I am a dark shadowy form crouched at a smallish desktop in a palatial villa in Ubud Bali. The room is dark for the most part. It is Sunday night. My girlfriend Donna lies naked reading in a giant bed dressed in fresh white linen with pillows adorned with fresh white and yellow plumeria which will serenade my senses in short order. She just snapped the reading light out and I hear her sweet voice whispering some pleasant inanity. The mosquito netting hangs suspended in grey relief from the light of my laptop.
Aaron Marcelino and I were roadside today filming in East Bali. “Hey Aaron, you know what it is about the Hindus? They believe that what they do will follow them. They do not get to confess their sins and get a do over. So for the most part, there really is not much crime. Instant accountability. It is why they all smile at you. They give what they want to receive.”
As always I am overwhelmed by the generosity of these people. My friend Ed Brenegar has a website called Say Thanks Every Day. I believe the Hindi do it every second. Today on the long drive out to East Bali, our friend and driver, Gusti Made Merta described grace from a Hindu point of view and the explanation changed my life. I looked up to see Aaron rolling camera on him. He had noticed. In the occupants of the car, I saw that Donna was listening rapt. Everyone else? Lost in Ipods, I phones and their own I worlds, victims of the white noise that is self. They were robbed. We have all been there: a victim of self, life’s traesures having been slyly stolen in much the same manner as a pickpocket on a crowded subway platform.
We choose our own heaven. Many of us live our own Hell as well. Life is cyclical. So are our choices.
As the frogs croak outside, and I hear the chant from a distant ceremony and chortle of the river down the valley, I am so, very, absolutely,
grateful.
Sweet scent of plumeria and the soft breath of the woman I love beckon me to bed. I will grab a few hours sleep. I wish that you were with us tomorrow. I have something to show you, something for you to hear, and a vibrant, throbbing, many hued love for you to feel. You will enjoy it, I pray.
Choose wisely from what is before you. Your perspective eventually becomes you.
I heard this song someplace and at a time quite special here. Jack Johnson and Ben Harper are two guys who really always seem to just get it.
Gratitude is our response to gifts we’ve been given in life. Whether the gift is from God or a friend, our lives are filled by the goodness and grace of others.
I know that what you are experiencing in Bali is a mutual giving of gifts. And sitting here, in the mountains of NC, as the sun sets, I am there with you, sharing in a small way those same gifts. I’m definitely with you all in mind and spirit.
Thanks.
Ah….grasshopper..it is I, the ant checking in….
I pray…….
I know that you do Korina. Smiles.
David the I world may be causing problems down the road so many people I know cant just sit and watch or listen to something peaceful. They find silence troublng instead of relaxing and need to fill it with something, anything. Technology is certainly a mixed blessing. Living life by doing instead of being is also gratitude.
Oh man! What a treasure. Aaron and I are in Ubud at the Villa, shooting a timelapse and discussing what you just said. Thanks Feargus.
Beautiful…
So true, what you say there David about people missing the experience by being embedded in their i-worlds (ipod, iphone etc) I have an iphone myself and about the only time I listen to music is when I’m on my own, on the beach, shooting or stuck in a seat, 30,000 feet up in the air. Other than that, when I travel, I tend not to listen to the headphones because as you say there are experiences out there to be had along the way, most of them very much a fleeting moment.
Aloha David. As always, your words are uplifting.
Sean
Aaron who is editing on this project just told me this: “Talent is making the most of the opportunities which present themselves to you.” The fact that you said what you did here, explains why you are light years ahead of many Sean. Blessed that you read me.
Aaron who is editing on this project just told me this: “Talent is making the most of the opportunities which present themselves to you.” The fact that you said what you did here, explains why you are light years ahead of many Sean. Blessed that you read me.