The glories of nature have to be lived to be understood. There is probably not one amongst us who has not been touched by nature in one way or another, we who are after all, of the very stuff of nature in one portion of our being. In unsuspecting moments, we must have communed with nature deeply, this entity that we unfortunately project out of our being and place as external to us most often. Nevertheless, nature exists in all her glory, whether we are watching or not, aware or not aware.
In the flight of birds soaring high in the vast blue sky, in the ardour of the tall trees reaching out towards the sky in one-pointed determination, in the starkness of silence amidst moving mountains, in the potency of the raging rivers seeking out their ends in the seething seas, in the incessant call of the waves as they throw themselves tirelessly, time and time again, upon the brown bodied earth, in the many voices of nature in a happy chatter or else, fierce competition, in the speechless beauty of the dark, night sky illumined by one single disk of silver, in the candid joy of a thousand twinkling stars, in the sweetness of a casual breeze brushing past, in the incessant beating of the heart, in the tidal waves of the tsunami, in the earth-shattering earthquakes that rock existence in her cradle for seconds, in the fierce glow of forest fires that rage on madly for days, in the seemingly unending torrents of rain that soak the earth right through, for days on end, in the intensity of the scorching sun creating instant deserts within weeks, in the flash of floods that submerge the rest of nature, in the flow of rivers of red-hot larva …. in all these and many more faces that nature wears, we glimpse something of her beauty, her majesty, her awesome presence and touch…these are moments when nature bares herself before our half-closed eyes. And then comes a time when all eyes on the outward must turn inwards too, inevitably, someday. To be aware of all these externalities is one thing. To dive into one’s own nature, bringing in the light of consciousness therein and witness the whole works of it, is quite another stupendous task of beauty we can indulge in.
In this issue of our newsletter, we indulge in the flamboyant beauty of nature, her sweetness and her significance.
The ambitious violet: A story by Khalil Gibran
There was a beautiful and fragrant violet who lived placidly amongst her friends, and swayed happily amidst the other flowers in a solitary garden. One morning, as her crown was embellished with beads of dew, she lifted her head and looked about; she saw a tall and handsome rose standing proudly and reaching high into space, like a burning torch upon an emerald lamp.
The violet opened her blue lips and said, "What an unfortunate am I among these flowers, and how humble is the position I occupy in their presence! Nature has fashioned me to be short and poor.... I live very close to the earth and I cannot raise my head toward the blue sky, or turn my face to the sun, as the roses do."
And the rose heard her neighbor's words; she laughed and commented, "How strange is your talk! You are fortunate, and yet you cannot understand your fortune. Nature has bestowed upon you fragrance and beauty which she did not grant to any other... Cast aside your thoughts and be contended, and remember that he who humbles himself will be exalted, and he who exalts himself will be crushed."
The violet answered, "You are consoling me because you have that I craved.... You seek to embitter me with the meaning that you are great.... How painful is the preaching of the fortunate to the heart of the miserable! And how severe is the strong when he stands as advisor among the weak!"
And Nature heard the conversation of the violet and the rose; she approached and said, "What has happened to you, my daughter violet? You have been humble and sweet in all your deeds and words. Has greed entered your heart and numbed your senses?" In a pleading voice, the violet answered her, saying, "Oh great and merciful mother, full of love and sympathy, I beg you, with all my heart and soul, to grant my request and allow me to be a rose for one day."
And Nature responded, "you know not what you are seeking; you are unaware of the concealed disaster behind your blind ambition. If you were a rose you would be sorry, and repentance would avail you but naught." The violet insisted, "Change me into a tall rose, for I wish to lift my head high with pride; and regardless of my fate, it will be my own doing." Nature yielded, saying, "Oh ignorant and rebellious violet, I will grant your request. But if calamity befalls you, your complaint must be to yourself."
And Nature stretched forth her mysterious and magic finger and touched the roots of the violet, who immediately turned into a tall rose; rising above all other flowers in the garden.
At eventide the sky became thick with black clouds, and the raging elements disturbed the silence of existence with thunder, and commenced to attack the garden, sending forth a great rain and strong winds. The tempest tore the branches and uprooted the plants and broke the stems of the tall flowers, sparing only the little ones who grew close to the friendly earth. That solitary garden suffered greatly from the belligerent skies, and when the storm calmed and the sky cleared, all the flowers were laid waste and none of them had escaped the wrath of Nature except the clan of small violets, hiding by the wall of the garden.
