CAMEL RIDE-GIZA AGAIN

We started our journey in Giza. (http://consultingforpassion.blogspot.com/2014/07/camel-ride-part-one.html)  We ended in Giza, as well. Sandwiched in-between were layers of Egyptian mystery that we peeled back. (http://consultingforpassion.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-temple-of-karnack.html.)

As I re-enter Giza to say goodbye to its land, people, camels and customs, I feel an inner calm.  I carry with me mysterious adventures come to life.  Entering the King’s Tomb on my knees remains with me as does seeing “Sechmet,” daughter of Ra, The Sun God.

I walk deep across desert sands toward looming pyramids. I walk away from noisy vendor stands, arrayed with colorful Kurtas, perfume and food.  Choosing my spot, I sit down to meditate in the heat of the desert sun. I clasp my hands, thumbs touching. I sit cross-legged on the golden sand.

I close my eyes. Slowly, I am aware of my breath. I sit still for a long while. Slowly, I sense a strange, reverberating force pulsating toward me from afar.

Trained in Vipassana mindfulness meditation, I keep my eyes closed. As the Palm Desert bell ringer, I learned not to flinch, open my eyes, or react to flies buzzing around me. The practice: breathe in and out, noticing and allowing.

Today is no different. Time is silent; am I halfway through my meditation? My eyes remain closed, noticing. Breathing in and breathing out.

The sand is alive, bringing grumbling, rolling thunder into my ears. Breathing in and breathing out. Watching the phenomenon rise and fall. The hammering from high above eventually penetrates my calm.

Breathing in and breathing out.

The rumbling commotion comes closer and closer. The distance thins. Then suddenly, sandstorms are upon me. I hear shouts. The uproar and pounding hooves are unrelenting. I remain, breathing in and out.

With hoofed feet wrapped in whispering sands, the cacophony engages me. I sit, unmoving. The pounding hooves stop abruptly --- within seconds of my skin. Men high above shriek words which are strange to my ears.

I sit, spine erect, breathing in and breathing out.

 Am I being threatened?

My eyes are closed.

The demanding energy roars above me.

Breathing in and breathing out.

As I sit in stillness, a strange thing happens. As powerful as the vocalizations had been, there is now a pervasive quiet.

To my surprise, camel feet encircle me completely. Several camels lean down, putting their face close to me as I sit. Camel breath comes near mine.

As camels and I share breath, the men are also quiet. The camels communicate a rapturous tranquility. I am enclosed in reverence. Astonished, my breath grows shallow. I am encircled in a community of prayers.  

I am breathing in and out … just like the camels … just like the men.

I fill with gratitude and unshed tears.

Breathing in and breathing out.

We remain like this for a long time.  

Breathing in and breathing out.

Prayerfully, the camels one by one, with their men, move silently from the circle. And they slowly begin their pilgrimage back from where they came.

Later, I open my eyes, the dust nearly gone from hoof storms far away.

While Vipassana meditations usually involve an insight garnered, this one transitioned from reality to dreamlike…and then gently slid me into an alternate, elevated reality. Such is the transformational power of the desert.

“ALL WE ARE SAYING”

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."
                                                                                             Abraham Lincoln

In 1979, along with two close friends, I staggered out of the movie theater. We had just watched “The Deer Hunter”. No one spoke. We proceeded to a café. Gently, we found words. “At least this is an anti-war movie.” My friend Robert had been to war. “No, it isn’t. This movie stirs up young men.”

John Simon, film critic, agreed: "For all its pretentions to something newer and better, this film is only an extension of the old Hollywood war-movie lie.” Robert shared a personal war story and then lamented: “These films fuel men to blindly accept military commands.“

Only fifteen years before “The Deer Hunter,” Americans were on their knees in prayer. Across America, the response was instantaneous: “NO” to war. By 1970 some 4 million students protested the National Guard’s killing of Kent State students. Over 900 American universities and colleges closed during the subsequent student strikes. 40 per cent of the American population participated in the anti-war movement.

