Detach

Namaste,

They needed masks.

They needed to understand the underlying unconscious animist mysteries inside their masks of death. They confronted the realm of spirit. They bought masks in open air markets on their pilgrimage, masks signifying the dignity of their Being, thwarting demons, Being demons and ghosts dancing in light. 

It was all light in their shamanistic interior landscape. They learned to let go of the ego, detach from outcomes, eliminate the need to control, trust their spirit energies and remain light about it.

Inside light with slow fingers and long thin ivory nails they turned clay into pots. Spinning circles danced turning on a Wheel of Time.

They finished throwing them, used them for tribal ceremonies and smashed delicate clay pots to earth. They exploded into air creating volcanic ash coating everything in a fine dust.

Metta.

88 seconds in Nepal

Namaste,

Namaste means I salute the light (god) within you.

 

It is the daily Hindu greeting between people with your palms and fingers together raised toward your eyes in a blessing. Smile. 

 

He visited Nepal for 88 seconds. First was Bhaktapur, outside Kathmandu.

No traffic. No pollution. Cool fresh air. Limited electricity access. Daily power outages are the norm. Ironic considering Nepal has the second highest water volume energy source on Earth.

 

It is an ancient town, filled with Hindu temples, daily rituals, ringing bells, flowers and incense offerings, old hand carved wooden windows, brick homes, brick streets, tiled roofs, pottery, yogurt, vegetable and fruit life street market squares, amazing flowing sari and shawl rainbows, gentle people. It's on the old trading route from Tibet to India. 

 

There is no home plumbing. If you need water you go to the community well after dawn and before dusk. You drop your plastic container down brick shafts. You haul it up hand over hand. You pour it into narrow necked brass or copper urns.

 

You drop it again. You haul it up. Repeat until urns are full. You carry them on your hips through narrow brick alleys filled with friends and families. At home you filter it.

You boil it.

You drink it.

You use it for cooking, washing clothes, brushing teeth (a popular outdoor activity) and bathing.

Recycle, reuse, refresh. You return to the well.

Women and girls do all the water hauling, heavy water lifting and daily manual labor. So it goes. 

Metta.

new constipation

Namaste,

40 million Nepalese ran into streets, paths, jungles, mountain villages this week.

National Crisis Averted! We're going to get a new constipation!

The 601 elected representatives waited (delayed) until the last minute to agree to extend their deadline on writing a new constipation another three months.

Wow! Hooray! Congratulations! They've had two years and couldn't get the job done. Now they have another ninety days. It's a beautiful mess. Squabble. Cluck-cluck. Quack-quack. 

As a foreign anthropologist said, "They act like teenagers. They waste their opportunities."

As a local teacher said, "They politicize everything here in Nepal. They're good at calling general strikes. They're good at not providing enough water or electricity. They want democracy but not the responsibilities." 

Everyone walks around with a morning radio attached to their ear swallowing the latest cynical political intrigue. A free hand carries a red plastic bucket of water from the community well. Everyone brushes their teeth outside. Hawking and spitting is popular. Accurate. 

Common life is simple. Home. Family, community inside small shops. Food, conversation, peace. 

Fishtail (Machapuchare) the sacred Shiva mountain weeps ice at 22,943 feet. It will never be climbed.

Metta.

Fishtail

Namaste,

Fishtail swims in blue
Alone
Cold steep snow regions
Dances along Annapurna spine
Laughing at human's meager
Attempts to summit

Metta.

Raw

Nameste,

Below balcony red flowers.
Thick green foliage.
Hindu temple, slate gray roof.
Red clay, steep stone path.
Fertile wide green valley, corn, rice.
Rising green forests.
South-west gray mountain range.
White and gray cumulus.
Sunlight meditates.

Metta.