Having lifted her head and viewed the tragedy of the flowers and trees, one of the violet maidens smiled happily and called to here companions, saying, "See what the tempest has done to the haughty flowers!" Another violet said, "We are small, and live close to the earth, but we are safe from the wrath of the skies." And a third one added, "Because we are poor in height the tempest is unable to subdue us."
At that moment the queen of violets saw by her side the converted violet, hurled to earth by the storm and distorted upon the wet grass like a limp soldier in a battle field. The queen of the violets lifted her head and called to her family, saying, "Look, my daughters, and meditate upon that which Greed has done to the violet who became a proud rose for one hour. Let the memory of this scene be a reminder of your good fortune."
And the dying rose moved and gathered the remnants of her strength, and quietly said, "You are contended and meek dullards; I have never feared the tempest. Yesterday I, too, was satisfied and contented with Life, but Contentment has acted as a barrier between my existence and the tempest of Life, confining me to a sickly and sluggish peace and tranquility of mind. I could have lived the same life you are living now by clinging with fear to the earth.... I could have waited for winter to shroud me with snow and deliver me to Death, who will surely claim all violets.... I am happy now because I have probed outside my little world into the mystery of the Universe.... something which you have not yet done. I could have overlooked Greed, whose nature is higher than mine, but as I hearkened to the silence of the night, I heard the heavenly world talking to this earthly world, saying, 'Ambition beyond existence is the essential purpose of our being.' At that moment my spirit revolted and my heart longed for a position higher than my limited existence. I realized that the abyss cannot hear the song of the stars, and at that moment I commenced fighting against my smallness and craving for that which did not belong to me, until my rebelliousness turned into a great power, and my longing into a creating will.... Nature, who is the great object of our deeper dreams, granted my request and changed me into a rose with her magic fingers."
The rose became silent for a moment, and in a weakening voice, mingled with pride and achievement, she said, "I have lived one hour as a proud rose; I have existed for a time like a queen; I have looked at the Universe from behind the eyes of the rose; I have heard the whisper of the firmament through the ears of the rose and touched the folds of Light's garment with rose petals. Is there any here who can claim such honor?" Having this spoken, she lowered her head, and with a choking voice he gasped, "I shall die now, for my soul has attained its goal. I have finally extended my knowledge to a world beyond the narrow cavern of my birth. This is the design of Life.... This is the secret of Existence." Then the rose quivered, slowly folded her petals, and breathed her last with a heavenly smile upon her lips... a smile of fulfillment of hope and purpose in Life... a smile of victory... a God's smile.
The violet opened her blue lips and said, "What an unfortunate am I among these flowers, and how humble is the position I occupy in their presence! Nature has fashioned me to be short and poor.... I live very close to the earth and I cannot raise my head toward the blue sky, or turn my face to the sun, as the roses do."
And the rose heard her neighbor's words; she laughed and commented, "How strange is your talk! You are fortunate, and yet you cannot understand your fortune. Nature has bestowed upon you fragrance and beauty which she did not grant to any other... Cast aside your thoughts and be contended, and remember that he who humbles himself will be exalted, and he who exalts himself will be crushed."
The violet answered, "You are consoling me because you have that I craved.... You seek to embitter me with the meaning that you are great.... How painful is the preaching of the fortunate to the heart of the miserable! And how severe is the strong when he stands as advisor among the weak!"
And Nature heard the conversation of the violet and the rose; she approached and said, "What has happened to you, my daughter violet? You have been humble and sweet in all your deeds and words. Has greed entered your heart and numbed your senses?" In a pleading voice, the violet answered her, saying, "Oh great and merciful mother, full of love and sympathy, I beg you, with all my heart and soul, to grant my request and allow me to be a rose for one day."
And Nature responded, "you know not what you are seeking; you are unaware of the concealed disaster behind your blind ambition. If you were a rose you would be sorry, and repentance would avail you but naught." The violet insisted, "Change me into a tall rose, for I wish to lift my head high with pride; and regardless of my fate, it will be my own doing." Nature yielded, saying, "Oh ignorant and rebellious violet, I will grant your request. But if calamity befalls you, your complaint must be to yourself."
And Nature stretched forth her mysterious and magic finger and touched the roots of the violet, who immediately turned into a tall rose; rising above all other flowers in the garden.
