kathyw
12-03-2005, 11:28 AM
At sea. Atlantic Rally Cruise: Persuasion log
Friday, 02 December 2005
Persuasion:
Friday 2nd Dec 2005
Is Atlantic crossing all about putting another tick to our list of Eh things to do before you die" or is it something bigger? This kept my mind occupied for the last few days if not before. Finally during last night's watch, I couldn't stop my thoughts flowing and felt a strong urge to write.
My friends kindly allowed me to write this the midway blog entry. As they refer to me at several occasions as the technowizard as well as the culinary "chef provocateur", I also proudly carry the role of ghost architect/editor of the blog site that you are following.
So writing the midway entry is a true honour :)
I would like to start with a story that a friend of mine had told me few years ago. This is a real story that some of my close friends would know but I would like to share it here again having different readers in mind. It is about a friend of mine visiting one of her good friends in Japan who is diagnosed with cancer and may not have much time to live.
While she is in Japan her friend takes her around and one of those days, he takes her to a Shinto Monastery as a place that he finds very peaceful and inspiring. While they are in the monastery, my friend feels a strong urge to have a chat with one of the monks. She asks his friend if this can be arranged and he resists to the idea as the monks would not generally talk to visitors. But she wouldn't give up and keep insisting. Finally she convinces him to give a try and her friend dares to stop one of the monks passing by with great apologies and tells that he has got a visitor with him who desperately needs to talk to one of the monks. Fortunately the monk speaks English and even better he shows a willingness to talk to her.
Anyway, when she meets with the monk she tells him about a strange feeling that she recently developed. Despite the fact that she seems to have a good marriage and successful professional career, she just cannot help a feeling of vacuum inside. The monk listens to her with great patience and when she finishes he draws a straight line on the ground with a stick.
He says to her: "This is your life in the West. You try to live a your lives as a straight line and when you see something on your path you see it as an obstacle and spend a great deal of energy trying overcome it or when you need to change your course, you become quite frustrated." He also adds that "Westerners" live a life of "doing" through this straight line thinking, they live with to do lists, fixed plans. "What happens is that when they reach at a certain age, they retire and their "to-do"s stop and lots of them feel very deprived and even depressed." He says that some cope by buying a dog, some try to move to a fishing village and some turn to alcohol. "In the east," he further adds; "we look at it from a different angle" and draws a spiral next to the line.. He says that "This is how we see life. It is a life which is constantly changing, flowing, always evolving.. It is a life of "being".
When you live such a life, you embrace anything on your path rather than fighting with it. Your dreams are much simpler which may not necessarily root from "doing" great things. If you have a goal, the goal may only be being a better person, or to evolve in your being."
When my friend finished telling her story, I felt a strong "search and rescue" feeling inside me which hasn't stopped since then. It also occurred to me that the challenge is about bending our finite straight line into an infinite spiral. It is about migrating to a life of "being" from a life of "doing". So when I think about Atlantic crossing, yes, it is a giant item in Êh things to do before you die" list but is there more to it. Does it relate to such a quest about "being" somehow? It indeed does in a great deal.
First of all it teaches about the futility of finite line thinking in a very hard way. You cannot really have a straight line when you cross Atlantic.. You have to bend your course, be ready to change your plans.. So the Atlantic is about being open and flexible. You cannot have a deadline when you cross the Atlantic as it has its own agenda and best we can do is to try to flow with that agenda. Another personal big bang that happens on the Atlantic is awareness. We get so carried away with our daily routine back home and almost lose our sense of awareness. When you are on the Atlantic, it is actually one of the best offers on the table.
One may always try to avoid it and try to stick one's E.head into a different routine on the boat but then what is the point of being in the middle of such a vast of mass of water if you cannot stargaze or be awestruck by the sunrise or scream like a child watching amazing moves of flying fish and racing dolphins. Then comes appreciation. A profound appreciation about the beauty, harmony and abundance surrounding us. Then you take a big sigh thinking how could I have been so ignorant about all of this until now? How come I could have got carried so much with the deceiving "business" ruling my life and kept my eyes closed to the everlasting magic around me?
"Dearly beloved!
I have called you so often and you have not heard Me.
I have shown myself to you so often and you have not seen Me.
I have made myself fragrance so often, and you have not smelled Me,
Savorous food, and you have not tasted Me.
Why can you not reach Me through the object you touch
Or breathe Me through the sweet perfumes?
Why do you not see Me? Why do you not hear Me?
Why? Why? Why?"
