The reason it has been so long since I last posted is because in regards to place I have settled for a bit. Journey is continuous, and I have been journeying on all kinds of inward paths while settling into this place. In some ways it is much harder for me to journal transparently about such inward journeying.
I am comforted with the thoughts that the one who sees in secret, knows the secret journeys of the soul and it never left un-shared, while it may never be articulated. I am also comforted with the fact that the spirit that dwells within articulates to the greater one without the aches, pains, sorrows, joys, wonder, and lessons learned. Even in the loneliest of journeys we are never alone, for the constant one who journeys with us is not only the path upon which I journey but the destination. While I lose sight of that, the wonderful thing about journey is that our memory banks become well stocked to overflowing and what is not remembered today will be remembered when at last we see.
So, why do I put fingers to the keys and start to journal my journeying again? Because I have a destination clear around the other side of the world and I realized that unlike moving across the country that it will prove itself a challenge even if I were to prepare in every way possible. For my destination is in many ways "home" and in many ways a land I have never known. But I am familiar enough with it that nothing in preparation can truly prepare me for the incredibly enigmatic India!
Physical preparation entails things like passports, visas, shots, tickets, agendas, time, money, health, connections/friends, etc. I'm setting my sights to go in October/November for a month. But today I realized that mentally, culturally, spiritually I also need preparation. I came across a book that I began reading of a Hindus perspective on the Gospel of John and that is when I realized that there are so many differences in being between east and west and I don't want to spend the one precious moment in time (just one month) turning and reeling to sights, sounds, smells, rhythms, ideas, language and feelings that have become now completely foreign to me. Yet, in truth, what I know about India is that there is no escaping it and there are no easy ways to learn the dance but to awkwardly try the steps. To be present over time will breed familiarity.
So my question is how much of that can begin before one even arrives.
And I have heard added: we must keep stepping. With this post I again take a first step of many and hope to keep stepping. You are invited to follow with me at each step that I journal (though countless steps go rightfully unrecorded) in hopes that it will enrich your journey. But even more excellently, to share together the journey we all have been set on by the Great One and Lover of our Souls who sees it all and walks with us through it all.
I am comforted with the thoughts that the one who sees in secret, knows the secret journeys of the soul and it never left un-shared, while it may never be articulated. I am also comforted with the fact that the spirit that dwells within articulates to the greater one without the aches, pains, sorrows, joys, wonder, and lessons learned. Even in the loneliest of journeys we are never alone, for the constant one who journeys with us is not only the path upon which I journey but the destination. While I lose sight of that, the wonderful thing about journey is that our memory banks become well stocked to overflowing and what is not remembered today will be remembered when at last we see.
Physical preparation entails things like passports, visas, shots, tickets, agendas, time, money, health, connections/friends, etc. I'm setting my sights to go in October/November for a month. But today I realized that mentally, culturally, spiritually I also need preparation. I came across a book that I began reading of a Hindus perspective on the Gospel of John and that is when I realized that there are so many differences in being between east and west and I don't want to spend the one precious moment in time (just one month) turning and reeling to sights, sounds, smells, rhythms, ideas, language and feelings that have become now completely foreign to me. Yet, in truth, what I know about India is that there is no escaping it and there are no easy ways to learn the dance but to awkwardly try the steps. To be present over time will breed familiarity.
So my question is how much of that can begin before one even arrives.
