a day above the city

This morning I took a nice trek with folks from the university in the hills that surround Kabul.  First it was great to get out and stretch the legs and I'm sure tomorrow I'm gonna walk slowly, the legs were stretched well enough.  Second it was good to see this city of six million from above.  Kabul sits 6,000ft high and I guess we hiked up another 500 feet or so and I felt surprisingly good as we followed the old city wall to the highest point close to Kabul and then went down.  Once we reached the houses one of the guides told me to put away the camera, a bummer not because I wanted to photo people though I wouldn't have refused someone's request for me to take a photo but they don't do that here probably because all the people I walked by looked at us as if we were aliens from planet Zubarski, it was the architecture and how houses are built on these mountains which fascinated me.  How this city is creeping upwards is pretty interesting.  Nevertheless here are the best images from a two plus hour walk.

I was told the temple (?) mausoleum (?) shrine (?) holds the remains of the man who brought Islam to Afghanistan

In 1840 the British Army occupied this spot, the old fort at the confluence of two rivers.  Today it is a military base and is off limits to all. 

And then she grabbed the sun and shook it and said in a voice for all to hear...

synchronicity

Seven years ago today a friend who longer speaks to me and I went to Nepal.  My objective was to talk to someone about the coincidences I began to experience more frequently.  We stayed in the mountain village of Sarangkot, 7km from Pokhara, the village sits at the confluence of two valleys.  We hired a 20 year old named Subash and after a four hour hike went to the Jangchub Choeling Monastery.  I didn't know where I was going but the spirit who made its presence known to me did and we met a Shaman, Nymia Dhondrup.  His wife had met us outside their home and said, how lucky you are, being he was free to meet us.  There is nothing lucky about the timing when you're led by a spirit who wants to talk with another spirit.

the amateur Chinese photography club

 Nyima performed a puja, a ceremony where he consulted with his medium and I presume the spirit who led me had a chat with Nyima's spirit.  At the end of the puja, Nyima told me four things to remember:  remember the spirit who dwells in you, chant Om Mani Padme Hom, be nice to everyone, and most importantly, if the coincidences accelerate, come back and see me.

And they did and I did.

A week later, 23 April, I had a party and the spirit of a 2700 year old blue-eyed harp playing Caucasoid Shaman buried in the small village of Tulufan, in China's Xinjiang Province, synchronized with me.  A lot of friends were there, a lot were frightened and understandably so.  I took the photos that follow because I was just amazed, shocked, fascinated by what the spirit was doing through me.  Nevertheless, I keep these images not as reminders of what happened, nor do I celebrate the puja that lasted three days and called for the UAE's secret police to park outside my flat and follow me for the next three months.  I keep the images because I know alot of what I wrote did not come from my hand.  The drawing of the figure with the question 'who has suffered more than Job?' was signed by Picasso.  Did I channel the artist at that moment, there's no proof either way is there.  I don't know. 

For seven years I was hoping I'd have put this all behind me but man, the coincidences, some of them I can't explain, as for this synchronicity business, a friend said I was spirit possessed and I have to disagree with that because I believe the spirit has been around for a while.  The 23 April event seven years ago was a guardian angel's response to seven months of criss-crossing two continents looking for answers and that desire to understand unfolded and culminated in this spirit's synchronicity with me in my living room.  Why did I do what I did to my house?  OMG I hear so many say, well, I just hope you never experience divinity because you might just want to celebrate and do something pretty crazy. With some help.  Shalom