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Good
morning <$firstname$>,
Finally
- on Sunday morning the sun was shining again at the Cape
of Good Hope, after heavy winter rains all week. It was
still nippy with a bit of a breeze, but we were dying to
get out, to smell the sea and maybe see some whales - on
Saturday we had spotted the first Southern Right of the
season from our deck in Simon's Town, blowing its typical
V-shaped spray some distance away.
Walking
down to Fisherman's Beach, we noticed that many flowers
enjoyed the rains and were in full bloom. The surf was pounding
against the rocks on which some penguins waddled about -
others were still taking their morning bath, splashing in
the little coves surrounding Boulders Beach.
For
most of the week we had been confined indoors by the weather,
but now we were thoroughly enjoying nature again, following
its rhythm - and honouring our own. Early August is wet
here, so what? Many people don't like this time of the year,
but our dams are filling up for summer and hopefully we
won't have water restrictions again for Christmas.
Being
German, we love the South African sunshine - but why do
we also miss the dark and cold weeks in Europe sometimes,
when we celebrate the Advent of Christmas and families gather
at home around an open fire with a hot drink, the goodwill
of humanity shining through the armour of self-interest
for a change?
We
follow so many of these comfortably familiar rituals during
our days, weeks and years without really noticing and honouring
them. They mark the rhythm of life as we know it, of course;
there is a time for sunshine, and a time for rain. These
days, however, we tend to want it all, and now - why can't
we have it all at once?
There
is a simple reason : we cannot see one-ness, we always need
a sequence of events to understand the whole story. We live
in a world of duality and see everything in steps of two,
one after the other, which creates a rhythm - and the illusion
of time. The ultimate truth is that everything happens at
on©e, in the Now - but we see a past and a future.
You can read more about these concepts in "The
REAL Facts of Life".
We need time - not only as a concept - to go through
the stages of growth and development, the rhythms of day
and night, good and bad, life and death, rain and sunshine.
Together these opposites don't exclude each other, they
are just different aspects of the same thing and depend
on each other.
Like
two sides of the same coin : take one of them away and you
no longer have a coin. If you deny the peak or the trough
you don't get a wave. On their own, the parts don't exist.
We always have to deal with both aspects to see anything
in its entirety and get a whole picture.
Stop
breathing out and you won't be able to breathe in again
- life will stop. Breathing is the existential rhythm most
of us don't even notice, let alone honour. When we are young
we also want the knowledge that comes with age; when we
are older we long for the vitality of youth.
Being
a desk-jockey, all too often I get caught up in my work
and forget about play, jeopardizing my balance in life -
passion also has its dangers.
Leaving
our favourite walk along the shore of Simon's Town for home,
we noticed a pair of Egyptian Geese with eight little chicks
strut by, the gander proudly flapping his wings as if to
say : "See, I am honouring the cycle."
Nature
is so wise - I need to get out more often.
Until
next time, all the best from :
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11
August 2006
"Happiness
is not a matter of intensity, but of balance and order and
rhythm and harmony."
Thomas Merton
1915 - 1968
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