Day Eight to Twelve: Buddha Tour, Integrating Spiritual Orientation and Everyday Life
The tour goes on, with many exchanges and impressions – deep topics, but not much to blog about.
Prayer flags in the kitchen window
I jokingly told some of my friends that we are on a Buddha-tour – everywhere we see Buddha statues, and it’s a sport for me to take some pics of the statues of Buddhas and other spiritual beings standing in the houses and gardens.
We also met various forms of the sign of perfection we also use for the Circle of Good-Will:
This is not a crop circle 🙂
Yesterday evening my wife asked me why I like this kind of traveling – since several of our friends told us that for them such visits would be very strenuous. I mostly don’t feel so. I love these exchanges. Normally at home I don’t have much contact besides work. So I find it very interesting to see how our friends are in life, how they integrate spiritual orientation with all the challenges of everyday life, how they deal with the ups and downs of the path, the inspirations and irritations. It mostly takes some moments to “dive into” the atmosphere and understand the specific rhythms and ways of organizing the daily routine, but we quickly find deeper issues in our talks.
The Sun Chariot drawn by seven horses, the seven rays
Some people, however, “hide” themselves behind smalltalk, or, worse, behind “logorhea” – talking without pause like a waterfall and thus cutting themselves from the flow of exchange. This works like an energy-vampire and leaves you depleted. It is some kind of egocentrism and blockage out of a dominant mind. Few were these situations, but normally not so easy to handle. In such situations I just keep silent.
A Ganesha statue in Bielefeld
This time one question particularly interests us and we ask it our friends: “What (deeper) issues occupy you at the present moment?” Several of our friends are at an age where their parents are getting old and in need of care, especially when they are sick or even suffering from dementia. The other side is, which ways the grown-up children take to – often orienting away from the parents and defining their own ways – basic questions of parents in our age. Then the balance between profession and health, stress…
Living together
One point which is very profound is the conflict between ideals – one’s own or others – and the way they might distort the view of how other people are. Many have gone through very enthusiastic times on the path and have become much more distanced, or have undergone deep reorientations. Some try to hold to an ideal but experience conflicts with others who don’t hold to these concepts or force them to modify.
Butterfly, symbol of transformation – shot taken yesterday in the garden of friends
Some have gone through deep inner crises, where inner wounds of the past had come up, causing pains and demanding attention and healing.
A yard of a little castle where one of our friends is living
Listening to such feelings in an open, attentive way gives relief, for empathy is a great healer. But it also mirrors one’s own stories, and I have to see that I remain centered in my self or quickly come back to it again.
Krishna statue with a crystal globe
July 12th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
These photos will take one to a completely different world of joy and peace. Congratulations to one who has posted these photos.
July 12th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Wonderful shots, radiating Stillness and Serenity… which are reminders in our daily activities to pause and reflect, even if it is just for a fleeting moment, to align ourselves with the Lifeforce….
Ludger, I take it you have the gift to draw out people’s hidden potential and connect them ,in their conversations with their deeper Self. That in itself is energizing…. Thank you for your sharing
July 12th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Nice post. There are some interesting points presented.