Bali

There is something about this place that pulls you in. It's so vibrant. The deep tradition, the heat, the deep rich color of the place all surrounding you.

I've been in Bali now for about a month and a half. Came for 2 weeks, didn't want to leave. Seems to be a common experience. People coming for short trip, extending and extending and being here for years. "Mama Bali grabs you" is a phrase I've heard more than once. There is something about this place that pulls you in. It's so vibrant. The deep tradition, the heat, the deep rich color of the place all surrounding you. I have all these moments, riding motorbikes with friends through the forest to the beach, passing temples and warung and chatting in my broken Indonesian to anyone that will listen, where I step back and just think "I'm living in Bali!". So cool! How lucky! What a chance, what an experience. The oceans of gratitude I have for this experience can wash away any petty daily worry that's grabbed my mind.

I was talking to a Balinese woman and she said she makes 134 offerings a day. They are small grass woven cups, filled with flowers, that they put in front of houses/streets/everywhere. Every day she weaves 134 of those and places them to honor and protect. It feels like every day is a religious festival or observance or they are blessing a temple. Religion and community run so deep here. Families here have these kind of walled areas they live in all together. Each person with their own house, but all together within the walls.

So instead of needing to move somewhere across town, kids can move into their own house when they get married. Something nice about keeping the family unit together like that, not like us, where we move as far away as possible as soon as we can. This foundation, this rootedness, I think that's the thing that pulls people here. And the thing we're missing in the west, is foundation. We've put aside religion, community, tradition, thrown it all out with the old, and what's left? Radical individuality, the idea that we can and should figure it all out for ourselves, every one of us a unique snowflake creating our own way of being human, without any concern for how other people have done it in the past. It's a beautiful idea right? The idea that there should be no strictures or constrictions on who we are as a person.

It's intoxicating, and seems so right, which is why it's spread into so much of the world. But how's that working out for us? How are we really doing as a culture? I'd say not too well. Since humans were humans we've known that we need help from the past to understand our future, and without that, we're falling apart. It's like there aren't any adults left in the room, everyone off on their own creating their own path, there's no one left at the wheel. What a totally insane moment this is.

To be in a place that feels like it's full of people who understand who they are, where they stand, how they're connected to each other and the past, is so deeply relaxing. To talk to people who are so grounded, and in that groundedness can be so present with you. Happy and smiley and curious. Maybe we can't recreate what they have here, but we can learn from it. The balance between self and community, between innovation and tradition. So grateful to have this experience. I love it.