Category: education

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True happiness according to Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore sketched by Dutch artist Martin Monnickendam during a lecture tour in September 1920 © Stadsarchief Amsterdam

“True happiness is not at all expensive. It depends upon that natural spring of beauty and of life, harmony of relationship. Ambition pursues its own path of self-seeking by breaking this bond of harmony, digging gaps, creating dissension. Selfish ambition feels no hesitation in trampling under foot the whole harvest field, which is for all, in order to snatch away in haste that portion which it craves. Being wasteful it remains disruptive of social life and the greatest enemy of civilization.” | Read the full lecture >>

Source: Rabindranath Tagore in “Robbery of the soil” (Calcutta University, 1922), posted by Tony Mitra on a blog “Exploring citizens duty on food security, environmental sustainability, covid and freedom issues” (27 September 2015)
https://www.tonu.org/tag/robbery-of-the-soil/
Date visited: 12 January 2021

Worldcat lists compiled by Ludwig Pesch

Carnatic (South Indian classical) music 

Rabindranath Tagore: works by and about the influential writer, humanist and social reformer

Indian performing arts

History 

Publications, book chapters and articles by Ludwig Pesch

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“To pursue homogeneity is to enter an endless life of purging, secession and self-destructive violence” –Historian Sunil Khilnani

Every dream of homogeneity stares at an infinite regress: there’s always some aspect of identity, some sect, some culture or language, that doesn’t fit it. To pursue homogeneity is to enter an endless life of purging, secession and self-destructive violence. […]

More by Sunil Khilnani >>

Khilnani’s heroes, such as the emperor Akbar and his great-grandson Dara Shukoh, tend to be those who build bridges between India’s varied communities and religions; his demons are those, such as Jinnah, who believe “that there was one key identity, religion, which could lock in all the others”. This, believes, Khilnani, is profoundly wrong: “Every dream of homogeneity stares at an infinite regress: there’s always some aspect of identity, some sect, some culture or language, that doesn’t fit it. To pursue homogeneity is to enter an endless life of purging, secession and self-destructive violence.”

Yet Khilnani is scrupulously meticulous, accurate and unromantic in his depiction of his characters – and never hesitates to show the flaws of even those he most approves of. For “by insisting that figures from India’s past be preserved in memory as saints”, he writes, “we deny them not just their real natures, but their genuine achievements”. […]

Source: “Incarnations: India in 50 Lives by Sunil Khilnani” reviewed by William Dalrymple
URL: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/14/incarnations-india-in-50-lives-fifty-sunil-khilnani-review-ghandi-nehru
Date Visited: 3 February 2023

[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]

Worldcat lists compiled by Ludwig Pesch

Carnatic (South Indian classical) music 

Rabindranath Tagore: works by and about the influential writer, humanist and social reformer

Indian performing arts

History 

Publications, book chapters and articles by Ludwig Pesch

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Enrichir la collaboration interculturelle par la musique carnatique

Nous nous engageons à promouvoir la collaboration interculturelle et la créativité par la musique. Nos activités musicales ont enrichi la vie des enfants, des jeunes et des adultes pour qui la musique n’était jusqu’à présent qu’un rêve lointain: une musique mélodieuse et basée sur des rythmes envoûtants. Nous y plongeons avec aplomb, joyeusement et spontanément mais toujours ensemble.

La musique carnatique met l’accent sur la structure et l’improvisation. Elle est construite sur le râga, l’ensemble des notes utilisées, et le tâla, la rythmique utilisée. La tradition musicale de l’Inde du Sud est très ancienne. | Wikipedia >>

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How will we experience music in 2050? To play music together and connect!

Ideally in a very profound way – the way families have shared music for thousands of years, and long before music became a commodity:

So it’s a rainy day in 2050 and you and your friends decide you’d like to see a concert. […] Emmy Parker, a cultural futurist and former brand manager for synthesizer maker Moog Music, said that the future could also allow us to experience music and sound in a very profound way, the way families have shared music for thousands of years, and long before “music” became a commodity.

“How can we expand that simple idea, which has been on planet Earth probably for 150,000 years, that we play music together to, number one, connect with each other?” said Parker.

19:40 we play music together, to connect to our higher self or God or universe; to our ancestors, to bring us back to another time and place […] very similar to a time traveler.

We use to heal our minds, our hearts and spirit, and our body, and connect to each other, to our families.

Listen to Spark’s Next Big Thing series, which explores how technology in various guises might affect humanity in the far future >>