THEN LIFE STOPPED ME AND SAID..
- Astri Wright
- Jan 7
- 2 min read
My earliest memories are of travelling; being bundled tight, lifted up, rocked to sleep by oceans, waking up to daylight over a new landscape in jangling train-carriages... being whizzed away on concrete-kissing rubber tires, walking...
I had been around the world twice before I was five.
This was the beginning of my ‘work’, it seems; to go, to see, to feel, to meet; to listen, to document and to learn.
It was a constant seeking of understanding of all our variations in how to live wisely, under disparate conditions, in all of our amazing eco-systems—separately and in dialogue with each other.
And this is where I began my apprenticeship in how to read the deeper patterns—
of life, of communication, of symbolic art and action… of the events that play out in daylight and those that come to life in twilight and at night.
Then Life stopped me and said,
“Now, teach!”
I was petrified.
What would I teach?
All I knew was how people made meaning of their lives in certain parts of the world, located far from each other.
All I knew were the introductory stages of the wisdoms of indigenous and ancient and contemporary peoples, some living in isolation, others living multi-lingually, in touch with forest, mountain, rural and urban realities.
People who knew both how to grow food and how to work microchips; how to conduct life cycle rituals and be part of a cosmopolitan global culture; people equally at ease with traditions and cutting edge innovations—people who had not thrown out their understanding of a cosmos and a world united by energy and spirit; and of each stone, tree, river and being, as being part of a whole, desiring to communicate and connect.
And I realized:
that is exactly what we all need to be re-learning, in Europe, in North America, in Australia.
So I began to teach (while continuing to learn for myself—
isn’t that how it goes?
Teaching becomes the opportunity to practice what you need yourself) how to think in collaborative ‘both… and…’ patterns, rather than the exclusionary, competitive ‘either…or…’
‘Both… and…’ allows us to set our sights both at the periphery and in the centre of the paradox, leaving out none of the juicy opposites, contradictions and differences.
Going beyond judgement, like the symbols Lotus, Star of David, and Cross; like the Mandala and the Sri Yantra.
Like you, like me; like us.
By Astri Wright . First Published in Island Gals Magazine . 2013 . Volume 2 . Issue 4 .
