This view from our house perched on the western edge of Curacao peers directly toward the United States 1,188 miles away. It’s been said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Today, that is not the case. I’ve always been eager to travel “abroad”. Immersing oneself in a foreign culture and language demands that you let go of ingrained notion, thought, and cognitive interaction. Our brains become addicted to imprinted perspectives of language and cultural norms. When you move away, those tools of daily existence are rendered useless, the perspective ceases to provide benefit. A forced freedom from daily (un) comfort. Not merely “punching out” but intentionally disassociating from the toxic trashing that has replaced American social etiquette.
So here is the opportunity, the shamatha, the reprieve.
“If you can take your troubles as they come, if you can maintain your calm and composure amid pressing duties and unending engagements, if you can rise above the distressing and disturbing circumstances in which you are set down, you have discovered a priceless secret of daily living. Even if you are forced to go through life weighed down by some unescapable misfortune or handicap and yet live each day as it comes with poise and peace of mind, you have succeeded where most people have failed. You have wrought a greater achievement than a person who rules a nation.”
A moment of ocean waves and trade winds to ponder.
Here, the morning light warms our pavilion.
I’m sure we will set out on Curacao explorations including the world heritage site of Willemstad during the coming days. But for now, just poise and peace of mind.
Your pavilion, you say? Sublime.