Last week you had an intro (of sorts) to some of the company kept at the ashram. This week, some of my fellow students. To be honest, I ought to have started sifting the archives long ahead of the 'night before' posting! Anyway, here are a couple of collages showing some of the happy faces.
Possibly controversially, I am not going to name all these lovely faces - not here, at least. What I would like you to think about today is how a group of 60+ people, all congregated with one purpose in mind, can merge and mingle and start to truly feel like family. Feuds and all! Oh yes, there were, of course, disagreements. All part of the breaking through the ego barriers and different backgrounds.
The key thing is that because all were there for the same reason, the methods of overcoming those differences and moving on were all part of the same wave.
Some of these faces will show up again as we progress along the narrative of this memoir. There was hardly a thing that didn't involve all at some point or other. Obviously, one grew closer to some than others - this is a natural process of 'tribing' required to feel secure and involved.
I can say that living in such a community surely does help one to view and understand global society to a greater degree - and dispair at where and how it breaks down, but rejoice at where it bolsters and builds. It helps one appreciate what community truly is - both its challenges and hurdles - and the value that holds for the individuals who make up such a society. Without all my batchmates, there would have been no course for me to attend. Without all my batchmates, I may not have survived the course...
PS - yes that's me lower right... I was looking for one particular I shot I wished to put there but could not find the fellow, so am a ring-in!
A substantial group to cohease. And you did.
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely set of portraits.
ReplyDeleteSo nice _()_
ReplyDeleteGreetings
it's possible that all go along together and have the same goal... why the whole world is not like that?
ReplyDeleteCommon purpose. Even when we bring different skills if we join together with clearly defined common purpose we can make communities work. A friend told me once about a study the results of which were presented in a public lecture at the university where she worked - in which they worked out that our brains are wired to form genuinely meaningful relationships within a group of up to 28 people (a rather specific number that they put down to the size of a workable nomadic stone-age group of humans). In larger communities we lose track of how each individual relates to/interacts with each other individual. So I tend to think of large urban communities these days as lots of tribal groups overlaid on the same space. The trouble is that I suspect most of us don't have a close support community network that extends as far as 27 other people for whom we care or share a common responsibility - and that may be part of what we are all missing in modern urban existence.
ReplyDeleteWithin your class of 60 did you find that your closer group was about half of them? xxx F (and furrings and purrings from Mr T)
Hari OM
DeleteMy immediate group might have numbered about eight or nine - then a slightly less close circle to about, maybe fifteen. One knew everyone, of course, but to any depth, yes, it would have been within that twenty-ish number. Common purpose is true - that is why highland crofts worked for so long (before the concept of a wider world entered) - and many African and Indian rural communities actually work very well (albeit not to the standard the western world would like to see them as... so they too become spoiled). The attempt at 'common purpose' grouping in urban life is quite possibly what results in gang and ghetto living. We have the need for it but have lost the ability to properly set it in place. And let's be clear - even within family groups, it's never all rainbows and sunlight. There will always be clashes. Yxx
I wonder if you think you will ever go back? I say that because it seems to me that some experiences are so seminal in our lives that in a way going back is not possible because we have changed - we might physically return, but that's not quite the same thing. I am fascinated by the process of returning; of how we and the land changes; of how the timescales are so different and yet the seasons and weathers make for more immediate change of a different sort.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
DeleteI have been back twice since departure for different functions, Mark. Had I been able to remain in Sydney, I would still be very much an active member of CM. Early on back here in Scotland, there had been a small degree of expectation that I might set up a centre here - but other life matters (revolving around dad and the fact I opted to live far from a city) prevented it; so the 'teaching blog' was set up as my outlet for all the learning to be passed on as intended. In case you missed the point, this was effectively a 'seminary' situation and although I did not take the robes, am qualified as the equivalent of a church minister (for want of better comparison). My aachaarya gave me permission to teach despite being outwith the 'walls' as it were.
Your point about 'returning' holds more resonance for me in regard to this repatriation to the Bonny Land that I never ever thought would happen, so entrenched an Aussie was I. What was more challenging to me was to discover that I could no longer afford to live there (without going back into full-time corporate work in IT, which was just not going to happen...) and that the irony was I could come over here and see out life. There is no doubt that even after nearly eight years, I still am homesick for OZ and am still wrangling with the fact I am a stranger in my own land. It has not changed as much as I have. And, of course, those who knew me thirty years back only remember that person and will not, or cannot, adjust to the person I am now. Then again, that can happen even when living with someone, I suppose - one grows, the other does not - or in different directions. There doesn't have to be distance for distance to create itself. Erosion and reformation of land and personality are a natural and healthy part of life.
Crikey - you've caused me to write another blog-post-able response to your comment!!! &*> Yxx
I liked that point about 'change'. It's so true that we are constantly evolving, as an individual, in our perceptions and attitudes both in the way we look at ourselves as well as the way we look at the world around us.
DeleteSuch happy faces of you and your fellow students!
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful smiling happy faces.
ReplyDeleteHugs Cecilia
my favorite face, other than yours, is the one in the last collage, bottom left, opposite from you. her smile and face make me want to know her... I am glad you shared the faces
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful group of smiles!
ReplyDeleteSuch cheerful faces! Yes, a common purpose binds a group together.
ReplyDeleteThanks so for sharing this personal part of your life. namaste, janice xx
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