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Found Exhortation
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Fairy Clouds
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
I Don’t Remember
I may have posted this before or I may have forgotten that I thought about doing so. When unable to remember something, it is better to be stuck in a happy space than in an unhappy one.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Seen From the Bus
It’s hard to believe that I’ve only been home from India for a little over two weeks given how busy I’ve been at work. I found some time this afternoon to pick out some photos to share.
On this second trip to South India, I was even more conscious of the protective bubble in which we traveled. I am not afraid or ashamed to admit that some of the places through which the bus drove would have been a big travel challenge for me without the bus and knowledgeable, competent, supportive guides.
These photos were mostly taken on a long day’s ride that became that much longer to encompass a detour to incorporate a last minute addition to the itinerary of an older and beautiful Shiva temple (I took the photo of the jackfruit vendor I posted last week after this temple visit). The detour was one of those only 20 kilometers extra detours that turn out to add three hours to the trip because it shifted from the main road to tertiary roads–I’m sure you, like I, have done that in the mountains somewhere), and it was truly someplace else from where I am used to being.
It was hard to be on the bus for those extra hours, but it was powerfully interesting to observe. Do click on individual pictures to see detail and facial expressions and in some, of course, the signs.
Shadows and Light
In discussion of erudition and spirituality, much use is made of the metaphor of light. Light takes us out of darkness, reveals the truth of illuminated wisdom, is the truth, is pure consciousness, etc.
When I noticed the shape in the sidewalk pavement culminated by a shadow, I found myself thinking that we cannot fully experience light without shadow. Not because we cannot understand something (e.g. good) without experiencing its opposite (evil), but because absolute light blinds us to the point of destroying the ability to see even the light. We need shade or dark sunglasses to see what is differentiated when the sun is at its most glaring.
Just as the stone in the photo would not be revealed as a heart but for the shadow crossing it, so too, we cannot know the deepness and authenticity of love or spiritual teachings and practices until we discover that we can stay true to them through challenge and adversity. The shadow does know, just as the light reveals.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
