WEEK 4 What is in your hand? Let’s play around with this question.

The hand without the wristThe hand with the shirt's cuffThe hand with the shirt's cuff What do you have in your hand? – that is a question that reverberates continually in my mind. Indeed, what do I have in my hand? And what do you have in your hand? This is a loaded question. Especially if we start to play around with it. I can play around with this question and arrive at surprising answers if only I ask different questions. I can ask for instance whether...

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WEEK 3 White stinkwood tree – Celtis Africana and the Stone/Rock of Ages

  Stone art! Stacking stones is a silent art form. I love the English description for this silent art form: it is ephemeral. Ephemeral – this is a loaded word; full of nuances and new meanings it can mean: fleeting; short-lived; transitory; momentary; transient, brief; short, temporary; passing; impermanent; evanescent – all of this in brief moment of time.  It is not long lasting – it tumbles any time. Even while you are creating...

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Week 2 Physical work – degrading? Or shall we respect the artisan?

 Burnard McKenzie - my friendly plumber “Judaism has always shunned the Greek idea that physical work is menial, only appropriate for slaves.  As William Chomsky has pointed out, “The Aristotelian lofty aloofness, which regarded manual labor as degrading, and those engaged in it as inferior people, who are unworthy and incapable of education, was utterly alien to the Hebrew mind.” [page 290; OUR FATHER ABRAHAM JEWISH ROOTS OF THE CHRISTIAN...

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WEEK 1: FELIX THE FRIENDLY NURSERY MAN

Felix Rasta in situ  Every time I go to that specific nursery Felix is there to meet us with his adoring smile. And his friendly advice on all things plants. With a smile. I also call him Rasta. And he loves it. We engage on what life has to offer us. It is clear that he and I live life vastly differently. Our worldviews are light years and galaxies apart. And yet, I engage with him. And we buy plants at the nursery.Felix Rasta in situ I was...

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