paper folding tea
This process of "progress" is, by its own insistence on momentum, undoing itself.
Last night I went to a Chinese tea ceremony--an ancient ritual of communication, sharing and mediation. The woman speaking about the importance of this ceremony explained, as we all know, that you can't email tea. or beer. or laughs. it's face to face, it's sharing the same moment in time, appreciating the same thing, face to face. it's disappearing.
Before the ceremony there was a presentation on origami folding--the presenter showed us his eagle, elephant, seal, geometrical shapes. All folded with one piece of paper, and incredibly realistic. He remarked on the difference between being skillful and being creative, hinting that perhaps though Singapore has reached the peak of skillfulness in business, as well as scientific and mathematical education, it has done so while sacrificing creativity--that drive within us to be unique.
Our haste, our notions of what is advancing us as a species is making us less mindful of eachother-- our relationships, communities and friends--and less mindful of ourselves--or desires, needs and emotions. We can email halfway round the world but we can't say hello to a neighbour on the street. We've sent many people to space, yet we seem incapable of appreciating our rapidly disappering wildlife. We all know this already. What's interesting, though, is that these very things we are ignoring now (and I would say it's not technology, rather the way we use it that is causing these fractures) will be missed soon--in some ways they are already missed. Singaporeans over thirty, even while embracing convenience, material wealth and a modern city, bemoan the lack of . . .well the lack of many things. loss of tradition, loss of community, loss of . . .it goes on. So there is an awareness of a gap, an emptiness. And its growing--and even as we try to fill it we make it bigger. If there's a hole inside us, no amount of progress, material (or national) security, or technology will ever fill it. It's up to us to do it.
So another rant . . .I think I'll keep sending them. Rants to you (heh heh) and slightly more maudlin emotional stuff on my new blog (maybe even some bad poetry, how fortunate for you). Hope you are all doing well.