Notes from Beautiful Bookstores

Shakespeare & Company - Paris

This bookstore is located in 37 Rue de la Bûcherie, Paris, France. Opened in 1951 by George Whitman. It was originally named "Le Mistral" but renamed to "Shakespeare and Company" in April 1964 in tribute to Sylvia Beach, who founded the original bookstore in 1919. That bookstore was closed in 1940. The bookstore is probably the most photographed bookstore in the world. Simply the centrum of all book lovers. The place Henry Miller calls A Wonderland of Books.  

One afternoon, when I visited the bookstore, it was busy with the book lovers that came from all around the world. People did not come here just to buy books, they exchanged their admiration for books and asked the shopkeepers about the writers that frequented the store. Just by entering the doors, you can undoubtedly see that this is more than just your normal bookstore. The spirit of literature lives here. On the first floor, there is a piano room, where someone was playing while others were sitting around and reading. It was truly magnificent sight. Spiritual. 

The room with Notre Dame view

In the other room on the first floor, there is a table with typing machine on it. The window in front of the table is open with a view of Notre Dame. Here the visitors can sit down and read antiquarian books of English literature.

This bookstore also have lots of philosophy to it. The most notable is written on the first floor wall at the entrance to the Sylvia Beach Memorial Library: "Be not inhospitable to strangers less they be angels in disguise", as well as on the floor at the entrance: "Live for Humanity".

The writing on the windows shutters outside the store called "Paris Wall Newspaper": Some people call me the Don Quixote of the Latin Quarter because my head is so far up in the clouds that I can imagine all of us are angels in paradise, and instead of being a bonafide bookseller I am more like a frustrated novelist. This store has rooms like chapters in a novel and the fact is Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are more real to me than my next door neighbours and even stranger to me is the fact that even before I was born Dostoyevsky wrote the story of my life in a book called 'The Idiot' and ever since reading it I have been searching for the Heroine, a girl called Natasia Filipovna. One hundred years ago, my bookstore was a wine shop hidden from the Seine by an annex of the Hotel Dieu Hospital which has since been demolished and replaced by a garden. Further back in the year 1600, our whole building was a monastery called 'La Maison du Mustier'. In medieval times each monastery had a frere lampier whose duty was to light the lamps at nightfall. I have been doing this for fifty years, now it is my daughter turn."

The original store, which doubled as a library, publisher and boarding house for aspiring writers, was featured in Ernest Hemingway's memoir - A Moveable Feast. The store was also featured in the Richard Linklater film Before Sunset, in the Nora Ephron film Julie & Julia and in the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris. The notable writers that passed through the doors, included the writers of the Beat Generation, such as Anaïs Nin, Henry Miller, Ray Bradbury, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Lawrence Durell, Tead Jones and James Baldwin. During the original shop times, writers from Lost Generation, such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The new generation of writers that participated in literary festivals or readings  hosted by the bookstore included: Paul Auster, Marjane Satrapi, Jung Chang, Martin Amis, Hanif Kureishi, Siri Hustvedt, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer.

Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen - Maastricht 

Entrance

This bookstore is located in Dominicanerkerkstraat 1, Maastricht, Netherlands. Often times quoted as the most beautiful bookstore in the world. The bookstore is built in a 700 year old former Dominican church. The original church was built in 1294. The church was closed in 1794 by Napoleon Bonaparte's army and spent some of the next two centuries abandoned and neglected. 

 The building has seen various uses since it was closed, from warehouse and archive to bicycle shed. The 13th century church was transformed into bookstore by Amsterdam architects Merkx+Girod, who chose modern black steel shelving and fashionable furniture, including a cross-shaped reading table to compliment the church's renovated vaulted ceilings, ornate arches and decorative frescoes.

These days, Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen, houses a three storey bookshelf complete with staircases, elevators and walkways. 

The reading table and cafe

When I visited this bookstore, it was full of people from around the world, not just there to buy books, but to enjoy the beauty of the store. Truly one of a kind. While most of the books are in Dutch, there is decent English collections as well as children books, and nice cafe. 

I took some time to marvel around and search trough its shelves. Found few good books and bought it together with few bookmarks. It's a great place to be if you are a book lover. 

