Fourth Form of Madness

I feel like I am on the set of The Birds. On this island it feels like there is every kind of bird and then some flying around, singing their songs. When the birds go home for the night, the fruit bats take over so the sky seems alive in this place. I love it.

By far the most interactive bird is the white cockatoo. They are everywhere and you feel them watching you, waiting for you to leave a window or a door open so they can come inside and forage through your belongings for tasty snacks. Each day the hotel issues warnings about leaving anything open or unattended for fear that these motivated birds will help themselves to their heart desire.

Me, I like a bold bird. At breakfast, I watched as one sat on the railing enclosing the pool, off to the side, so as not to attract attention. Waiting, silently in deep meditation. Momentarily someone left a plate unattended as they turned their back to chat to someone behind them. I watched as the cockatoo opened one eye and with the grace of God flew effortlessly and accurately to it’s toast target. Toast in beak it went to high ground in a palm tree swaying lightly in the breeze and consumed it’s bounty.

Nothing fills my heart with joy more than seeing a creature that knows what they truly want. So simple and so concentrated, all awareness on one thing. Everything else is just noise to them. In that zone, life is simple and devastating beautiful.

If I have learnt one thing, these days simplicity is………. complicated. How do you know what you want is truly what you want? In an environment over burdened with suggestions, promises of wholeness and whispers of the pathways to happiness, how do you distinguish between what is a manufactured “want” from an innate “want”? And for those of you who dismissively retort “does it matter?”. Yes it does, it might be the most crucial, fundamental question you answer in this lifetime. And the ability to distinguish might just be what decides if you live in a pantomime or paradise.

So take the time to sit quietly each day and let what you want present itself. Do not feel ashamed or bad for wanting. Wanting is like everything else, used well it will set you free, used unwisely it will enslave you. It has been said that the path to enlightenment starts with a deep longing, a deep desire to know the innate life within you and all others. Do not let anything separate you from that deep desire. It is your true compass, your nature spring of unending grace. It is the silent and enduring hum that animates everything. Everything else is just noise.