perspective

I awoke this morning with the word "perspective" suddenly in my mind...I wondered where that came from and what i was supposed to understand. Later, I was sitting on the porch, meditating, and suddenly I heard a "thump" and then again and again. I wondered what it was, coming from the forest next to my house. And then suddenly I understood. Someone is dropping the coconuts from the trees to the ground. What surprised me was the sound it made. As if it was a baseball mitt catching each coconut. I wondered how that could be? They were falling from tremendous heights onto the earth, but something is "accepting" them, rather than just falling on it.  Then I remembered yesterday watching the gardener take a long long bamboo pole and with the tip, giving a little shove to the ripe papayas that were growing on the very tall papaya tree. And with each shove, the ripe soft papaya also fell from so high up, onto the earth, with no bruises and without bursting open….how could it be?! A ripe papaya from way up there, heavy…? 

My next thought suddenly put two and two together and I realized something "first hand"….that mother earth really is alive and well, breathing and caring for us all, as we stand and walk and dance and hoola hoop on her!  I had been describing to my friend how the gardener waters everything in the garden, generously, everyday! Sidewalks, earth that is "barren", plants, grass. Everything gets a good dousing. I suggested to her that it may be a kind of purifying or cleansing act. I wasn't sure. Also the other owner of the villa where I lived, used to come everyday and water the stone path! I asked him why? And he said that it is hot in bali, and if the path is hot it will make the house near it hot too, so he wants it to be nice and cool. But he is doing it to the path of the house that no one is even living in! I also asked my friend, who was watering the new road in front of his house, and all of the barren earth surrounding the house, why? He said " so that the earth will get harder and not be so dusty…

so this morning it finally all made sense. It made sense why everyone pours water or hoses down everything before dusk…because it is all alive! It is like asking someone "why are you giving your child water?" and I would answer "it is important for building a healthy body."  But this answer is actually "secondary" the primary answer is because she's alive and I want to nourish my child! She is alive and growing and needs to be fed and to drink water. And I realized that mother earth really is alive and well….and not just some kind of new age slogan. She really is breathing and receiving and supporting and nourishing, and grounding, and energizing all of us and everything. So they don't even know that someone could think otherwise. For them it is obvious that she needs water if the monsoon season has not yet started…she needs to drink everyday. Just like us!

When I was at the sea the other day, I saw 2 tourists, arguing with each other, as they returned from a swim. One of them kept lifting up big rocks from the beach and heaving them onto other rocks so that they would crack open. I was a bit shocked to see such violence and wondered if maybe they were special stones with gems inside…but later realized it was just his way of dealing with his anger. But as I went to the sea to practice my qigong in the mornings, I would see all the many shapes and sizes and colors of the rocks on shore, and then suddenly see one of his broken rocks, which looked so out of place! When I got back to the guest house, I saw that the gardener had taken one of the broken rocks and placed it inside a big and very old carved rock that used to be used as a mortar and pestle for mashing up grains and food in the old days. Through wear and use its' bottom became so thin that it broke. It was now given a place of honor against a tree in the garden. I am sure, that for her, adding this broken piece was a gesture of respect for the broken rock she had found at sea…where everything was rounded and whole and part of Creation.

Later, i was thinking about how difficult it is lately, for my friend to stay calm and centered while raising her 3 children. Her 3 and 6 year old are very strong willed and at the temple yesterday, were behaving in ways that were unpleasant for her. Her husband, on the other hand, was not concerned about it. He always seems to stay patient and peaceful, and the children behave differently with him. i wondered if she could change her perspective of who her children are, if it would make it more pleasant for her. if she knew that her warrior son was really the incarnation of an ancient Hindu warrior God, and that her daughter was once a princess, would she still be trying to get them to behave? or be there to serve them? 

i looked at the young priest that was going through the rituals and then blessing everyone and how he always smiles....always! And he too has young children that are not always behaving the way he wants, but he just smiles...and i thought how our perspective is what creates our joy or pain, our respect or our disgust. And how much our perspective is influenced from our past and surroundings. And how my perspective is changing, because of my new surroundings...a new sensitivity and understanding of Mother Nature that i never knew. a

And then....i opened up my email today and found this entry:

 "If you knew of a spectacular mountain that was very, very tall, yet climbable. And if it was well established that from its peak, you could literally see all the love that bathes the world, dance with the angels, and party with the gods. Would you curse or celebrate each step you took as you ascended it?

Life is that mountain and each day a step.

Perspectives change everything,"

             

(quote from Tut)