Memoirs of South Africa - January 2008

I break my 3 week silence with this blog, sharing my memoirs of South Africa with you. For those unfamiliar with South Africa, quickly scroll down to the footnote*

Strangely enough, we flew British Airways again (if you can remember my ordeal with BA in a previous blog), mainly due to silly circumstances. The flight was pleasant enough (with a nerve wracking landing at Johannesburg International, made worse thereafter with the news of a BA plane that crash-landed)!

Johannesburg International (OR Tambo) was abuzz with building works as South Africa relentlessly prepares for hosting the 2010 Football World Cup; the hot humid weather pressing down on glistening ivory and ebony faces outside the cool air-conditioned interior of the building.

Soon thereafter, we took our connection flight to the Southern Cape: to my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful places in the word - to visit my parents. The weather was pleasant as always, with temperatures of around 22 degrees Celsius and a cool sea breeze tickling the nape of one's neck. After a few days of leisure - walking on the beach and a few barbeques - we took the road north: through the arid Karoo towards the Free State provence.


Beach near Mossel Bay




A view towards Mossel Bay




Making fire for a barbeque




A B&W portrait/ landscape by my wife, Daleen (near Mossel Bay)




A beach landscape near Mossel Bay



A drive through the arid interior of South Africa (called the Karoo) - is for me - always a pleasure. Through the winding pass of the Swartberg Mountains where the ocean air throws a cloudy blaket over the rugged edges and lush vegetation gives way to succulents over time as the air gets hotter and drier.



The Swartberg Mountain Pass



The Karoo: strangely green after abundent summer rains



Ostridges in the Karoo (near Oudtshoorn)



A rare event: cloudburst in the Karoo



Giant cacti at a fuel station in the Karoo



A tortoise crossing the road in the Karoo


After three hours of traveling, we stopped over in a small town called Beaufort-West by some friends of ours.


Typical architecture of Beaufort-West



Interior of friends' house in Beaufort-West

Having dinner


After a pleasant dinner - chatting about social issues and psychological techniques such as 'gestalt' - we went to bed, trying to sleep in evening temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius (not an easy task amid the super-imposed buzzing of mosquitos in your hot little ears).

The next morning - just before hitting the road again - my good friend Earle took me on what he calls a 'breakfast-run': on his Vespa, with two steaming hot coffees in hand, we were off to a quiet little spot just outside of town. Amid the Karoo mountains, with the sun just crawling over the tips, backligting our steaming coffees; we absorbed the stillness of the landscape as a Kudu lazilly strolled by - absolutely magical. It just reminded me again how foolish the whole rat-race is again...

Off we were again, on our way to Free State provence to check out our newly bought little house in an almost never-heard-of town.


The Main street in this small Free State town



Our planned future little home



Grassfields of Free State provence


We arrived in Bloemfontein (the capitol of Free State) 5 hours later. After a lightening-fast 2 weeks of catching up with more family and friends, it was time to go back to the gray and dreary winter of the United Kingdom. But this last sunset will keep my heart warm through the last stretch of the Northen Hemisphere winter.




* South Africa - short for Republic of South Africa - is a country at the southern tip of Africa where the famous Nelson Mandella and FW de Klerk won the Nobel Peace Prize for abolishing 'apartheid', and laying the foudations in the constitution for a democracy called 'The Rainbow Nation'.

Speaking for Itself

Louder than words:

Prodigy Artist

Another prodigy with an interesting story. Watch the accompanying interview with her as well:

A Prologue

I have recently seen the film 'Lady in the Water' again after some time, and just realized again what a great story teller Night Shyamalan is. He has his critics, how else? But his stories (films) - especially Lady in the Water - are important, and ring true in our deep subconscious minds.

The Power of One

Ever wondered why most of us are afraid to speak in front of a crowd at first, and when finding the courage to confront this fear, later thrive on doing so?

When we see an angry crowd rioting, one truly understands the words: a crowd is a dangerous animal.

