On New Zealand v Australia (39-10)

Not much to say. The All Blacks clearly dominated this game. 15 turnovers from the Wallabies in the opening 40 minutes led to a half time lead of 11 points to New Zealand. 7 lost lineouuts cranked open that winning lead even further. Wycliff Palu was noticeably absent from the frontline of play in the opening half but came through with some power later on. Tatafu Polota-Nau had a shocker coming in mid way through the second half. Statistics were against us: no team has one three matches in a row in the Bledisloe, it has been 22 years since Australia beat New Zealand at Eden park and seven since we beat New Zealand at their home ground. A few weeks break and then time to take the battle to South Africa.

On Australia v New Zealand (34-19)

The second Bledisloe test kicks off in a few minutes, I thought I would add a small piece of glory to this blog by reliving last week's stomping victory. After convincing victories against the Irish, the French and the South Africans (world champions 2007), it looks as though the stars were slowly aligning for the Australian Wallabies with a great win over the New Zealand All Blacks.

In a few hours we will see if the tides have truly turned.

On the Economist vs Al-Qaeda

A few weeks ago the Economist outlined a few points on what it believed are the next steps in the ideological battle against Al-Qaeda's brand of terrorism. These are curiously similar to the situation to the situation that was occurring in Algeria and Egypt in the mid 1990s. The overall concept is to distinguish between the military roles of 'the West' (on the fronts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq) and the ideological roles of Muslim countries. The Economist puts forward the idea that the next breakthrough will occur when prominent Muslim countries are able to ideologically discredit Al-Qaeda and de-thrown them from their self appointed position of guardians of the future of Islam.

Ideas:

• Highlight views of jihadists who renounce violence
• Publicise stories about jihadists atrocities against Muslims
• Enlist Muslim religious leaders to enounce jihadists as heretics
• Back Islamic movements that emphasise politics over jihad
• Discredit and neutralise jihadist ideologues
• Play up personal or doctrinal disputes among jihadists

On Australia vs Sth Africa

The best analogy I have for last nights Tri Nation's rugby match between South Africa and Australia (held in Perth, Australia) is this: last nights game was the equivalent of going surfing at Dee Why. Dee Why as a beach is rough, unpredictable, not that enjoyable, but it is still a beach and with that comes sun, sand and the sentiment of holidays. Same with this match. It was a rough, basic, brutal, unrefined demonstration of physical rugby, however for all its rough edges and crude play it was still rugby at the highest level between two great teams, and... Australia still came out on top 16-9 against South Africa, the current World Champions.

The real test is still out there... the next two weekends we have back to back games against the All Blacks. South Africa are tough but last night they became trophies on the wall, alongside the heads of the French and the Irish. Let the rebuilding of the Wallabies continue.

On the Godless Pilgrim

"As I struggle through these final surah (of the Qur'an - ed) I am aware of a sense I do not possess, a gaping hole inside my soul that renders me unable to fully appreciate what I read. I have reached the limits that constrain all outside observers of Islam, crept to a boundary beyond which I cannot, or dare not, step. I know already that this boundary will remain, no matter how long I make this journey, no matter how much I learn. it is impossible to fully understand Islam without being a Muslim, impossible to fully comprehend al-Lah without believing in him. I can hope to come close, but full conquest is beyond me."

Andrew Dowling, The Godless Pilgrim, p. 65-66

On Graffiti

These little guys are painted on a pylon across the tracks at my local train station.

On the Pope in Sydney

Today saw the end of World Youth Day (week, chuckle), celebrated with a stadium sized mass headlined by the Pope. It was a strange week, full of clapping, happiness, multiculturalism and... well, people. The city was at capacity and had the same vibe as an alternate universe Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, ironically something Sydney-siders are much more comfortable with.

There were a few iconic cases of preaching to the converted, none more so than the crowd gathered around two brothers with Bibles, standing on milk crates outside our Town Hall. I appreciate public enthusiasm as much as the next man, but surely they could see they weren't winning any new friends.

