Tag Archives: culture

Dreams Out of Africa

I watched Out of Africa again yesterday. Love that story, perhaps because it is based on the real-life memoir by Isak Dinesen (the pen name of Danish author Karen Blixen). Africa was her great adventure. I remember a long time ago, a high school teacher asked our class if we could travel anywhere, where would it be? Some of my classmates wanted to go to the next town, the next province, the country next door. I put my hand up and said, “Africa”.

Pregnant pause; the teacher looked at me like I was from Mars. I guess I dreamed bigger than most, because I read voraciously as a child and teenager, and books were seeding big dreams in me.

Fast forward to now, and I have traveled and lived in various parts of the world. But, I have yet to see Africa. It’s important to keep one dream unspent for a while, I think. It gives one something to aim for. 🙂

Some day I hope Africa and I will learn a song of each other:

“If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?” ~ Isak Dinesen

Of course, watching the movie this time was tinged with a some sadness with the death of Robert Redford just 4 days ago. The character he played in Out of Africa, Deny Finch Hatton – Karen Blixen’s love – was killed in a plane crash before she left Africa. Denys was buried in the Ngong Hills. Later when back in Denmark, Karen wrote this about some correspondence she received about his grave site:

“‘The Masai have reported to the District Commissioner at Ngong, that many times, at sunrise and sunset, they have seen lions on Finch Hatton’s grave in the the Hills. A lion and lioness have come there, and stood, or lain, on the grave for a long time…After you went away, the ground round the grave was leveled out, into a sort of big terrace. I suppose that the level place makes a good site for the lions, from there they can have a view over the plain, the cattle and game on it.’

Denys will like that. I must remember to tell him.”

Kindness Counts

Diversity vs. Conformity

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One big melting pot for humanity? What a shame it would be to lose the beautiful diversity of various human cultures and history.

Yes, there is great value in mixing, appreciating the sameness and differences, learning to live with each other in harmony. The biggest lessons may be cooperation and universal love.

But in order to do this successfully, respect for each other’s uniqueness and cultural differences is essential. If we ourselves, and our world leaders, require that everything and everyone be “all the same”, then where is that leading us? Conformity is a soul crusher. Observe the world of nature around you. It displays diversity to the nth degree.

This is the challenge that faces us in building new societies: To orchestrate a harmonious blending of humanity, but also retain the valuable diversity. Appreciating the uniqueness of others helps to make life an expansive and rich experience. Travel is a valuable tool for building this understanding.

Inspirational Quotes:

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.” ~ Wade Davis

“Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.” ~ U. G. Krishnamurti

“Being different will always threaten the institution of understanding of a closed mind. However, evolution is built on difference, changing and the concept of thinking outside the box. Live to be your own unique brand, without apology.” ~ Shannon L. Alder

“The second way of finding a meaning in life is by experiencing something – such as goodness, truth and beauty – by experiencing nature and culture or, last but not least, by experiencing another human being in his very uniqueness – by loving him.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl

Why Would I?

Why would I want
to be like
everybody else?
By some miracle
of Creation,
I am unique,
I came here to
make my own
contributions to
the world.

If you and I
think like
everybody else,
we all become
a goopy,
boring,
stagnant,
uncreative,
unproductive,
homogenized,
mishmash of
conformist
hive minds
wearing the same hat.

Why would I?
Why would you?

Poem Why Would I? is from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life. (It’s a free ebook.)

Humanity, Awaken!

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The current awakening of humanity is an opening of hearts and minds. We are standing on the threshold of a new era, but we must first say no to an old paradigm that in so many ways just isn’t working for us.

To say that this time is important is hugely understating it. Humanity is riding the wave on the cusp of a gargantuan shift in consciousness. Change is a scary proposition and we have a tendency to avoid it at all cost. However, the current global situation has thrown down the gauntlet for you, me, and the rest of humanity. The big question is, will we rise to the occasion and create something better for ourselves?

Take the time to ask questions, and while you’re searching for the answers, listen not only to your head, but also to your heart and your gut. What do you do see around you that is failing? Where will you put your mind to create the new reality?

There is a voice crying to be heard inside of you. It is your own, but it is also connected to all of humanity. Hear its song and feel its pulse. We are all inextricably connected, and your mind is part of a greater whole (humanity) that decides in what direction our world will move. You have more influence in that decision than you might imagine.

And therein lies the crux of the matter. You must imagine.

Inspirational Quotes:

“They say: ‘If a man knew himself,
he would know all mankind.’
I say: ‘If a man loved mankind,
he would know something of himself.”
~ Khalil Gibran

“All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind.” ~ Swami Vivekananda

“Doesn’t it seem to you,” asked Madame Bovary, “that the mind moves more freely in the presence of that boundless expanse, that the sight of it elevates the soul and gives rise to thoughts of the infinite and the ideal?” ~ Gustave Flaubert

“Push yourself to do more and to experience more. Harness your energy to start expanding your dreams. Yes, expand your dreams. Don’t accept a life of mediocrity when you hold such infinite potential within the fortress of your mind. Dare to tap into your greatness.” ~ Robin S. Sharma

“One love, one heart, one destiny.”
~ Robert Marley

Melding

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Melding

Everything fades to dust
eventually,
the wheels of progress turn
inevitably.

The elders of the tribe
woefully,
remember times not lived
respectfully.

History hides secrets
illicitly,
of the big lessons doled
cruelly.

The past is only known
truthfully,
by the ones who lived it
successfully.

If young people listened
graciously,
to the old wisdom learned
painfully,

together they could build
splendidly,
a new vision that’s forged
lovingly.

Many indigenous cultures believe that under the symbol of the rainbow, humanity will come into balance with one another and the Earth to experience the Golden Age. However, first an alignment with spiritual values, a healing between brothers and sisters, and a renewed reverence and appreciation for the Earth must take place.

There is an ancient theme that runs through many American Native legends that warns of the devastation the European white man would bring to the land. However, the myths also promise that some time in the future, when the devastation (especially as it was wrought upon the native peoples and upon the land itself) was at its worst, spiritually aligned souls among peoples of all colors, peoples of the rainbow, would feel a calling of Spirit and come together to bring things back to proper balance.

These souls, who would do no violence and would work to end violence, would be called the Rainbow Warriors.

The time of the Rainbow Warriors has come.