A Gentle Embrace

The elegant sounds of the Sape drifted skywards from the mist cloaked mountains of Kalimantan's pristine rain forests. A moment of immense natural beauty, allowing my mind the freedom needed to wander towards questions, which often have no answers.

 To name just a few that rattle around my mind, I wonder why we strive forward on a path of inevitable sacrifice without the vaguest concept of where we are going? And I question why we desperately seek the approval of everyone for everything? I consider why we have made our simple existence so complicated? And I ponder, has this endless cycle of undeciphered delusion become our broken rudder, ensuring we align with what we least desire?

Simple questions for the mirror of our collective truth, the shattered shield for our embraced reality.

With every passing day, seemingly free from the distractions of modern consuming existence, these internal conversations grow in presence, like a dripping tap starved of water. Falling freely from my conscious, gathering deep in my soul, consuming my very essence as if the vessel that is me is no longer strong enough to seek the truth, the answers, the solutions.

An internal reality opposed to the moments I was experiencing, traveling through the pristine rain forests of Kalimantan, listening, living, sharing time and experiences with indigenous Dayak communities.

A pure life experience, igniting a series of probing questions and spiralling thoughts. Not criticism, just simple observations, of myself as much as the world at large.

We search, strive, desperate for a connection with something bigger than ourselves, more significant than ourselves, an endless quest beyond our soul, looking for something, anything to fill the empty void of reality.

This demanding search for connection, betterment, proof of evolution, justification of self seems like an endless swim upstream to a promise existence, best described as fleeting. A distant mirage of the perfect life lived under others' guidance, suggestions, rules, habits, and conclusions.

A pointless cycle leading to inevitable dissolution as we jettison all we know to be our truth for all that is new, only to repeat the cycle when the shine fades and the uncomfortable feeling returns deep in our chests where the gulf of emptiness lies. A perceived gaping crevasse, ever-present, only revealing its true self in the quiet moments, like a friend of truth willing to ask the questions that will lead the way home.

A quiet week accompanied by the Dayak people's soothing souls deep inside the ancient rain forest of Kalimantan left me gazing into the cracked mirror of my reality. Alone, yet surrounded by the comforting embrace of a simple truth. A moment of existence that left me with a different path towards what seems universally yearned for.

A slow existence of necessity allowed me to experience the Dayak tribe's wisdom. Their natural gift of knowing, their deep understanding of self, their truth drawing on a proud heritage that can only be felt and experienced free from the emotional anchors of all you believed you desire.

My journey was a walk through an imperfect world, which offered more insight than my narrow view could perceive. Yet with every step I took, the calm that radiated from the forest and its people slowly penetrated my existence, gently asking the questions for which I had no answers yet knew I had to face.

How can contentment seem free for all to experience, running abundant like a torrent of un-spoken joy, slowly snaking a path through a community that knows no other way? How could the rich vein of life that seems to rule the endless quest forward be found here, embraced by those who seemingly have little, yet yearn for less?

 Thank you for the questions. Thank you for your gentle embrace.