Chants rang out: “Hell no! We won’t go! We don’t want your stupid war!” “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” When we marched, we KNEW we had a VOICE. We knew that America needed one: “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” 

In 1974, Holly Near belted out “It Could Have Been Me” to a packed auditorium. The audience was stunned, hushed. Teardrops fell. We sat remembering. We sat in hope, a trembling hope, but hope enduring. Peace was still the answer.  http://youtu.be/CadP4dRemYk 

It was a long moment in America’s history, but it came down to simple equations.

There are Americans who believed in going to war. They believed in Government calling the shots. Overnight, a flowering force of Americans sprung up saying, “We WILL NOT go.” WE do not believe in governments who send their children to die in war.

It was a time of voting with your conscience. It was being a part of something noble that did not hang back. It was a moment of taking a stand...standing for something bigger than our personal lives. It was being at risk for a better world. It was the quintessential ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY.

This organization was made up of The Civil Rights Movement: universities and colleges, parents, those sickened by war, flower children, The Women’s Movement, doctors, lawyers, clergy, Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, administrators, meditators, Yogis, journalists, artists and musicians.

The media broadcasted the war AND America’s discontent. Everyone was on stage. Protesters were being graded. A force drove those seeking peace. It was more powerful than any division. We stood as ONE FORCE. WE made a difference.

This moment took root. New life grew. Where were you, dear Reader? How did this TRANSFORMATION impact YOUR life?

CHOOSING TO LIVE AND LET LIVE

Killing, as a solution, comes easy to this culture. We seem to reach for it first.

Is there a problem we haven't tried to solve by wiping it off the face of the earth? Pesticides, herbicides, war, antibiotics [suicide, homicide, genocide, euthanasia]-other options considered only if eradication doesn't work, which it usually doesn't, at least not in the long run.

                                                                            Priscilla Stuckey, Kissed By A Fox

When I read Priscilla’s book, I came to a sentence that rocked my soul. “Killing, as a solution, comes easy to this culture.” As a systems thinker, I’ve been in reflection. Many actions are shaped by cultural beliefs and myths handled down that we unwittingly perpetuate. Waking up to this reality startled me. It’s amazing to uncover systems contributing to a collective anesthetization that defends killing as solution.

We will never find positive solutions when aligned with myths and practices that ennoble killing, or unnatural dying and suffering. Albert Einstein is right: “We can’t solve problems by using the same mind that created them.” Consider two beliefs conditioning us in matters of killing, from two people who went beyond tradition.

Death or Life 1:

·       The first people canonized as saints were done so because they were martyrs. By being a martyr they were proving their faith. To die for one’s religious beliefs was considered noble.

What does this canonization criteria mean for aspirants wanting to make a difference? Do we need to be killed, die unnaturally or suffer? Is this tacit validation for “holy” wars?

·       Saint Hildegard lived a long life, dying of natural causes. She denounced the practice of self-flagellation and was a composer, Prioress and holistic practitioner.

Rev. Amy Freedman celebrated her life in saying: “Even Naturalists can appreciate her mystical insight long before atoms were discovered, that there is a divine energy animating every person, creature, and plant.” Does Hildegard’s life inspire you in making a difference?

Death or Life 2:

·       One slow dying belief: “animal experiments are vital to the advancement of medicine and science.”

What does this belief suggest? That life is expendable? When we believe we are saving life by the taking of life, what do we lose? Do we lose our integrity and faith in “no harm” solutions?

·       Jane Goodall, Scientist and “Messenger of Peace” thinks so: "By and large students are taught that it is ethically acceptable to perpetrate, in the name of science, what from the point of view of the animals would certainly qualify as torture. By the time [the students] arrive in the labs they have been programmed to accept the suffering around them."

Jane Goodall named the chimpanzees that she studied. She upended long-conditioned beliefs about efficacious research. She changed science. She shines her light for the pathway of “no harm” solutions. Does she motivate you?

What choices did you make reaching for wrong solutions? What solutions have you discovered that honor ALL life?