Saturday 24 September 2011

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Three Places

Halifax, Pictou and New Glasgow

Pictou was a settlement of Scottsmen founded in 1776 and new Glasgow was much the same. There is definitely a "Highlander feel" to these places. The names, architecture and people give it away.

We do sometimes get hung up on heritage, ancestry and so on and the distinctions and divisions that separate us can be cause for disagreement and conflict. Conveniently we resolve this problem of bodily designations by declaring "I am not this body. I am spirit."

One fellow I met yesterday who was extremely gentlemanly in manner, settled for this philosophy of "oneness". "We are all one" was his prescription.

To a certain extent this is true. We are all spirits. Yet I had to point out that each spirit carries different karma. No two of us are alike. We are all individuals. I suggested that he contemplate the philosophy of Chaitanya who shared the concept that accommodates both oneness and distinction, of unity in diversity. This concept somewhat resonated with him.

I had met several people today- people of diverse natures, ages, genders including two news reporters, a yoga teacher, choir teacher and salesman. More people were met on Spring Garden Road in Halifax, a two hour drive from my walking area. As three brahmacharis (student monks) and I chanted there we saw so much diversity of people- a real "masala" and yet everyone there is "one" in the sense of wanting happiness but our approaches to it are different.

30 KM

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