Inside the bookstore

  

The House of Eternal Death

The House of Eternal Death

by Ernest Hadinoto

Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark

                             And shares the nature of infinity

                                    - William Wordsworth

A man was hanging from a tree close to the edge of the forest. The wanderer saw the figure from afar as he worked his way through the field straining to see through the blowing snow. It was barely visible. Upon reaching the edge of the forest, the body was no longer there. My vision must have wronged me, the wanderer thought, or my mind is playing tricks on me. It was the tiredness perhaps, walking for hours in the freezing cold, numb face chilled by the wind, hands cringed.

It was a cold and dark winter. Wind was hauling across a snow covered ground. Everything looked black and white with no single soul around. The wanderer was weak from the long arduous journey. Now that the night was almost near, the wanderer was desperate. He needed to find a place to rest quickly, before the winter froze him to death. He gathered all his strength and entered the thick dark forest.

There was small wooden house that stood in the clearing, withered and run down so badly even the shutters hung at an angle.Behind the house, the giant oak trees bending over almost took over the house. To all appearances, it had been abandoned by the look of half opened door. The wanderer opened the door and went in. Dust lay over every surface and there was a strong bad odor. There was a rotting chair and table stained with lichen, an old rustic wooden bed, a cracked mirror on the wall and fireplace. This would be sufficient for the night he thought. The snowing has stopped and the wind has calmed as he went out to gather some dry wood for the fireplace.

While gathering the branches of an old dead tree, he saw a girl on a swing not too far from where he was standing. What is she doing at this time alone in the woods he thought. Probably she lives nearby. When he finished gathering the sticks, he saw that the girl had disappeared along with the swing, how strange he thought. The atmosphere in the woods was filled with eerie stillness now that the hauling wind had stopped. He shook off that feeling and went back inside, closed the door, put on a fire and cooked some soup in a bowl.

He noticed some carvings on the door, of which at first, because of the dirt on it, he was able only to distinguish the letter "E". He swept the dirt with his sleeve away and succeeded to decipher the inscription. It said "Evil".

As the night fell, and the fireplace did not bring enough light inside, he tried to get some sleep. He suddenly felt that the air was heavy and tense with pressure, something was present in this place and it was evil, it felt like something wanted him out in that very moment. 

But what choice did he have, it was too dark and too cold to go outside and yet this feeling was so strong. What I am to do he thought. Staying here is my only option. Again, he tried to sleep, as he turned to the side, right there in the cracked mirror, he caught the glimpse of himself and just when he was about to close his eyes, suddenly he saw that the reflection of his was looking at him with a diabolical sneer. Dire consternation overtook him.  

On the spur of the moment, his chest felt hard, something was on top of him. His vision became indistinct, his heart was throbbing hard and he was fighting to catch his breath. He was not able to move his body as the evil was pulling his soul from his body. He struggled so hard that all his energy left in his body. Finally he screamed and abruptly ran out of the house as the evil let go of him.

He ran to the woods, in sheer terror he saw people hanging from trees everywhere he looked. They were looking at him and laughing, the entire forest was filled with sinister laughter. He ran and ran until he came a upon field, where hundreds of men were hanging alive by the ribs to gallows, crying, howling and writhing in pain. There was nowhere to go, no place to hide. Paniced and terrified, he ran back to the house, away from all the monstrosities, back into the mouth of evil.   

He fell to the floor as he ran into the house, his head slapping on the dirt, bleeding a little and shivering, he heard the door slammed behind him. He was in the dark momentarily until the entire room was covered in light. It was a different place now. It was a house with a long hallway and to the left and the right were chambers. Right then, two men dressed in black hoods wearing plague doctor masks picked him up and dragged him forward. He tried to lose himself but to no avail. He cried and screamed uncontrollably. His words "Let me go" barely made any sense. The men ignored him. 

They took him to the first chamber, he saw a man roped to a rack with two men wearing black hood turning the handle and the ropes pulling the man's arms until he heard a loud crack of bones with the man screaming in anguish and the tortures laughing. Behind the tortured man, three heads were displayed on a spikes, with maggots crawling out of the face's skin.

