Follow the Journey…
"It was as if the people in this exotic and strange place were closer to the very fabric of life, the very fragility of existence. The folk I encountered were not so guarded by the thick veils and illusions that usually withhold us from embracing our reality. The air was lighter, less tense, more open. The focus was not on the pains of birth, but on the joy of infancy. Here, death was never far away; the perishable life wasn't so hidden..."
"...Once you live in love, once you embrace and go into the world open-armed, ready to give yourself to all people you encounter without judgement or fear, then loves comes to you, love finds you in all places. Love, always, finds the beloved."
Recent times have given me the chance to swim a little in that great wide pool of remembrance, and, especially, to move a little through my time in India ~ a strange, wonderful, and wholly mysterious land.
We must always be strong, we must always be faithful, we must always forgive, and love. For the One who we follow is not all the things of this world; He is One thing... He is love.
'Alone' in the Judaean Desert, Year 29, The Dead Sea, Being Chased by Armed Israeli Soldiers, Tea with a Bedouin and Finding Wadi Qelt... "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."And so I came to this place... brought [...]
I began a journey at the end of Spring that set a great and terrible tremour in my foundations, sparked a fire in my spirit beyond all imagining... pyres are made to burn, and ashes make fertile even tired, wintered soil. Even a desert becomes a delta in the rains... What my eyes and soul witnessed in those days I will never forget.
I thought, there, where all this began, I might find something of before. Some treasure, some sign... some relic of a former life. In a way I was totally right. In a way I couldn't have been more wrong. I found a skeleton, all flesh decayed and returned to dust. It seems time does not preserve [...]
Isn't it fascinating how different places call forth different energies from within? Complex beings we are... I find it amazing how it seems our inner being, or our soul, is apparently greatly affected by our environment, the people and the energy around us. Long have I been bewitched by this phenomenon... I've tried many things, breathed [...]
You could spend an eternity this way... floating between folds of time, no more a traveller or sage, years of searching simply washing away... nobody's man and yet prisoner of the elements, caught up in a war between swirling waters and burgeoning skies... perhaps this is eternity? ...not a destination, but a hidden place between, nearly impossible to [...]
A whole new day has dawned in my life! And I couldn't be more grateful, more alive, or more in love. This most recent 'journey' has brought me so much peace and illumination. I feel so blessed to be alive, to be given another chance to roam this earth and carry on my journey as [...]
Everybody knows I love me a bit of England from time to time. Catching up with family, old blast-from-the-past friends, sentimental places and nuances of English life I'll never fully shake off as the self-professed Aesthete I am. Cities like Oxford and Cambridge are no exception. Seriously, I have much overlooked these absolute golden [...]
Morocco. North Africa. We've been here before. This time we will see it through new eyes. Since my first trip back in 2017 I haven't quite been able to stay away. So vivid, alive - its landscapes, winding cities and warm-hearted people. The place is crazy! In the heat, the bustling medina; weaving in and out [...]
Florence. Italy. 2013-2019. It's been a long, winding love affair. A lot of poetry, a lot of tears, a lot of cigarettes and laughter. Forever, somehow, will that city be associated with this aesthete... and what was. (and, of course, this diary) I'm always drawn back, somehow, even when I think it's finally over. Life speaks [...]
A little poem and a little visual. Today's musing... Film clips from Ghana and Morocco, 2017 and 2018 respectively. Words from my mind, circa 2011. Jx *** all inquiries: diary.aesthete@yahoo.co.uk ***
Welcome to 2019 one and all! I am so happy to write those words. What a privilege to be alive and well and still moving forward in my journey. Each new day and each new step up the tall ladder of my dreams is a day well spent, and I regret not. To celebrate the [...]
