Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Today I was given a beautiful copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Khayyam is a 12th century poet from Persia, among other things. Actually he was a scholar who wrote the odd piece of poetry, however I think his quatrains are snippets of philosophical thought. 

The timing is perfect and it makes me realise how lucky I am to have divine guidance, not to mention some very special people who love me and know me well. The past couple of weeks have been an emotional roller coaster and I was beginning to ask the question 'what's the point?' Then out of nowhere comes this fantastically beautiful book of quatrains that is the perfect response to my emotional inability to focus lately. 

Incredible the powers of the universe. When you least expect it you are shown the way. The book is full of the philosophy of life but there is one quatrain in particular that I would like to share with you. It is a tribute to my Uncle.

With them the seed of wisdom

did I sow,

And with my own hand labour'd

it to grow:

And this was all the harvest

that I reaped,

I came like water; and like

wind I go.

How beautiful is that and I have to say it is exactly what I had been searching for to honour my uncle's life.

I am truly blessed.

Life is good.

Moments Alone

Recently my Uncle passed away. He was in his early 60's. He had a stroke and then took 5 days to pass away. There was nothing that the doctors could do for him as his body was riddled with blood clots. I think about him a lot and I am having the most profound thoughts. My emotions are numb and I cannot seem to focus on anything. I am writing this because the funeral is tomorrow and I have no words to describe my sadness. I have not been able to express how I feel.

My Uncle was one of the nicest people I have ever met and I have found myself spending many moments thinking how lucky my cousins where to have him for a father. He was or I should say is a great father and a wonderful grandfather. He was so proud of his children and his grandchildren. My Uncle was divorced, so that means he may not have been such a good husband. However, nobody is perfect and relationships of the romantic kind require skill, depth and stamina. Despite this my Uncle never failed to amaze me. I loved his kindness and his gentleness and I admired his courage. 

I have a fabulous photograph of my Uncle with a couple of his brothers and some of his cousins. It was taken in the 1950's and all of the young men looked like James Dean. I laughed when I unearthed this treasured photograph from one of my mothers boxes of trinkets. They all looked like rebels. In my excitement I showed the photograph to my Uncle. He didn't smile. He looked at it with sadness in his eyes and he pointed out the ones that were alive. There were only two. The rest had passed away. The sadness I felt at that moment is indescribable. And it brought home the awareness of the Aboriginal statistics of early deaths of our men. The statistics put out by the ABS state that 75% of Aboriginal men die before the age of 65. My Uncle is a statistic. 

I think about this statistic and it makes me wonder when there will just be me. You see I have three brothers and one has already passed away at the age of 48. He too is a statistic. I don't like the statistic but I do not know what to do about it. 

I think about 'bridging the gap'? What is that? What does it mean? How will it help? I am confused because the reality is more and more men I know are passing away at an early age, so unless we 'bridge the gap' now we won't be able to save the lives of those we love. 

In aboriginal culture there is a belief that goes something like this: 'if we don't take care of the land then the land will not take care of us'. I think about this and I wonder if this is the reason why our men are dying young? It is complex, this thought.

I have no answers and my heart bleeds from loss. I am in pain and I feel numb. I have no words to express the way that I feel, except to say 'how unfair'.

Words fumble from my mouth, dissolving in mid air. I have tried to put together a remembrance of a man whom I loved, yet my words do not do justice to who he was. 

I have no words............ someone said that you cannot share grief? 

Life is good but sometimes you have to live moments alone!

The Beauty of Nature

Isn't it wonderful when you finally get back to nature. Studying has been intense and time consuming, however I took time out over my four day break for some well earned R & R. Finally went for a paddle on the Swan and look what I found. 

This little beauty was sitting on a branch that is growing out over the river. I could touch it as I paddled past.

And this is why it's called The Swan River, grace and beauty.

Now this is interesting! It is paper bark. Do you see the image in the bottom left hand corner? Nature's work of art. 

Knotted trees. These tell stories all of their own, all you have to do is visualise and then use your imagination. I think this one is a tree of children.


All this elegance and beauty in one day. A true work of art. 


I feel privileged to have witnessed the gifts of nature and all I did was put the Kayak in the river and paddled up stream.


So, enjoy your days, go outside often, take a casual walk, or paddle your way up stream in a kayak, and you will find the most breath taking, charming, elegant and fascinating works of art created by the one and only master painter, NATURE itself!


And you thought I was going to say God...lol


Life is good.

Original Thought

The past two days have been extremely gratifying and reminds me why I chose to work within a University. I have just spent the past couple of days with brilliant people whose thoughts are changing the way in which they perceive the world and how those thoughts impact on the discourse of their chosen careers. It was an amazing learning process for me and I feel totally privileged to be invited to such a mind altering workshop. And mind altering it was. The participants of this workshop were from universities around the world, some were distinguished professors of UWA, and all are fully aware of the impact of the public domain and the attribution of the evolution of dissemination into the public domain. Technology is changing the way in which we view the world and with it has brought a host of issues that have direct impact on the discourse of Anthropology and Sociology, and has increased Intellectual Property Law, internationally, to the point where it is growing like a virus as more and more information infiltrates the public domain. 