They dragged him to the next chamber where a woman's limbs were stretched out along the spokes and the wheel was slowly revolving. The woman was beaten with iron hammer through the openings between the spokes. She was in such pain that her mouth was wide open trying hard to let the pain out, but no words came out.

Then they took him to adjacent chamber in which two women were spread-eagled to a tabletop, their hands chained around the wrists and the bare feet chained around the ankles. The two torturers slowly drove skewers of wood into the flesh under one woman's toenails. The other woman nails were extracted by the torturer slowly. The wanderer could see the agonizing pain these women were in.

In the next chamber, a man's arms were tied to a pole above his head while his feet were tied below. The torturer was using small knife peeling off the man's skin slowly. In the left chamber, three men was suspended from poles, the torturers were lashing their backs. In the same room, there were another three men hanging from the ceiling with forks placed between the breast and throat just under the chin and secured with a strap around the neck. The orgies of bestiality and the monstrosities of suffering was too terrible for the wanderer to contemplate. There was no hope for salvation. He almost fainted.   

Finally, the wanderer was taken into a chamber where three iron cabinets were standing upright. There were two men in brown hoods wearing goat masks. One of them was sitting behind a bench and the other was shouting and pointing at the wanderer from his desk, but he could not hear his voice. After all the shouting, the man behind the bench, pointed to a roof, where a rope was hanging.

In that instant, he was transported back to the room of the cottage, but it was a different place now. There was a light right in the center of the room, where stood a chair and directly above was a rope hanging from a tie-beam. He felt enormous pressure in his chest, something was inside him, a vicious energy that overtook his mind, it was taking him towards the chair, he felt hopelessness, despair, tremendous pain and sadness. Unrelenting darkness was within him while he ascended the chair. He heard whispers in his mind telling him to tie the noose around his neck. He followed the whispers and the evil pushed him off the chair. As he drifted into unconsciousness, he saw the whole terror and suffering of tortures flashing before him once again. Death had come to him with chains of infinity. He died a grisly death.

A year passed by, seasons changed, another poor soul entered the house of eternal death. 

Note: My first attempt at writing. Some grammatical errors may be there. Comments are welcomed.

Ullen Sentalu Museum

Ullen Sentalu Museum is a Javanese Culture and Art Museum in Indonesia. It is located at Jalan Boyon, in the Kaliurang tourist area, inside Kaswargan Park, a highland area approximately 25 km from the city of Jogjakarta. the Kaliurang tourist area is a mountain tourist area, that is located strategically by its easy connection to Borobudur and Prambanan Temples.

This private museum, initiated by Haryono family from Jogjakarta and now managed by Ulating Belancong Foundation, displays impressive architecture surrounded by beautiful gardens and statues. The museum is designed as a museum that presents cultural heritage in the form of stories or events that are intangible heritage. It is a "window" that reveals the stories of  Javanese culture through all its masterpieces, so one can explore the great times from the Mataram Islam Kingdom until the classical era. The masterpieces are carefully selected collections which are presented in a movement of a stories/history of the culture.

The first part of the museum is in the basement of the building. Going down the winding staircase, the first room to be found is the "Dance and Gamelan Room". This room showcase Gamelan music ensemble that was once used in the Jogjakarta Sultanate to accompany the "Wayang Orang" performances and traditional Javanese dances. If you are not familiar with Gamelan, it is a traditional musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the Islands of Java and Bali, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs. Besides the Gamelan, there are several paintings of the Javanese classical court dances of the Sultan's Palace, such as the Mask dance and Srinti Tunggal dance. The guide will explain the meanings of the dances.

Next, you will be guided through a long underground passage that is called Gelo Giri Cave. Architecture of this passage is dominated by the usage of stones from Mount Merapi. This place exhibits documentary oil paintings of the personage that represents 4 figures from Mataram Dynasty. Through the various Sultans and their families paintings, the voyage of the Sultanate history, art and culture will reveal by itself. There are two outstanding paintings made using a 3D technique that shows portraits of woman whose eyes seemingly follow you around the room.

After the paintings passage, comes the Kampung Kambang Area which is divided into five museum rooms, namely Poetry for Tineke Room, Royal Room Ratoe Mas, Vorstendlanden Batik Room, Pesisiran Batik Room and the Room of the Desired Princess.

