Thursday, November 21, 2013

Oombulgurri Today

This Tamal woman in central Sri Lanka reminded me of he women in Oombulgurri. I empathized with our common plight and possible future, as I had with the women in Oombulgurri  in a way that will long be remembered.
Grateful to not have to have been a beggar woman, I nevertheless, am the beggar woman, too.

The devastation in the Philippines wrought by Haiyan, raised some questions about the lasting effects of having replicated the 5th City model. The replication began with taking the model to key villages which represented  the most impoverished and hopeless on the planet. 5th City was a demonstration of people doing their own development, creating sustainable communities for the future.

I googled "Oombulgurri", in the Kimberleys Region of Australia, where my family lived and work with the Aboriginal people there. We were not the first team and this was not the first village the Institute of Cultural Affairs worked in. 

Several books are being written about the first village demonstration in Australia, Mowanjum. As far as I know, none have been written about Oombulgurri.

When my family left Australia, the government was paranoid about our being in Oombulgurri because diamonds had been discovered and they didn't want any interference  by civil rights advocates, which they must have imagined us as being.

While the Institute of Cultural Affairs left, the village citizens stayed and maintained the systems that had been developed., which included a community store, garden, clinic, and some renewed cultural rituals -or so the tales are told by colleagues who traveled back to the village for some years following our exit.

The google search revealed the history of Oombulgurri and its present status.

There are only five people still living in Oombulgurri. The other 100 have been relocated with the closing down of village operations.  The research also referred to those of us who worked with the people as those who established social welfare programs in the 70's.

At the time I was there, every single person over the age of 16 was a die hard alcoholic. One of the miracles of the village was the decision to have no alcohol in the village. This was upheld by a woman named Olive who in tradition, would be a Queen of the Daughters of  Rainbow Snake - the ruling lineage historically. As long as she was in the village, peace and order were maintained.

Then, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs built a motor boat for the community making it possible to get down the Forrest River in a short period. Up until then, access to the village was by raft which took two tides for the journey.  Needless to say, the slowness of the raft gave those who were in Wyndham  drinking time to sleep it off on the way back to Oombulgurri, a good model which was changed by the new boat.  After that, there were some days when we had to go into the bush until the mayhem had passed and the Wyndham arrivals were asleep.

Maybe, this is what was happening recently, when the government decided to relocate the people remaining.  There were always only about 100 people, but I am sure many of them have died.  I would like to know who was living there when the village closed and the real reasons for its being disbanded.

I wonder if those who were part of the transformation of Oombulgurri were also transformed. I have seen nothing written about the rich spiritual tradition of the people of the Rainbow Snake.

I wondered how the inevitable paradigm shift of being active participants in creating a sustainable environment  played itself out in the hearts of the people who remained.

I wonder if our imaginal education efforts worked. Did their sense of self-worth increase as an Aboriginal people at the end of the 20th Century on Planet Earth.

I would love to be working with Aboriginal people today, doing what I did then,  knowing what I know now about what it takes to be sustainable, personally and socially.

Reflect on an important time in your life and the situation today.  What have you learned about human development?

Monday, November 11, 2013

Zen and Pronoia



To achieve what the Zen Buddhists call "beginner's mind," you dispense
with all preconceptions and enter each situation as if seeing it for the first
time.

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities," wrote Shunryu
Suzuki in his book *Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind,* "but in the expert's there
are few."

As much as I love beginner's mind, though, I advocate an additional
discipline: cultivating a beginner's heart. That means approaching every
encounter imbued with a freshly invoked wave of love that is as pure as if
you're feeling it for the first time.

Rob Bresny wrote this in an August 2013 astrology posting for the week. He has been writing weekly on a concept he calls "pronoia". I read a bit more deeply each time. 

New concepts are received like this into every day reality.

Many new concepts are slowly becoming realities today: diversity in unity, consensus,unity in diversity,  ecological sustainability, global citizenship, empathic relatedness...

 The list goes on and on and becomes real slowly but surely.

I resonate with these three paragraphs of his and his description of "pronoia".  They speak to where I am and really want to be. I know I am not alone or this astrologer would not be as well received as he is. 

He may not well liked by those who do not take time to connect heart-to-heart, but to those who are ready for the evolution's miracles, he is among the sensitive spokespeople.

I prefer to highlight the new realities coming into being than to rehearse, over and over again, the problems.  This approach fills the universe with the positive energies which facilitate positive change. 

