i can't say whether i "hear voices" or that my mind is just so empty that when a though grabs my attention i just go to it, or what...but "something" catches my attention and since i usually don't really have any plans for the day i just follow it. so that is how the first photos of the fishing nets here on the shore, began. i was walking along the shore with my girlfriend, and "the voice" said: take photos of those fishing nets. well...for who? why? what? but, being an obedient kid, i just started to look at the fishing nets to see what am i supposed to be taking photos of, and sure enough, they were pretty amazing...so feminine, and layered, and delicate, and shimmering, and just being! so out came the camera and the first series of fishing net photos was born. (since then there are 9 more, but i decided not to burden my family and friends with them all....unless someone really wants to see them). i have no idea what i am supposed to do with all of these fishing net photos, other than to enjoy having them call out to me in order for me to photograph them! which already is satisfying enough for me! and this morning, as i sat out on my bale overlooking the sea, the voice called out again and told me there are some more fishing nets that need to be photographed....so out i went and tried to find them.
i wondered if it is all just my imagination that they are so human and magnificent and are telling such stories...so i took a photo of a net, that was my own initiative too....just to see that not every single net "sings". and while i was walking on the hot rocks and sand around the fishing boats on shore that had already done their duty in the early hours of the morning and were now relaxing until sunset when their owners would take them out to sea again, or sit nearby and mend the nets, the boats themselves also began to "call out"...and i saw that they too had their story to tell; of layers and layers of paint they had been painted with, and with all the taut rope that was tied so beautifully on some of them, holding the handmade parts all together, or a name painted on their seat, or inside of it, or the dried coconut leaf that was laying on top of the fishing net as a little blanket that the fisherman placed there to express his property, even out here on the open beach, without a soul around during the heat of the day.
as time goes by i am slowly "hearing" the unspoken language of these balinese villagers. the stories are very humble, subtle, quiet. no big banners or signs or noise made while doing it....like the pile of big round rocks that i noticed this morning at the base of the coconut tree. they too called out so that i would notice their lovely shapes and beauty all piled together there. so i photographed them, and continued to walk on the shore.
i was in a state of gratitude for this absolutely perfect shoreline right in front of the resort. it has tall coconut trees that supply us with our daily fresh coconut water from the young coconuts, or with the coconut milk and meat from the older ones, and also offers shade. and scattered in between them are huge beautiful old trees, as high as the coconut ones, and with big green leaves and all kinds of exotic fruits or flowers that fall to the ground.
yesterday i had gone out on a fishing boat along the coast to the east, and was able to view it all from a distance. and even though we went along for an hour or so, none of the coastline was as beautiful as the one we started from. it was then that i realized that those huge beautiful shady trees that bring me so much pleasure, are the secret ingredient for the perfect place. i never take them for granted, but i never actually went out of my way to personally go up to one of them and thank them. and now, as i continued on my walk along the shore, after having marveled at the pile of rocks, i saw the neighbor woman out and about, placing her offerings at the next door temple, and then....to my surprise, in a little niche in the trunk of the tree that i was standing next to. why is she doing that? i had again "heard" something say to just look up and notice this amazing tree. so i did. and when i did, i saw that the remains of a gold cloth that had once been tied around the trunk to symbolize its sacredness, was now just a dangling strip from one of the higher branches, swaying in the wind. ah ha! i'm not the only one that thinks this tree is special! and after the neighbor continued on her way, having left her little square of banana leaf with rice offering in the trunk, i decided to have a closer look. yes...she had placed hers on top of all the others from yesterday and the day before. and then i realized that often i had seen the women and children walk over to that tree first, and then over to a fishing boat, and then on to the temple....and not realized that they were placing offerings of gratitude and recognition there each day, quietly, simply. but somehow those little quiet simple acts of gratitude make my heart very happy. like yesterday when i got onto the boat to go for the ride and soon noticed the little offering placed at the end of the boat on the worn down wood, i was happy to know that boat had been blessed before we went out to sea with it.
reflecting on how is it possible that i have been around this tree for seven months already, and never saw those old pieces of gold cloth hanging from the upper branches, or the small offerings hidden in the trunk? what else is happening here behind the scenes all of the time that still remains to be discovered, slowly, as each of mother natures creations begins to speak to me? and as i walked back to the entrance to the compound where i live, i passed by the coconut tree with the pile of rocks at its base, but this time i saw it from behind. and suddenly comprehended that that pile of lovely rocks has purposely been placed at the base of just that tree, and not another, in order to support the sloping trunk so that it will not uproot itself in the future....little anonymous acts of respect for nature.
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