Poetry for Tineke Room is a room dedicated to poems taken from GRAj Koes Sapariyam notebook. It displays many handwritten poems by Tineke's friends and family that reveals their sympathy for the princess' love for lover. During the period of 1939-1947 the princess was deeply in love with a man her family didn't approve of. She was brokenhearted for nearly 10 years, although at the end she found a happy ending in her love life.

Royal Room Ratoe Mas is a room dedicated to Ratu Mas, princess of Sunan Paku Buwana X (ruler of Surakarta). This room exhibits paintings of the princess Ratu Mas, her pictures with the Sunan and her daughter, as well as all her cloth accessories.

Vorstendlanden Batik Room exhibits the batik collections from Sultans of Jogjakarta and Sunans of Surakarta/Solo. Through the collection, one can witness a process of art and creativity of Javanese people in expressing their philosophy through Batik patterns.

Pesisiran Batik Room completes the acculturation process in Java. Displayed are dresses, costumes, and batik clothes that are richer in color.

Room of the Desired Princess was built in dedication to GRA Siti Nurul Kusumawardhani, Mangkunegara VII's only daughter. Like the name of the room, she was indeed desired princess. She was a very good dancer. Queen Wilhelmina from Netherlands once invited her to perform a dance when celebrating her daughter-Princess Juliana and Prince Bernard's wedding. The pictures of her preserved in this room illustrates the ritual stages of life of a Javanese Princess. The princess was also an inspiration to the princes of Mataram to refuse polygamy, which was a common practice in that era.

Before the end of the tour, visitors are taken to Retja Landa Corridor, an outdoor hall containing statues of Hindu gods such as Vishnu and Ganesh. After that, there is a room called Sasana Sekar Bawana that exhibits several paintings of the kings of Mataram, statues and one huge painting of the Sultan welcoming Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

Guides will lead the visitors to the park, which is the end of the tour. The park is called Kaswargan Park that is dominated by natural forest and parts of the park feature mountainous atmosphere and beautiful statues. Here one can also visit a souvenir shop and a restaurant named Baukenhof, where the interior has a strong ambience of the the colonial era in Java. The restaurant serves mainly Western dishes.

Every visitor will be given a special beverage, the recipe is a legacy of princess Ratu Mas, believed to bring health and youthful appearance.

Opening Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 09.00 am to 16.00 pm. Open on public holidays.
Admission: Local Tourist Rp. 25.000 and foreign tourist US $ 5.

Note: The sources are from various sites and private visit to the Museum.

Cultural Walking

Recently I have been deeply influenced by an Essay titled "Walking" written by Henry David Thoreau. An American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian and leading transcendentalist. This blog then, is based on his Essay, although it is not about love for nature or travel/expedition narrative. Basically, my blog is about culture, especially but not restrictively in relation to its elements. I'm not a student of cultural studies or cultural anthropology, so my views are far from being "scientific", although I did used some theoretical approaches.

Beforehand, lets look at the meaning of Culture, although many scientist defined different concepts and meanings of the term "culture", it is based on a term first used in classical antiquity by the Roman orator and philosopher, Cicero: "cultura animi", describing the development of a philosophical soul, which was understood teleologically as the one natural highest possible ideal for human development. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a modern context, by stating that culture "refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human". Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of community of interacting human beings.

Further, Art has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake. Art has had a great number of different functions throughout its history.
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When sometimes I am reminded that the business people and bureaucrats stay in their offices not only all the afternoon, but the night too, sitting before their computers, talking through telephones or having meetings in their meeting room, so many of them, as if the purpose of life was to work and sit in the office, and not about the real purpose of life. I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide or destroying this earth long ago.

I myself feel that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend several hours a week at least, savoring the sweetness of art and culture through museums and art centers, theaters, concert halls, galleries, libraries and other places for art. Absolutely free from all worldly engagements. No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom and independence, which are the capital of this activity.

But the cultural walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking tours, as but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day. Most of our adventures these days are but tours, and come round again at evening to the old hearth-side from which we set out. If you would get adventure, go in search of the springs of life. When we take cultural walks, we naturally go to the museums and art centers; what would become of us, if we walked only to shopping malls and restaurants ? Even some part of business people and bureaucrats have felt the necessity of importing the arts to themselves, since they did not go to the museums or art centers. Incorporating paintings and sculptures in their homes.

