We watched "Baraka" in class today, which was the last real day of teaching, since tomorrow we're eating food and playing games.
Baraka means "blessing" in many languages, mostly Middle Eastern, such as Arabic and Hebrew. It details the world with amazing cinematography from the same director who did the first Qatsi movie. You see nature, tribes, cities sped up, dances slowed down, beautiful glory and awful horror. It's everything.
I had seen it when I lived in New York City, and then I was blessed to travel much of the world which the movie covers in such astonishing detail in merely ninety minutes. Today I was incredibly happy to recognize many places from firsthand experience, from cities to deserts to temples to mountains.
Before the movie we played a vocabulary game. This week's theme is "Transportation." It's the first vocab unit we learned.
After the movie I asked them for thoughts, responses and questions about the movie. We had a short discussion, and then I shared viewpoints from a few masters to reflect on the deep human material we had just witnessed.
We began with the Tao symbol, which represents the world's opposites balancing and working together to keep it going. Next I quoted Tom Robbins, saying that there is always the same amount of good and bad, but we need to keep stirring it up, like a stew, or all the scum rises to the top. Third, we got to the other religions, like Hinduism and Judaism. The former says you can't change the world because positive and negative are woven into the fabric of the universe and will always be there. The latter says that our job is to make the world better through improvements, or otherwise why would humans be here? I imagine the Tao includes both viewpoints. Finally, I finished with theology scholar Huston Smith's summary of all religion being that we need to listen to each other and try to understand each other more, as the world is becoming more and more connected to itself. It means listening with an open mind and sharing with an open heart.
Tonight I made a delicious healthy dinner with my friends and hosts and enjoyed their amazing view of this city I am about to leave after a year of being here. Then they went to a concert and I visited my old neighborhood. I climbed the hill that I always used to climb when I lived there, sometimes during the day, but more often at night so I could see all of the bright city lights.
I listened to the cars in the distance, and the wind, and music, sweet music. I recalled all the times I had watched the sun rise and set, and the moon rise and set, and had either seen or talked to other humans enjoying the same hill. I looked at all the houses and cars below and wondered who all the humans were and how their stories were going and connecting to this larger story I could see spread out all around me. I gazed across the bay to Berkeley and Oakland, two places where I had been fortunate to experience brief residence. I could also see the Apple billboard that used to be outside my window when I lived next to the freeway.
Most importantly, I could see the entire city of San Francisco, and I realized just how good this city has been to me, even if I had been very lonely as I readjusted to living in my home country after three years of exploring the world.
I feel blessed.
Baraka means "blessing" in many languages, mostly Middle Eastern, such as Arabic and Hebrew. It details the world with amazing cinematography from the same director who did the first Qatsi movie. You see nature, tribes, cities sped up, dances slowed down, beautiful glory and awful horror. It's everything.
I had seen it when I lived in New York City, and then I was blessed to travel much of the world which the movie covers in such astonishing detail in merely ninety minutes. Today I was incredibly happy to recognize many places from firsthand experience, from cities to deserts to temples to mountains.
Before the movie we played a vocabulary game. This week's theme is "Transportation." It's the first vocab unit we learned.
After the movie I asked them for thoughts, responses and questions about the movie. We had a short discussion, and then I shared viewpoints from a few masters to reflect on the deep human material we had just witnessed.
We began with the Tao symbol, which represents the world's opposites balancing and working together to keep it going. Next I quoted Tom Robbins, saying that there is always the same amount of good and bad, but we need to keep stirring it up, like a stew, or all the scum rises to the top. Third, we got to the other religions, like Hinduism and Judaism. The former says you can't change the world because positive and negative are woven into the fabric of the universe and will always be there. The latter says that our job is to make the world better through improvements, or otherwise why would humans be here? I imagine the Tao includes both viewpoints. Finally, I finished with theology scholar Huston Smith's summary of all religion being that we need to listen to each other and try to understand each other more, as the world is becoming more and more connected to itself. It means listening with an open mind and sharing with an open heart.
Tonight I made a delicious healthy dinner with my friends and hosts and enjoyed their amazing view of this city I am about to leave after a year of being here. Then they went to a concert and I visited my old neighborhood. I climbed the hill that I always used to climb when I lived there, sometimes during the day, but more often at night so I could see all of the bright city lights.
I listened to the cars in the distance, and the wind, and music, sweet music. I recalled all the times I had watched the sun rise and set, and the moon rise and set, and had either seen or talked to other humans enjoying the same hill. I looked at all the houses and cars below and wondered who all the humans were and how their stories were going and connecting to this larger story I could see spread out all around me. I gazed across the bay to Berkeley and Oakland, two places where I had been fortunate to experience brief residence. I could also see the Apple billboard that used to be outside my window when I lived next to the freeway.
Most importantly, I could see the entire city of San Francisco, and I realized just how good this city has been to me, even if I had been very lonely as I readjusted to living in my home country after three years of exploring the world.
I feel blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment