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The Third Choice

“until fairly modern times there was a much higher degree of tolerance in most of the Islamic lands than prevailed in the Christian world” Bernard Lewis

The Third Choice provides a compelling introduction to Islam on the basis of its primary sources, the Qur’an and the life of Muhammad. Topics covered include: the sharia, interpretation of the Qur’an, women’s rights, and religious freedom.

After this introduction of Islam, there follows an explanation of Islam’s policy for non-Muslims living under Islamic conditions. The doctrine of the three choices (conversion, the sword, or the dhimma pact of surrender to Islam) is explained, including an analysis of the meaning of tribute payments (jizya) made by non-Muslims (dhimmis) to their Muslim conquerors.

Durie describes the impact of dhimmitude on the human rights of non-Muslims in Islamic contexts around the world today, including pressure being exerted through the United Nations for states to conform to sharia restrictions on freedom of speech.

The Third Choice offers indispensable keys for understanding current trends in global politics, interfaith dialogue initiatives, and the increasingly fraught relationship between migrant Muslim communities in the West and their host societies.

“It is well to call the attention of each child to one great law, which dominates in nature and thought. Between two things or two ideas relatively different there always exists a third which unites the two others in itself, and is found between them with a certain equilibrium.” Friedrich Froebel

Froebel selected the cylinder to unite the sphere and the cube.

Rudyard Kipling wrote:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Beauty

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty”

Considered to be one of the greatest odes in the English language, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” was not well received by contemporary critics.

Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring’d legend haunt about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal – yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Source: Ode on a Grecian Urn Poem by John Keats – Analysis

Keats was influenced by examples of existing Greek vases. In this poem, he described an ideal artistic type, rather than a specific original vase.

‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ was one of the five odes written in 1819 by John Keats exploring his contemplations about relationships between the soul, eternity, nature, and art.

Thinking about these relationships inspired Friedrich Froebel to design play materials and activities for children, families and communities. Kindergarten was based on these relationships to provide ways for the natural activity of each child to direct individual development and learning, by doing and thinking.

After the domination of Europe by Napoleon from around 1800 to 1814, diplomats from all of the Great Powers met at the Congress of Vienna with the hope of creating a stable Europe. Students and intellectuals wanted to change the world for the better.

Liberal, progressive, fervently Christian and highly educated, Alexander I, Czar of Russia saw himself as an “enlightened despot” or a “philosopher-king” able introduce reforms in the best interest of everyone. Czar Alexander found that granting constitutions and self government to people enabled them to sometimes do things, with which he disagreed.

Villa Trapp

The home of the Sound of Music Family

Daughter of Georg von Trapp, Maria tells her story of the Von Trapp family in the place where an international career began. An illustrated book for all ages with text in German and English.

“It was Maria’s biggest wish to someday be able to return to the house where she had spent most of her youth. This was not at all easy, because Maria never really recovered from a disease she had suffered from in her early childhood. She had always been weaker than her brothers and sisters. But today she is not tired at all. On the contrary Maria von Trapp is looking back on her time at the Trapp Villa and thinking of her roots, here in Austria, in Salzburg.”

At the age of 94 years, Maria von Trapp flew from America to Salzburg. Going back to her family home with all the memories in the house was a very emotional experience for her.

“I was so excited last night, I couldn’t sleep” – Maria, daughter of Georg von Trapp talking about being back at her family home

Standing in the hallway she remembered sliding down the banisters with her brothers and sisters. She looked out of the window and remembered them all climbing the apple trees outside.

As the oldest von Trapp daughter, Agathe’s impeccable recall of her childhood brings fresh life to the events that forged enduring bonds within her devoted family. Her memories of her idyllic Austrian home transport readers back to the time before the von Trapps came to America and reveal a close knit group of siblings who adored their gentle father and mourned the tragic loss of their mother.

The von Trapps were Austrian nobility whose musical gifts enabled them to escape the Nazi threat during World War II and to entertain thousands of audiences in Europe and the United States.

Agathe von Trapp assisted in the operation of a Kindergarten near Baltimore, Maryland for thirty five years.

Nonnberg

Most famous as Maria’s convent, Nonnberg was founded at Salzburg in the eighth century by Bishop Rupert of Worms. The first abbess was St. Erentrudis, who was a niece or sister of St Rupert. The rule of St. Benedict was adopted in the ninth century.

Georg von Trapp acquired a villa in the Aigen district of Salzburg in 1923.

trapp-villa-hotel — Villa built by Valentin Ceconi in 1863 for Walburga Weinwurm and refurbished in 1883 for statesman and nobleman Hugo Raimund Reichsgraf Lamberg, who was Provincial governor (30 September 1872 – 14 June 1880)

After an opera singer heard the children singing, she entered them for a competition. Their subsequent success enabled them to tour Europe and the United States as a family choir.

Nonnberg – official website

Maria von Trapp

Maria was teaching children at Nonnberg, when Captain Georg von Trapp needed a teacher for one of his daughters, who was of delicate health.

Her book, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers was adapted to create The Sound of Music.

The original Broadway production of The Sound of Music opened on November 16, 1959 starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel.

The Real Story of the von Trapp Family

Nonnberg was established during the eight century and became the first Benedictine Abbey north of the Alps. Maria was a qualified teacher, when Captain von Trapp requested a governess for several months for his daughter, who was bedridden with rheumatic fever. She expected to remain with the von Trapp family for 10 months, at the end of which she would return to Nonnberg.

Teacher training in Austria was deeply influenced by the ideas of Friedrich Froebel. Singing and nature walks were part of this training to nurture each child to be active and develop an interest in nature.

Maria developed a caring and loving relationship with all the children. She enjoyed singing with them and getting them involved in outdoor activities. During this time, Georg fell in love with Maria and asked her to stay with him and become a second mother to his children. Maria married Captain von Trapp on November 26, 1927.

Georg Johannes Ritter von Trapp (4 April 1880 – 30 May 1947) was born in Zara, Dalmatia, then a Crown Land of the Austro Hungarian Empire (present day Zadar, Croatia). His father was a naval officer, who had been elevated to the Austrian nobility in 1876, which entitled him and his descendants to the style of “Ritter von Trapp” for sons and “von Trapp” for daughters.

Ritter (knight) was an hereditary title of nobility. In order of precedence Ritter ranked above the lowest rank of the nobility, Edler (nobleman), and below Freiherr (baron).

The great grandchildren of the Captain and Maria von Trapp; Sofi, Melanie, Amanda, and August von Trapp have been singing on stages around the world to critical acclaim and packed houses.

Take down those old drapes and make some play clothes. A new production of The Sound of Music began touring in September 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of the film version, which continues to be the most successful movie musical in history.

Strong and Smart

Towards a Pedagogy for Emancipation: Education for First Peoples

chris4__small — Dr Chris Sarra an internationally recognised Indigenous education specialist.

Dr Sarra is passionate about effecting sustainable change through positive leadership and mentoring with high expectations for a strong and smart Indigenous population.

He embraces a proud cultural identity and a holistic sense of what it means to be Aboriginal in contemporary Australian society.

Strong and Smart – Towards a Pedagogy for Emancipation tells the story of how Dr Chris Sarra overcame low expectations for his future to become an educator who has sought to change the tide of low expectations for other Indigenous students.

His book draws upon Roy Bhaskar’s theory of Critical Realism to demonstrate how Indigenous people have agency and can take control of their own emancipation.

Dr Sarra is passionate about effecting sustainable change through positive leadership and mentoring with high expectations for a strong and smart Indigenous population. He embraces a proud cultural identity and a holistic sense of what it means to be Aboriginal in contemporary Australian society.

Chris encourages other leaders to embrace the Stronger Smarter challenge of high expectations relationships. His advocacy of the Stronger Smarter approach has inspired transformation in schools across Australia.

IHHP guided the community through the whole creative process of writing, recording and shooting this video. A number of key health messages and community values were explored. The results are testimony of who Bidgy are, where they have come from and where they are going.

The film “Strong and Smart” tells the story of the rise of the Cherbourg State School from a situation of aimless despair and chaos to an institution with a sense of purpose, direction and unity. The film shows the turn around over 4 years, since the arrival of a dynamic new teaching staff led by Chris Sarra, the school’s first Aboriginal principal.

Friedrich Froebel advocated for education in the context of family and community.

Geomag

Warning: CONTAINS STRONG MAGNETS. Keep away from sensitive devices such as credit cards, computers, magnetic media and medical devices like pacemakers.

Geomag’s Kor Eggs are 3D spherical magnetic playsets with 55 fully playable pieces, that quickly and firmly attach through the wondrous power of magnetism. The Kor Egg offers limitless creations.

Like all of Geomag’s award winning products, the Kor Egg is Swiss made to international safety standards.

Geomagworld SA has fostered simultaneous learning and creativity since 2008. All Geomag products are designed, developed, and produced in Switzerland and follow the highest European and American safety and quality standards.

At Geomag, their priority is designing toys that amuse and stimulate children’s sense of fantasy, curiosity, and creativity. Helping young minds hone their abstract problem solving and complex reasoning skills is crucial for their transition into functioning adults, and all Geomag products reflect that mentality.

softenpeas — Softened peas and sharpened sticks were used by Friedrich Froebel for children to make structures.

Chelsea Flower Show

designers focus on gardening and wellbeing

Ann-Marie Powell has created a colourful garden design with bright borders to lift the spirits, benches to relax and share a chat on, soothing water features, a bee friendly perennial meadow, edible plants in pots and a stylish kitchen garden.

“Gardens and gardening do more good to heart and soul than they are ever given credit for. It is important that my interpretation on a front garden theme is full of take home ideas. Too many people are paving over their front gardens but anybody can have a beautiful front garden.”

This garden is intended to build awareness of the positive healing effects that gardening can have on people’s health and happiness. Her ideas are designed to be incorporated in both private and community gardens.

Health, happiness and healing gardens

Bad_Blankenburg_Kindergarten — Friedrich Froebel included a garden for children in the first Kindergarten

Millard House

Frank Lloyd Wright designed four textile block houses in Los Angeles. According to Henry Russell Hitchcock, the 1923 Millard residence is the best. Hitchcock, the preeminent architectural historian of his day, noted it was Wright who conceived of such modernist principles as the open plan, the flat roof, the indoor to outdoor lifestyle, and the organic relationship between building and landscape.

Redwood ceilings and paneling lend warmth to the concealed stairs and corridor leading to the master bedroom.

Most of Wright’s early buildings were oriented horizontally, the Millard house is distinctly vertical, with columns of block reinforcing the upward movement, in response to the shape of the ravine in which it sits.

Filtered, dappled light flows into the house through perforated block walls that act as screens. Wright mixed sand from the site into the cement so the building would be authentically integrated with its location.

The three levels of the house spiral around a central chimney, that ensures one is in touch constantly with the palpable presence of nature through windows, terraces and glass doors. The master bedroom features high ceilings and a tall, slender window framing the view of the arroyo.

The weaving of earth and dwelling, the knitting of body with nature, indoor with outdoor, the weaving of sheltered, intimate space with soaring, liberated space, La Miniatura offers the opportunity to experience one’s humanity in ways most houses and their architects have never even conceptualized.

On the lower level, the original kitchen has been updated with contemporary appliances. It is adjacent to the dining room.

The dining room opens onto a patio and garden.

Wright was exceptionally pleased with La Miniatura. In his autobiography, he wrote, “The whole mass and texture of the home made the eucalyptus trees more beautiful, they in turn made the house walls more so.”

Source: Millard House

Frank Lloyd Wright persuaded Alice Millard to trade a flat lot she had purchased nearby for far more uneven terrain that inspired his vision of a sunken garden.

“My eye had fallen on a ravine nearby in which stood two beautiful eucalyptus trees,” Wright later wrote. “The house would rise tall out of the ravine gardens.”

The two eucalyptus trees are still there, forming a cathedral more than 100 feet high over a lily pond in the gully. As he envisioned it, “Balconies and retraces would lead down to the ravine from the front of the house.”

Creative Ideas

The Concept and the Plan

“Conceive the buildings in imagination, not first on paper but in the mind, thoroughly, before touching paper. Let the building, living in imagination, develop gradually, taking more and more definite form before committing it to the drafting board. When the thing sufficiently lives for you then start to plan it with instruments, not before. To draw during the conception or sketch, as we say, experimenting with practical adjustments to scale, is well enough if the concept is clear enough to be firmly held meantime. But it is best always thus to cultivate the imagination from within. Construct and complete the building so far as you can before going to work on it with T square and triangle. Working with triangle and T square should be only to modify or extend or intensify or test the conception; finally to correlate the parts in detail.”

“If original concept is lost as the drawing proceeds, throw away all and begin afresh. To throw away a concept entirely to make way for a fresh one, that is a faculty of the mind not easily cultivated. Few architects have that capacity. It is perhaps a gift, but may be attained by practice. What I am trying to express is the fact that the plan is the gist of all truly creative matter and must gradually mature as such.”

“In the logic of the plan what we call standardization is seen to be fundamental groundwork in architecture. All things in nature exhibit this tendency to crystallize; to form mathematically and then to conform, as we may easily see. There is the fluid, elastic period of becoming, as in the plan, when possibilities are infinite. New effects may then originate from the idea or principle that conceives. Once form is achieved, however, that possibility is dead so for as it is a positive creative flux”.

From The Architectural Record, January, February, 1928

The secret is to conceive the building in the mind, not on paper, until it is complete in the mind.

This book has the secret of creative ideas in Mr. Wright’s own words.

How and from where does the idea come?

Mr. Wright said, “You won’t find me sitting at a drawing board trying to design something.”

Mr. Wright said go and do other work. As you learn how to receive and allow the solution to develop in your mind, you can solve any problem.

There has long been a need for a compact volume which would survey the immense range of Frank Lloyd Wright’s lifework. This book has been designed to fill that need. The achievement of the master architect is here presented in his own words and works – the text complemented by more than 150 illustrations, a rich abundance of drawings, photographs, plans and sketches from the early 1890’s to 1959. In addition, the book includes the first comprehensive list of Frank Lloyd Wright’s executed buildings now standing, keyed to a map of the United States.