Much has been made of how spritly this new Pope is. In fact so much is being made of this I was almost expecting him to get all John Howard on us with regular morning walks. His enthusiasm for life was best demonstrated by his hoon around the northern CBD on Thursday afternoon. His Holiness impressed thousands of loyal followers by clocking up record times on the Sydney circuit. Unfortunately you can't please everyone and he managed to disappoint hundreds of thousands by racing past the onlookers at almost 60km/h.

Above is a 'before'. Below is a few seconds later. I was quite chuffed to see the little Australian flag and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

A lot has been said to criticise this week's gathering, me, I will continue to argue that any event that brings hundreds of thousands of international guests to town is a good thing. These guys were uber happy-clappy, well mannered and not nearly as intrusive as originally feared. I didn't see much of the religious side of the event but I did have a good time meeting Spaniards, Mexicans, Argentians, Peruvians, Bolivians, Brazilians,  French, Lebanese, Tongans, Fijians, Filipinos, Dutch, Brits, Americans and all the rest.

On Batman: The Dark Night

Heath Ledger is that good.

On a Defence of World Youth Day

World Youth Day, a Catholic celebration of youth, has come to town, bringing with it hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and a papal visit. There are some obvious jokes to get out of the way before I begin a slight defence of what is rapidly becoming a national whipping post. First, World Youth Day week is an oxymoron. Second, pilgrims, seriously, the Catholic tourists call themselves pilgrims.

The event is a large scale celebration of all things religious, youthy and Catholicy. It is held in Australia, a country that prides itself on a sly disrespect for all things holy and dignified. It occurs less than a year after APEC turned the Sydney into a giant rat run, mere months after the Chinese torch relay drew a connection between indignation and action and days after fresh kiddy fiddling scandals among Catholic priests. In short, this event was never going to be the positive 'heart and minds" publicity event needed to overcome the challenges that organised religion faces in Australia.

However the thing that irks me is not the creation of arbitrary police powers during this week, or the disrupted travel schedules, or the potential cost of the event to the public or even that the Catholics still preach an austere, arguably detrimental, interpretation on the connection between spirituality and organised religion. What irks me is that Australia seems incapable of delivering on the level of respect required for a visiting Pope or head of state. The long and the short of it is that that Pope is the Pope. While I do not believe the man is the sole communicator with the Almighty I have the common sense to realise that others look up to the man as a guide and look to this week's festivities as a celebration of their faith. I argue that because Australians are culturally on home turf when it comes to criticising  Christianity and Catholicism we are gaining unnecessary satisfaction from laying the boot into an already declining section of our society.

This is a post in defence of World You Day not because of any fundamental beliefs in the Catholic Church but more in defence of a minimum standard of respect required for visiting officials.

On Moving House

The reason for my recent lapse in blogging is that Kyle and I have finally moved house. After months of dreams and excuses we found a great little place over in Petersham, near Norton Street, a mecca for coffee, Italian and Lebanese food. 

We moved in last weekend and have spent the week hunting out fridges, couches, spatulas and all the other things that are necessary but not exactly exciting. The apartment is in a good spot, near transport, friends, live music, and a good mix of cultures.

Of all the interesting things that come with moving to a new part of town the one that typifies our area is the above photo. Our council notices now come in six languages! Walking down the street I hear Arabic, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese on a regular basis. Our neighbours are veteran New Caledonians and around the corner is the 'Tongan Uniting Church'.

More photos to come.

On the Wallabies v. France

A few weeks ago I received a call from a family friend to go to the France v. Australia test. It was a chilly night out, but the opportunity to watch the Wallabies stomp on the French was too good to resist. I have a somewhat arbitrary hierarchy of rugby teams I love respect. Australia and New Zealand sit on top... France and South Africa fight it out at the bottom. The French are historically a somewhat devious and dirty team, into unknown for turning what is already quite a physical game into an eye gouging, ruck stomping blood bath.

