Path of the DharmaFarmer: Awakening to Wholeness

Warm greetings to all on a frigid, frost-covered December morning. My surroundings certainly have changed a bit since my last post, deep in the steamy, life-filled jungles of northern Peru. I have meant to write at various times, but life is always seeming to take up all of my time...how rude!

But truly, life has been over-full as always. Just this morning, I had my first professional lesson for the Shakuhachi Zen flute that Helene gifted to me about two years ago. Just last night I faced a long running fear and performed two songs and a spoken word at a local open-mic night. Last week I gave a 50 minute presentation in John Gerber's Sustainable Agriculture course on the role of agriculture in community as concerned my travels in south america.

Hey, that's me!

But even all this business only makes up a small part of the many, many doings since leaving south america. What has been of the highest priority, requiring the most amount of consistent energy, is the personal and communal work I am doing with Nikki, my sister. I mentioned in my last post of the clarity I had gained during my work with Don Juan and ayahuasca. The clarity concerned returning to the states, to my 'primary relationships', where I could begin to strengthen and purify these relationships, simultaneously uplifting myself and uplifting others (in as far as they themselves wanted it). Throughout this work, I have been striving to follow the signs (thank you Alchemist) with an open heart and a focused mind. This approach to life certainly makes things interesting.

Had you told me while I was in the amazon that in one month I would be doing exterior pressure washing and painting in my hometown of Bethlehem, PA...well, I would certainly have laughed. Yet this job fell into my lap, through family connections, and in a truly serendipitous way I came to meet my employer Pete, a fellow seeker that helped me as I helped him. Sometimes I would just laugh as we prep'ed a house while listening to a book on cd about the Essential Tao, or talking about the meaning of true living and right relationships over a quick lunchbreak. I am very grateful for this experience, and how I did very little to bring it about except receive it and run with it.

Pete, Paint and Flowers

And so, after a month of working with Pete on some ery satisfying work, I headed back up to the Pioneer Valley, which has become a somewhat stable home of sorts. In the next post, I will speak to the specifics of the work my sister and I are doing at Sirius (with pics), but for now I will leave with images I was waiting to upload of the Amazon, and some of my painting job in Bethlehem.

LightLifeLove
~eka