Sliding Thoughts

I Like…#5

quick glances on trains
new haircuts
violins in rock music
fat little babies in winter hats
balconies and cloud-watching at night
crumbling stone walls with tiny green fingers of ivy
funny book titles:

(I Like: #1,#2,#3, #4)

I will write about my trip soon, but I don’t really have the time to sit down and write a whole entry about it at the moment.

I know I have stories…

but really, all I have to say at the moment is:

I love Spain.  (click for pictures)

Camping

Before this past weekend, I had never been camping.  I’ve been to cabins, lots of road trips, and so many hotels I can’t even count anymore.  But somehow I missed out on the camping thing.  We had nine people and camped out on the shore of the Dead Sea.  Some highlights from the trip:

• Circles around the roundabout in Arad…and other misadventures.  We had two cars, so were following each other…which sometimes caused hilarious situations when people were trying to figure out where to go.   Thank God for cell phones.
• Setting up two tents in the dark.
• A band of 60 people showing up at around 11 pm and setting up camp around us.  There were Arabs with kerosene lamps playing loud music, and Filipinos chattering away and singing along to the stereo system they brought.  None of us slept very well.  At one point, around 4 am, I ended up walking around because I couldn’t sleep.
• 6:30 am wakeup call by some of my fellow campers who decided that they wanted breakfast.  I woke up to a cheerful voice saying “Time to wake up and start the day!”  My response was unintelligible. 
• Floating in the Dead Sea…I definitely need to go at least one more time before I leave Israel.
• Hiking around Masada.  Wow.
• Amazing dinner in Hertzliya at an Asian-style restaurant.

Maybe we will wake up….

I am angry today.
I want to strike out, my eyes are narrowed and I am looking for a fight.
My body is bruised from tripping and falling, and it is perfect. I am standing tall, back straight and legs for miles.

I am dangerous and smooth.
I want to dance, a serious tango. None of this half-hearted stuff.
My mind is writing everything off, and I am confused in the maze of all of these pieces of thoughts.

I am willing to talk back.
I want to say the exact right thing that will make everyone stare and gasp.
My words are spitting and spilling and they are so quick that each moment contains a thousand.

But only today.

Photoshoot

I did a photoshoot a week ago with a friend who is an amazing photographer and is also serving here.  He did some digital work on them…the space where we shot the pictures was very plain, but you wouldn’t know it from the photos.

The results: phenomenal.   Thank you, Ramin!

( best if viewed as a slideshow)

Reflections

“Love is the means of the most great happiness in both the material and spiritual worlds!” -Abdu’l-Baha

Sometimes I don’t know how I got here (physically, spiritually, emotionally). Most days everything feels normal…and then there are the times I find myself in a room with a group of completely amazing people that I really admire, or walking in the gardens at night with the Shrine of the Báb glowing in front of me. More and more the concept of detachment comes to the front of my mind as the one thing that keeps me level, allows me to fulfill my capacity, and focuses me on the important things. When I forget to say my prayers for detachment, everything just seems to slide out of reach.

“Love is the universal magnetic power between the planets and stars shining in the lofty firmament!” -Abdu’l-Baha

I found this quote while looking for something else…wow:

“Universal beings resemble and can be compared to particular beings, for both are subjected to one natural system, one universal law and divine organization. So you will find the smallest atoms in the universal system are similar to the greatest beings of the universe.” -Abdu’l-Baha

It makes me think about scientists spending so much time looking for carbon-based life forms, about the search for habitable planets and our definition of the physical universe. We are so limited as human beings, in this form, and we struggle to understand our surroundings. I don’t have any answers, but it sure is fun to think about!

“Love is the breath of the Holy Spirit inspired into the human spirit!” -Abdu’l-Baha

There is this concept that the mind is not connected to the body…the mind exists in the soul. This is so beautiful! Our brain is the conduit through which our mind operates our body. So…the mind/spirit is what makes us human, which allows us to operate with free will (which in my mind is one of the distinguishing characteristics of being human).

“Love is the greatest law in this vast universe of God!” -Abdu’l-Baha

Over halfway

September 8th marked the halfway point in my service in Haifa.  9 months left.

I know that I’ve changed, that I’ve stayed the same.   There are so many beautiful moments, and I wish I could gather every beautiful soul into my hands and carry them with me anywhere I go in the world.  I wish I could explain everything here, or write it down, but recently words have been failing me.  Perhaps pictures would suffice.

I am so, so happy here.  Autumn is slowly creeping around the corner, the pilgrim season starts in a few weeks, the magic of the smell of cold evenings still exists in the world.  

The passing of the last Hand of the Cause of God is still too recent to even understand.  As far as I can remember, I had the bounty of meeting four of them (at least the ones I remember meeting).   `Alí-Muhammad Varqá, `Alí-Akbar Furútan, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum, and William Sears…and now they’re all gone.

“The greatest attainment in the world of humanity is nearness to God. Every lasting glory, honor, grace and beauty which comes to man comes through nearness to God.”

 (Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 147)