"I have never felt as though my identity were diminished or needed replenishment or improvement in any way."

Of course, it could be because you understand the spirit and potential of your culture more than others do for their own cuture.

Actually, the more that I think on this, the surer I am that this is so.

Intense confidence can be found in many unexpected places, me thinks...

Sleiman

"I have never felt as though my identity were diminshed or needed replenishment or improvement in any way."

I think that one of the reasons why your identity doesn't need replenishment is because your national and cultural identity is part of what could be described as the majority. It's the paradigm through which everything else is assessed. The global standard, so to speak. As a result, why would you need to feel diminished?

This is NOT to imply that this 'global standard' is wrong or evil or anything like that at all. Far, far, far from it. But when one talks about equality, freedom etc, well, as they say, "We were all created equal, only some are more equal than others." Within a small grouping (for example Australia), this is quite obvious for all to see.

Within a larger grouping (re, the world) one has to ask what is considered mainstream? Perhaps there is a paradox at play here in that whoever controls the flow of information influences the reaction. In the face of a few trying to link the world in an ever decreasing number of connections and standardisations, it seems almost logical to me that the Japanese (or anyone else for that matter) would be reaffirming themselves, after all, everyone was created equal...

Of course, a much simpler theory as to why people would want to reaffirm their identities is joy. I recall a time when my father had tears of joy in his eyes for whatever reason and I mocked him about it. "What are your crying for?" My father replied, "Why shouldn't I cry? I'm a man." Well, that floored me and it opened my eyes to... well, I don't know but it just opened my eyes. From that day forth, even though I thought that I wasn't one, I knew that I could never go back to being a 'redneck' again.

Perhaps the reaffirmation of this kind of knowledge becomes more intense within the face of an increasing pressure to conform to global 'standards', I don't know.

I must add, however, that I do not think that very many people really understand their own cultures or the potential of their cultures. Unfortunately, in reacting, we often get a solidfying of thought, a crystallising of the heart that shatters too easily.

This is sad to see...

"...there is little mainstream acknowledgement of the original inhabitants of this country..."

If anyone were to want some words of wisdom, perhaps one could start by delving into the world's oldest, unbroken, CONTINUALLY practiced culture... (err, the aborigines of Australia)

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie - Oi, Oi, Oi...

pfft...


Sleiman

A present from Santa?

"A man who has intense confidence cannot be lonely."

I used to imagine, when I was younger, what it would take to be truly happy. What I mean is that, if you take away the video games, the comics, the sports, Mum's fasoolia, what would be left?

I used to imagine that I would have to be floating out in the middle of space in order to be totally free of 'everything' in order to discover the 'secrets of real happiness'.

Basically, just me and nothing else. Could that be enough, just me?

I'm very happy to have recognised that quote.

Sleiman

My New Tat.

So - I got my new tattoo a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to post it for a while but never got round to it. They're a little blurry but it's cause I didn't want to use the flash and the lack of light meant the exposure was longer (or something like that) and Sil's hand wasn't still enough :(

(Sorry about the sexy lying in bed shot - I needed a white background)






It's from matthew 16:26 - I've modified it a touch to cut down on the words - but the sentiment remains.

After completing degrees in law/business/sports studies (not that sports studies is worthy to be called a degree) i realised that this quote was the most important thing I had learnt.

Shame it took me 13 years of Uni to realise it :(

Oh - BTW - Post your comments in the comments section Sleiman - not in a new post! Such an amateur :-D

EDIT: Props where props is due...

The Guy that did the work's name is Kian Forreal - He's a canadian dude that spends alot of time in Barcelona but travels around the world tattooing. The site's a bit dodgy, but the guy is 1st class - and very interesting to talk to. I spent the 2 1/2 hours chatting away with him about lots of "interesting" things

The place where I got it done is Inner Vision Tattoo - it's got an excellent reputation in Sydney - super clean and good work. they've got some galleries on that site too.

The secrets of the masters...

People think that they are progressing when it seems that all they are doing is playing with themselves. Simple things amuse simple minds, yes?

I always shake my head whenever I hear politicians or other civil leaders talk about raising the 'standard of living' or 'marching into the future'. Marching is another word for conformity, isn't it? Earlier today, at the gym, there was a cover of Seal's "Crazy" being played and I couldn't help but be impressed by the words, "We are never gonna survive, unless, we get a little crazy".

