Have I mentioned that I live alone? I have never lived alone like I do now, but I have really begun to appreciate myself in this solitude. There is also no electricity; and now I wonder why I ever needed it. When I tell people that I live alone they often ask why. You see… here if you are “white” a.k.a. mazungo you are expected to 1) have an empregada (maid) and 2) hire a guard. Well… I got a cat (Mdogo is his name means tiny in Swahili). Beyond asking why I am alone, “they” also ask what do I do with my alone time. Reflecting on this I wonder what they do when they are alone or not. The comments made to my being alone are that I am going to have too much time to think and that often those thoughts will be negative. Well little do they know I meditate and this allows me to not have ANY sort of thoughts come across my mind.
I have been reading Mr. Thoreau and he writes about solitude. To not write his entire reflection on it I´ll just mention some of it, this is from Walden; “To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows.”
So why this fear of being alone? Where did it come from? Are we alas, they, scared of looking within and realizing all they have oppressed or all which they are hiding? If they don’t know themselves then whom will they ever know? So, yes I am alone (well with a cat) in Africa and I am really getting to know who I am. But it’s not necessary to travel to Africa to reflect on yourself. This can be done in the solitude of your desk, or car, bed… Or maybe even in the solitude of a bar, or church, or home, when there are others around us but not entirely with us.
As I write this a storm has begun… there is nobody on the streets and Mdogo has run to hiding. As the rain falls and I sit alone at my door watching, I can’t help but realize how much of a companion nature truly is. The abundance and community we share with nature is too obvious to ignore. It is this rain that will feed the crops that will serve to serve us. The point is that we really are connected to nature and to everything/everyone around us, and in this we realize that it is simply not possible for humans to be alone. Men are constantly planning strategies for how to defeat nature what is not realized is that in defeating nature we defeat the self.
Among other observations in nature I have learned to love watching animals. My favourite so far are goats. Goats are actually really smart… they leave their “home” in the morning and go in search for food, they then later know the way back home and return at the end of the day. However, they employ a “no-goat left behind” strategy in which the mother will cry out for nay of the lost goats. Those that are lost will in turn call back to the mother goat. I think this is the reason we pray and meditate. So many are lost and “God” knows this, the calls are being sent out but not all are calling back. All God really wants is for us to come “Home.” After reading about enlightenment/nirvana/heaven, name it what you will… this is all we need to do, we need to awaken to the calls of our mother and let her know that we are on our way, so we can be guided Home.
I have been reading Mr. Thoreau and he writes about solitude. To not write his entire reflection on it I´ll just mention some of it, this is from Walden; “To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows.”
So why this fear of being alone? Where did it come from? Are we alas, they, scared of looking within and realizing all they have oppressed or all which they are hiding? If they don’t know themselves then whom will they ever know? So, yes I am alone (well with a cat) in Africa and I am really getting to know who I am. But it’s not necessary to travel to Africa to reflect on yourself. This can be done in the solitude of your desk, or car, bed… Or maybe even in the solitude of a bar, or church, or home, when there are others around us but not entirely with us.
As I write this a storm has begun… there is nobody on the streets and Mdogo has run to hiding. As the rain falls and I sit alone at my door watching, I can’t help but realize how much of a companion nature truly is. The abundance and community we share with nature is too obvious to ignore. It is this rain that will feed the crops that will serve to serve us. The point is that we really are connected to nature and to everything/everyone around us, and in this we realize that it is simply not possible for humans to be alone. Men are constantly planning strategies for how to defeat nature what is not realized is that in defeating nature we defeat the self.
Among other observations in nature I have learned to love watching animals. My favourite so far are goats. Goats are actually really smart… they leave their “home” in the morning and go in search for food, they then later know the way back home and return at the end of the day. However, they employ a “no-goat left behind” strategy in which the mother will cry out for nay of the lost goats. Those that are lost will in turn call back to the mother goat. I think this is the reason we pray and meditate. So many are lost and “God” knows this, the calls are being sent out but not all are calling back. All God really wants is for us to come “Home.” After reading about enlightenment/nirvana/heaven, name it what you will… this is all we need to do, we need to awaken to the calls of our mother and let her know that we are on our way, so we can be guided Home.
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