At eventide the sky became thick with black clouds, and the raging elements disturbed the silence of existence with thunder, and commenced to attack the garden, sending forth a great rain and strong winds. The tempest tore the branches and uprooted the plants and broke the stems of the tall flowers, sparing only the little ones who grew close to the friendly earth. That solitary garden suffered greatly from the belligerent skies, and when the storm calmed and the sky cleared, all the flowers were laid waste and none of them had escaped the wrath of Nature except the clan of small violets, hiding by the wall of the garden.
Having lifted her head and viewed the tragedy of the flowers and trees, one of the violet maidens smiled happily and called to here companions, saying, "See what the tempest has done to the haughty flowers!" Another violet said, "We are small, and live close to the earth, but we are safe from the wrath of the skies." And a third one added, "Because we are poor in height the tempest is unable to subdue us."
At that moment the queen of violets saw by her side the converted violet, hurled to earth by the storm and distorted upon the wet grass like a limp soldier in a battle field. The queen of the violets lifted her head and called to her family, saying, "Look, my daughters, and meditate upon that which Greed has done to the violet who became a proud rose for one hour. Let the memory of this scene be a reminder of your good fortune."
And the dying rose moved and gathered the remnants of her strength, and quietly said, "You are contended and meek dullards; I have never feared the tempest. Yesterday I, too, was satisfied and contented with Life, but Contentment has acted as a barrier between my existence and the tempest of Life, confining me to a sickly and sluggish peace and tranquility of mind. I could have lived the same life you are living now by clinging with fear to the earth.... I could have waited for winter to shroud me with snow and deliver me to Death, who will surely claim all violets.... I am happy now because I have probed outside my little world into the mystery of the Universe.... something which you have not yet done. I could have overlooked Greed, whose nature is higher than mine, but as I hearkened to the silence of the night, I heard the heavenly world talking to this earthly world, saying, 'Ambition beyond existence is the essential purpose of our being.' At that moment my spirit revolted and my heart longed for a position higher than my limited existence. I realized that the abyss cannot hear the song of the stars, and at that moment I commenced fighting against my smallness and craving for that which did not belong to me, until my rebelliousness turned into a great power, and my longing into a creating will.... Nature, who is the great object of our deeper dreams, granted my request and changed me into a rose with her magic fingers."
The rose became silent for a moment, and in a weakening voice, mingled with pride and achievement, she said, "I have lived one hour as a proud rose; I have existed for a time like a queen; I have looked at the Universe from behind the eyes of the rose; I have heard the whisper of the firmament through the ears of the rose and touched the folds of Light's garment with rose petals. Is there any here who can claim such honor?" Having this spoken, she lowered her head, and with a choking voice he gasped, "I shall die now, for my soul has attained its goal. I have finally extended my knowledge to a world beyond the narrow cavern of my birth. This is the design of Life.... This is the secret of Existence." Then the rose quivered, slowly folded her petals, and breathed her last with a heavenly smile upon her lips... a smile of fulfillment of hope and purpose in Life... a smile of victory... a God's smile.
The Mother on Nature untouched by men
The mediating light linked body's power,
The sleep and dreaming of the tree and plant,
The animal's vibrant sense, the thought in man,
To the effulgence of the Ray above.
(Savitri, Book Two, Canto Ten)
I saw in France a patch of garden: it was surrounded by walls, and the land had belonged to someone who took great care of it and had planted flowers in it. It was fairly large, but completely enclosed. That person died. It was in southern France. He died and no one (there were no heirs), no one looked after that garden... I don’t remember now, but certainly more than five years afterwards. It probably happened that the lock broke little by little and came loose; I pushed the door open and entered... I have never seen anything more beautiful! There weren’t any paths any more, there was no order any more, nothing but confusion- but what a confusion! I’ve never seen anything more beautiful. I stood there in a sort of ecstasy... There is a book (I think it’s Le Paradou by Zola) in which there is a description of a fairy place – it was just like that: all the flowers and plants entangled, in an absolutely disorderly growth, but with a harmony of another type, a much vaster, much stronger harmony.
It was extraordinarily beautiful.
We have the mental habit of wanting to order, classify and regulate everything: we always want to have order – a mental order. But that’s.... For example, in those places untouched by men, such as virgin forests, there is a beauty you don’t find in life, and it’s a vital, unruly beauty which doesn’t satisfy mental reason, yet contains a far greater wealth than anything the mind conceives and organises.
