It was to be an ethereal autumn, to be nestled by the banks of Lake Towada, in Aomori, Japan, and to experience the beauty of Oirase Gorge and its surrounds. And indeed if wishing to be in an ethereal moment was to be desirious of its eternity, then it was surely an outstanding …… but…
Complex & Simple
Books, Complex & Simple, Persons, Places, Posts, The Arts
The Genesee Diary – A Reflection on the Monastic Life by Fr Henri Nouwen (1976)
I chanced upon the Genesee Diary in a Thriftbooks store somewhere in my travels. It was owned by an ‘Anne Green’, scribbled in pencil on a discreet corner of the first page. The cover was tattered and a little worse for wear, an added attraction to a yet unread book with a strange title and…
Complex & Simple, Nature, Posts
Sundays in July 2023
These July days will be the hottest in 100,000 years. Thankfully, we have the flora, fauna and the occasional thundery showers, to remind us of the eternity of Creation. Singapore Garden. Panasonic Lumix G9. M.Zuiko 75-300mm July 2023.
Complex & Simple, Nature, Places, Posts
Spring is Black – Travels through the Aso-Kuju Highlands
Spring is Black, Summer is Blue, Autumn is Red and Winter is White. Thus read the colours of the seasons in the 1770 book “Kuju-sanki”, which describes the landscape of the Kuju Mountain Range, its people, lifestyle, and the 260-year history of Mt Kuju Hakausuiji-temple Hokkein, which was a site of mountain worship (From the…
Complex & Simple, Nature, Places, Posts
We too, are Sowers
Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell…
Complex & Simple, Persons, Posts, The Arts
Discovering Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023)
It seems to me that the genius of the late composer & musician Ryuichi Sakamoto was in his offerings of serenity and momentum, with subtleties of transitions, always with exquisite timing, as befitting the visual imagery and the moment. Listen to his composition Blu, commissioned for the 50th Anniversary of the Aoyama clothing company in…
Complex & Simple, Nature, Persons, Places, Posts
How will we be tested in our personal end-times?
Today, I was reminded at Palm Sunday Mass (this post was first drafted on 28th March 2021) that when Jesus Christ was at His weakest physical state as God-Made-Man, the devil struck again to taunt, to try to tempt Jesus to succumb to the order of the world, and to let His material wants take…
Complex & Simple, Persons, Places, Posts
Remember Me
The people stayed there before the cross watching Jesus. As for the leaders, they jeered at him. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’ The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said, ‘If you are the king…
Complex & Simple, Nature, Persons, Places, Posts
Life of Saint Paul before and after Damascus*
St Paul denied his original self, in order to replace it with something fundamentally more Precious. His narratives and actions, have been recorded in history through his own prodigious inspired writings and that of his collaborators, and in recent history by the cinematographers. When I first watched Paul, Apostle of Christ the 2018 American biblical drama film, it…
Complex & Simple, Persons, Posts
Only This I Want (by Dan Schutte)
[Chorus]Only this I want: But to know the LordAnd to bear his cross, so to wear the crown he wore [Verse 1]All but this is loss, worthless refuse to me For to gain the Lord is to gain all I need [Verse 2]I will run the race; I will fight the good fight So to…