One of the many gifts that has been served up here in Costa Rica was unexpected and really only now, as I begin to prepare to return to the states, can I fully recognize it. It is something that meditators and spiritual seekers have sought after for time immemorial….the experience of presence.
Here in this harshly soft land full of exotic creatures, beauty exposed at every turn, and a kind of demand to move slowly in the moist heat, I have been ushered into an experience of presence as never before. With everything new…the wild sounds, the colorful sights, the sumptuous food, the kind and quiet people, the racing language, the diverse animals and plants, we are asked to pay attention. There are dangers and allurements at every turn…and sounds that amaze and frighten, and so it is natural to wake up and pay attention. Awareness is not only a good idea, but could present a never before seen sight or even save your life. In leaving my life and work behind, I invited myself into a time of listening simply for each day’s messages and most certainly this place has colluded.
Could it be true that the world/universe/cosmos actually wants to collude in helping us to evolve?
I am seeing that in this wildly new environment I am more awake, even when sleepy. My psyche is somehow melting into the night sounds…finding myself dreaming a weaving of sounds with the rest of my psyche’s metabolic play.
It occurs to me that when we can see the world anew, either because it is new, or we have evolved enough to remember to see in that way, that a different kind of caring is developed. Here, my eyes are constantly singing and my ears so much in ecstatic wonder at Creation’s magic that, I am enlivened with a greater desire to protect and care for this wondrous planet.
I have known times in my life when I’ve lived and worked in absolute gorgeousness, but with my mind on work or plans, the mundane usurps my attention and I have, at times, forgotten to even see it. We, as a planetary nation are in grave danger of forgetting this multitudinous gift we’ve been given and all too often turn away and become amnesiacs that are takers in a world that actually thrives on balanced taking and giving…a kind of sacred reciprocity that Creation responds to and was made for.
Beauty surrounds and feeds.
Let us remember our part.