Sumangali.org: In The Spirit Of Serendipity

Shakespeare in a comic book? This is serendipity, as I’d never have expected him there. In fact I wouldn’t have even looked.

The other day my mother was remembering the comics my brother used to read twenty-something years ago. We got as far as The Beano and The Dandy, when she said with a frown, “Did you have comics?”

“No!” I said as if stung, “I used to read magazines.”

“Oh yes, of course.”

I realised that even before my teens I regarded comics as something for those who are either just barely literate, or too lazy to read, or male and under the age of ten. As is so often the case, my mind was broadened only hours later, this time by an article in the Independent, heralding Britain’s latest homegrown hybrid: Manga Shakespeare.

Manga is Japanese for “random (or whimsical) pictures”. It firmly took root in the late 18th Century, drawing inspiration from 12th Century giga (literally “funny pictures”), blossoming in the early 19th Century, with the great Hokusai even producing his own manga collection. Originally wood-block prints, the modern story-based manga started to emerge in the form of drawings as Japan increasingly absorbed American influences.

Manga is much more culturally important to Japan than comic books are to the US. Weekly sales of manga in Japan even exceed annual sales of comics in America (source: Wikipedia). In the UK at least, manga, anime (animated manga), and in fact anything Japanese is no doubt rising in popularity.

Self Made Hero is a British team, set to release their Manga Shakespeare collection this Thursday 1st of March. Emma Hayley, director of SelfMadeHero says:

“With our fresh and innovative approach to the classics, we are creating exciting and unique books that will inspire today’s generation.”
—SelfMadeHero.com

Good luck, I say. Anything (well almost anything) that makes the Bard more easily accessible has to be a good thing. Shakespeare is not a pompous poet in tights to be kept mouldering on the dusty shelves of aging professors; he’s a genius storyteller, and you shouldn’t have to be a genius to unravel the brilliance of his work. His plays are timeless, and infinitely adaptable. True, the original language is hard going, but if the essence of the stories is revealed to a wider audience, then maybe more will be inspired to delve into the treasure chest of his original works, while they’re young enough to keep up with the thrilling pace.

“Manga is a dynamic, emotional and cinematic medium easily absorbed by the eye. Its attractive art and simple storytelling methods will enthuse readers to approach Shakespeare’s work in the way he intended – as entertainment.”
—SelfMadeHero.com

Later in the year a collection entitled The Classical Eye will be released by the team, so watch this space:

“…transforming classics into another art form. The books feature acknowledged leaders in the world of graphic novels and bandes dessinées, using illustrators and writers whose work is widely admired internationally.
—SelfMadeHero.com

Image Source: SelfMadeHero.com

A recent post on SensitivityToThings.com, entitled Serendipity, prompted more in-depth pondering about the word and its meaning. Serendipity can be defined as pure luck in discovering unsought things, or yet more simply as good fortune. This might be a good time to explain the link between the name chosen for this site and its chosen motto.

Firstly, you might wonder how come this English girl has an Indian name. My first name, Sumangali, is a spiritual name, given to me by my meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy. A spiritual name is like a mantra, reflecting the essence and purpose of its bearer at a very deep level. It was given to me after I had been studying and practising meditation for a few years.

The root of the word Sumangali (mangal) means auspicious. Sometimes two people may have the same word as a name, but the interpretation or aspect of it may be different. The main part of the meaning for me is auspicious good-fortune, so this is at once my essence and my primary purpose, and that’s what I hope to try and offer through this site, in any small way I can.

As for the word serendipity, there’s no way I would have guessed its progenitor: Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford. It seems there was a gap in our language, and so the word was born, inspired by a Persian fairy tale called The Three Princes Of Serendip (Serendip being Sri Lanka).

