2008-June-Jerusalem-p1

it’s hard to say what i felt in jerusalem.
it was overwhelming - a thick dense atmosphere i’d never experienced before.
as we all know, historically, the place has been the centre of conflict for generations.
mainly due to geographical location and trade, according to our guide, shay.
the religious conflicts arose later.
anyway, whatever...it was all too much for me – or too little, i don’t know which.
i came away happy to have seen it, but with little understanding of what it’s all about.
i guess it would take years of learning to understand why people are so invested in being so radically ‘different’ from one another.
in my world, we are beginning to celebrate the breaking down of barriers between different paths - ‘osho people’ and ‘tm people’ and ‘maharaji people’ etc...and with the tibetans monks now living among us in the west, we also have the blessing of coming into contact with them and seeing those boundaries beginning to dissolve. was it chuang tzu that said there is no goal but the path? - and as humans we all travel that path together alone.
to celebrate each others lives seems a lot healthier to me than the concept of separation.
i even remember hearing h.h dalai lama with my own ears, saying that he is working on becoming less attached to buddhism!
so, to see the jews and the christians and the muslims so invested in separation, was kind of shocking.
even though i knew it intellectually, to see it in practice was something else.

the road to jerusalem



bob marley looks on in the streets of the holy city



it’s not every day you see bethlehem on a road sign...



outside the walls of the old city – the nablus gate



slowly making our way to the holy sepulchre, which marks the place where jesus was crucified, we strolled through the bazaars...






that pyramid is made of spices!

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