Where do you see signs of new patterns of life on this planet?

Monday, November 4, 2013

Paradise is there in Unawatuna



This blessing string is tied to a bodhi tree in Colombo in hopes of new bodhi sprouts.
Mine is tied to my fig tree in Crescent City in hopes of an abundant fig harvest.

Three and a half hours riding in the back seat of a tuk-tuk through town and country side, with temples, shrines, cows, roadside stands, and along the sea shore, had its advantages.  Listening to Abba to accompany the endless panorama of scenery facilitated a speedy passing of time. I just wanted to get to Unawatuna and that little castle in the sky I had only seen in a pic.
The tuk-tuk (3 wheeled road-worthy vehicle with one seat in front for driver and room for three (maybe) in the back.
This sense of urgency made it difficult to enjoy every moment and take in as much as I could as we passed by each moment quickly. I can't see- or hear - very quickly - takes more time than it used to for processing, so occasional retreats into the music itself became necessary. With this balance, the whole tuk-tuk dance to Unawatuna was pure delight.
Many options for a view of the little castle, but this, with the mist holds the wondrous!
Rustic and not a disappointment, the vacation home of my host's son-in-law's brother was the perfect resting place for this weary traveler.

Up some stairs to the first level, inside was  a kitchen and two other rooms. Outside and up another stairs,was a place to sleep, shower, sinks, toilet and a porch. There was a third floor to which I did not venture. The home was built into a huge boulder which served as  a back wall. The rest of the walls, inside and out were made of or covered with stone.

The sleeping area had windows on three sides. These windows opened let in the sounds of the ocean, a cool breeze, and the full moon.
This view shows the access to the environment outside.
 The porch was cool and the place of afternoon and evening conversations.

Each day was filled with activity: a trip to an aryuveda nursery; English breakfast; an hour on the beach;
Many woman on the beach hustling their merchandise. Awesome to watch. Irritating to be intruded upon relentlessly.
a night time search for a friend to a couple of beach side bars; a trek up the side of the  mountain to a home overlooking Unawatuna;
One of many scenes from above Unawatuna. 
pizza in paradise;  a ride in the mangrove swamps where we purchased crabs and enjoyed fresh coconut water;
Kurt took these of our tour of the mangrove swamps.
a pilgrimage to Buddhist temples;
This monk is giving a blessing and tying a string to wear for a week then tie to a tree after that for more blessing.
a trip to Galle where we took a tour of a coconut oil factory.
This process produces cold-press virgin coconut oil. We were able to purchase two 750ml bottles for under $4
 to a Buddhist store for begging bowls and to a gem lab to purchase a moonstone for our daughter, Caroline.

Dinners included a traditional Shingalese meal, the crabs and a new creation from the two previous dinners on the third evening.

Each night there was conversation on the porch. For the most part, these evenings were the highlight of the day. This was a time when the visual stimulation of the day turned to listening to the song, story, and symbol of human beings interrelating -heart and mind and soul.
Kurt is a mesmerizing tale spinner and great at sharing knowledge, in this case, of the tsunami which did not ruin this beautiful little castle.
Each day in Sri Lanka, I wrote in a diary. These were very short check-ins on where I was and how I was feeling about things. Since I had chosen to experience every encounter as a blessing during this pilgrimage to paradise, each encounter was joyful, relaxing, and energized by the company I was keeping and the environment surrounding us.

Upon reading the diary after returning home, I became aware of the wounding that also was occurring. This wounding is a natural part of living each moment. It is a carving of new experience into the  changing paradigm. Sometimes this is experienced at the time. Sometimes it is experienced in reflection, as was the case with me in Sri Lanka.

This wounding may also be considered "shadow", present in every person and experience. Using this image, the wounding is a shedding of light on that which has been hidden from conscious awareness. It was worth leaving this in the diary, as inference. Now, at home alone,  I can meditate on where this wounding came from and what is the real meaning and purpose of, and value to this adventure  in paradise.

Every moment in Sri Lanka has been  a priceless contribution to my journey through life. I am so grateful that only in the diary did I take time for the change occurring and its accompanying awareness. I am also grateful that there is not one complaint written there in the diary, only arrows pointing to further contemplation.

Most important in this paradise place, I was being touched by the Divine which made me feel totally at home where I was.  I love it all! The whole adventure!

When has been a time in your life where you ventured into paradise and experienced it fully?


Driving back to Colombo along the seashore was the most pleasant of all the days I was in Sri Lanka .