Some contemplative music for a cool and rainy spring day here on Canada’s west coast.

This is a “taqsim” which is an improvised solo piece, and it’s a common form for the oud, the Arabic lute. Taqsim are deliberately expressive, often being used to set the mood for a longer suite of music. They can go on for 20 minutes or more, as the musician weaves through an emotional territory and describes a varied and conversational musical landscape.

This sample is typical of the genre, moving between slow and contemplative moments and points of high frenetic energy. It’s from a live recording by the Egyptian-born Australian musician Joseph Tawadros. It’s nearly 12 minutes long, so sit back and enjoy.

I’m reading a number of excellent books at the moment that have nothing to do with facilitation except that they are about seeing the natural in the world. TC McLuhan’s “The Way of the Earth” is fantastic and so is Thoreau’s classic Walden, from which comes this quote:

As a facilitator I try to use processes that are natural, that work with self-organization, chaos and order the way nature works with them. This passage nicely describes the sense of unease and disorientation one feels in the chaos of Open Space for example that leads to a realization of “the infinite extent of our relations.”

In the words of the Japanese art critic Soetsu Yangi, quoted by McLuhan:

I have some big processes to plan and facilitate over the next few weeks and so I’m going outside now to sit under an arbutus tree and sketch the swordfern fiddle heads that are coming up.

All these world leaders gathered at the Pope’s funeral, and a bout of handshaking and politeness breaks out causing the spin doctors to go into overdrive.

Far from seeing this as a sad indictment on the state of international relations, I actually smiled broadly after reading this piece. It shows that when two humans meet, they tend toward the cordial. Even if they lead countries that are at war with one another or one denies the existence of the other, it’s impossible not to respond like a human to the presence of another.

My friend Jeff and I were talking yesterday about flow states, what they feel like, why they are important.

As a musician I live for the flow state that we call “groove.” But it’s really heard to describe what that feels like. Saying that it’s a shared emotional space into which you let go and trust in the collective outcome doesn’t quite capture it.

I think this video, which was posted up at MetaFilter, captures flow states exactly. Here are a bunch a young guys making incredible basketball shots which they could only make if they simply relaxed and let go into them. I’m willing to bet that as this shoot went on they actually made more and more of these attempts on the first or second try. What a thing to watch, especially the one where the guy bats the ball into the basket with his skateboard.

Lisa Gerrard makes music on her own and formerly with Dead Can Dance.