Chickens Everywhere!!

A few old pictures from my past at the Zen Center

Yesterday after dropping my daughter off at work at six thirty I I drove all the way to the Sungai Batu Mosque located just after Bayan Lepas, where the Penang International Airport is. Along the way I dropped by The Jerejak Resort and SPA ferry terminal where i used to work as the terminal Supervisor. Talked to an old friend, a spunky lady who I had almost got attatched to at one time had it not been for my late wife beign still alive at the time. She and her husband, the man who got her instead runs the restautrant there. Things is about the same as far as the Resort is concern, same old pains and poor management according to her.
I arrived at the mosque as the call for the Maghrib prayer was being blarred out of the minaret speakers and i joined the prayer. After I joined the Muzium Gallery Boys at the Star gazing corner outside the mosque while listening to the cheramah being given from inside by the invited Ustaz. What he said hit right home word for word expecially about the social woes and the decadence of the Islamic society today. The cure for this illness that we are all experiencing he said is here in the mosque, the house of God. I was again moved to remember that this was my negligence too and hence my emotions getting the better of me and spiritual energy getting way low below the acceptable level by my standards. Whe your spiritual energy level drops your creative energy levels suffers a down curve,so I have noticed in myself. I am not trying to convince anyone that the mosque is the only place for them to find the solace and tranquility and far from it that am I trying to convert anyone to Islam when I write about the religion,but it is me i am the one i am refering to when I talk of Islam. You whoever you are will have to find your own church corner or temple corner to find your solitude and peace from the humdrum of this rat eat rat life we are living. However find it we must for we all of us need a retreat of one form or another a place where we can unwind or drop off all the bonds of life that have been anchoring us to the ground or for some dragging us into it. We need to en-lighten ourselves even if it is just for a brief period in our daily lives, to retreat from the pressures of life and at the same itme to recharge our energies physically, emotionally, psychologically as well as spiritually. This is our space, inner an outer where none can touch or is allowed to come anywhere near. This is our inner sanctum, the place where we emanate from, our center, our core of being; this is where God resides in us and herein lies the Secret of Secrets.
Early this morning after dropping off my daughter at the place she works, (she works at the Bon Ton Cafe in Penang) I dropped by a market place on Carnavon street to do some life sketching. The place where thye were selling fowls got my attention and I spent a few hours there amidst the smell and the noise watching and sketching the scene and being encouraged by the workers who were mostly Chinese and Indians with a few Malays who does the Halal slaughtering of the chickens. It was fun to be able to ahng around this place and not be offending anyone and better yet being accepted and thanked for, for taking the trouble to do the sketching of the place. The feeling left me with an answer as to why or what i like about my art. It is the action the moment of creating the feeling of being a part of the whole whatever the scene may be when capturing the moment in time. This is something photography cannot do as the camera is often seen as offensive or intrusive by most especially if their action involve getting dirty, such as covered head to toe in blood. Sketching after the initial step creates a kind of rapport between the subject and the artisit. An artist ust also know how to entertain if and when approached by the subjects and not feel aloof as to who he is compared to his subjects, here humilty goes a very long way.