As we have been waiting for the arrival of the cars (Mollie and Mellisa) and learning about the need for patience – and accepting – as the say here …TIA … (This is Africa) I remembered this quote I have always found inciteful:
“What I think of as a good life is one hero’s journey after another …you are called to the realm of adventure; you are called to a new horizon. Each time if you dare, there is danger and there is also help and fulfillment or fiasco. There is always the possibility of fiasco …But there is also bliss”.
Joseph Campbell – from “Pathways to Bliss”
We all know that when you travel, or set out on an adventure or expedition (or quest) there is a whole lot of things you can’t control. Travel stories are full of things that happen and make up our stories. But we persist and are – in the main better off because of the experience we have gained. In this case shipping delays – initially caused – apparently by issues in the middle east and then port delays here in Durban Harbour. So, we have had our fair share of fiasco …. as they say TIA … and it is what it is!
I guess fiasco is all about being tested, in a similar way that going through any type of physical or emotional ordeal is trial or part of any quest. After all this is the Questa Collaborative blog post, therefore it seems appropriate to reflect on the trials and tribulations of this journey.
We have done our best to make the most of the situation with visits to various locations in South Africa and our visit to Namibia (documented in previous blogs Questa Blog | News articles and discoveries (questacollab.com) and on the Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/share/p/SpHnL4o11rdujJFQ/?mibextid=WC7FNe).
We have seen some amazing sites and experienced a little connection to the wildlife we have seen some amazing feelings about what we have seen and learned about this part of this amazing continent. We have also learned a little about the events of some of the colonization process – the conflicts and the fortitude of both the traditional custodians of this place and settlers
Assuming we get access to the cars soon – we will set forth (The boat docked yesterday). We have rationalized the journey plan; we are not going to attempt to make it all the way up the West Coast of Africa. With all the time delays we decided it’s not worth the rush. We will focus on exploring southern African countries.
A month on in this journey and it feels like it is worth reflecting on what we have seen and how that experience is having it effect on me. Many people suggested that Africa would be powerful experience …and below reflects a little of that has been unfolding. The pictures seek to help illustrate the feelings in this blog (and illustrate some fun along the way). The best way I seem to be able to do this if via stream of consciousness writing that sometimes come out as poems – or a bit poem like – Below is an edited version of one of my reflections.
Settlements
Grand Pa’ store
Fruit Stalls
Market in town
Transporting people to where ?
Reflections – Something is moving inside of me!
As I step into my practice each day. As I move into each day. Gently… then deeply, the moving (yoga and qi gong – as some have titled in Yoqi ! ) and meditative practice are reconfiguring some-thing(s) inside of me.
Awareness… rawness… that is what this place has done… it’s provided a rawness… Something is being stripped bare. Bare inside my being. Just experiencing … and feeling into this journey so fare.
Opening one’s eyes…. To what is happening in this world (the in-your-face contrast of poverty and opulence in South Africa and the tangible evidence of climate change in Namibia – along with the reality that TIA – this is Africa – and things happen the way they do because of everything that has unfolded before).
From what place can I come from. My daily practices help ground me. Grounded in place – whatever place I am in (Place = Nature + Culture).
I am on the road, but seeking grounded in connection to whatever place I am in. Seeking to connect to the spirt of place … or of the road I am on. The vistas. The roadside stops… the smiling face, scenes of nature, of human settlements – in there vastly different conditions… squalor, litter, brightly dressed folks going about their day as I rush by. We rush by.
The rawness of it all. The rawness of it all. And step into my practice each day … unable to quite resolve the tension between is the venture between fiasco or fulfilment… A day, a moment at a time … the wise have said it in many different ways… be here now … the power of now. Rest in now.
But we are constantly a projection of what has been or become within us, and project this into our future. At least I know I can go within and get a glimpse… an occasional glimpse… of being in the now… of being not just doing. Of sensing that which unfolds has a way of being filtered such that the important insights can, or will over time enfold within me.
It’s a curious set of emotions… enfolding within at this time…. Expressing as best I can and see what each day brings. As I seek to connect to the place – each place, I am in… And hope my awareness is open enough to observe (without to many filters) what is unfolding each day.
Flat top Acacia tree
Birds nest and Little Pirate Saying Hello
Fever Tree
Leopard and Little Pirate saying hello (the pet Leopard is used to keep the monkeys away!)
Landscape vista near Palmwag Namibia