My contract teaching English in a fishing village in South Korea was coming to a slow end. As I contemplated my future a question arose from the depths of my Being:�� Where do I need to live to become Heaven on Earth?� I had no idea the meaning of this question; I only felt it true to my life path. Through a series of synchronicities the answer eventually arose: Bali.I knew about the art and ceremonial culture of Bali from my time as an interdisciplinary theatre artist. Friends traveled to Bali to purchase items for their stores and others ventured to The Island of the Gods for spiritual pilgrimage.
Settling into my seat with a freshly brewed cup of Java on Korean Air I placed my attention on the tiny screen on the seat in front of me. Anthony Bourdon was visiting Bali for his No Reservations Travel Channel show. This hard-edged, straight talking cynical New Yorker fell in love with Bali. He wanted to move house to Bali. I thought: If a hard edged, straight talking, cynical New Yorker wants to live here, what is it about Bali?
Three years ago I arrived during the dense tourist month of August. No wonder Anthony fell in love with Bali. This is Manhattan on crack! �I declared in a Skype call to a friend in the States. �However, diving below the superficial mayhem I also experience how the island seduces us into opening our hearts. The heart is the meeting place for Siva, Heaven, and the Cosmic Masculine principle to unit with Shakti, the Earth, Cosmic Feminine principle.
Bali vibrates with very high consciousness intensity. The veils between the Seen (Sekala) and Unseen (Niskala) worlds are thin here.�� The Balinese consciously honor that we humans are�� sharing our living space� with the Spirits in the unseen worlds. As a result we are able to experience ourselves with more honesty and transparency.� When I worked as an integrative healer, people would sometimes arrive at my door gripped in suicidal terror.� They thought they were coming for a nice honeymoon, and then suddenly their world is turned inside out and upside down.� Bali is an island that can rip open our hearts.
A question such as Where do I need to live to become Heaven on Earth initiates us upon a soul quest.� My soul felt it was time to make conscious, then merge the Masculine and Feminine forces within me so that I may live with an open heart. Relationship is the crucible in which this quest unfolds. We are in relationship with every plant, animal, insect, star, object and person every second of our life. The most important and long lasting relationship is the one that we have with Me, Myself, and I. To love youre self, as the Beloved is the greatest gift you can give to the world.
The merging of Heaven and Earth into the heart is all about discovering how to love all that we are no matter what arises. In this love we begin to engender unconditional love, the love that our True Mother, Gaia and True Father Heaven have for us as their divine children.� This journey allows us to feel we are Love, Loved and Lovable, deleting those fear based programs inserted when we were children, when we were too small to say NO! This does not feel good to me to those giant adults in our lives.� On this quest to live as Heaven on Earth we begin to heal the inner child to be reborn as the divine Child we are.
As with all quests it is rigorous. It is not for the faint of heart, yet if we take this trek with curiosity as our guide the entire journey becomes a mystic playground. We are� �living through a cosmic consciousness transformation divinely ordained and designed for each of us, should we choose, to emerge as a True Human: A Being who has merged logic with intuition to live with a radiant open heart. The purpose of our mind is to be in service to the heart, just as a Knight of the Round Table lived to be in service to the qualities of the heart: Integrity, non-violence, empathy, truth, compassion, love, and silence.
Bali has become a Mother for me.� My grief pours out in Her sacred water temples. In the womb of Her oceans I am reunited to re-member and remember that IAM LOVE and IAM LOVED. In her rice fields I empty my mind and her lavish jungles contain me so that I can dance the anger of my pain. Bali is a Mother to many.
As I witness the many dis-eases of un-leashed development rapidly begin to take more dominant expression on this island, Bali as a loving Mother steadfastly remains with an open heart. Listen with the ears of your heart. See with the eyes of your heart. Speak with the voice of your heart&and Bali will hold you.