So the princes were fortunate on their travels? Well it’s not so simple. It seems they were very wise as well. Perhaps Horace won’t mind me quoting the letter in which the word was first written:

“I once read a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right—now do you understand serendipity? “
Source: Wikipedia

Well no, Horace, in fact your definition has sparked numerous debates on its meaning. Looking up The Three Princes Of Serendip we find a little more clarity:

“In the camel story, the Three Princes use trace clues to precisely identify a camel they have never seen (lame; blind in one eye; missing a tooth; carrying a pregnant maiden; bearing honey on one side and butter on the other). This result of abductive reasoning is not what is meant by serendipity (the discovery of something not sought). Because of their cleverness and sagacity, they are accused of stealing the camel and are about to be put to death by Bahram Gur. Suddenly and without anyone seeking him out, a traveler steps forward to say that he has just seen the missing camel wandering in the desert. Bahram spares the lives of the Three Princes, lavishes them with rich rewards and appoints them as advisors. These rewards are the unsought (serendipitous) results of their sagacious insights.”

So, Horace, what you mean is that wisdom is often rewarded, and if we do not seek to receive a specific reward, but receive it nonetheless, then we are serendipitous? Ergo: wisdom - expectation + reward = serendipity.

Back to SensitivityToThings.com, John Gillespie cited a quote from Sri Chinmoy about rainbows. Sri Chinmoy says that a rainbow siginifies success and progress, but we must be looking towards the sky in order to see it. In this case wisdom is looking at the sky. Rainbows are rare so we can hardly dare expect them. The reward for looking upwards anyway is the rainbow, so that’s serendipity. The rainbow is already there, we just have to be looking up in order to appreciate it: an analogy which could stretch to any corner of life.

These days employers are starting to realise a fact already well-known in the field of research and development (an industry heavily dependent on serendipity): that employees need a certain amount of time in order to be creative. One caveat is that that the optimum pressure–freedom ratio is different for each individual. There’s an interesting post on the subject entitled Time For Innovation at SlowLeadership.org. In this case wisdom is taking enough time out.

In other cases it might mean breaking out of routine. Have you noticed how problems you’ve been brooding over often resolve themselves if you have a break from ‘solving them’ and go for a run or walk? Ever taken a wrong turning and found something interesting that you otherwise never would have known was there? I wrote a little something along those lines in My Day finds A Motto.

Meditation is certainly conducive to serendipity, and it’s one reason I meditate every day. Even a few minutes can bring a fresh perspective, often bringing forward solutions to things I would not have thought of while facing them head on. Rather than shutting me away from the world it makes me more aware of my surroundings, and reminds me of what’s good in the world around me.

I could go on… Wikipedia has much to say on the subject of serendipity—much more than a blog-post-worth. One section says simply “See also Synchronicity“. Don’t get me started…

Image: The Horace Walpole at the National Portrait Gallery, London

This post is long overdue—perhaps about 20 years or so, as that’s how long I’ve admired Andy Goldsworthy’s approach to art. Thank God for the humble camera—without it most of his art would melt, blow, or rot back into the elements from whence it came, in the space of time it takes for the winds or tides to change, or the temperature to cheer up.

The sculptor-photographer was born in Cheshire, 1956, but now calls Scotland his home. I was first drawn in by an exhibition that everyone was raving about at art school. It was probably in Leeds City Art Gallery—because that’s about as far as we could ever afford to go from Harrogate—I don’t remember anything about it except the dumbfounded silence it left me with, and some shots of autumn leaves blazing in my mind’s eye.

A bunch of autumn leaves has always been enough to transport me—see God In a Nutshell—but it was the way he celebrated them that blew me away. This is how nature should be revered, I thought: an interaction leaving no lasting mark of interference, more a mute conversation between creator and Creator, or a game, knowing the latter will win in the end, but enjoying the play all the more for it.

When happening upon one of nature’s myriad miracles, rather than saying “That’s nice” and walking on by, Andy Goldsworthy dives right into the colours, patterns, shapes, textures, observes the rules of nature and extends them, enhances them, outlines them. If anyone is not afraid to get their hands dirty it’s him; using not just hands but teeth, feet and nearby natural materials as tools to coax leaves, mud, twigs and ice into new forms. It’s more than “environmentally friendly”; it is “environment,” but the dry leaves are poured on the earth like molten metal, the rough stones are soft giant eggs, the hostile ice enormous jewels.

Transience in art has always been a source of fascination to me, basically because that’s how God works. Man can echo that occupation of enjoying the process of creation, pausing proudly besotted with the product of it to celebrate its perfection, then moving on to a higher perfection. I love that.