Of course it is of no use to direct our steps to the art centers or museums, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked into museum bodily, without getting there in spirit. In my cultural walks, I would fain forget all my mornings occupations and my obligations to society. But it sometimes happens that I cannot easily shake off the office. The thought of some work will run in my head, and I am not where my body is, - I am out of my senses. When that happens, I would feel inclined to return to my senses. What business have I in the museum, If I am thinking of something out of the museum?

My vicinity affords many good cultural walks; and though for so many years I have took so many of them, and sometimes for a full day, I have not yet exhausted them. An absolutely new exhibition is a great happiness, and I can still get this anywhere. Two or three hours spent in museum, will carry me to as strange country as I expect ever to see. A single painting or sculpture which I had not seen before is sometimes as good as the Masks of the Bambara People.

I can easily spend two, three, four, any number of hours, in museums, looking at the paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures and cultural objects, commencing from the first collection, with reading all the related information, without missing a single object, sometimes pausing at one that is really fine art, at which I can look at for some time. Replenishing my spirit. Draw inspiration. Remove myself from everything unessential, open my mind and senses and plunge into experiencing the mysterious. As Albert Einstein has said "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science". Searching for that basic human instinct for harmony, balance and rhythm. Trying to understand this life through many mediums and styles. Not really caring about all the classificatory disputes about art.

The same happens in library or book shop, particularly in antiquarian one, where the smell of books is like the greatest perfume ever discovered. Going through each shell, putting interest in books that I never heard of, paying attention to each one, looking at their beautiful covers, reading their prefaces, trying to understand what the author tries to say, is replenishment of my mind.

Sometimes people get discouraged by art. Feeling discouraged by those so-called high society or the critics of art, of those who imply that they understand all the theories, the stylistic approach, the distinctive methods, techniques and forms. The loose brushy, dripped or poured, the arrangement of shapes, color, texture and lines. The use of medium, the intensity, the stroke, the tone, the pigments and the rhythm. I say do not be discourage. It does not matter if you don't understand those things. It does not matter if you are just a "common" viewer. Some say that paintings in the museum hears more ridiculous opinions that anything else in the world. So be it. Don't pay any attention to what they have to say.

Art is an act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations. Art is often intended to appeal to and connect with human emotions. It can arouse aesthetic or moral feelings, and can be understood as a way of communicating these feelings. Art may be considered an exploration of the human condition; that is, what it is to be human. To find harmony, balance and rhythm, experience, expression, communication of ideas, exploration and many more that only you alone can know.

I can still remember and feel the first time I looked at "The Wave" by Carlos Schwabe in Städel Museum. It was full of people. Yet, I was completely detached from my surrounding. Fully focused and all my senses intact, I could feel great emotion coming from the anguished expression of the women the misery of the soul. It gave me inspirations and replenished my spirit. And that how it supposed to be. It should not be treated as an object followed by formal discussion.  

I can also remember and feel the first time I went to Anthropological museum to encounter the cultures of other worlds. The rituals, the art, how people live their life in different societies and different times.

At present, in this vicinity, the best part of the art is not private property, the art is not owned privately, and the cultural walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come again when the art will be a status object, bought by the wealthy. In which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only. Therefore, I am glad that art museums and galleries are open to public viewing so art is available to everyone.I am also glad that Anthropological museum continually gives us access to a different views of the world.

As there is something in the art that feeds the spirit and inspires, will not man grow to greater perfection intellectually as well as spiritually under these influences ?
If the answer is yes, then one wonders why there is so many issues of hate crimes, racism, discrimination, racial profiling, stereotyping, and cultural conflicts, while, at the same time, there are thousands of artistic institutions, and countless artistic events. What is even mind-boggling is that people can enjoy and appreciate art and at the same time still be discriminatory or even racist.

Well, things are not as simple as that, art is only one aspect of culture, culture is not just about painting, music, theatre, literature or dance. Culture is seeped into all the activities and expressions that extend below the surface and unite individuals under a common sense of self. All of us are cultural beings. All of us have culture. Our culture shapes how we see the world and make sense of it. The essence of culture is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized society. Unfortunately, culture has also been (and still is) used by some in a negative manner. Throughout history, culture has been used by some to oppress other groups, to look down on others, and to form preconceived and often negative notions regarding various cultures.