It's obvious that humans are doing well enough for themselves. By that, I mean that it's not likely that humans won't be able to find a way out of a difficult material situation. After all, we've been doing it for thousands of years.

In martial arts, we often use the term 'ikiteru' which is usually translated by the translators at the dojo as, 'surviving' or 'living'. There are two Japanese characters with the same pronunciation that could be used here(生きる, 活きる) though interestingly enough, they do not mean, literally, 'surviving'. The first character represents 'life', 'genuine' and 'birth'. The second represents 'lively', 'living' as well as 'being helped'.

I mention this because living is the purpose of life. If you look at the meanings of the Japanese chracters, we have the sense of something genuine, something with spirit (lively). Marching into the future seems far removed from the idea of something genuine.

I also mention this because by 'raising the standard of living' the implication is that we know what living is all about. I would suggest that many of the developments of human history have been a case of the toys changing with the game and the players staying the same.

As suggested by one of the Japanese characters, there has been no 'birth' here...

The progress that is so often bandied about as being of importance is very rarely related to anything other than the visible, the material, the lowest common denominator, so to speak.

If a person truly wishes to survive and live, they will, as Seal suggested, have to get a little crazy. In Arabic, the word usually used for crazy is 'majnoon' which really means something along the lines of 'a place for the jinn (genies, spirits, if you will). So basically, a crazy person is someone who is possessed, or, more gently, in connection with the other world.

If you stick to just the simple meanings of things and not see deeper into the broader connections, then yes, you may 'survive', but it could hardly be called living.

Like the cat that plays with its victims before killing it, so to the human mind plays with it's host before it 'kills' it. This is what the logic of the heart warns us of if we choose to listen to it, rather than our 'leaders'.

This is protection of humanity at the highest levels, one of the secrets of real martial arts.

Thankyou Seal for reminding me of this while I was riding the bike today...

Sleiman

Me against my brother; my brother & I against...

When I first read about what happened in Cronulla, the first thing that popped into my head were the lyrics, "You are, we are, we are all Australian". I shook my head and understood why I have yet to really feel 'homesick' for Australia.

It was very easy for me to leave Australia at the time that I did. For me, September 11 and 'the boat people' scandal greased the wheels so to speak. Since I've been gone from Australia, the one time that I did feel a kind of pride was when Australia made the World Cup. Australian soccer, represents more than anything else, the Australia that I know/knew. I also feel a kind of pride when I talk to my students about Aboriginal culture. Compared to indigenous Australia, how can any of us feel as if we were anything but children?

Lebs vs Aussies! Ha!

I really felt as if I should post something about what happened but I really feel like I am 'over it'. I wasn't surprised at all by what I read but I no longer know what to say about racism and redneckism in Australia. I used to say that it goes back to power structures and who has the control over what is presented as authoritative. Now, I would refine that and say that it goes back to individual responsibility. The media in Australia is disgusting when it comes to 'issues' of ethnicity.

Still, I can't be responsible for someone else's responsibilities! I can only be responsible for how I interact with what is around me. Despite the underlying redneckism that exits in Australia, if you accept even a modicum of responsibility, the problems disappear. They really do. I can't expect the Hansonites and Howardites to change but I can change myself. I just wish that the 'Lebs' would learn to see this.

Perhaps the thing that I was most saddened by was the way in which 'we' (as in us, err, Arabs) deal with each other. Even if it is good for us, we don't seem to be willing to take advice from anyone for fear of appearing to 'sell out'.

I'm tired of this stuff...

Sleiman

Lebs vs Aussies - some quick thoughts

Wow - Sunday was crazy at Cronulla. 5000 “Whities” coming from all over Sydney to stand unified in their hatred of "men of Middle-Eastern appearance" (actually, and women, if some of the reports can be believed).

The first thing this has done is throw up the age-old argument that Australia is not a multi-cultural society and there are undercurrents of racism that exist, and always will exist, that the mainstream refuses to recognise.

I think this is half right.

Racism, in the sense of discrimination or prejudice based on race is an innate part of the human condition. The key is the degree to which we act in response to these feelings. That's what separates the majority from those that instigated and carried on this nonsense in beachside Sydney this, and last, weekend.

There will always be racism in Australia, but that does not preclude us from being multi-cultural - last Sunday I sat and had lunch with A Lebanese Christian, a Lebanese Muslim, an Indonesian, a Ghanaian, a Filipino and me, a Spanish Australian... and we were eating at an Italian Restaurant in beachside Bondi. Funnily enough it was only when I considered it that I realised our different backgrounds. We were the new Australia, all from different backgrounds but all Aussies in the end.