The sleep and dreaming of the tree and plant,
The animal's vibrant sense, the thought in man,
To the effulgence of the Ray above.
(Savitri, Book Two, Canto Ten)
I saw in France a patch of garden: it was surrounded by walls, and the land had belonged to someone who took great care of it and had planted flowers in it. It was fairly large, but completely enclosed. That person died. It was in southern France. He died and no one (there were no heirs), no one looked after that garden... I don’t remember now, but certainly more than five years afterwards. It probably happened that the lock broke little by little and came loose; I pushed the door open and entered... I have never seen anything more beautiful! There weren’t any paths any more, there was no order any more, nothing but confusion- but what a confusion! I’ve never seen anything more beautiful. I stood there in a sort of ecstasy... There is a book (I think it’s Le Paradou by Zola) in which there is a description of a fairy place – it was just like that: all the flowers and plants entangled, in an absolutely disorderly growth, but with a harmony of another type, a much vaster, much stronger harmony.
It was extraordinarily beautiful.
We have the mental habit of wanting to order, classify and regulate everything: we always want to have order – a mental order. But that’s.... For example, in those places untouched by men, such as virgin forests, there is a beauty you don’t find in life, and it’s a vital, unruly beauty which doesn’t satisfy mental reason, yet contains a far greater wealth than anything the mind conceives and organises.
The Mother’s Agenda Volume 4, 1963. – Institut De Recherches Evolutives, Paris and Mira Aditi, Mysore.
The Mother and Sri Aurobindo on change in the global weather patterns
In the past decade we have been witness to dramatic upheaval in the weather patterns and climatic changes caused by “global warming”. We have had our share of Tsunamis, earthquakes, torrential rains, sweltering heat, forest fires, droughts, blizzards and what not. Recently in tropical Singapore there was a downpour of hail- or pieces of ice falling! The bizarre and weird weather is unpredictable and violent at times. The external forces causing this are changes in the solar radiation, and greenhouse gases and rising carbon-di-oxide levels to name a few. What are the other forces behind this?
More than seventy years ago Sri Aurobindo gave five indications to recognise the coming of the New world.
The third indication is of relevance here
“The vital is trying to lay hold on the physical as it never did before. It is always the sign that whenever the higher Truth is coming down, it throws up the hostile vital world on the surface, and you will see all sorts of abnormal vital manifestations such as an increase in the number of people who go mad, earth quakes etc “ (Beyond the Human Species- Georges Van Vrekhem)
Sraddalu Ranade observes, when asked what the first signs of change in Matter would be, The Mother pointed to two indications that the Supermind is working in Matter: change in human body and change in global weather patterns.
“Mother indicated that weather all over the world would become more temperate and the extremes of both heat and cold would become less intense, in practice the changes have been towards violent and unpredictable fluctuations of precisely such extremes all over the world. One may view this as a transitional period before the fluctuations even out into a steady average.
It is interesting to observe that scientists find two contradictory trends of change in the average global temperatures: seen from satellites measuring changes in the upper atmosphere, the Earth seems to be cooling down, and seen from the ground, the Earth seems to be heating up. So is there global warming or global cooling? For the moment nobody is very sure about the answer: it depends on how you look at the data
Sraddhalu further observes that there is dramatic change in the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface, changes which have begun after the Supramental Manifestation. This explains the violent and extreme weather patterns all over the earth and the inner reason behind it. Nothing seems normal or fixed anymore, dramatic changes and upheavals all over the world and in the consciousness of people makes us aware of the Supramental Force working and tearing apart the “old and dying world”.
The Mother predicted on 14th March 1970
The change has been accomplished. The physical is able to receive the higher Light, the Truth, the true Consciousness. It is in the year 2000 that it will take a clear turn.
References:
Service Letter- 30.1.2004 (Founder Editor: M.P. Pandit)
Beyond the Human Species –Georges Van Vrekhem, Paragon House, St. Paul, Minnesota
More than seventy years ago Sri Aurobindo gave five indications to recognise the coming of the New world.
The third indication is of relevance here
“The vital is trying to lay hold on the physical as it never did before. It is always the sign that whenever the higher Truth is coming down, it throws up the hostile vital world on the surface, and you will see all sorts of abnormal vital manifestations such as an increase in the number of people who go mad, earth quakes etc “ (Beyond the Human Species- Georges Van Vrekhem)
Sraddalu Ranade observes, when asked what the first signs of change in Matter would be, The Mother pointed to two indications that the Supermind is working in Matter: change in human body and change in global weather patterns.
