my virtual hobby … on things that impress me
Once in an interview Dalai Lama was asked when he had been the happiest. He thought for a moment, smiled and answered: ‘Right now’.
‘What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.’
T.S. Eliot – Burnt Norton
A brilliant poem on timelessness and eternity and how the present, not the future or past, really matters to individuals.
In a research where children and adults were assigned the same task: what would they ask God if they could meet him face-to-face, children’s questions focused on: ‘How is my Grandpa up there? ‘, ‘Is my little dog OK’, while adults’ questions were: ‘Why this, why now, why me …?’
A shift in concerns seems to occur with age. No wonder children smile 400 times per day while adults times less (more on the power of smiling here).
Patrick Süskind’s “The Pigeon” – a novella that deals with the existential crisis of a solitary Parisian bank security guard, named Noel. The story takes place in the span of one day – an insignificant event compounds to threaten Noel’s sanity. A pigeon symbolising disorder intruding on the protagonist’s meticulously organized existence. The book somehow made me fall in Kafkaesque mood.
Bulgarian author Teodora Dimova’s “The Mothers” – another deeply moving book. Several mother-child moving stories, all having in common pain in different forms, caused by things people wish to ignore and forget. Are children to blame if their aggression goes out of proportion? Where do the roots of aggression come from? A book that makes you think of human nature, adults’ actions and their consequences on what children sooner or later are faced with.
47 Ronin – a movie about shoguns, samurais, magic, demons, witchcraft, avenge, dignity and more. The “Half Breed” (played by Keanu Reeves) and the 3D effects contribute to rendering the legend of the 47 Ronin and Japanese mythology, so that even teenagers can grasp the basics of it and get interested in knowing about the actual historical event behind it.
