A Spoonful of Cider

A Man of the Times

If one picture could represent the mood of the times … I wonder what that would be. Would be convenient though … as a way of looking at the world. As I recall … it used to be easy. I remember JFK being in that way held … then I thought it was Che Guevera … Bill Gates … Calvin Klein … and then … its been Al-Qaeda … Frederick Buford   … and then Gays. Who's Frederick Buford? That might serve as my introduction to the mystery of the times.

 

I recall a trip I made with a friend of mine … during a semester break … that took us into the hinterland of the state of Selangor. It was the simple experience of passing the Hulu Langat river in the state … and wondering about the source of it. So we figured we'll check it out on his Suzuki 250 … and went for it. A big part of the journey was right alongside the river … on a paved  road … and surrounded by villages of thatched roofs and wooden stilts.

 

The journey took longer than we had expected … and after about three hours … we were growing a little impatient about turning back. But the new sights around us … locations we had never seen before … kept a steady excitement on our visions. I suppose we had reckoned that we were going to see the source of the river. But beyond the paved roads … at what appeared like aboriginal settlements … with young men holding blowpipes … we figured we had come to the end of the road.

 

By the time we turned back … the sun was low on the horizon … the darkness was creeping up all around us … and what had begun as a journey of discovery … had turned itself into an inquiry of the reasons for our plans that lacked factual planning. The village road was without public lighting … and the Suzuki growled with a regular rhythm … as we maneuvered the shadows … looming in gigantic proportions … both within and outside … in the environment.

 

As I reflect on that … this evening … I make a curious contact with someone in a former life … the person I named as Frederick Buford. I think he was Brit … and he was an individual of fair form and face … in whose association … I had provided ample opportunity … for him to think that I approved of him. But in engaging the excitement of our association … the man had grown into an adventurer in Africa … married a beautiful lady … was posted as ambassador to the Americas … … got separated from the wife … and eventually spent his older years … on marijuana and paranoia… to muse on the mystery of life.

 

The reason I'm going along with this scheme of view … is due to the fact that … my life … has been somewhat similar … in principle. Identity theft is a horrible … horrible … experience … and sometimes we simply break-a-way from that part of our passions … to exercise our own … even if it means to start over fresh. But I'm taking a new look at it … these days … and wondering about the way … progeny generates new life … based on its enthusiasm that arises from its view of possibilities.

 

Does man live his life with the possible relation of a double in the world? Don Juan in the Carlos Castaneda series … referred to the existence of such a double personality. Would that explain a sense of male self vanity … that has led us today … to the experience of same sex enthusiasm? Is that a part of the experience of evolution … to create specializations of mind and passion? I find the suggestion of such a possibility exhilarating. I wonder why?

 

Where is … In search of (*1) … when you are in need of help with issues? Left to our devices … I'm climbing the walls of the Indic literature on Lokamaya … that refers to the view that … the creation of the earth … called Bumiloka ( earth location ) … is based on the concept for the evolution of the soul … and for its refinement … in lives around the world … in which two lokas ( regions ) may be closely similar. The great Indo-European alliance … I wonder.

 

I experience him in my resting moments … when I lie down to sleep. I think he's a part of the dreams … and relates to me from the passions … during my waking hours. We share the same perspective … and achievement … and he is a constant partner in my exercises in self understanding. On occasion I find that so much of my passions are gone over to his possession … that I thirst for apple juice or cider to help bring some of that back. A little vinegar helps.

 

As a loka personality … he is the man of the shadows … I had experienced returning from my Hulu Langat excursion. He gives every impression of being powerfully built … undomesticated … a great heart … and responds in passion and intimation … to the very heights that intelligence can go. I find that my self realization has always engaged someone like him … who has no doubt been growing in his experience … as much as I have.

 

In the Krishna-Balarama … scheme of view … the legends speak of the same double … in the way that we engage the personality of the self. I don't have a problem with that … its a great introduction to teamwork … and the avoidance of self-gratification on issues. It is a simple yet great way to keep the work of understanding steady. At some point … I'll have to deal with who did what … but I guess we'll do it the usual way.

 

And that is my picture of the world at this time. Its Frederick Buford …  a reflection of a man who is starting all over … in his passions. And what we view as the world … and the many events taking place is the way … King Buford is coming to discern and learn of the world .

(*1)  ... In Search of ... TV series 1976 - 1982 ... Host Leonard Nimoy