The root of hate crimes, racism, discrimination, racial profiling, stereotyping and cultural conflicts is difference. Cultural conflict will occur when beliefs and traditions of one cultural group represent a challenge to individuals of another. Such conflict is not always violent, it can come in a form of disagreement or discord   or friction, which can occur as an intragroup conflict or intergroup conflict. A tension may at later stage bring violence. However, this does not mean cultural differences inevitably produce conflict.

When problem or an issue surface, intragroup or intergroup, it is often a response to difficulties in dealing with differences. Whether this pertains to racial, religious, political, social, or economic matters difference is often a source of fear and misunderstanding. When differences surface in or between societies, culture is always present, shaping perceptions, attitudes, behaviors and outcomes. Many conflicts throughout our history are not just about territory, boundary and sovereignty - they are also about acknowledgement, representation and legitimization of different identities and ways of living, being and making meaning.

Despite that, culture does not always play a central role in conflict. Conflict can be a complex and often tightly woven web of factors. These factors are embedded in specific historic, political and social context. But here too, culture can play subtle role especially when we hold our identities. That's why despite the increasing diversity in many communities, bias, prejudices, racism, discrimination and hate crimes still pervade our society.

In this decade and decades to come, the advancement of transportation, telecommunication and technology rapidly grows, makes the world smaller and smaller. Advancement of transportation and industrialization accelerates the human migration in unprecedented manner. Therefore, according to the IOM's World Migration Report 2011, the number of international migrants was estimated at 214 million in 2010. If this number continues to grow at the same pace as during the last 20 years, it could reach 405 million by 2050.

While some modern migration is byproduct of wars, political conflicts, and natural disasters, contemporary migration is predominantly economically motivated. The pressures of human migrations, have contributed some negative aspects in an unprepared communities. Hence, bringing cultural conflicts. When a community is not prepared to accept and/or misunderstand the differences of cultures, fears of the lost of jobs or opportunities, or migrants becoming part of the so-called problem neighborhoods, tends to rear the ugly head of racism, prejudism, stereotyping and hate crime. Thus, the way community negatively portrays immigrants within their communities also leads to negative portrayals of societies outside their community.
In different circumstances, the contemporary conflicts around the world, particularly but not exclusively with religion as conflict factor, contributes to bias perception about different societies.

My cultural walking made me realize that artistic practices and cultural understanding could ease and adapt people towards different cultures. Art can initiate connections between cultures in a non-threatening way. It can start communication and interaction. Art can inspire curiosity. Curiosity about other cultures can lead to acknowledgement of cultural diversity. Communicating this diversity trough art can allow preservation, healing, reconciliation and peace-building. Art can stimulate cultural awareness and celebrate diversity, it can make us realize that people/societies are not all the same, that people have different values and perceptions, and being different is beautiful and not at all threatening as well as, most importantly, teach us to communicate with one another in a better way.

My cultural walking is discovery. It's a walk into different worlds. When I undertake my journeys into different worlds, I leave all my preconception and walking into museum of art or anthropology I learn the history, the tradition, and trough that I observe how different cultures deal with their own issues, how they express themselves, their ideas, beliefs, interpretations, perceptions, views and self-actualization, quest for spiritual enlightenment and pursuit of knowledge as well as their social structures and values.
When I do that, I smile and admire other cultures, inspirations and ideas flows in me, and ultimately in the end, I accept the differences.

Marcel Proust, the French novelist, observed that "the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new lands but in seeing with new eyes".            

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 Sources:
1. Henry David Thoreau - Civil Disobedience and Other Essays, Dover Thrift Editions
2. Michelle LeBaron - "Culture and Conflict." Beyond Intractability. Conflict Information Consortium. University of Colorado.
3. The Power of Culture - Culture and Conflict: Introduction. www.powerofculture.nl
4. World Migration Report 2011, International Organization for Migration
5. OED Online - Art, Oxford University Press
6. Useem, J., & Useem R. - Human Organizations
7. Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C.A. - Multicultural Education. Allyn & Bacon