Transcendent Drumming

It has been a few months since I was perched on top of the temple steps of a monastery, squaring this picture of a larger-than-life Buddha statue that watches over Kathmandu Valley. Yet again, I marvel at the experiences that have illuminated my path between this memory and this evening typing in the comfort of my Brisbane flat.

Tonight I attended the fourth lecture of my Ethics & Human Rights course taught by an amazing soul that encourages one of those things I've most come to appreciate-- out-of-box living that coaxes our human existence to greater heights. Professor Bleiker took the lecture time to inspire us in the world of writing, to make it part of our daily routine, to make it our friend in a sense... to find our own voices. Recently I haven't found it as easy to journal and I feel the principal cause is the overabundance of others' words that have been flowing along those pathways from the eyes to the brain. No one ever said that making sense life was easy. The only route to relieve this stifling and encarcerating clog is to start poking at it, bit by bit.

Two of the recent readings for our course on Modern Peacekeeping were concerning war economies. I sat for hours in different locations in and around the new deluxe Queensland state library shaking my head in disbelief as I read. Several times, as my blood pressure pumped up, I looked to the people around me hoping someone would see the frustration in my eyes and lend a sympathetic ear and reassuring word. In our complex, high-paced technologically toned societies, the chance of this would correlate to that of pigs flying, I suppose. Cada cabeza es un mundo, every head is its own world.

That afternoon, my world was making sense of the connections between greed, natural resources, weapons, indifference to life and suffering. And it was realizing that studying UN peacekeeping missions will be uncomfortable-- a process of discovering the difficult reality that the powerful countries authorizing UN entry into these troubled spots have been complicit in making those situations what they are today.

Heartening is that in all I saw in Nepal and am understanding through my studies, there are shining examples of individuals and groups that refuse to buy into the pressure to prioritize material accumulation over the well-being of other people or our natural environment. There are those who have quieted enough to hear a trascendent drum. Well, we all have at one time or another...

Ah, transitions...

It's close to midnight, and I take a moment to exhale after having been back in Brisbane for a week and some odd hours now... I reassess my 'to do' list and try to focus on what I've been able to accomplish rather than the pile of work that lays before me. I keep coming back to the realization that we plain just try to do too much sometimes.
My colleagues and I have each come back his or her own unique three month experience in different parts of the world: Cambodia, Egypt, Chile, Costa Rice, Fiji, Germany, Bhutan, India, Thailand/Burma refugee camps, Amsterdam, and my dear Nepal. Most just as thirsty for 'real life learning', we scheduled our return flight to make it back just in time for the beginning of the semester. The down side of such plans is that the heavy courseload and managerial details curtail our present conversations to the most general of 'check-ins'. Inside me, the stories, insights, adventures, and magic of Nepal are desperate to find life again through sharing with these inspiring colleagues, and are intrigued to discover connections among our experiences. But for now, our full plates don't allow it.
Luckily, we have to hand in a report of our field experience, and I feel a relative release compiling my notes, feelings, and interactions into some semblance of an order. Those budding friendships I left in Nepal have been transformed to virtual email land, and I'm grateful to be able to maintain links.
As you can probably tell, it's been difficult to fully let go and re-enter this Australian fairytale world, so prim, proper, and protected. At the same time, it feels good to release back into my comfort zone for a while, to recover my health and have some space for reflection. My class lineup is all-star this semester, and will assist greatly in my processing of Nepal. All professors are passionate about their subject and have an admirable balance of theory and practice... contemporary peacekeeping, ethics and human rights, development administration, and mediation.
Counting my blessings might last for days...