must away-away.

--Thomas Moore

There is a close relationship between the Celtic knot and nature, each reminding us of the timeless dimensions of our spirit. And so, it seems, that life--with its various strands--extends beyond the blog, into infinity.

The title for this post comes from Jane Tomalin's award-winning biography of Samuel Pepys, The Unequalled Self, about the man who kept a daily diary way back in the 1660's so that he could experience life three times: as it happened; when he wrote about it; and while he read what he had written.

A role model for all True Bloggers.

According to Tomalin, Pepys sought to write about "everything that is picturesque." Ireland, along with my experience therein, embodies this quality.

Thanks, dear and faithful readers, for following these strands interwoven within and throughout my journey in pictures.

Rambling Rose

July/August 2008

Wabi Sabi

From the Buddhist tradition, the term wabi sabi reflects Japanese aesthetic values as it "nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."

This collection of images, ideas, and reflections seeks to express imperfectly some of the magic that I experienced in a faraway land.

(Quotation above from Richard Powell, Buddhist scholar).

Gravitational Pull of the Actual

A bit of wildness in our own backyard.

Home again.

" . . . you can be surprised by your own place."

--Rosita Boland, "A Secret Map of Ireland"

In his essay, "The Redress of Poetry," Seamus Heaney reminds us that the counter-reality of poetry can only be fully imagined within "the gravitational pull of the actual."

And so reality and actuality beckon: with the full recollection of the counter-reality suggested by the name of the town of Newbliss, near Annamakherrig, where I once spent lovely summer days and nights.

"Summer afternoon--Summer afternoon . . . the two most beautiful words in the English language."

--Henry James

"Poetry is not a luxury."

--Audre Lord

Leave Taking

I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare more time for that.

--Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Reflections upon Emergent Occasions

One of John Donne's most important and haunting prose works, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, was composed in less than a month during an illness. Donne divided his book into twenty-three sections, each consisting of a meditation, an expostulation, and a prayer.

My meditations and reflections are not in any way as profound as John Donne's,

but I did gain pleasure from the discipline of making regular, almost daily, reflections on what was happening in my life for a short period of time during an unusual circumstance--in a land that was both new and old for me.

The term "emergence" as it is used today refers to how objects and patterns arise from simple interactions in ways that are surprising. Every day in Ireland--as well as in my preparations and my subsequent reflections--was full of the quality of "surprisingness." These entries and images are one way to record and remember these epiphanies.

Something the Same

My friend and colleague Madison Dotson opened her photography exhibition this evening. In her work, she documents the everyday lives of the people of North Georgia, where she grew up, and in Hawaii, where she recently visited. As Katherine Mitchell, artist extraordinaire, commented tonight, "everything looks so familiar" in Madison's work.

I have learned many things from Madison, including this idea of documentation of the familiar, of everyday reality. In fact, Madison is my blog mentor. (Check out her amazing blog at http://www.curio-abyss.com/). She gave me the idea, and she taught me the basics before my trip to Ireland. Some of her work is pictured here, along with photographs of Madison alone--and enjoying an artistic lunch moment with Anna Leo, great and good friend and dedicated blog reader. My wholehearted blog thanks to Madison and Anna.