Sierra. Amber Dream.
I am a dark shadowy form crouched at a smallish desktop in a palatial villa in Ubud Bali. The room is dark for the most part. It is Sunday night. My girlfriend Donna lies naked reading in a giant bed dressed in fresh white linen with pillows adorned with fresh white and yellow plumeria which will serenade my senses in short order. She just snapped the reading light out and I hear her sweet voice whispering some pleasant inanity. The mosquito netting hangs suspended in grey relief from the light of my laptop.
Aaron Marcelino and I were roadside today filming in East Bali. “Hey Aaron, you know what it is about the Hindus? They believe that what they do will follow them. They do not get to confess their sins and get a do over. So for the most part, there really is not much crime. Instant accountability. It is why they all smile at you. They give what they want to receive.”
As always I am overwhelmed by the generosity of these people. My friend Ed Brenegar has a website called Say Thanks Every Day. I believe the Hindi do it every second. Today on the long drive out to East Bali, our friend and driver, Gusti Made Merta described grace from a Hindu point of view and the explanation changed my life. I looked up to see Aaron rolling camera on him. He had noticed. In the occupants of the car, I saw that Donna was listening rapt. Everyone else? Lost in Ipods, I phones and their own I worlds, victims of the white noise that is self. They were robbed. We have all been there: a victim of self, life’s traesures having been slyly stolen in much the same manner as a pickpocket on a crowded subway platform.
We choose our own heaven. Many of us live our own Hell as well. Life is cyclical. So are our choices.
As the frogs croak outside, and I hear the chant from a distant ceremony and chortle of the river down the valley, I am so, very, absolutely,
grateful.
Sweet scent of plumeria and the soft breath of the woman I love beckon me to bed. I will grab a few hours sleep. I wish that you were with us tomorrow. I have something to show you, something for you to hear, and a vibrant, throbbing, many hued love for you to feel. You will enjoy it, I pray.
Choose wisely from what is before you. Your perspective eventually becomes you.
I heard this song someplace and at a time quite special here. Jack Johnson and Ben Harper are two guys who really always seem to just get it.
Hailey
Aaron Marcelino: Respect
Badass: Balinese Special Forces, A diver. My friend.
Vision
Mary
Jeanette: Phantasm
Donna: Hope, Bliss, Trust
