All is not as it seems ...

Into the last week in Stanhope before the third flight to freedom .... though, as before, without any sense of escaping from or moving towards anything in particular ... indeed, poor old neglected rational mind wonders why ....  whilst irresponsible intuition accepts with equanimity whatever turns up ... trusting the universe ... the frame this time includes a week of mindfulness retreat in Devon, maybe four in Spain with Susie and six dogs, a week at Brockwood, then .... who knows?

All feels light ... and right ...

Reincarnation has been a topic, what with the 17th Karmapa turning up in London and much excitement from Samye Ling friends ... though all this reincarnation stuff is rather alien in the DUK culture ... nevertheless it is a thing, with a worked out system and the 14th Dalai Lama, himself a recognised reincarnation, explains how it works ... well the Tibetan Buddhist version anyway ... leading to an investigation of various schools of Buddhism ... from personal experience Samye Ling Tibetan school, Harnham Theravadans, Throssell Hole Soto Zen folks and the Plum Village Interbeing Order all resonate more or less ... hierarchy and robes being rather a block, along with rather ornate rituals and symbols ... seeing the Dalai Lama close up was convincing too and his writing and video clips appear authentic ... last week's goddess had experience with the New Kadampa cult before finding solace with the local Oak Sangha of the Order of Interbeing ...

This other lives business is a tricky one, especially as the non-duality teachers speak of Now, the eternal Present Moment, whilst flirting with Past Lives and Future ones too ... perhaps the concepts just don't submit to rational discourse and we just have to allow it all ... maybe it is to do with the infinite parallel universe story .... anyway Edgar Cayce is good value and full of interesting information, filtered through the culture of Christ ...whilst a medium's biography, somehow appearing in the Library, has its own compelling narratives ... with eternal consciousness a theme more or less shared across the traditions ...

The DUK General Election builds to a climax, with a further atrocity, called out as a false flag operation in some sections of social media but anyway altering the narrative, as the new saviour, JC, positions himself pragmatically as the proponent of more armed police, more prison officers and accepting Trident after years of principled opposition to the US nuclear submarine, paid for by DUK taxes, sitting in Scottish waters ...

Meanwhile the crafty Tories commit more gaffes, as if they really do want to pass the poison chalice ... Yanis Varoufakis offering the nearest to clear analysis on the political game, told quite lightly as Greek and Shakespeare dramas  ... and he is clear enough, from bitter experience, on the challenging task of exiting the EU, whoever gets the job next Thursday ...

Rain returns after a rather dry Spring ... Saturday saw the last summer day for a while ... and a wonderful walk with elder daughter and her faithful collie ... whilst younger one, wandering around Asia, mostly from beach to beach, has discovered the monsoon in Myanmar ... and some elaborate Buddhist temples to explore ...

Anyway, we are all co-creating our realities one way or another ... and if the mainstream story from the television and newspapers is becoming increasingly unreal, surreal ... then other narratives are itching to be told ....