“Mother indicated that weather all over the world would become more temperate and the extremes of both heat and cold would become less intense, in practice the changes have been towards violent and unpredictable fluctuations of precisely such extremes all over the world. One may view this as a transitional period before the fluctuations even out into a steady average.
It is interesting to observe that scientists find two contradictory trends of change in the average global temperatures: seen from satellites measuring changes in the upper atmosphere, the Earth seems to be cooling down, and seen from the ground, the Earth seems to be heating up. So is there global warming or global cooling? For the moment nobody is very sure about the answer: it depends on how you look at the data
Sraddhalu further observes that there is dramatic change in the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface, changes which have begun after the Supramental Manifestation. This explains the violent and extreme weather patterns all over the earth and the inner reason behind it. Nothing seems normal or fixed anymore, dramatic changes and upheavals all over the world and in the consciousness of people makes us aware of the Supramental Force working and tearing apart the “old and dying world”.
The Mother predicted on 14th March 1970
The change has been accomplished. The physical is able to receive the higher Light, the Truth, the true Consciousness. It is in the year 2000 that it will take a clear turn.
References:
Service Letter- 30.1.2004 (Founder Editor: M.P. Pandit)
Beyond the Human Species –Georges Van Vrekhem, Paragon House, St. Paul, Minnesota
Savitri - nature
Life ran or hid in her delightful rooms;
Behind all brooded Nature’s grandiose calm.
Primeval peace was there and in its bosom
Held undisturbed the strife of bird and beast.
Man, the deep-browed artificer, had not come
To lay his hand on happy inconscient things,
Thought was not there nor the measurer, strong-eyed toil,
Life had not learned its discord with its aim. (Savitri, Book 8.3)
Nature has an instinctive thirst for Light and is in a state of constant communion with the Divine. There is a deep peace and silence in Nature. The Mother said that when we are silent and receptive and sit down and commune with the trees then we can feel their deep aspiration and yearning for the light and this will help us to open ourselves to our psychic.
A spirit wandered happily in the wind,
A spirit brooded in the leaf and stone. (Savitri, Book 11.1)
Since Nature does not have a mental consciousness there is a “spontaneous and effortless offering” which makes them intensely psychic. The most wonderful thing in nature is the absence of mind and mental vibrations, with its constant need to judge and the obscurities, which we are enslaved to. This makes it silent and receptive to the Divine in an intense and natural way. This is why a walk in Nature is rejuvenating as we are in the midst of the pure vibrations, perfection, harmony and silence which emanate from trees and flowers and by being in close touch with them, we can be in a similar psychic state. Especially so since we live in a city or “concrete jungle”, being constantly surrounded by mental noise and concrete buildings. Being in the midst of Nature brings us back to our true psychic state of consciousness.
As comes a goddess to a mortal's breast
And fills his days with her celestial clasp,
She stooped to make her home in transient shapes;
In the unfeeling Vast woke thought and hope,
Smote with her charm and beauty flesh and nerve
And forced delight on earth's insensible frame
Alive and clad with trees and herbs and flowers
Earth's great brown body smiled towards the skies,
Azure replied to azure in the sea's laugh;
New sentient creatures filled the unseen depths,
Life's glory and swiftness ran in the beauty of the beasts,
Man dared and thought and met with his soul the world.
(Book Two, Canto Three)
Behind all brooded Nature’s grandiose calm.
Primeval peace was there and in its bosom
Held undisturbed the strife of bird and beast.
Man, the deep-browed artificer, had not come
To lay his hand on happy inconscient things,
Thought was not there nor the measurer, strong-eyed toil,
Life had not learned its discord with its aim. (Savitri, Book 8.3)
Nature has an instinctive thirst for Light and is in a state of constant communion with the Divine. There is a deep peace and silence in Nature. The Mother said that when we are silent and receptive and sit down and commune with the trees then we can feel their deep aspiration and yearning for the light and this will help us to open ourselves to our psychic.