“The artist’s long engagement with the dome parallels his interest in the markers of human passage through time—the structure itself follows a trajectory that includes Neolithic burial chambers and dwelling cairns, ancient Roman and Byzantine structures, Enlightenment architecture and modern public buildings.

The domical form developed in the artist’s oeuvre from his desire to give depth to the hole, or void, a device that has occupied Goldsworthy’s attention since early in his career. His decision to construct a dome with oculus on this site owes much to its northern orientation, which allows for a velvety black hole that no light can penetrate.”

US National Gallery of Art on the exhibition pictured below

I know nothing of his reasons for this recurring dome theme, but to me it is a glimpse of Infinity: a reminder of our own transience on the material plane of stone, ice and leaves, and of an eternal existence beyond it.

Andy, it’s not often I feel pride in being British, but right now, revisiting your art, I’m glowing with the stuff.

Links and Credits:

1. Morning Earth: nice tribute and collection of images
2. UK Government Art Collection: fine collection of gritty ice and stone sculptures.
3. US National Gallery: drystone dome exhibition in Washington 2004-5, pictured above

You can read more thoughts on art on my SriChinmoyCentre.org pages

Honey has been recognised for thousands of years as a cure for many common ailments. It is a miracle food with far-reaching merits: at once anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal.

13 Interesting Honey Facts:

1. The flavour, colour and texture vary depending on the nectar from which it was made. The less processed the honey, the more nutrients it contains. It can be used in a variety of foods and drinks instead of sugar, but raw honey has the most health benefits.
2. Raw honey straight from the comb contains traces of propolis–the substance bees use to seal the hive and protect it from harmful micro-organisms. Other so-called phytonutrients found in raw honey have been shown to help prevent colon cancer, and help internal ulcers to heal.
3. A regular intake of honey is known to be beneficial for general well-being, and an aid to digestion.
4. Honey has been shown to improve athletic performance, not only as a source of carbohydrate. This secret was even known by the ancient Olympians. It helps maintain blood-sugar, which in turn keeps energy consistent and aids muscle recovery.
5. Honey would be quite at home in your medicine cabinet. It has been used as early as 700 BC to aid healing, and was an ingredient in over 900 Ancient Egyptian remedies. Used topically it helps to ward off infection and soothes inflammation. Honey’s healing properties have been shown even to speed up the healing of serious wounds caused by first-degree burns and surgical operations.
6. Taken internally its anti-viral properties help support the immune system, warding off colds and flu.
7. Its anti-bacterial properties have proven it superior to certain widely-used anti-biotics in treating infection.
8. Its anti-fungal properties are even thought to inhibit Candida Albicans, and encourage the growth of healthy flora in the gut.
9. Honey, especially dark honey, is rich in antioxidants, helping to combat free-radicals, thus improving cell and organ function.
10. Eating honey made nearby may help reduce seasonal allergies, as it contains local pollen.
11. Honey is a healthy alternative to sugar. In diabetes patients it has been shown to cause a lower rise in blood sugar than refined sugar. It also reduces cholesterol.
12. Honey is a source of vitamin B2 (good for hair and nail growth, eyesight, and processing of food), vitamin B6 (good for skin, nerves and absorption of nutrients), iron (transports oxygen in the blood) and manganese (promotes enzyme function and muscle function).
13. Honey should be stored in an air-tight container. If it is kept away from moisture it keeps almost indefinitely, in fact it is possibly the only food that does not spoil. Archaeologists in Egypt tasted honey sealed in the tombs of the ancient pharoahs and found it to be still edible!

This article would not be complete without paying homage to the noble bee, a small but highly civilised creature:

“Bee, my bee,
Your day and night
And your patience-industry
Have no respite.
Hard you endeavour
To bring nectar
From the core of your service-tree.
You always don
The robe of fruitful victory.”
- Sri Chinmoy

Ostensibly this film is a glimpse of difficult times in recent Chinese political history, highlighting the perceived value of knowledge and learning, and illustrating the bonds of family love. It is a poignant reminder of fading noble values—values in danger of being lost to a world of mass-production and a society of short-termism.

A businessman returns to his family home when he hears his father has died. His mother wants to observe ancient traditional funeral rites that seem unnecessarily arduous to the son. The mother is undeterred, carrying the strength of her happy memories, and strengthened further by her own life’s struggles. This conflict of ancient and modern values sets the scene.

