Tuesday 31 January 2017

THE LATE ARRIVAL OF NON-LINEARITY: A NON-OBJECTIVE REFLECTION ON THE MOVIE "ARRIVAL" (PART ONE)


Dear Denis Villeneuve (Director of "Arrival")

I went to see your movie yesterday. Somehow, it's central premise on non-linearity has prompted me to share my reflection here. There will be two parts. Probably three. This is part one. 

So here we go.

Dear Mr. Villeneuve, 

In the movie, the main character, a linguist by the name of Dr Louise Banks (played superbly by Amy Adams), experiences flashes of her future while trying to decipher a non-linear visual language used by two aliens in the movie. This can be a good excuse for you (also your screen writer and editor) to jump forward and backward in time as the story unfolds. Many film directors have done this. Yet for me, jumping forward and backward in time along a single narrative (storyline) trajectory, is still very linear. 


After the initial excitement at the beginning and most of the earlier part of the movie, I thought that it was going to go non-linear all the way. It didn't. 

That left me wanting. Nonetheless, I understand that it is not an easy task to fully infuse non-linearity in a film since it is still predominantly taken by the mass audience as a linear form of language and communication. Pete Travis mildly tried it in "Vantage Point", Nolan in "Interstellar". Your film may end up having multiple screens, each with different stories or stories within stories that may cross paths at some points, with many narrative trajectories, many uncertain probabilities or possibilities, all taking place simultaneously, without a singular ending. It may turn to be schizophrenic. But that is partly what non-linear meant to me.  

Dear Mr. Villeneuve, 
Some people would probably ask, what's the big deal about non-linearity, especially in relation to your movie. 

The big deal is that we don't need an alien invasion to be introduced to a non-linear language and communication. That is my big deal about non-linearity.

Ya, we can discover such language in our own backyard, here on planet Earth. Such language (in various forms of visualization) has been around in many ancient civilizations and spiritual traditions since more than 2500 years ago. 

Non-linear language has been obscured by the conditioning that we have received from the predominantly linear forms of modern language and communication. 

So where can we find examples of such non-linear language and communication? 

Many. We can find them in the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian hieroglyphics, in the products of Aztec civilization, in the Hindu's and Buddhist mandalas, in the Chinese symbolism, in the geometry of Islamic Art, in the products of Malay cosmology and many more. 








Dear Mr. Villeneuve, 
If we knew how to appreciate, embrace and experience the non-linearity of traditional forms of visualization, language and communication, the non-linear language of those two aliens in your movie wont be that mysterious to experience. Dr. Banks in the movie, as a linguist, should have no problem grasping a non-linear language system. But I suspect that her expertise is framed as more on modern linear languages rather than the ancient and traditional ones. 

Dear Mr. Villeneuve, 
Another big deal about non-linear language that can be found in many forms of traditional visualization and communication is that it is a language that needs to be experienced and felt rather than studied, analyzed and 'translated'. 

I fancy the term 'quantum visualization' since such non-linear language can be reproached as a visualization of a quantum state. In fact, non-linearity is a quantum state. 

What are the qualities that define such quantum state? Your physicist character in the movie Dear Mr. Villeneuve, should have explained it better than me here. 

It is a state of infinite probabilities. Some physicists employ the terms uncertainties and possibilities. Few others would explain it through the concept of bifurcation, or infinite branching and sub-branching of time and space in concurrent or simultaneous manner. 

Non-linearity also relates to 'non-locality', in which one experiences multiple time-space (dimensions) at once, at every moment, every fraction of a second, every 'now', simultaneously. Non-linearity and non-locality allow us to experience 'nowness' and be freed from the linear trappings of time and space. 

Other qualities that relate to non-linearity is inter-connectivity and entanglement. I will touch more on these qualities of quantum state in the second part of my reflection. 





Interestingly, we can find these qualities of quantum state in many forms of non-linear visualization, language and communication of many spiritual traditions around the world including in the examples that I have mentioned above. In fact, through my current research, I am reproaching the geometric language of Islamic visual tradition as a form of quantum visualization, meant to allow us experience non-linearity. But that will be another story. This reflection is on non-linearity in your movie.





Few writers refer to such non-linear language as the 'language and grammar of harmony'. It is a shared language of humanity that has been obscured by our over-bearing towards scientific, logical, sequential, the so-called rational and objective mind and thinking.  We have been conditioned to over-think until we forgot to feel. We have been over-using our left brain until we forgot to balance it with our right brain. We have become too comfortable with logic until we become suspicious of our own intuition. We cherish knowing more than experiencing or 'being'. We celebrate our brain, but we forgot to nourish our heart. We look up to cleverness more than kindness. We are obsessed with speed until we forgot the value of stillness. We are trapped by linearity until we lost the preciousness of every moment, every now. We are bounded by the lower mind linear thinking that may lead us to unstable emotional frequencies such as fear, insecurity, hate, anger, greed, envy, ungratefulness, suspicion, the egoistic illusion of separateness and many more (as partly epitomized by the ubiquitous army set-up in your movie). We desperately need to elevate our lower mind thinking to a non-linear higher mind frequencies, that will lead us to the universal experience of inter-connected love beyond form, gratitude, honesty, joy and happiness.     

The time has 'arrived' for us to globally re-embrace non-linearity, by 'heart', as warmly implied by your movie. The time is NOW.  








For that Mr. Villeneuve, I thank you. 

KEBUN JIWA HALUS
7 Tingkat Permai
11700 Gelugor, Penang,
Malaysia. 













Monday 30 January 2017

INGAT.

Banyak yg kita dpt hari ni, kita pernah minta dlm doa dulu. 

Janganlah lupa bersyukur ya. 