This game was a test for Australia in many ways. Firstly, we have just secured a new top level coach, charged with the leaden responsibility to turn around a five year slump. Robbie Deans is a Kiwi, we pilfered him because of his ability to loosen up the game, remove formulaic set plays and put the fear of God into even the most seasoned players. The secondly, this game was our last significant international before things became serious with the Tri Nations. The Tri Nations (a series played between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), and the Bledisloe Cup (the Australia v New Zealand component of the Tri Nations series), are the highlights of the rugby calendar, the best games of rugby all year. Consensus has it that Australia is on the back foot walking in. We needed this game to tighten up our forward pack and loosen up our backs.

I want to make mention of our seats. There is definitely something for sitting in the members' stand. This was the view. A basic summery of the game was that yes we won, but no we didn't hit the goal of being flawless. Our first 15 minutes were shocking, with balls going all over the shop. There were many great plays throughout the game but if the French had had more preparation I am not sure we would have been on such safe ground.

Next Saturday sees Australia play South Africa in Perth. The Tri Nations has begun.

On Trendy Bars, Whips and Homeless Guys

I was walking home tonight after a reasonably late night at work. On my left was a pseudo chic bar with marble columns and plastic people. On right, across the road, were a bunch of bearded homeless guys playing with a whip. I wonder where they found such an authentic adventure tool on such a casual Thursday night? Bet all the guys in the bar wished they too had a whip. This is possibly the first suprise I have had while trawling the streets of Sydney.

On Urban Spaces

My daily working life, situated in Circular Quay, offers unparalleled views of Sydney's  three most defining features: the Opera House, the Harbour and the Bridge. These elements have become important parts of my urban environment, the space, the fresh air, the reminder that I am in the heart of the largest city in my country but have time to sit and watch ducks chill on lapping shores.

A few weeks ago the city council placed this piece of art in the centre of my routine. A giant cage hemming in growing, if not full grown, native Australian flora. A reminder that the buildings we live in are but constructs, the buses we catch are but transport, that life continues and adapts in the heart of the cities we have created to house our people. Sydney has quite a lot of well preserved nature lying around, quite often I catch myself wondering what this terrain looked like before concrete was laid, foundations drilled and buildings constructed.

'Silent Escape' encapsulates humankind's attempt to harness, and even control, the processes of nature. It shows nature's capacity to adapt, and its quiet power to expand its domain between an beyond the confines of the bars. Should we ignore the effects of our continuing  exploitation, then perhaps we shall be too late to recognise the creation of our own prison. As the City looks towards Sustainable Sydney 2030, it is important to ensure the balance between the built and natural environments.

Silent Escape - Alex Kosmas

On Rugby: Australia A vs Tonga

This afternoon I went up to North Sydney oval to watch Australia A play against Tonga as part of the Pacific Nations series. It was a style of game to the games we have been watching recently. Looser, less set play. A competitive rugby score could be something like 20-14, today's was a walkover with Australia A beating Tonga 80-7. Tonga's single try was well deserved, a ten metre pushover try, however the Australian backs were too fast and strong for the Tongan side. Timanu Tahu and Drew Mitchell earned their stripes bulldozing/slicing (respectively) through the opposition backs.

The Australia A team is essentially the 'seconds' team for rugby Australia and, as a result of Robbie Dean's decision to focus on creating a deeper player base for the Wallabies, is full of names that last year were playing first grade tests. It will be a great year when Tahu, Mitchell, Norton-Night et al graduate to the first rank (again).

On Canada

Congratulations to our frozen homies of the north. "Canada has apologised for forcing about 150,000 aboriginal children to attend state-funded Christian boarding schools aimed at assimilating them" (BBC link).