A spirit wandered happily in the wind,
A spirit brooded in the leaf and stone. (Savitri, Book 11.1)
Since Nature does not have a mental consciousness there is a “spontaneous and effortless offering” which makes them intensely psychic. The most wonderful thing in nature is the absence of mind and mental vibrations, with its constant need to judge and the obscurities, which we are enslaved to. This makes it silent and receptive to the Divine in an intense and natural way. This is why a walk in Nature is rejuvenating as we are in the midst of the pure vibrations, perfection, harmony and silence which emanate from trees and flowers and by being in close touch with them, we can be in a similar psychic state. Especially so since we live in a city or “concrete jungle”, being constantly surrounded by mental noise and concrete buildings. Being in the midst of Nature brings us back to our true psychic state of consciousness.
As comes a goddess to a mortal's breast
And fills his days with her celestial clasp,
She stooped to make her home in transient shapes;
In the unfeeling Vast woke thought and hope,
Smote with her charm and beauty flesh and nerve
And forced delight on earth's insensible frame
Alive and clad with trees and herbs and flowers
Earth's great brown body smiled towards the skies,
Azure replied to azure in the sea's laugh;
New sentient creatures filled the unseen depths,
Life's glory and swiftness ran in the beauty of the beasts,
Man dared and thought and met with his soul the world.
(Book Two, Canto Three)
- Sudha
The Living Question: Nature
When one is in the midst of Nature, of what should one think? Does it help us in any way to be in contact with Nature?
It is not through thought that one can be in contact with Nature, for Nature does not think.
But if you deeply feel the beauty of Nature and commune with her, that can help in widening the consciousness.
To love Nature is usually the sign of a being sane and pure whom modern civilisation has not corrupted. It is in the silence of a quieted mind that one can best commune with Nature.
It is not through thought that one can be in contact with Nature, for Nature does not think.
But if you deeply feel the beauty of Nature and commune with her, that can help in widening the consciousness.
To love Nature is usually the sign of a being sane and pure whom modern civilisation has not corrupted. It is in the silence of a quieted mind that one can best commune with Nature.
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother On Nature – Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry
Reflections on IEP camp march 8th and 9th 2008
One of my favorite passages from The Mother is called "The Great Adventure"
There are people who love adventure. It is these I call, and I tell them this: "I invite you to the great adventure."
It is not a question of repeating spiritually what others have done before us, for our adventure begins beyond that. It is a question of a new creation, entirely new, with all the unforeseen events, the risks, the hazards it entails – a real adventure, whose goal is certain victory, but the road to which is unknown and must be traced out step by step in the unexplored. Something that has never been in this present universe and that will never be again in the same way. If that interests you... well, let us embark. What will happen to you tomorrow – I have no idea.
One must put aside all that has been foreseen, all that has been devised, all that has been constructed, and then... set off walking into the unknown. And – come what may! There.
In many ways the camp was the adventure that the mother had described. It was definitely not something that others had done before us, it was entirely new, with many unforeseen events, all of which were handled and solved beautifully. It was an unexplored road for many of us. As Devi mentioned later, they had "lived in Singapore for so many years but had not realized that so much fun could be had in a place that was so near". In a way, we all did walk into the unknown, braved out the adventures and came through it somewhat changed, some what grown up.
A plethora of colorful tents dotting the beach landscape - the incessant chatter of friends - the delightful squeals of children - a woman on a bench overlooking the sea, quietly playing on a flute, drawing about her a small group of fascinated children – an eleven month old grinning with six teeth as she came out of the water in her father's arms – two six year olds playing in the sea, having fun as they threw sand into the water – fifteen bicycles cruising down different paths and converging in the playground – A little girl crying as her parents tried to put her on a baby seat before finally falling asleep as her mother rode with her on the back of the bicycle - children shouting encouragement as facilitators rescued "stranded" jellyfish and put them back into the water – A peg with clothes drying cheerfully in the constant sea breeze – Children and adults roaming the inter-tidal zone, collecting seashells and exclaiming over the fauna – three little girls cluttered together in a small tent, painting the foraged seashells – easy banter over a barbecue dinner – people lying in a circle, gazing at stars – lots of teamwork, friendship and love…
Spirituality was in the very heart of the event. Not in a "sitting quiet in meditation" kind of a way, but in the pure joy of the children and the easy camaraderie with which everything was organized and carried out. At IEP, we set our standards of integrality by checking everything we do and seeing if it has "Goodness", "Truth" and "Beauty". The camp had exhibited all the three qualities in a very wholesome way, and therein lay the integrality of the event.
A longer reflection on the IEP camp and other IEP activities can be found at our blog: http://iepsingapore.blogspot.com/2008/03/reflections-on-iep-camp-2008.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)