Woke up and it was still dark, it felt like morning, and within a few minutes I heard the birds start to sing so I knew the sun was coming up and I got up and was soon walking to Mertasari Beach and did a few muscle exercises then stopped at Pepito market and bought a piece of apple pie and when I returned to the apartment made pasta for brunch and ate the apple pie for desert and then I took a nap and when I woke I studied the Zurich 1953 chess book.
I have been having good book karma on this journey, in Bangkok there was a copy of Howard Zinn's history of the USA which I had been wanting to read so I read as much as I could during the 10 days I was in Bangkok, and now that I am in Bali there is a book called Kisses from Katie, which I had not heard of but because I had finished the Maugham short stories which I had brought with me from Thailand, I had nothing else to read and with no used bookstores in Sanur I felt the need to read something good.
I am reminded of my time spent in Boulder City, Nevada, I lived in a hotel for 3 weeks and when I first arrived I had no book with me to read and no computer or internet access and I felt a deep yearning for words to read which I knew would nourish my spirit. There is a thrift store on the main street and they had a small book section but most of the books were romance or mysteries, which is poor quality when looking for something to feed the spirit, so I declined to read those, but I did find a book by Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, a novella of short length, and although I was hoping for something by Hesse, Orwell, Emerson, Kerouac, this would have to do, as the only other book which I found of interest was a desert survivalist guide, and because I was planning on soon leaving the hotel to go and live in the desert on the shore of Lake Mead, I bought both books and was soon satisfied to lay in my hotel bed reading about Maggie.
And so lately I have been feeling similar to that time in Boulder City, a hunger for words and stories which can inspire the spirit to face the difficulties of day to day living with positive energy and courage of action. And so I began to read Katie's story about her love of God and how this love led her to give up her comfortable life in the USA and move to Uganda in order to help people less fortunate than herself. While I believe that the specific God she loves exists only her imagination, it does not diminish the reality which is produced by this inner vision of love and peace, and this vision leads to positive external actions which makes the hellish world a bit more positive. Everyone has a unique, one of a kind vision, whether it be an imaginary God, or a collection of philosophical ideas and images, and if we are bold enough to follow the vision, no matter where it leads us to, then hell can be diminished one life at a time, and if a miracle were to happen and everyone followed the vision, then hell would become an empty room and would soon be forgotten.
Not sure if I am going to run tomorrow, if I do it would be best if the distance is no longer than 5 miles.
