Wednesday September 2, 2009
Cidade Ecletica
Thanks to all our friends and family who write with appreciation for my reports on life here in Brazil. It is a good life and we are very much at peace here. It is more simple and we have no concerns for money which in itself is such a gift. It is hard for us to take in the magnitude of gratitude we feel and blessings we are being given by the people who are helping us in so many ways. Why, we keep asking ourselves, would they do such a thing? What is it they expect or anticipate that we could give back in return for such generosity, love and welcome?
Most of our real communication happens through Gaudencio who is entrusted by the Elders of the community to help with all the foreigners who come here seeking help, because he is one of only a couple people here who speaks English (Spanish and Italian.) He tells us that their former spiritual leader, Yokaanen, told them years ago that many people would come here seeking help. And this is what they are all about. So everyone is welcome. If they feel the people are good and have a good heart, they are invited to stay, to study, to work and live here. Interestingly, they recognized Paul immediately and were expecting him. A few said to him, “You are late. We were expecting you sooner.” And to me they said when we first arrived, “We already know who he is. We need time to know who you are.” Later they told me that I (my soul) made a deal to come here and work as a medium to help people. That my work would be very hard, that I have many people to help and it will not always be easy. I feel in my heart that this is true. They say my entity is here standing next to me, with my group of people who are ready to start. Paul adds here upon hearing me read this to him that I might qualify this by saying that it might sound egotistical, but we are just trying to be candid about how we feel.
Now I know that to most of you this will sound too bizarre and many of you will not believe this and even think that I am crazy. For many of you, my friends and family, you have maybe not experienced much of a spiritual life, concentrating more on the physical plane of existence and this probably sounds like a bunch of nonsense. Perhaps sharing this is a bad idea as you will think less of me in your inability to conceive of such a thing.
In the US most of us are not exposed to much in the way of a spiritual life or education, only the “new age” version of spirituality which even to us is too phony, airy-fairy and what we personally refer to as “magenta-pixie.” The religious education we were given, whether it was Christian or Jewish based, to me seemed full of misleading dogma that was most certainly not based in any kind of spirituality I could relate to. There was no appeal to me in that. Eastern religions and philosophies, on the other hand, resonated with me and introduced me to the notion of a spiritual existence. When I read the Tao te Ching, for example, I knew I had found my core beliefs expressed in the simple prose of that volume written by Lao Tzu likely prior to 550 BCE. Tao te Ching can be translated as The Book of the Way and How it can be Manifested in the World. But I apologize for rambling on in my effort to be a little understood.
So I will stop and ask now for your feedback on whether it is of any interest for me to describe in these writings this aspect of our life here and wait for some response before I continue to unravel these particular mysteries.
Meanwhile, in our daily life, the events since I last wrote….
The governor of Brasilia did turn up as expected yesterday along with his new, very young wife, but not by motorcade; they came by helicopter. We discovered the first week we were here while out on one of our walks with Rocket, what we later found out to be a landing strip. We had walked out through the end of town past a soccer field and noticed a narrow path which we continued to follow. It then opened out to a very wide, unused road which we followed for a very long time because the view at the end of the long road ahead was so compelling, we wanted to see more. It did cover a very long stretch of open land up to the edge of a very beautiful wide and deep valley, which looked like an oasis in a dry dusty desert. Turns out this place was an airport built by Yokaanen and is used by a select group of high powered officials who visit this place now for healings and consultations, while before when Yokaanen was alive they came for advice from the great master who was a much revered visionary. Now they take advice from the Entities incorporated by the mediums. ( I expect to many of you this kind of thing sounds hard to believe and you have no idea that the government even in the US consults with Psychics) Oh sorry, I wasn’t going to go there just yet.
Last night Gaudencio came to tell us that they have made contact with the children of a man who recently died who now own his house here in town. They will consider renting it to us and let us know by Friday if they will come to meet us to see if they will approve. He advised us to not answer if they ask us how much rent we are willing to pay because they are probably going to expect to ask us to pay $100 to $150 reals ($50 to $75US) and we would be inclined to offer $300 to $350 Reals (which would still be a great bargain at $150-$175US) per month. It’s located on a really great side street outside the gated part of town with an incredible view over the valley of farmland. It has a little apartment in the back of the house where there is a couple living who are 85 and 90 years old but in excellent health and fitness. He says you’d think they were 50. So with any luck we might get to return to a normal lifestyle of home cooked meals and a place to do our own laundry and grow a small home garden for ourselves. Sounds like it might only be a three month arrangement though. I suppose they are not big on rentals here. Most people buy or are given land to build a home. But as we insisted on waiting to at least find out if our permanent visas would be approved before we bought anything, they are trying to help us find something that will work. And maybe, if the price is right, it won’t be a bad idea to put the money we have from selling our house in Vermont into land and a house here rather than watching it devalue to nothing as the economic news we are getting indicates it might do before long.
Still no news of formal Portuguese lessons although there is discussion between the Elders and the elementary school principal about having us sit in on the children’s Portuguese classes. Apparently even the native Brazillians have difficulty with this language! So it’s no wonder it’s so hard to learn! They say it would really help us if we watched TV, which we would consider doing if we had a TV to watch. There is one in the restaurant, but I must admit it still agitates me even in Portuguese, though much less so.
We are attempting to touch base with the other friends we made here early in the year and have had some success by email and phone but as yet have not been able to actually see them. One lives nearby maybe an hour and a half drive from here, so we are hoping to drive over and visit now that we have a car. Gaudencio has priority over our schedule however as we are still so dependent on his help (with opening a bank account, renting a house, meeting with certain people) so we await a day when we know he will not be helping us. There is some speculation that this friend Andreé´and her son and husband may consider relocating here from their current home in Abadiania where John of God works. That would be such a blessing to have another English speaking friend who we so greatly admire here with us.
Thursday evening…….
Just back from a visit to Abadiania where we visited our Friend Andreé´and her family who we’d not met before. It was a long afternoon with the drive 1 ½ hours each way, but really great to see her and catch up once again. They live in a really cool place and we enjoyed drinking cashew juice from the tree in their yard, sitting under the shade of a tree overlooking the valley. We arranged for them to visit us here in our new community on Sunday.
More later…. We send love and blessings
Mindy and Paul