Meaning, Lima traffic, surfers and blind masseurs
Jun 11
posted by Michael Smith in
Adventure
| 0 Comments
Sometimes the days just seem to drift by without so much meaning. That is a clue to me that it is time to go deeper into my life. I have found many practices help me do this - noticing my thoughts, senses, what I eat, meditation, gratitude. I am interested in what works for you? So this week's Sandbox on Living more deeply and some practical steps for doing so is a good place to share what works for you.
Here in Peru I am in MiraFlores neighborhood of Lima. I didn't realize that Lima was so large (9 million people) - larger than Baltimore-Washington corridor I think. And having been built in the coastal desert of Peru it hardly ever rains here. However for 8 months of the year there is a high "fog" that covers the sun all day. I find it a bit depressing compared to the sunny days of Cusco! I don't know if it is the weather, the low altitude or the size of the city but people here seem less friendly than Cusco, less likely to smile on the street. The street where I am staying is also noisy with lots of buses and cars honking their horns. Perhaps that is something to do with the fact that many intersections don't have traffic lights or stop signs but are a free for all! One good idea I have seen here is a countdown on the traffic lights - similar to the pedestrian green/walk countdown there is in DC. But here it also counts down the time left on red. And it is on the car traffic lights lanes too. Makes it easier for the cars rushing to beat a coming red light to know exactly how many seconds are left, or for when to hit the gas when the light is about the turn green!!
I went for a walk by the Pacific ocean yesterday. The beach is mostly pebbles rather than sand and I still found the sea air and the sound of the waves to be nice. Speaking of wave they are big! 1-2 meters at the place where I was and I read another beach where they have 5m waves!! The surfers in wet suits were bobbing like seals in the waves and every now and again caught a breaker for a fast ride to shore. After watching all that action I wanted to relax. I found a nice massage place for S:/ 30 per hour ($11 USD) which was staffed entirely by blind masseurs - I take it that Peruvians don't like to be seen naked while being massaged! While I don't mind be seen naked I have to say that my blind masseur was very good and manage to find all my limbs by sense of touch alone. :-)
Spirituality, or knowing the real you, is a birthright of all living beings -- because it is built in: we cannot be other than ourselves. Humanity, however, is incredibly good and efficient at being distracted away from happiness and satisfaction by culture, social mores, insecurity, etc. Thus, we humans need a way to our very own inner being, the source of all happiness and satisfaction.
Dr. Anatole Ruslanov is the founder of Modern Seers, an international organization providing profound impetus towards culturally-neutral spiritual practices that are truly effective in culminating in an authentic, dogma-free spirituality. Dr. Anatole is currently a professor of computer science at SUNY Fredonia. He has recently returned from a 10-month tour of South Asia , including teaching a semester in Bhutan . 