the way of the heart

thank you for this moment thank you for the sunlight thank you for my body thank you for my health thank you for my friends thank you for friendliness and kind people and sunlight and this experience of being now

Everyone was gathered for the Food Circle.   maybe not quite a thousand people but several hundred (difficult to estimate with all these people)    and it started to rain.  proper rain this time!  thunder and lightening.  kaachoooo - ooooo!   and soon - first slowly, then faster - everyone started to move, and make for the ’kitchen‘, which was the only nearby covered place - actually only a few plastic sheets strung up together between poles - but there everyone gathered, squashed up tight and soon someone began to strike up guitar chords and the bongo drums followed and everyone´s voices slowly, heartfully together intoned:

let the way of the heart

let the way of the heart

let the way of the heart

shine through

love, upon love, upon lo-o-ove, 

all hearts are beating as one.

light, upon light, upon li-i-iight, 

shining as bright as the sun.

it lasted for about half an hour (difficult to estimate) with everyone looking at each other sincerely with droplets of water dripping off their noses with everyone intoning the mantra let the way of the heart let the way of the heart until someone bellowed out lets change the song! which didn't actually happen; everyone wanted to let the way of the heart, until it became obvious that the rain was not letting up and somebody started to organise the serving of food from the big prepared pots: lentils and salad and some sprouted beans, people squeezing past each other holding either empty expectant bowls or bowls happily filled with food.  that is the way of the rainbow.  there is no incontrovertible leadership.  there are just people who decide to do things which they feel need to be done.  let us eat food, then.

the girl who was serving the lentils seemed somehow familiar and, slightly hesitant but more certain than uncertain, i said to her ´i seem to remember you from the orphanage in hampi in india when you sang the shiva shiva shiva shambol mantra the day you were leaving.  it was beautiful", and it was so.  it was her.


"ooooow, i miss those children sooo much," she said.

maybe it was that half-hour (difficult to estimate) singing in the rain session which fixed so firmly in my mind the let the way of the heart words.  in recent days my consciousness has been humming over them and leisurely analysing them. i find that the song-writer has done a good job of succinctly capturing the essence of this extra-ordinary experience which at times is succinctly called 'life'.

the heart it the essence
the way of the heart is important. it is a journey and a means
letting is important. it is a conscious act of allowing.
shining is an important action because light is also the essence.  (let their be light)
and through is imporant because it is an act of penetration and cutting through the non-essential things which can easily vie for our attention.

let the way of the heart shine through all these non-essential things.

Dear Marioara,

When I left you asked me to send you a christmas card but i have decided to write to you now when i still have your address written down - and locateable - and tell you a little bit about my journey.  Let me tell you first that the rainbow was such a beautiful gathering of people.  We were so happy to come together on that beautiful meadow and sing songs of joy and gratitude for the Mother Earth.   It is sometimes difficult to describe to others exactly what we do at rainbow, but I think you understood something of the spirit which brought us together.  

The internet service at your library was so appreciated by everyone, but, besides that, it was your friendliness and genuine welcome which made everyone feel good.  

Thank you for your concern about me crossing the Apuseni Mountains alone.  Many others I met along the way cautioned me about bears and the dangers of travelling alone.  I did actually become lost in the woods beyond Varful Vladeasa and became rather concerned myself about my own whereabouts and where I would come out, but in the end the sun came out and showed me good South.  

I must say that becoming a little bit lost is actually an experience that I welcome and almost actively seek.  Being safe and secure and comfortable is not an experience which I am looking for.  Perhaps it is difficult for me to describe to you exactly what I am looking for.  It involves the experience of exploring and not knowing what will happen and seeing what happens.  Thank you anyway for your friendliness and concern.

Now I have arrived in Hunedoara where the internet facility allows me to be connected to the world.  The librarian here told me that Bill Gates provided these computers in all these libraries across the region, which otherwise the municipal council would never have been able to afford.

So, with gratitude to the generosity of Bill Gates, I send you my greetings and gratefulness for your friendliness,

Carson