Greetings from Ubud, Bali!! The internet connection connection in this heavenly guesthouse where I’m residing during my four days in Ubud is rather spotty, so this post will be short, even though I could easily write forever.
I awoke with the dawn this morning, and lay in bed watching the clouds turn from indigo, to mauve, to white. I’m currently sitting in a thatch-roofed veranda overlooking a lush green jungle stretching down a river gorge below. I can hear the water roaring through rocks and roots. Across the way, a hiker makes his way up a chartreuse green hillside to a row of bungalows. The crickets and cicadas drone on uninterrupted, as a dove coos in a tree behind me. I kid you not, white and red butterflies flutter amongst the palm fronds and banana trees. This could not be a more idyllic setting were I to design it as a film set.
Last night, I attended a traditional Balinese dance theatre performance of Legong on a nearby temple stage. The Gamelan ensemble accompanied dancers as they enacted one of the oldest stories of the Mahabharata. I will have to write more about this later, but the spectacle was colorful, loud, beautiful, and confusing. :-) This morning I’d like to share a ritual of mine that I hav
e adopted. Every day, before doing much else, I open the Tao te Ching, flip to a random page, and allow the words to become the lense through which I experience the day. Today’s is number 23, and speaks to the necessity to open oneself to the Tao, universal energy, trust, and allow nature to guide. It feels very befitting, so please enjoy.
#23
"Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place."
More soon, and much love from Indonesia, Laura