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- Cronicle
of the day
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June, 21th
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June, 22th
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June, 24th
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The Smile of the Buddha
on the Body of Marx
by Susanna GENDALL
Although initial statements tend to evolve
into clichés before our eyes, today is a day of progress
and illumination. Subterranean suspicions are revealed and
lead to inspiring clarifications about our positions amidst
this process.
I knew you were there...
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Edith brings us back down to the ground,
the importance of awareness and practical action in our
own worlds - "simple truths lead to realisations about
other relationships". It is only through our own environment
and reality that we can truly understand the consequences
of our actions and thought patterns. The nature of the world,
i.e. euphemistic inclinations and the danger of these in
our abstract perceptions of our own realities. Edith speaks
of these cows that are being slaughtered, and this is not
the word we hear, one must overcome the world of images
and words that slip off so easily.
But Jeanne humbles us with her experience
of working with children (it is in these stories where we
hear the connection), their instinctive, graceful, uncontrived
awareness of the connected nature of the world. She speaks
of this child who sees a little bit of sunshine through
the dust bin: "I knew you were there", she says.
A sense that these are the ones we should look to.
If it were not for hope
=================
Afternoon discussion brings other voices.
Makarand speaks of the need to"globalise hope",
but this fine line is illuminated again, where we must not
be disillusioned by hope either: "If it were not for
hope the lamb would not lick the hand that had come to shed
its blood" (Dr. Shiva Shankar).
The question of our "petit bourgeois"
positions in relation to those struggling, and for life,
not just with their own minds, etc. Clarification of the
importance of uniting the practical and abstract, that this
happens best or more penetratingly through one's own experience,
etc.
Closer to the point
===============
Conflict is refreshing and keeps the flow:
"we must de-mystify ourselves". The danger of
images all around us, in television, newspapers, conferences:
it is these cut-off points that are the way out. The issue
of our position and those less privileged positions: "The
disconnection between our deliberations and their reality".
Debris of religious criticism that sounds like it's personal
to some defence systems, but makes things feels closer to
the point.
Evening is relaxed, drinking sangria, and
music. It feels like we have moved through a lot of the
extraneous, and it's clearer, and even exciting.
- From Fireflies Ashram, near Bangalore,
India, Asia, June 23, 2001
- Asian Continental Meeting
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