• The ephemeral art of sand sculptures …
• … built in the shadow of German bunkers …
• … creates questions that make you think!
• Read & consider one of the most fundamental choices in life!
• This page is an entry in “Soren’s Blog: Inspirational Thoughts” – a blog aimed at your personal development & spiritual growth. This self improvement blog incorporates inspirational motivational quotes, short funny jokes, funny questions that make you think and more!
Vacation in the Middle of Nowhere, Denmark 🙂
I’ve just come back from a week’s vacation in the north western part of the small kingdom that is Denmark. (That’s about as far away from the capital of Copenhagen – where I live – as you can get).
We lived in a cottage right about in the middle of nowhere. No landline phones and no Internet – which was kind of interesting in itself. It made me realize how used to, and dependent on, the Net I’ve become. But that’s not the point here – or maybe it is, sort of, because this blog post is partly about contrasts.
The cottage is situated more or less in the expansive dunes near the beach, so we could hear the sea both outside and inside of the house. And since that sea is in reality the Atlantic Ocean (though locally we simply call it the Western Sea), well, there’s quite some power to it at times. Big waves, big noise.
Ephemeral Art Contest
Every Wednesday during the summer there’s a ‘sandcastle building competition’ on the beach.
Regular people (mostly local Danish tourists like myself) sculpt wonderful things out of the readily available beach sand and sea weed and shells and after a few hours of sand sculpting the winner of the week is selected by local judges.
Consequently, every week new sand sculptures arise out of the shapeless beach sand. They last from a few hours to a few days, depending on the weather and the sea. Talk about ephemeral art!
So, this week, on the beach there were men, women, racing cars …
… snakes, crocodiles, horses …
… tennis rackets, castles, canoes …
… giant ice cream cones and gigantic chess boards …
… all sculpted out of sand.
Something else, that’s on that beach, too, is concrete bunkers.
Not Art and Certainly Not Ephemeral Art
Yes, that’s right, concrete bunkers. During World War 2 the German Third Reich lead by Adolf Hitler felt that Das Reich didn’t have enough beaches and so they occupied Denmark (and Norway, too).
Actually, Germans still feel that they don’t have enough beaches so they still come to Denmark, but now they bring money instead of tanks and troops, which we much prefer.
The German occupation of Denmark (starting April 1940) was a dark chapter of in our country’s history (full of oppression, resistance and violence) and every year in the early summer many Danes still celebrate the liberation of Denmark by British and American troops in May 1945.
German Conquerors – and Builders
Back in the 1940s the highly efficient German war machine decided it needed to defend those nice Danish beaches (along with most other West European beaches in the so called ‘Atlantic Wall’), and so the Germans built bunkers.
And when the Germans build something, they build it to last. German cars, for instance, are world famous for that. The German bunkers are a little less famous, but they actually last longer.
(In terms of the ego classification tool of the Enneagram I think the German nation is Enneatype 1 – the Perfectionist. When a perfectionist does something he or she REALLY does it – as close to perfectly as possible).
Back to the Ephemeral Art on the Beach
Thus the weekly competition of sandcastle building on the beach where I was having my vacation takes place right next to the remnants of those German bunkers. To me that was a study in contrasts.
Happy people of all nationalities (including friendly German tourists) having wonderful fun building and sculpting things they knew wouldn’t be there tomorrow – or even in a few hours – virtually in the shadow of the permanent concrete reminders of a war that took place many decades ago.
So, I got to thinking, what’s important in this life?
Fighting, conquering and subsequently living in fear, trying to defend your bloody spoils (creating bunkers on the beach) … or simply having fun across the arbitrary national borders and accepting the complete impermanence of things (creating ephemeral art on the same beach)?
Ego vs. Soul
Well, if you ask the ego , your ego, it’ll respond ‘being serious and efficient while defending yourself against the others’. Your ego will go for the bunkers.
Your ego is a defence mechanism and unless you happen to have and ego of Enneatype 7, which is the Enthusiast/Adventurer, your ego will think in terms of defence. (By the way, egos of Enneatype 7 think the same way, only they focus on having fun and making people smile as a defensive measure).
But if you ask your heart and your soul they’ll answer ‘being open, relaxed and accepting while playing with the others and having fun’. Your heart and soul will go for the ephemeral art.
It’s all for the ‘be here now’ things in life. Or, in other words, smile now, die later!
He, he, another word for the ephemeral art of sand sculptures might be ‘smile now cry later art’. 🙂
The Point?
The point is this:
It’s actually a choice. You get to choose.
Seriousness or fun? Defence or acceptance? Fear or love? Concrete bunkers or ephemeral art?
And what’s more, it’s a choice you have to make. You can’t really avoid it; it’s a part of life in relative reality [LINK] as we know it. So, it’s a choice you’re going to make whether you want to or not. Either subconsciously or consciously.
You make it every day, many times a day; in your work, in your relationships and in every conceivable part of your life. Think about that … the bunkers of the scared or the ephemeral art of the people who live laugh love?
Listen to your fearful ego and be all serious and defensive – or listen to your heart and soul and be all open, accepting and playful …
What do YOU choose?
Where Would You Like to Go Next?
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