Abu Dhabi, UAE

While I was researching things to do and explore while in Dubai, I came upon an image of light on white walls and was intrigued. I found out that the picture was taken at the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi where there is a dome with cutouts to allow the light through.

Once there, I saw this sign, setting the intention for my experience near the entrance.

I know now, after reflecting on my time there, that the museum did just that. It provided a space for me and others to see humanity in a new light, revealing threads of creativity that connect diverse cultures across thousands of years.  From the beginning, the exhibit wove the delicate stories of early civilizations and the power of females for fertility and abundance, universal religions and the connection between the human and spirit world, Asian trade routes and the silk road, the study of the sea and sky, the connections that brought folks together to gather in circles to share ideas and notions of progress, art and creativity… it was as if the museum itself was speaking to me.

 I learned that in the Middle Ages, the term “marvelous” was used to refer to the mysteries of the spiritual world. Another plaque shared that at that time, various Arab thinkers ensured the survival of ancient knowledge, the study of which underlay the scientific discoveries that would later be called ‘modern science.’ This transition, the plaque continues, characterized by advances in mathematics that were fundamental to all fields of knowledge at the time, and stimulated by exchanges taking place around the planet, represented a crucial turning point in the course of world history.

As you know, I am fascinated by communication, writing and storytelling. There, I was able to see actual artifacts from the beginning of writing, with my own eyes, carvings in diorite and Terracotta and painted limestone, the detail, the richness, the messages conveyed. They brought me to tears.

Left: Tablet with cuneiform inscription, Iraq about 2500 BCE

Middle: Funerary stele of the goldsmith Maa, Egyptian civilization, Egypt 1550-1425 BCE

Right: imhotep, a deified architect shown as a scribe, Egyptian civilization, Egypt 664-332 BCE

Courtesy of Louvre Abu Dhabi

On the Statue of Ramesses II, Pharaoh of Egypt, Egyptian civilization, Egypt, Tanis 1279-1213 BCE

As I made my way through the galleries, I encountered this on a plaque, “Between the 5th and 15th centuries, India was a leading creative centre in the domain of religious sculpture. The lives of venerated individuals were illustrated in works produced to accompany the spread of Buddhism and Hinduism into Central Asia, and from South-East Asia into China, Korea and Japan. Their purpose was to meditation by devotees and their encounter with the divine.

The Divinity Tara in the lalitasana pose, India 800-100, Sandstone

I was struck by the statue of the divinity Tara from India that dates back to 800-1000.  I was recently given a card with the green Tara on it for my birthday and that was the first time I had learned of Tara as a deity who is worshipped to develop certain inner qualities and to understand outer, inner and secret teaching such as compassion, loving kindness and emptiness. That lead me to a piece that I use in my morning mediation practice- Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha, which translates to Gone, gone, gone… all the way over to the over shore.

As I meandered through the rest of the galleries I learned that “during the Middle Ages, various Arab thinkers ensured the survival of ancient knowledge, the study of which underlay the scientific discoveries that would later be called “modern science.” The transition at the time, was fundamental to the sharing of knowledge though exchanges and they represented a crucial turning point in the course of world history.  I saw a marble tabletop made in 1568 from precious and semi-precious stones obtained from the vast trading networks commissioned by the Medici family, the reigning dynasty of Florence. I passed a jali, or window screen with a triangular pattern made from stone in India between 1550-1615; noticed the detail of a wooden mashrabiya, or door from Egypt in 1500-1800; I gazed at a page from a Polier album, a love poem from India in 1780, with admiration. I learned that the circulation of ideas sparked a new social type of gathering, where folks with similar interests would gather in ‘circles’ to talk and share ideas and thoughts.

As the exhibit came to an end I experienced a magical transition from inside to the outside dome, the experience is one I will leave for you to enjoy on your own when you make the journey there. Maybe you can pciture me there, with eyes wide, heart full, mind stimulated, emerging from the past into the present moment. This is what I saw:

There, outisde, the light came in, it moved and twinkled on the walls. The Arbian Sea was there too, with the sun shimmering and dancing on top of it. It was stunning, it was beautiful and I was there to soak it all in. In a moment, I lifted my hand as if to say hi to it all, this is real, I am here. What was once a dream was now true.

I took it all in. I sat. I gazed. I noticed. I laid back and noticed the ceiling. When the moment was complete, I stood and scanned for an exit. As I was walking, I noticed a quote on a window (the Louvre was covered with quotes- the intention to the space, place and message was one of provocation, yet simplicity). The quote was written and intended to be read from the inside. While I was able to read the text from the other side of the window, I was unable to record it in my journal. I headed inside to write this quote from Neil Armstrong down,

“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of a man’s desire to understand.”

NO JOKE, I close my journal, look up and begin to walk and this is what I see:

Petroglyph, Saudi Arabia 2000 BCE

…it was as if the museum was speaking to me.

in joy and light, with gratitude and love,

Sara