A Meeting in the Philippines
Well, I know our trip has been over for a while now, but I wanted to mention an episode of the final leg of our trip in the Philippine Islands.
This was my first experience in Asia, the "farthest I've ever been from home", as I said to Jasmin in the airport. We spent most of our time in the countryside, where it was steaming hot, bright green, and filled with seemingly endless fields of tall coconut trees.
(A humbling note: we visited a coconut plantation where I tried to climb a tree with my hands and feet, as the locals do. I got no more than 3 feet off the ground, while my fifty-something year old father-in-law made it to the top!
There were also mangos, papayas, guava, and these enormous, spiky edibles called 'jackfruits' growing plentifully. Again, you can eat them right off the tree.
However, my story takes place not in the countryside but in Manila, which is where our trip to the Philippines began.
Manila is an enormous place, and there are quite a few students of the Gnosticweb courses there. Jasmin had been chatting with a few of them for some time on the net, and when we went to Manila we were lucky enough to meet up in person.
It was an inspiring experience. The weather was not cooperating that day, but we spent a memorable afternoon talking about the spiritual work and sharing experiences.
This group of people is quite far from a study centre, but they have set up their own informal meetings every week to get together, do spiritual practices, discuss spiritual subjects, and basically support each other. After having travelled for some time, it was very refreshing to meet up with people so interested in discovering more about spirituality, and so committed to building a strong community of like-minded people.
It's always inspiring to meet new people with an interest in Gnosis, because even though you may be perfect strangers, you can still find a real common ground of understanding based on the spirtual experiences that people have had. I only regret that we couldn't spend more time together.
These students could really be a model for similar groups of people in other cities which currently lack an official study centre. I can only imagine what it would be like if every city had a group like that!
We unfortunately neglected to take any group pictures, but hello to the Manila crew if they happen to be reading this.
Here's some other miscellaneous pictures you may enjoy.
A coconut plantation. One of those tall skinny trees is what I tried to climb.
I kept asking to go swimming, so the local mayor took us to a beach in the Bicol Region.
Unfortunately it was low tide. We went in anyway!
Passengers on a 'Jeepney', a common form of public transit.
Another shot of intrepid Jeepney Riders.
The famous Mayon Volcano near Naga City, Philipines.
Jasmin at a fruit stand with some pieces of enormous Jackfruit, in Tagaytay.
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Wow, a thorougly amazing
Wow, a thorougly amazing trip and an inspiration for us all, thank you Justin. It really was a good use of your time :)
Hi Justin, I bet that your
Hi Justin,
I bet that your father-in-law had a bit more experience than you in coconut tree climbing.
Thanks for your story, just from reading it and looking at the pictures, I felt like I have been there with you guys.
You wrote about the unofficial practice groups.
I agree with you.
I know how hard it is to be on my own, trying to put spiritual efforts when people around me have no interest in spiritual work or even hostile to it.
I am sure that in absolutely every city there are like minded people deeply interested to practice together. Definitely it will take some efforts to organize practices together, to overcome a certain obstacles, but then, how much can you get from working together, with support of the group strength!
In my view, the result is worth of efforts put.
Hello to Manila group from Montreal!
Hello Justin!
Hello Justin!
Thank you for sharing that story about you and your father-in-law climbing a coconut tree!. hahaha!. I remember when i was a kid climbing a tree back in the farm with my father. I climb a small tree back then i dont remember the name of the tree and when i was on the top i throw all the fruits down then he catches them all. =D
There are things happening here in regarding the group. I was able to find someone who took the courses before she was about to enroll on the teachers courses but she stopped because she didnt have a group but i found her and she can start all over again!.
I think there are 3 to 5 filipinos who will join on the next courses. So overall i think there will be 7 students.
And when the online courses starts this oct. we will meet every weekend on my house. Yup we have a place now. But i havent told my mum yet. Hahaha!. But we have practiced here for about 4 times now.
Yup!, thats about it for now. update all of you soon!. With pictures!. Quite excited about this new group!. Time to tell my mum through a letter!. hahaha!
goodluck on your practices!
tc!
- tos -
Hey Tos -- great to hear
Hey Tos -- great to hear from you again.
I just found a video today that Jasmin took of me trying to climb the tree. Now I understand why everyone was laughing at me -- I could have gotten higher by jumping. :-)
I'm very glad you're meeting so many people that are interested in the courses and that you guys can all to get together to practice. It seems your efforts are doing a lot to attract like-minded people -- all the best with it. The meetings should be helpful for everyone.
I hope you all learn a lot from the course and experience great things!
Hi Justin It doesnt look
Hi Justin
It doesnt look like the Philippines has changed much - re: the Jeeps - tho I havent been back since I was 12
:-))
Did you try much of the food?
Say hi to Jasmin.
Laraine
Hi Laraine, A better
Hi Laraine,
A better question would probably be if we did anything else BESIDES eating :-)
Yes we had pansit, fried chicken, goat afritada, crabs, fish, you name it...
And many deserts made of rice and/or casava. My tagalog improved slightly also (but not much, it is a very difficult language for me for some reason).
All the best to you guys.