The 3 Tenets of the Peacemakerorder "It seems to me that you experience kind of the same things as Siddharta (the historic Buddha), when leaving his Palace and first time faced suffering in all its different colours", as my friend Deja commented one day in an email during my journey.
Coming to and staying in Kathmandu and its surroundings for some weeks is best explained with this phrase.
Like maybe everybody, I had heard of poverty, health issues, pollution and so on before I came to Nepal but now this seems to have been a merely intellectual knowledge - far from how things are in reality, in the real life of the people.
As I have not been in a tourist area, not enclosed in a ressort or covert in the security of a travelling group I met things head on. I had to cope with not knowing where to get clean water from, what meals I could eat without falling ill. I had to deal with the encounters with Lepra, starving People, children sleeping side by side with the dogs and monkeys around the stupa , sharing their simple meals with them and the same parasites.
I was sitting in midst of the smells that come up when the first rain falls and uncovers all the dirt and excrements. A time when most of the people only go around with covering their noses and mouth with some clothe. For good reasons!
To be honest, my only thoughts in the first days were about flight - back to the safety of our Western Life. Then I became ill- additionally.
I thought this to be a clear sign for me to leave as soon as possible....but guess what: this did not happen, as there was simply no possibility to re-schedule my flight to a near date. So, what could I do?
This was the moment I remembered the 3 tenets of the Peacemakerorder:
Bearing Witness - to the joy AND suffering of the world
Not - knowing - giving up fixed ideas about us or the universe
Healing
Bearing Witness - there is a lot to bear witness to in Nepal-especially in Kathmandu, as it is a melting place of different cultures, the centre for people who came as refugees from Tibet as well as those in flight from the Maoists in the remote villages of the Himalayan regions. Kathmandu is also the place of the second highest pollution in the world (first being Mexico City), a city of Hindu Culture and Cast System that makes changes difficult and so on and so forth...
And I realised, I could only bear witness to it fully if I did not fall prey to fear but try to stay in an air of not-knowing. I realised that my fear and my longing for going to the place of knowing was intimately connected.
As long as I felt afraid I searched for opinions that would judge the situation from whatever kind of perspective in order to give me a "safe" feeling. Another safe place could have been " Oh , these sweet and simple and friendly people over here . It is all so lovely " and closing eyes towards the things as they are. Or to tell myself (and eventually others) some simple "truth" how easy this situation here could be changed if only ..... this was the moment I understood what makes working in so called 3rd World Countries so difficult and where the Western Arrogance might have its roots .
I instantly knew I had to let go of this fear and its reaction if I wanted to make any other sense of my journey for the rest of time.I started to just BE with what was happening or shown. Just be and not turning away from it, not judging nor letting my mind play around with easy solutions. But stay in the storm of the suffering and be present for it.
This was the practice for the rest of my days in Nepal. The interesting fact was that my perspective slowly shifted. The more I stayed in the storm, the more the Beauty and the joy was showing itself to me, too.
Healing is still happening, it started in this shift of perspective, in the letting go of the fear. Now - back in Europe - it is going on. For the first time in my life I really(- not only from my knowing but from my heart-) felt grateful for simple things like being able to contact a doctor, getting the remedy for my illness and be even covered by insurance. The happiness about clean water, fresh fruits and vegetables I can eat easily without being afraid of hidden danger.
Things fall into place, a lot of what I was used to define as important and essential for my daily life is no big deal any more.I have developed an inner connection to the people in Nepal (and to people of other challenged countries) that will bring more fruits in the future.
I really feel that we are all connected and ONE and that everything we do has an effect on the whole.
Just a small example : the Nepalis used to have a traditional life style. They had e.g. some animals, some vegetable fields and they nurtured the family from it. Now that the Western Style Supermarkets appear and offer thousands of packed food , the waste problem explodes in a short time . Waste has always been partly thrown into the streets, partly burnt , which was no big problem before , as it had been some food picked up by the animals living around. Now the streets are covered with plastic waste and you might have already an idea of the smell of burning plastics!? Just one imported problem....
And I know now that there are no easy solutions , and that there will be none at all if we as Western people do not look carefully on our part in the game, in our homelands , take our responsibility serious instead of only focussing how these people over there could be changed in their behaviour , customs and life style.
You wouldn't believe how often I heard sentences like " oh , this dirt , how can they live sooo dirty , if only they would .... " , " Nepalis are simple people and this is why ...." And so on and so forth.
All problems experienced on our challenged and damaged Mother Earth today can only be solved when we stand together as One and change our own part to the best of all. And we need to act from the part in us that some call Soul, Higher Self , Big Heart- rather than from only intellectual- rational thinking.Both is not an option but an Imperative, if we want to see us all and the 7 generations coming live in
Peace, Love and Health !
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