as we parted from Cassy and his loving mom we got into this fabulous car and realized that the first thing we have to do is laundry. after being in the GBI for 12 days it was time to do it... so we started to look for a laundromat in the area.
found one and started a load. we had about 20 minutes so we headed out to have a coffee.
 | ||
| Ayelet at Starbucks! |
 |
| Ayelet and Mike |
the dryer did its job and all the laundry was now dry and ready. we got some real insight to life through Mike's view... we gave him some gifts and hugs and we were on out way...
here is where i need to take a brake and give some background to where we were driving to.
back in 1999 i was living in Boulder CO with my older brother. we were there for about 7 to 8 months and at that time i was working for an amazing man named Martin Mosko who owned and operated his company called Marpa Landscaping. Martin was (and still is) a master garden builder. he has build large Japaneses gardens out side of Japan and i got the benefit of working for him. back in 1999 i knew nothing of Buddhism and had no clue to where my future was heading.... but, Martin gave me a job and told me: "we sit quietly in the morning. you are most welcome to join us"
sitting quietly? what is that about?! i thought... little did i know that Martin was also a Zen master and a teacher.... i was still not ready for the future that was knocking at my door...
as time went by my older brother was telling me about a dream he had a long long time ago to meet with Native Americans and dive into their spiritual world and learn their ways... he was very much into Peyote at that time and wanted to study that subject with the Natives.
it seems that this was very important to him and he convinced me to follow him and look for Native Americans and their Peyote.... i asked Martin if he knew any Natives and he said yes. but he was extremely sad that i was leaving him and his company... he looked at me as a future investment and that maybe one day i can take over... he offered to send me to college and study landscaping (on his dime) but i refused... he was very sad to see me go...
looking into the internet (remember it was 1999) we found the Peyote way Church of God in Klondike AZ and headed down there. it was in the middle of nowhere... i mean 50 Kilometers of dirt roads... but we followed our map (yes, 1999) and found them in the middle of this vast desert... it was an old Indian named Emanuel and the two hippies that lived with him, Mathew and Annie and their 3 children, Joe, Joy and Tristan.
we spent some time there and did the spirit walk. got really friendly with them and i must say that over time, that spot on earth gave me the most amazing experiences in life.. i mean some of the most magical shit happened down there but that is for another post :)
Emanuel and i became friends and i asked him about the ways of the Indians and how to follow them... he said: "you were born in Israel as a Jew were you not? are you an Indian? no you are not... why don't you go home and figure out why you were born there? and if after a while you learn all that you can and are not satisfied, then you can come here and follow a different path. but first, go home and try to figure it out"
mmmmm.... this was a real mind bender. i never felt belonging to where i was born and always felt it to be a mistake, but his words made sense to me and i felt the need to go home. and so we did.
after spending time with them we packed out stuff and traveled back to Israel, back to our old home, the Kibbutz... Ein Hashofet.
back to now, well almost to now
at the last day of the retreat i though it would be smart to maybe give a heads up to Martin that i am planning to have tea with him once we get to Boulder at the end of our road trip so i messaged him through the Facebook messenger app... he answered that he would love that but he is not in Boulder for the winter but was spending his winter time in Patagonia AZ where he and Alex bought a winter home to escape the snow of Boulder...
i looked at the map in google on my phone, figured that it will take about 5 to 6 hours of driving down to see him and decided that we should see him, even if this part of the trip was not planed.
so, the laundry was done. we were in the Charger and driving down to Patagonia AZ...
road trip USA!!!
we got to Martin's place at around 22:00 and he was still awake and ready to show us our living quarters for the night... it was an adjacent house to his which served as a shrine and a sitting meditation room... and also a guest room but it has never had guest before and we were the first ones! ha!
there were Tibetan flags hanging on the porch and a Buddha statue and Tankas on the walls.... we felt at home :)
took a shower and went to sleep.
in the morning Martin and Alex came and we took a ride with them not so far to walk their two HUGE great Dane dogs...
for Martin, i was a speck in time... i was there for 7 months 20 years ago! but for me, he played a big roll in how my life turned out...
 |
| eating breakfast together |
i think that the most frequent question that we heard over the next few days as we went gliding on the highways of America was:"what? you are leaving so soon? you just got here!"
we both gave Martin a peace tabletop prayer wheel before departing and asked him if he can help us find an authentic Native American prayer to place inside and he said yes! turns out that the ground cart taker back in his home Zen garden temple in Boulder was with the Indians for about 30 years and he will be able to help us out... once we get to Boulder we should pay him a visit and see what he can do. his name is Paul and here is his phone number said Martin...
we parted much to everyone's sadness but also with much joy and love and great appreciation of this few hours spent together....
drove for many hours until finally we reached Klondike and the Church to visit the hippies (Emanuel has passed away back in 2015)
on what happened there, next time :)
love,
Micha
No comments:
Post a Comment