Like its characters it is honest and humble, revealing through its openness a formidable power. As only director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House Of Flying Daggers) knows how, “The Road Home” is formed of many subtle levels. As many layers of laquer, each aspect adds integrity and depth while preserving its clarity and lightness.

Visually it is exquisite, stretching straightforward photography to its limits - a refreshing break from our computer-generated age. In a reverse of the traditional, present day scenes are shot in (very stylish) monochrome, and memories in colour, reinforcing the ageing mother’s feeling that the present is harder and less beautiful than the past. As is customary for Zhang Yimou the use of colour is deliberate, precise and symbolic, always lavish but never gluttonous.

The star of the show is unquestionably Ziyi Zhang (Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, Memoirs Of A Geisha). This being one of her earlier films, her elfin innocence is even more apparent than in her later swashbuckling adventures, concealing as always behind her winsome smile a steely grit and unwavering determination.

The acting is superb throughout, making one loath to leave the screen to read the subtitles. The characters have such an endearing natural air it seems really like eavesdropping to listen to them, and almost rude to enter their homes to observe their tribulations.

The political climate is implied rather than expressed, woven into the landscape and lives of the characters. The plot is simple but brave, dealing with death, with the fragility of human relationships, and also with their unbreakable bond beyond death. It frames human insecurity as well as superhuman transcendence of the self.

This film warms the heart and opens the eyes. Zhang Yimou gives us a firm nudge to reassess our values and priorities in life. He does it neatly and without excessive emotion… but make sure you have a handkerchief close by.

You can find out more here.

Consciously focusing on the heart rather than the mind can help unlock ever-new writing potential, keeping your creativity flowing ever more consistently, bringing forward from within your own unique writing capacity. Writing from the heart is allowing our true inner self speak about the world around us.

Prolific writer Sri Chinmoy once said:

“There is a vast difference between what you can get from the mind and what you can get from the heart. The mind is limited; the heart is unlimited.”

10 steps towards writing from the heart:

1. Meditate regularly every day, at least for 5 minutes first thing in the morning, and again before you write. Simply focus your attention on your spiritual heart in the centre of your chest. If you like you can try to listen to your own heartbeat, or imagine that you have become the heart itself. If any thoughts enter the mind, just return your attention to the heart.
2. Keep an area pure and clean in which to meditate. It’s a good idea to have a bath or shower first, and to keep the room well aired. You can bring in fragrances such as incense, something from nature that inspires you such as a fresh flower, and perhaps a picture of something meaningful to you. Keep a separate area for writing, and introduce similar sources of purity and inspiration there.
3. Writing is not just something that happens while you are typing or putting pen to paper. Writing from the heart means being constantly aware of one’s surroundings. This is what Buddhists call “mindfulness”. It will not only bring you a fuller experience of life, but also lead to deeper and more authentic writing. Get into the habit of simply observing the world - people, nature, each of your own senses, and your own feelings.
4. When you are used to observing your surroundings, you will naturally start to accept things as they are. You may see the same scenes day in and day out. The mind may tire of them, but if you observe from the heart, you will find new beauty and inspiration.
5. Observation and acceptance naturally engender love, gratitude and joy. These are invaluable keys to meaningful writing. Conveying these experiences through words will help others to see beauty and inspiration in their own lives.
6. Protect that effort you have made to see and feel things in a positive way. Unconstructive criticism, anger, and jealousy can thwart our inspiration and prevent us writing from the heart, whether they come from ourselves or from other people. Try to avoid encountering these negative forces. If you cannot avoid them, try not to pay attention to them.
7. When you are in the habit of observing your surroundings, allow words to come to you, even without the intention of writing them down. When words are not written down, they have more freedom. Practise describing to yourself the things you see.
8. Carry a notebook with you everywhere. Only when a sequence of words comes to you and thrills your heart, write it down, and let more words grow around it.
9. Do not let the mind plan a finished product. Let the writing blossom and become what it wants to be. That way it will have its own authenticity and integrity, and the result will be more valuable.
10. Trust the creative process that comes from the heart, but also use the mind to polish and revise your writing. Sometimes that which comes from the heart can benefit from a little clarification.