Preparing to Leave Brisbane: Life is a Great Sandy Desert

I am in the process of preparing myself to leave Brisbane. I will go and teach peace, sustainability, values and happiness to children and community. I will do it by donation.

I have felt the strongest call to go to the desert. I even cried when I thought of it. It is interesting as in the past I have been drawn to the coast and cities. I have felt a change within myself. I am interested in connecting with the planet and working with children. I also will learn about my responsibility and stewardship as I move through this vast land.

I will start another blog in a weeks time which will document my experience. Fears come up as you leave the nice warm home and start to think about living in a tent. As I am a woman travelling alone, fears arise but I know they are not real. I realise all women share these fears and that all they do is become barriers to freedom. In truth there is nothing to fear only new horizons to explore. The work of peace is an inner journey, to face all challenges peacefully and to allow for life. We are not here to control we are here to experience life.

I have travelled Australia before, so I do know what I am in for and I am doing the driving, so it will be tiring. The distances are long between towns in the outback. You are driving for 300km  -600km per day. Alice springs is 2,991km. It is around 13,500 km trip. I remember when I was in Argentina on the bus. It was early morning and I opened the curtains, what I saw was a landscape so similar to the Australian landscape that I became excited, I felt I was home. It was then that I realised how this land is within me. I viewed the world as my own country, and now I will see my own country as my world. This land is the most ancient on the planet. I was researching and found out that the sea came up to the red centre (Uluru, Ayers Rock). There is evidence of coral reefs that have turned into caves or mountains. Shark Bay Western Australia has the stromatalites, these were the first life forms that produced oxygen from the ocean which created life on earth. The indigenous aboriginal people we barely know, they have walked this land for 40,000 years, a number bandied around, but we can barely conceive of such integration with the land and the deeper knowledge they acquired. I noted how gentle they are and misunderstood by Australians in general, yet I feel a love for them. They call it country not Australia. They are one of the most ancient people’s on the planet and I hope to get the opportunity to go to schools in remote areas. Hopefully someone flies me in.

I am not sure how good my wireless and phone reception will be but in the major towns and cities I should be able to upload my blogs, photos and videos to YouTube. I will be educating people about this country and my experience as a Peace and Sustainability clown. It will be a challenge, but I am sure it will deepen my work in peace education. I will be a happy camper….

So here is a poem I just saw this morning which sums up my feeling.

NATURE TAKES ITS COURSE

In the mirror of humanity,
I am you,
You are me,
For each reflects another,
For reflections can be clear or muddy,
Given waters that flow or remain still
awaiting the rains to refresh the landscape.

When one speaks,
One may misunderstand,
Another is as clear as day,
One may speak,
Another remains silent,
One may laugh,
Another is serious,
For we are a myriad of complexions,
For to see differently,
One must be unique,
And this is the diversity of life,
That reveals and shapes self understanding.

The global village,
Is a melting pot,
Of isolated islands,
A metropolis of flashing entertainment,
A wilderness of natural vibrations,
A cacophony of sounds,
That speak in many languages,
For the world is one of communication,
Each entity sends messages,
An orchestra of living feeling,
That breathes air into existence,
Of life on earth.

Peace is not only the highest wisdom,
Nor is it still and unmoved,
It doesn’t sit on mountain peaks,
Or remain neutral in the dynamics of action,
It is self understanding,
It hears its own call,
It looks for community,
It walks on common ground,
Sharing its stewardship,
In friendship and cooperation,
Remembering the family has many personalities,
Each journeying to great adventures,
For each day is a mystery to unfold,
And new circumstances to behold,
For you never know what is around the corner.

Life is designed to be challenging and free,
Peace is always seeking freedom from ignorance,
But this doesn’t mean the journey is not turbulent,
Or trouble free,
For it meets with obstacles that tangle,
For only one can learn by untangling the nets and changing course with new winds,
For in seeing the discomfort in another’s eyes,
One sees the truth of others is equally valid,
But how can one learn in isolation,
When the song is solo,
And not a duet in tune,
For only in the silence the question is unheard.

For to experience peace is to give peace to others,
It lives to forgive misunderstandings,
To allow for error,
To allow freedom in all its shapes and forms,
To re-form and start again,
So the waters become clear and not rapid,
For when the rocks & barriers are dis-solved,
The current calms and flows to return to its natural level,
For all rivers reach the ocean of knowledge,
When the dam walls are removed,
And nature is allowed to take its course,
For this is a course designed for a school without walls.

We are all part of a living system,
We all feel similarly,
For we are coloured with the same brush,
And we are a family seeing differently yet linked with common peptide bonds,
For the song of peace we can all sing together,
When we realise we are one voice,
But this can only happen when we join in truth and justice in all-ways,
It is goodwill that seeks loving kindness,
As the Mandela of real hope,
That found freedom from the island of prisoners,
That lived in other minds,
For the walk of freedom begins in the thinking thoughts of freedom,
To return home to the heart of joy
That lives in your thoughtful eyes.