impermanece

for a long time now i have been trying to put my finger on what exactly it is that typifies life here in my village....there is something that everyone seems to be linked into and that i am trying to discover. it exists in everything here; the continuous "building site" atmosphere in the entire country of houses torn down in a day, and a month later a new house stands in its' place, built slowly and quietly by a few barefoot workmen one brick at a time, the rubble of the old house used as the foundation for the new one, so no need to dump it or even move it anywhere once the men are finished quietly crumbling the old walls and floor with hammers....of roads under construction, of temples torn down and refurbished, of the decorative clothing placed on altars that is torn and dirty from the elements over the past 6 months, until the temple again celebrates its' "birthday" and gets new clothes placed on it...of the twice daily offerings that are on all the pathways, entrances, altars, made from banana or palm leaves and flowers and cooked rice, that are stepped on, eaten by the chickens a second after the devotee has walked away, how the monsoon rains just kind of sweep everything into the river, which empties into the sea,...the cremations at the sea...the ambiguous answers about when or if the big music and art festival will take place this year...and then suddenly 2 weeks before it does, a poster goes up...even any question that starts with "when" ...and the answer is usually "we will let you know..."very flexible work hours and store hours...everything flexible...synchronicity being commonplace...

and i just couldn't figure it out....what is it? what is this atmosphere that is so different than anything i have ever encountered, but feels so right? and then i received this today in an email from a wise person:

"the key behind it is to fully understand the power of impermanence in daily life....by factoring it into one's life.... staying light and flexible... allows one to flow with the impermanence of the universe rather than a fear/security based fixation on somehow controlling time and space.."

yes! that's it! they are naturally connected to the impermanence of the universe! it is so simple....they don't even know it...because the whole country is like this...they were born into it...their religion, culture, the sea that surrounds them, their ceremonies, celebrations, all one big impermanent happening in an impermanent world in an impermanent life...

i saw how i have grown up in a society that is exactly the opposite! even in the smallest of details; today is the dark moon...(in judaism tomorrow is new moon) and more elaborate offerings are made in honor of it. white flowers are placed in place of the usual colorful ones. this morning i noticed that one of the frangipani trees was in full bloom in the garden here, and i was happy that i would have at least 15 white flowers to use in the offerings at sunset...i began to walk over to the tree, but had the thought that picking the flowers just before making the offerings would be nicer than flowers that have been picked in the morning....yeah, but what if someone else picks them, and then i don't have any? do i risk it? well....for the sake of the flowers i will let it go and trust...and then when i looked at that whole thought pattern i realized that it was based on fear and scarcity consciousness....can i trust that in the afternoon, if i am meant to have 15 frangipani flowers for the offering,,,they will be there,...and if i am not, then other flowers will appear? can i let go of trying to control things, and just live in this moment, and this moment, and this moment, and know that whatever is unfolding is perfect? that God only wants the best for me, always,,,and if i can just relax, trust, be the receiver of all of this goodness, in gratitude, and awe, and be in the flow, i too may end up with the lightness and easy going smiling childlike attitude that typifies this island...of impermanence.