Then sensing the presence of a universal power and mercy that we can
Persuasion
Last Updated ( Friday, 02 December 2005 )
Friday, 02 December 2005
Persuasion:
Friday 2nd Dec 2005
Is Atlantic crossing all about putting another tick to our list of Eh things to do before you die" or is it something bigger? This kept my mind occupied for the last few days if not before. Finally during last night's watch, I couldn't stop my thoughts flowing and felt a strong urge to write.
My friends kindly allowed me to write this the midway blog entry. As they refer to me at several occasions as the technowizard as well as the culinary "chef provocateur", I also proudly carry the role of ghost architect/editor of the blog site that you are following.
So writing the midway entry is a true honour :)
I would like to start with a story that a friend of mine had told me few years ago. This is a real story that some of my close friends would know but I would like to share it here again having different readers in mind. It is about a friend of mine visiting one of her good friends in Japan who is diagnosed with cancer and may not have much time to live.
While she is in Japan her friend takes her around and one of those days, he takes her to a Shinto Monastery as a place that he finds very peaceful and inspiring. While they are in the monastery, my friend feels a strong urge to have a chat with one of the monks. She asks his friend if this can be arranged and he resists to the idea as the monks would not generally talk to visitors. But she wouldn't give up and keep insisting. Finally she convinces him to give a try and her friend dares to stop one of the monks passing by with great apologies and tells that he has got a visitor with him who desperately needs to talk to one of the monks. Fortunately the monk speaks English and even better he shows a willingness to talk to her.
Anyway, when she meets with the monk she tells him about a strange feeling that she recently developed. Despite the fact that she seems to have a good marriage and successful professional career, she just cannot help a feeling of vacuum inside. The monk listens to her with great patience and when she finishes he draws a straight line on the ground with a stick.
He says to her: "This is your life in the West. You try to live a your lives as a straight line and when you see something on your path you see it as an obstacle and spend a great deal of energy trying overcome it or when you need to change your course, you become quite frustrated." He also adds that "Westerners" live a life of "doing" through this straight line thinking, they live with to do lists, fixed plans. "What happens is that when they reach at a certain age, they retire and their "to-do"s stop and lots of them feel very deprived and even depressed." He says that some cope by buying a dog, some try to move to a fishing village and some turn to alcohol. "In the east," he further adds; "we look at it from a different angle" and draws a spiral next to the line.. He says that "This is how we see life. It is a life which is constantly changing, flowing, always evolving.. It is a life of "being".
When you live such a life, you embrace anything on your path rather than fighting with it. Your dreams are much simpler which may not necessarily root from "doing" great things. If you have a goal, the goal may only be being a better person, or to evolve in your being."
When my friend finished telling her story, I felt a strong "search and rescue" feeling inside me which hasn't stopped since then. It also occurred to me that the challenge is about bending our finite straight line into an infinite spiral. It is about migrating to a life of "being" from a life of "doing". So when I think about Atlantic crossing, yes, it is a giant item in Êh things to do before you die" list but is there more to it. Does it relate to such a quest about "being" somehow? It indeed does in a great deal.
First of all it teaches about the futility of finite line thinking in a very hard way. You cannot really have a straight line when you cross Atlantic.. You have to bend your course, be ready to change your plans.. So the Atlantic is about being open and flexible. You cannot have a deadline when you cross the Atlantic as it has its own agenda and best we can do is to try to flow with that agenda. Another personal big bang that happens on the Atlantic is awareness. We get so carried away with our daily routine back home and almost lose our sense of awareness. When you are on the Atlantic, it is actually one of the best offers on the table.
One may always try to avoid it and try to stick one's E.head into a different routine on the boat but then what is the point of being in the middle of such a vast of mass of water if you cannot stargaze or be awestruck by the sunrise or scream like a child watching amazing moves of flying fish and racing dolphins. Then comes appreciation. A profound appreciation about the beauty, harmony and abundance surrounding us. Then you take a big sigh thinking how could I have been so ignorant about all of this until now? How come I could have got carried so much with the deceiving "business" ruling my life and kept my eyes closed to the everlasting magic around me?
"Dearly beloved!
I have called you so often and you have not heard Me.
I have shown myself to you so often and you have not seen Me.
I have made myself fragrance so often, and you have not smelled Me,
Savorous food, and you have not tasted Me.
Why can you not reach Me through the object you touch
Or breathe Me through the sweet perfumes?
Why do you not see Me? Why do you not hear Me?
Why? Why? Why?"
Then sensing the presence of a universal power and mercy that we can
Persuasion
Last Updated ( Friday, 02 December 2005 )