The great Western voyage has begun! Currently en route to St. Louis from Nashville. Spent the last 24 hours visiting with my dad, Uncle Ted, and Aunt Janet in Nashville. Some highlights & ruminations:
~ Ted & Janet's house is filled with all the things that Jaime & I say we would buy if we actually had money: Turkish rugs, Japanese tea sets, old instruments, artwork from around the world from all of their travels, and my personal favorite, a Buddhist temple bell from Burma that produces (in my opinion) the very sound of enlightenment. Of all the people I know with money, they have by far done some of the coolest shit with their money... including taking me to Turkey with them & their 3 sons back when I was in high school. Lots of love & gratitude to them for their generosity and givings us a roof over our heads for the night.
~ Wandered around downtown Nashville last night w/ Jaime, then received an official tour from my dad this morning. The town took a while to grow on me, just not being the being used to the cowboy hats and country music vibe, but there are definitely some cool parts of Nashville. We took a little tour of the Ryman Theater, whose stage was graced by many of the old school country legends like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. You could feel a lot of history in the place.~ Interesting aspect of traveling so far has been establishing new routines and setting aside some moments of the day for quiet and meditation. As much as I love adventure and new experiences, I know I also need a certain amount of quiet time each day, which is sometimes hard to come by when traveling. It's even harder to make time for even a small yoga practice or meditation session. So I'm adapting my practice in some interesting ways, turning my morning shower into a sadhana, taking deep breathes and clearing my mind. Traveling itself, however, is such a profound practice itself of learning to let things flow, be present in the moment, and not get caught up in the momentary worries and frustrations that travel inevitably brings.
We'll be passing through Boulder and plan to stay for a few days, so I'm hoping to catch some good yoga classes there. I think our bodies will really need it after all this car travel. That's about all for now. Passing through Kentucky right now and should be in St. Louis in a few hours.
Journal Date: June 10th, 2010
Driving through the immense landscapes of rural Kansas, as farmland stretches out as far as the eye can see. And seeming contradictions: fields of giant white wind-power generators and countless signs on the roadside about Jesus & abortion. It's a fascinating backdrop, however, for the book I'm reading right now: Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. The book is an in-depth exploration of the politics, economy, and ecology of our food. Kansas, along with Iowa and its corn fields, is really ground zero of our modern day food & farming system. A sign we passed on our way through reminded us: 1 Kansas Farmer Feeds 128 People + YOU! So much of the food I haven eaten in my lifetime has its origin in these heartland fields, yet this is the very first time I have seen it with my own two eyes.
It' all interesting food for thought on the new writing project I'm contemplating right now and which I haven't really written about until now. I have this idea called the "Ji-Ji-Mu-Ge Project". Ji-ji-mu-ge is a Zen term which literally means thing-thing-no-barrier, or "Between two things there is no barrier or wall." It is an ancient vision of life's interdependence that has spiritual as well as political and ecological consequences.
The reason I feel inspired to explore this concept of ji-ji-mu-ge is that I believe that we live in deeply disconnected times - both personally and globally. Whether one is talking about food, spirituality, politics, relationships, or just about anything in life, the problems and solutions usually revolve around how connected we are. I'm envisioning a writing & living project over the next year or so where I explore our disconnection (as well as the avenues to reconnection) to our naturally interdependent and interconnected world. This is also the basic philosophy behind One World Dharma (beginning as a blog but hopefully one day expanding into a non-profit). The vision of One World Dharma is reconnecting to our natural selves and the natural world through meditative practices, natural & simple living, creativity, and service. I'm envisioning this whole upcoming year as a time for dreaming big dreams and focusing myself on bringing into reality these callings I feel to reconnect to nature and spiritual truth.
That's all for now. About 3 more hours until we reach Boulder. We'll be staying there for 2 nights and I'm really expecting to have a blast there.
Peace.
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