Wednesday 18 January 2017

TUNDING

Bila kita menunding pada seseorang atau sesuatu, kita juga sedang menunding pada hati kita sendiri. Oleh itu pilihlah betul-betul siapa dan apa yg kita nak tunding. 

When we r pointing at someone or something, we r pointing at our hearts too. Therefore, choose wisely who and what we want to point at.  

APA YG HATI KITA PANGGIL

Apa yg kita jumpa dan layan dlm internet adalah apa yg getaran hati kita panggil. Pilihlah betul2 apa yg mahu dipanggil. 

(Whatever we discover and entertain on the internet is what the vibrations of our hearts call for. Choose wisely what we want to call for.)


Monday 9 January 2017

NIKMAT

"Nak rasa nikmatnya minum, kena lalui rasa dahaga. Nak rasa nikmatnya manis, kena lalui rasa pahit dulu. Oleh itu, jika tgh rasa kepahitan, rilekla, tak payah kocoh2 nak letak dlm fb status. Nanti yg manis tu segan nak sampai."

JUMPA YG BAIK

"Jika nak jumpa yg baik, tanamkanlah yg baik dlm hati terlebih dahulu."

KENAL BAIK & BURUK

"Kenalilah kebaikan dan keburukan dlm seseorang dan dalam sesuatu peristiwa, sebagai panduan. Oleh itu, toksahlah hanya nak kenal yg buruk je."

THE OPPOSITE OF HATE

"B careful with who you hate. You may end up liking him/her. Or you may end up becoming exactly like him/her." 


Monday 2 January 2017

TAK BERSETUJU DALAM TENANG & REDHA

Tak bersetuju (termasuk tak memilih, tak mahu, tak layan), tak bermakna benci.

Tapi kedua-duanya seringkali susah nak dipisahkan. Itulah yg sebabkan haru-biru dan huru-hara.

Tak bersetujulah dalam tenang dan redha.

MENANG ATAS BENCI

Logiknya macam ni ya sayang:

Aku ayat mereka supaya benci kau.
Kau ayat mereka supaya benci aku.
Tengok la ayat siapa yang 'power'
Akhir sekali
kebencian yang menang.
Kita berdua, semua suku-suku kita, dan semua jelata yang pandai sangat dan hebat ni
kalah teruk, berbenci-benci sampai 7 keturunan.

Nak ke?
Kemenangan sejati kemanusiaan adalah kasih sayang, bukan benci ya sayang oi.








THE ZEN OF A CHEESEBURGER JEDI


KEBUN JIWA HALUS
Presents
KENDURI ILMU
Episode 3

"THE ZEN OF A CHEESEBURGER JEDI"

30 odd years in Malaysia, 21 years in the USA and 3 years in Japan, artist and wanderer Shamsul Bahari shares his zen of 'being there' and 'BE-IN-G' through lots of sketchbooks, pictures and tamblings ('borak').

There are rumors saying that there will also be some good foods and drinks as well. Well, this is Malaysia ok, no food no talk. 

Friday
6 January 2017
8.30 pm
Kebun D 7 Tingkat Permai, 11700 Gelugor, Penang.

Limited space. Call or text Hasnul at 017-5047743 to reserve a spot. 

Stay awesome and Happy New Now!






PENAWAR HATI BUTA (CURE FOR BLINDNESS OF THE HEART)


Jika diri sendiri dah rasa pandai, tapi susah atau tak boleh nampak kebaikan lagi, suruh org lain peluk dan cakap pada kita, "memang susah hidup dgn hati yg buta." 

InsyaAllah, sembuh. 

(If we felt so clever, yet found it hard to see goodness, ask someone to say this while giving us a hug, "its hard to live a life in blindness". 

God Permits, we will b cured.)


Sunday 1 January 2017

DALAM GERAK ADA ABJAD





"Dalam Gerak Ada Abjad, Dalam Abjad Ada Makna"
Oleh Dr Nur Zaidi

“Setiap pergerakan manusia ada abjad terbentuk disebaliknya”
(Dato Haji Hashim, Kuala Kangsar, Perak)

Bertitik-tolak dari pernyataan di atas, Dr. Nur Zaidi mengajak kita menyingkap abjad-abjad Arab yang terhijab dalam langkah lima Silat Titi Sebatang. Kerja menyingkap ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan teknologi 'motion capture'. Teknologi ini membolehkan kita melihat bagaimana titik-titik tertentu pada beberapa bahagian badan bergerak dalam ruang. Titik-titik yang bergerak ini meninggalkan jejak-jejak garisan melengkung yang boleh dibaca sebagai abjad-abjad Arab jika dilihat dari sudut-sudut tertentu. Setiap abjad persis pintu-pintu yang membuka kepada beberapa tafsiran makna. Singkapan Dr. Nur Zaidi ini mencadangkan bahawa pergerakan makro (pergerakan besar) pada tubuh manusia itu  boleh dibaca sebagai kerja menulis (atau melukiskan) abjad-abjad yang tidak boleh dicerap dengan mata kasar. Oleh itu, gerak-gerak tertentu pada tubuh manusia boleh dibaca sebagai tindakan mengingat (zikir) dan menanam makna-makna (getaran halus) yang baik dalam diri dan persekitaran.

BUAT ART

Macamla 'buat art' ni hanya melukis dan pamer lukisan dlm galeri je. Isshhh menda la lu ni. 

BALADA MENARA CONDONG & WIRAWATI YG DIPINGGIR LUPA.

BALADA MENARA CONDONG & WIRAWATI YG DIPINGGIR LUPA. Tentang tapak niaga wanita cekal, 'tanah' asal tumpah darah, rumah, pulang k...