There is a mysterious force that binds many into one; a force we see in an ant colony or bee hive working for the greater good of the collective; we see it in a flock of a thousand birds flying as one, turning time after time at the very precise moment as if by magic; when zebras evade their predators by moving collectively, their numbers and patterns confusing the predators; when mammals like dolphins work unselfishly in groups to catch their fish by chasing fish into balls, and taking turns to feed.

This magical invisible force, is the power of the collective mind; when many act as One. This is indeed, because all is One, forgotten by Supermarket Man, desperately clinging to his reductionist Victorian mindset of divide and conquer, destroying nature and the future of his children in the ‘name of progress’.

But the Winds of Change has started to blow. The collective mind of the Sleeping Giant is awakening to the Light; and the Awakened Giant with Light in its heart, is a dangerous Being to the forces of darkness…

A video showing a flock of birds flying as one organism (wait for at least a minute into video for best shot).

Proverb

I have recently discovered this wise Native American saying:

"Western man will soon discover that, when the last tree is cut down, and all the rivers are poisened; he won't be able to eat his money..."

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Another year gone by in the blink of an eye; another lying ahead...



Yes, it's January again, the month's name derived from one of the oldest Roman gods Ianus/ Janus, who has two faces: one facing the past, the other facing the future; essentially being the mythological doorway from yesterday to tomorrow.

And here we find ourselves in this mythical doorway once again; our 2007 Self 'dying' on the solstice of December 21st, and then being 'resurrected' for the coming 2008, passing through the doorway or 'janua'.

And finding yourself on this doorway once more: what lies ahead for you and all of us?

So far, things look a bit grim: Pakistan and Kenya are in turmoil; the Iraq war looms forth; oil has hit an all time high of $100/ barrel (with fuel prices surging); the credit crunch of 2007 continues to haunt the markets, and threatens the world economy (thus ultimately you and your children)...

But fear not dear readers. As Frankl once remarked: in order to cause light, one must endure some burning...

Being mythically 'reborn' through Janus - thus standing on the threshold of another year - the opportunity arises for you (and all of us) to make a change not only for ourselves, but for the the world. The world is in it's current state, because of billions of individuals making poor decisions day after day; year after year. This collective decision making causes what we live everyday.

Think about it: everything you experience around you was once a mere thought of someone. From the PC (or Mac) you are using to read this blog, to the chair you're sitting in, the house around you, your clothes and car...all ideas once in someone's head that was made reality by externalizing it through decision and action. You want a house, you imagine it in your mind, explain it to an architect who then draws the plan (externalizing the thought). This plan will then be further externalized by the builders, until you live in that once imagined thought.

This applies to everything. What once was a vast and rich wilderness, is now a wrongfully conquered country: with sprawling tarmac, concrete and metal, shaping our cities, sucking the life from Earth, and polluting her as a 'thank you'. What once was freedom of the people in smaller lovingly empathetic communities, are now endlessly bureaucratic legislation, controlling the consuming masses of billions.

And among those billions of thinkers and decision makers; is you. The reason why you think that you don't count, is because you feel lost in that faceless and impersonal giant called 'humanity'. But everyone's thought counts. Like my wife always says: $999,999.99 can never become a million without that last cent. It takes one snowflake more on the heap, to cause a deadly avalanche.

Some thoughts and decisions empower us, while others deceive us into thinking we have power, while we are actually destroying ourselves. It is as Jimmy Hendrix once said: when the love for power is changed into the power of love, then we will have peace.

Thus, take this opportunity of 'rebirth', and think about your future. Don't just fall into the mindless routine of work again, slaving away your existence to afford your mortgage and further enrich the central banks of the world. Think carefully about the life and future not only of yourself, but of your children and the entire humanity. Your powerful thoughts and decisions can make or break your life, and that of others.

Learn from your past, live now and create your new future with the decisions of today...

Jean Erasmus