These scholars workshopped a topic of discussion in the most incredibly polite way, even agreeing to disagree, and not actually resolving anything, yet leaving the discussion topic open for expanding thought. It was like assisting one to broaden the thinking and encourage the continuation of this process extensively once back in their own environment. It was incredible. 

Today I discovered what being an academic is really about. Today I discovered original thought. This discovery has led me to the possibility that my thesis process may be a little malnourished and that I need to re-evaluate. 

Over the past couple of days I sat in on a discussion that was not based on criticising theories, but on critiquing theories and expanding the thought process of those theories. It was incredibly enlightening.

Today I came to the conclusion that my thought process has been localised, therefore limited. This awareness came to me at the end of the two day workshop and it has altered the way in which I have decided to go about researching my PHD. Participating in this workshop has altered my perception. I feel honoured and privileged to engage in such a wonderful thing commonly know as a think tank yet in academic terms is called a workshop on a discussion topic. And discuss we did. Everyone was encouraged to offer up their thoughts. No thought process was ridiculed and all thought processes were analysed and critiqued to identify the positive aspects of that thought process where possible. It was incredibly inspirational and I am feeling humbled to have been a participant in such a wonderful way in which to create practical changes for Indigenous cultures around the world in such a positive forum.

I am overwhelmed and a little lost for words.

Life is good.

Spirituality

Changing the world is endless, it never stops. Recently I read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. My best friend gave me this book for christmas because she thought that I needed it. To be honest the book did not really tell me anything I don't already know. What it did do was remind me how lazy I had gotten in terms of taking care of my own spirituality. I used to meditate regularly and tune in to the universe every day, connect with country and recharge, but I find that the life of an academic is time consuming and I do not always have time to take care of myself physically or spiritually. (of course this is changing now that I have identified it)

It is interesting that this woman felt that she had to leave her old life and go to foreign countries to find her spirituality. After reading this book I am so glad that I am Indigenous. I mean I do not feel the urge to go to another country and learn the spirituality of another culture and derive the parts that appeal to me and go home and practice my new found spirituality whilst being disconnected from my own environment. It still baffles me the way in which westerners do this. Time and time again I run into non-Indigenous people who are lost spiritually and are searching for 'something' but they do not know what it is they are looking for. It is at this point that I would like to say that I believe these people are lost because they are looking in the wrong place. 

Christians say that God is in everything and is everywhere. Indigenous Australians believe that we are all one, that nature and human beings are one, that we are nature therefore we are connected physically, emotionally and spiritually. This means we must take care of country because then country takes care of us and holistically it means we are actually taking care of ourselves. So when Christians say that God is everywhere and you connect this message with the holistic spirituality of Indigenous Australians than it makes sense to conclude that finding God or finding yourself comes from within. Within includes your own environment. It includes nature. It includes everything that exists within your life and it includes within your own mind, body and soul. 

But sometimes like me we get too busy or pre-occupied with external influences and we forget to take care of ourselves. Yes we go to the gym, we change our diets, we exercise our brains and we nurture our bodies. We do not nurture our souls? When do we take time to acknowledge and listen to what is within? For it is this inner experience and knowledge that guides us on our journey of life. It is the wisdom of intuition, of faith, of love, of compassion. And sometimes when it rises and we are too busy to listen, or we do not like what we are hearing or feeling we squash it and bury it behind the filing system in our brain, the rationale. It is from within that we are required to nurture and provide sustenance for our spiritual health. For when we nurture from within then and only then do we connect with our spirituality.

Now having said this does not mean we go around talking to ourselves (although I have been know to do this...lol) what it does mean is that when we tune into the universe and we listen intently to that which is within we begin to have an understanding of our own spirituality. We begin to see beyond the ephemeral. We begin to experience what it means to be spiritual. It is not something that I feel I can describe adequately. My only suggestion is that you begin to move into this unchartered world of your own destiny. And yes it can be frightening, but if you explore what is within you just may find that your journey will be one worth the energy of finding your self.

Spirituality is a journey of self discovery and this means that if you have to go to a foreign country then I guess that is what you must do, but what happens when you return to your own environment that you are so disconnected from? Do you maintain the power of your newfound spirituality on the home front? 

As I said earlier I am so glad that I am Indigenous for I know who I am and where I come from. I know where I belong and I have total faith in my spirituality because some things should not be questioned, and cannot be explained, some things just are. 

Live a little, I dare you to explore what is within and feel the power of life.

Life is good.