~drigo : evolution apprentice

Can they?

~drigo said Jun 21, 2006, 11:13 AM:
 

Upon which stage does the world change?

An answer that I posit is on the stage of experience.  When you read a book, unless it takes you through a profound experience, it doesn't have much meaning.  It doesn't cause you to think in a new way, or be open to a fresh perspective.   When you sit around a campfire, the stories that you hear are about people's experiences - their adventures, their struggles, the funny things that have happened to them.  

That experience can take place anywhere, at any time.  But take a moment and think back to your own experiences of life.  Some of my more memorable experiences were out in nature, on an adventure.  I live in a metropolis.  Jakarta has a population of 13 million people.  Escaping the hustle and bustle, and being able to simply relax and reconnect to nature and other folks in a totally different setting, is one of the aspects that I find fascinating about this kind of tourism. 

Friendships are created, relationships are started, new directions in life are adopted, and the experience can really facilitate a lasting and positive change.   While the billboards, radio advertisements, horns, and general business of metropolitan life subside, the basics emerge.  The things that mean something come to light.  

Think, for example, of when you may have travelled to a foreign country.  You witness a totally different way of life.  You adopt what you like, and perhaps you even change your perspective and the way you live your life because of it.  

Anyhow, just some late night thoughts after a few glasses of wine with the old German couple who have lived in Indonesia for 30 years and are my partners that 'own' half of the time on the island, and afterwards another couple glasses having dinner at my Indian friend's house (who married a young Irish lady), along with an American friend who is a Fullbright scholar and teaches in New York :~) who also love the island, and have promoted it as one of the 9 greatest escapes in Indonesia… 

Two similar quotes come to mind, one of which I discovered tonight - the first was from a young French lady in Surabaya, who claimed 'paradise does exist!' - and the second was from an article ol Manfred showed me by a travel writer, which states ” It sounds too good to be true, but this paradise exists.”  

What defines paradise?  Isn't it something quite simple? Isn't it something like our ideas of what the perfect life would be like?  Is becoming aware of a paradise that resonates with you, and then recognizing where you are in your own life, or back in your 'reality,' a catalyst that encourages you to bridge the gap?

What if we created little paradises all over the place - little restaurants in the cities, great resorts close by, awesome paradise villages farther off but still accessible, wait…. this one is critical… our own homes… our office spaces… and these little seeds spread more seeds around them born out of the same paradise concept? What if you planted a little paradise garden somewhere in a slum, with a sign that said 'you too can plant a gorgeous garden like this,' and you taught - or found someone to teach - a basic gardening class once a week, and you, or someone else, sponsored the seeds…?

Where ever we are, let us plant our gardens… let us prepare our soil (through composting ;~), and plant our most gorgeous imaginable seeds, and tend to their growth.  

And let us begin in the garden of our souls, our minds, and our bodies.

This is a way to change our world :~)