 

Australia and Canada, for all our geographic and sporting distances, seem to mirror each other at opposite ends of the world, similar population distribution, vast tracks of empty land, strong migrant makeup and a hangover that comes with the recognition that colonial policies relating to original inhabitants often missed the mark. This move brings back strong memories of February and it will be interesting to see where we go from here.

On A History of God - Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong, over the course of A History of God, builds a historical narrative that explains the possible options mankind has for understanding the concept of 'God' in relation to the three great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This concept has existed for over 4000 years and is best interpreted using the cumulative wisdom of the ages rather than the narrow, tainted, spectrum of the current day (which in this case could mean up to 400 years).

The book moves from the idol worshipping pre-Abrahamic period through the development of the three religions, the philosophy of the Greeks, the Enlightenment, the Reformation and finally closes on the philosophical chaos of the 21st century. The aim is to create a context for religion and throughout the book Armstrong references several themes:

Linguistics: that the lexicon used to describe the elements that comprise our understanding of God, and even the word God itself, are so subjective and weighted in historical context that they can have a negative influence by limiting the parameters of the discussion to an overly familiar description. It is tough to talk about something that may or may not exist in a language that can only reference what we already know.

Anthropomorphism: the attribution of human characteristics to another entity plays a huge role in developing the spectrum in which we understand God. Asking the question of 'does God care' assumes that God can care. Applying familiar characteristics such as love, hate, respect, and loyalty allows a person to empathise with an esoteric concept but at the same time allows an individual to project human emotion that then frames the God in the context of something we know rather than something that lies beyond the mystical realm of comprehension. This is particularly seen in the Gospel, the Torah and the Qur'an where god is often referred to as seeing, hearing, listening and acting (e.g. Noah's flood and turning Rachel into a pillar of salt).

Subjectivity & objectivity: this is a great debate between mysticism and philosophy. Is God a subjective concept that is experienced by an individual or is it a rational belief that can be objectively proved through philosophy? Armstrong leans more towards the personal experience end of the spectrum stating time and time again that attempts to prove God's existence send people to despair ("Reflect upon God's creation but not on his nature or else you will perish" p. 427) because the parameters and logic that the proof require are of a different nature to the entity in question.

Dogma: there are occasions where humans have invoked extremely complex concepts in an attempt to logically explain something that has no logical explanation. The most prominent ones are the discussions on Creationism and the concept of the Christian Holy Trinity (the idea of Jesus as the physical son of a spiritual being and what exactly is the role of the Holy Spirit). Armstrong comes down fairly hard on the tough, depressing agony of Reformist era Christianity taking a view that happiness and joy are essential to mankind's purpose and that the Catholic idea of sin and suppression of sexuality are counter productive.

History: the ability to widen the parameters of discussion is Armstrong's greatest achievement. She presents a case for religion in a state of perpetual flux and that attempts to cling to one 'right way' inevitably cause stress that eventually resolve themselves naturally regardless of the intentions of the participants. Armstrong suggests that the situation Western civilisation finds itself in at the moment is a continuation of the dogmatic application of philosophy to religion. That Western advances in science around 1600 led to an assumption that rationalism is a tool best applied to all aspects of life. Armstrong demonstrates that both Judaism and Islam experimented with this idea but found that in its extremes it was detrimental to the development of the spiritual nature needed to achieve a sense of purpose under the notion of God.

...a conclusion

Armstrong concludes by arguing that adherence to any dogma that does not actively promote compassion can lead down a path of anomie, confusion, frustration, isolation, violence and eventual reform. She states that the search for an Absolute, in whatever form it takes, is a natural human instinct and that humans cannot endure emptiness isolation for long before we start to fill the void with purpose and meaning. Our understanding of God travels the wide road between mysticism and philosophy and that defending particular dogmas is more for our own satisfaction and sense of identity than because of the existence of a specific entity that requires our intervention. Religious understanding is a personal experience that provides purpose and direction but requires intelligence, discipline and order in order to prevent this subjective experience becoming overly emotional and anthropomorphic.