Do you know the show LOST? It’s one of my favorites and in the show some of the characters belong to this thing called the Dharma Initiative. It’s a mellow, hippie commune out in the middle of nowhere; operating for the greater good. Let’s just say, if I had a Dharma jumpsuit, I’d be set.
Things really slowing down gives you time to think and I’m thinking that these vacations I choose have a common thread. It’s the “throwing myself into totally foreign situations just to see how I’d react” thread. Spain was like that and today I realize that this temple excursion is exactly like that. The kicker is that I don’t seem to realize this until a week into the vacation – like right now.
I guess it works that way, cause if I actually had time to think about it, I probably wouldn’t do it. Right now, I’m offcially in Dharma camp.
My first day had its adjustments. A nice girl showed me her painting of a cow prancing through a field with OMMMMM over it. “Did you see our OMMMM cow?” she asked. I did and ended up saying “You know, if you put a couple more O’s on it and flipped it around it’d say “MOO”. Followed that up with saying it had an upside down McDonald’s sign on it’s butt which is actually the symbol for Om. Not exactly what a Dharma kid wants to hear. You know that the symbol for cheap processed industrialized meat is on their OMMMMM cow. Strike one.
Next foot in the mouth situation was when I was being shown to my very nice temporary room. I asked about the room lock when I got a strange look. After realizing what kind of comment I made, I shrugged and said “Oh yeah, I guess stealing at a Buddhist compound would probably be frowned upon.” Strike TWO!
The most recent one was when I sat in a ceremony at the temple the other night. All the girls had these long maroon skirts that they were wearing to it. I was in my painting jeans and messy t-shirt but no skirt. At this point, I knew there was no getting out of the ceremony, even sans skirt so I just did what I do best, make it work. Grabbing the nearest maroon tablecloth, I wrapped it around my waist; tucked it into my pants. “Uh, do I have to take off my pants?” I kindly asked my friend. She looked at the makeshift skirt with disbelief and said no. Good thing cause I wasn’t wearing any underwear and the last thing I wanted to do was flash a couple of Lamas during a religious ceremony in a temple.
So I’m getting my bearings slowly. Trying to find water but it’s about 5 miles away walking distance which I may get desperate enough to walk there just to hear and feel it. It is beautiful in this area though. Mountains and trees as far as the eye can see. There is a calmness to this place and when I paint, I feel like I am in a meditative state accompanied by a huge temple which is why I planned this whole trip anyway. That and to learn some old school Tibetan art skills which will hopefully happen on Thursday when the Lama returns.
In the meantime, getting to know the ropes. Learning to stay still and take in what this place has to offer, exactly what I had to do last year in Spain. There must be a method to this madness. Let’s just hope that I don’t moon anyone important.
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