The second thing is, like in many places around the world, this explicit hatred of a general group of people is often founded on some form of actual facts - blown out of proportion - then developed into a cult-like following.

Middle-Eastern hatred of the US can be linked to the role the US has had in promoting tensions in the region and the political expediency involved in supporting the Israeli cause despite the hypocrisy of taking a People's land to give to another People who had their land taken.

Clearly (actually, almost certainly) most Americans have no idea about what's really going on in the Middle East and they probably don't overtly support the oppression of Middle Eastern people for political gain, but they've been caught up in the fight. As a result, there would appear to be a general hatred and fear of those from the Middle East.

Now, transpose this to beachside Cronulla. There is no doubt that the few Lebs who were minding their own business at Cronulla ought not have been attacked like they were, but this cannot be taken out of context. For far too long Lebanese gangs (I only call them gangs as a descriptor - I realise that its just generally groups of friends and family hanging out) have intimidated and threatened people wherever they go. While out of context (and probably in context) what happened yesterday in Cronulla was unacceptable, it is, in some ways understandable.

Hopefully the tension will die down now for a bit and we will all look back and learn a thing or two. The Anglo-Saxon Aussies involved need to learn that neither beaches, nor Australia in general, is "theirs" - it's yours and mine and the Lebs' and the Asians' and everyone's - either those Anglo-Saxon Aussies can learn to like it or they can go back to where they came from. Secondly, young Leb guys need to realise that you can't go round causing trouble like that - bashing a lifesaver is ridiculous. Don't blame it on culture or origin - blame it on the fact that they think it's funny to attack soft targets. I have nothing against gang on gang violence - it sounds kinda fair and at least everyone there is there for a fight - just leave the rest of society out of it and I guarantee that, miraculously, people will start hating Lebamese Australians in general, a lot less.

Keeping a lid on it

Ever since I moved to Japan, I've been working very hard on trying not let logic control me. It's probably been the biggest change in my life since I was born (no, that's not a misprint or a joke...). At university, I had worked so hard at trying to bring logic as a guiding infuence in my life only to realise that once I began my training here in Japan, how limiting that kind of logic is.

One of the things that I have come to see is that everything has it's place, even ways of thinking. I never realised it at the time but logic in my university days was setting me up for disaster. Not in the sense that most people think of as being a disaster but in a way that is more subtle.

Carl Jung said once that, "Before the bar of fate and nature, unconsciousness is never accepted as an excuse. In fact there are very severe penalties for it."

Perhaps the most interesting thing for me at the moment is how being unaware of your environment and what's around you (at all levels) IS the most surefire way of being aware.

Sigh... this is very, very dificult to explain.....

Sleiman

Being able to keep going

It seems to me that law (or positive law) is a discipline of sociology and has more to do with politics and the capacity to maintain authority (not necessarily in the political and military sense either...) than with any 'real' law. As they say, he who has the might, has the right...

Therefore, when thinking about the law, we have to recognise this boundary. Humans, the more cultured we become, the more 'specialised' our education becomes. Certainly the world of humans is a narrow one. In real martial arts, one is trained to recognise weaknesses. The deeper one goes into the training, the more one recognises the existence of subtlety.

Obviously by mentioning the martial arts, I reveal the rationale behind my questions (not that many people will recognise that rationale as having anything to do with martial arts...). As a martial artist, though, it seems that I am bound(?) to explore, study and recognise these weaknesses. When I think about positive law, then these weaknesses become glaringly obvious.

I guess this leads to questions such as "Was there a 'law' that 'existed' before humans and if so, will it continue to exist after? I guess this leads to what some refer to as natural or Divine law.

I guess that ultimately, what I am asking is, "How should humans govern their lives?"....

This is a difficult topic....

Here is one for you Kim....

I was thinking the other day, what makes law, 'law'? I mean, what gives the law it's legitimacy? I'm asking this because a number of my students are law students and the first question that I always ask them is, "What is Japanese law based on?"

As far as I know, there is no tradition of law in Japanese history so I often wonder what the connection is between current law in Japan and Japanese culture.

Is law something inviolate? What gives the law it's authority? Is there a natural law (Divine, perhaps?) or is all law man-made?

Sleiman