Viva Timor-Leste

Presidential Candidate Lu Olo aka Sammy Davis Junior




Presidential Candidate Avelino Cohelo aka Che Guevara

(Yes, Sammy Davis Junior and Che Guevara live, and they currently reside in East Timor. I saw them the other day! Well, kind of. At least they have some pretty good look alikes who both ran as candidates during the country’s Presidential Election this year.)

East Timor

I'm now in East Timor and, believe you me, I never saw this one coming until 2 weeks ago. It all started when a job I found in Portland, Oregon didn't work out--I worked at a web design company for one week, and my manager could not give me the hours he originally promised.

I immediately went to Craig's list to search for a job. That lasted about 5 minutes because a strong feeling in my gut told me to stop searching and wait for a job that was about to come to me. I paid attention to the feeling, and the next morning I received an email from my former manager in Kabul asking me to design a website for East Timor's parliamentary elections.

It's really bizarre yet comforting when these things happen. I know I can always rely on the universal flow to guide and take care of me.

It's now my second day ever in East Timor. I'm staying in Dilli, the capitol and there's a monsoon down poor out my window right now, making it's presence loudly known on the many tin roofs that saturate my neighborhood. Because of colonization that lasted for 450 years, locals speak Portuguese and 18th century European architecture is spread throughout the city. Coffee plants and sandal wood cover the island and the fishing couldn't be better--my friend Toby said the prawns here can sometimes be the size of telephone receivers. The bulk of the population is Roman Catholic with a few animists living inland and, other than beaches and a desolate tropical mountain scape, that's about all I know for right now.

I'm a little jet lagged and it's hard for me to absorb too much at this point, but, as the election moves closer and I start to explore, I will definitely keep you all posted.

Ciao,
Liz

Sweet, Sweet Dharma

Official Definition of Dharma
a. The principle or law that orders the universe.
b. Individual conduct in conformity with this principle.
c. The essential function or nature of a thing.

My Definition-
The unexplainable force that pulls me to this moment and beyond, teasing, loving, playing, protecting, teaching, and guiding me through this crazy thing called life while creating the most heavenly design. To ignore its magnetism is to ignore my only truth.

We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For...

"It is said that when the earth is weeping and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth. A people of many colors, who by their actions and deeds shall heal the earth and make her green again. They will be known as the warriors of the Rainbow." -- Old Hopi Prophecy

Microcosmic

I recently reminded myself of how blessed I am to live in L.A. when I visited a Cambodian Buddhist temple about thirty minutes from my house.

I instantly felt unbound by time and space when I entered the temple because everyone was Cambodian. Monks were chanting mantras in Khmer, the large room was filled with mats where people sat cross-legged and focused in silent prayer, and a large, gold leaf Buddha statue with a neon flashing light behind its head rested in the middle of the room. Smells of curry, a Cambodian version of pho, and incense mixed and lingered in the air. All of these pieces, including the tacky Buddha statue, would only make sense in Cambodia.

I sat down in the back of the room, tuned into my Cambodian flashback, and joined the rest in prayer.

After the procession, I was warmly welcomed by the Cambodians and sat down for a communal lunch. Most of them could barely understand my English and happily chattered away in their own tongues. Strangely enough, they never realized that I couldn’t understand their stories as I used the little Khmer that I knew to supplement their monologues.

Yes, it’s quite amazing to be here. I haven’t had many opportunities to explore all the microcosms of L.A., but I know that anytime my wanderlust flares up, I can always find another spiritual center like this (whether it’s a mosque, synagogue, temple, or church—it’s all here), restaurant, or marketplace of any international flavor. In this sense, I’m always at home, and never too far from the rest of the world.

Bewish

Yesterday I met a man who wittingly declared to be Bewish, which is a combination of Judaism and Buddhism. He said that this amalgamated state enables him to say things like “Om Shalom” and eat curried gefilte fish. I was at a party when we crossed paths, and after his declaration, he pulled me aside as if the others couldn’t process his philosophy, and whispered, “And honey, let me tell you that I am God, because to make it outside of myself would be codependent”.

He then told me how I need to write the first chapter of my book soon, and that's exactly what I was thinking during the week leading up to this encounter.

Yet again, I attracted an external reflection that confirms all these crazy ideas floating around inside. I like this concept of “the one”. It suits me well.

Banned!!!

Yesterday I chatted with a friend who is currently living and working in China, and he said that he can’t read about any of my galactic travels because the Chinese government has blocked all blog sites on the internet. So I’ve officially been banned! It's harder to burn books or words online, and apparently this is my writer’s passage or milestone in my development.

I think it’s an honor since it means I’m speaking the truth and that’s what the Chinese government fears. The funny thing is that, in my own experience, running away and denying the facts sometimes brings the truth faster. I think this falls under the laws of negative attraction.

It makes me wonder what it's like to get on the internet in China. I can imagine just one accessible website that is the official site of the Chinese governent. No need for search engines or "surfing the net". Makes it easy, doesn't it?

Afghanistan, Take One!

Today I met an actress whose latest gig is to run around the desert with 150 other actors and actresses, playing the role of a Muslim woman, burka and all. This isn’t the set for Hollywood’s latest politically incorrect terrorist movie, but a role play used by the US military.

She told me how she does this once a month. She gets to live in a shack without electricity, sleep in the cold night, get harassed and accosted by military men (in a pretend way, I guess), and even receives Arabic lessons and cultural pointers from actual Afghan and Iraqi refugees, all while participating in these reenactments on an old native American burial ground.

Hmmm… Other than the ancient burial ground, this sounds a bit familiar. I’m in L.A., but there are many vortices about. The world is a funny place, no?

I wonder...

How do we effectively dream together and stoke the fires of universal consciousness to a roaring and wondrous blaze? This is what I want to know. I believe it comes from the truth, that we are one and we all dream of the basics—love and peace. How you find it is your own localized experience because, as a wise man on a backwoods Himalayan road once told me, some may walk, some may bike, some may take the bus, and some may fly, but we're all going to the same destination. I honor the unique path of all, and ask how to support each other during this journey. The answer is within.