{"id":230,"date":"2013-10-15T04:48:25","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T04:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acceleratingevolution.info\/CS\/?p=230"},"modified":"2016-03-30T05:31:17","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T05:31:17","slug":"blog-4-the-french-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/?p=230","title":{"rendered":"Blog 4. The French Adventure (summer 2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The French Adven<\/span>ture.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 War and Peace and Spiritual Renewal in France.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"0<\/span><\/a> \"0<\/span><\/a> \"0<\/span><\/a> \"0<\/span><\/a>\"0<\/span><\/a>Franny and I are back from our French adventure.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had a wonderful and deep meditation retreat near Limoges (with friends we know from around the world), \u00a0long drives though the rolling French countryside and rippling streams, stone bridges and towns and villages churches, the abbey\/fortress island of Mt. St. Michael, the Bayeux tapestry on William the conqueror,\u00a0 windsurfers at Omaha beach, the intensity of Paris and Mona Lisa’s smile, and home over Greenland.\u00a0 <\/span>Everywhere were symbols of our human search for happiness through the futility strife and war — and though the validity of peace and spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE HUMAN ADVENTURE.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 One insightful and delightful philosophical view is that we are\u00a0\u00a0 essentially non-physical\u00a0 spiritual beings who decided to have a physical human adventure on planet earth.\u00a0 The adventure gets intense at age 4 to 10 as the power of language mesmerizes us into thinking we are physically and mentally separate from each other and spirit. \u00a0In our delusion of separation, we think we need to protect our little fearful egoic selves — to find safety and happiness in this physical world instead of remembering who we really are.\u00a0 It’s a fruitless path of endless seeking, suffering, conflict and war.\u00a0 True peace, happiness, joy, and clarity can only come from re-uniting with our true infinite spiritual self.\u00a0 Then we really can enjoy our human adventure.<\/span><\/p>\n

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THE SHAMBHALA ADVENTURE.<\/strong>\u00a0 Franny and I have been following the Shambhala Buddhist path of spiritual growth for over a dozen years. It is the Shambhala Warrior’s path of fearlessly (but playfully) facing and transcending the addictive hold of our separate fearful egoic self. It involves daily and weekly meditation practice at home and at one of our 200 local centers punctuated with roughly annual retreats at one of\u00a0 Shambhala’s six worldwide land centers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 2013, our next step\/retreat, called Scorpian Seal Assembly One, was only available in France – – expensive for us and physically challenging for Franny (who was close to needing a hip replacement).\u00a0 But time for us is short, so we pinched our pennies, applied for scholarships, booked a flight, packed up Franny’s wheelchair, and \u2026..<\/span><\/p>\n

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…..\u00a0 In late August our French adventure started by clambering though a hole in an enormous aluminum cylinder that we trusted would fling us seven miles in the air and around the globe, over Greenland, and on to Paris.\u00a0 And happily, for us and the 500 others in the double decked Airbus, it worked!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"1c<\/span><\/a>\"1b<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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MATILDA, PARIS TRAFFIC, AND LIMOGES.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 The next day, slightly groggy after 12 hours in the air, and after a couple of hours negotiating a mile of corridors, baggage control, customs, immigration, and the Europa car rental rituals,\u00a0 we were finally in our VW Taiguan (big enough for wheelchair and luggage) trying to escape the immense Charles De Gaul airport with invaluable help of Matilda, our GPS navigator.<\/span><\/p>\n

We were on our way to the Shambhala Buddhist retreat center of Dechen Choling, in a three century old country estate outside of Limoges — three hours south of Paris — if Matilda and I could successfully guide us thru dense Paris traffic and the 25 road changes to reach our hotel in Limoges.<\/span><\/p>\n

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DECHEN CHOLING.\u00a0\u00a0 \"392468_10150735654989670_393633175_nx\"<\/span><\/a><\/strong>Limoges is a pretty little city, famed for its cathedral, train station, and ceramics, but we were anxious to move on to Dechen Choling, arrange our room, and see our friends from around the world (like Ukraine, Slovakia, Germany, Holland, England, France, America, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Australia, and others). The center is a lovely old French country estate – stone buildings, green fields, and wandering streams.<\/span><\/p>\n

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SPIRITUAL RENEWAL.<\/strong> The Scorpian Seal retreat itself started with a high energy lasang fire ritual led by the the Sakyong Mipahm Rinpoche (the spiritual leader of\u00a0 Shambhala), and then a dozen days of meditating, teaching, chanting, hugging, eating, silence, and sleeping — and finally a celebratory banquet and dance.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE.<\/strong> Having successfully faced and transcended our egoic fears (at least for a while) — we hugged our fellow adventurers goodby and took a few days to explore France — \u00a0the countryside, people, fortresses, wars, and cathedrals in Normandy and Paris.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For me, the trips\u00a0 greatest pleasure was the journey Matilda took us on as we drove for six\u00a0 hours across the French countryside from Limoges to the Normandy coast.\u00a0 Sparkling streams under stone bridges,\u00a0 roads curving around medieval houses and churches,\u00a0 cows and pigs and peaceful old towns.\u00a0 A rich feast of color and sounds and\u00a0 smells.<\/span><\/p>\n

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PEACE & WAR – MONT SAN MICHEL -THE ABBEY-FORTRESS.<\/strong> Then to the coast and \u00a0Mont San Michel – a fortress-abbey-church built on an island that was accessible only at low tide.\u00a0 Towering stone walls, iron drop gates\u00a0 and arrow slits that rained death on any attackers. \u00a0The tide goes out for miles — and incoming tidal rush has caught and drowned many unwary. There is a surreal beauty to the place that attracts filmmakers and ordinary people alike — wanting to connect to its\u00a0 peace and power and mystery.<\/span><\/p>\n

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PEACEFUL NIGHT.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0 We were originally going to stay in a hotel in Mt. St. Michel, but I wisely changed it upon considering my challenge of \u00a0pushing Franny’s wheelchair up a steep narrow cobblestone alley, Franny’s extreme challenge in climbing up stone stairs to our room, and the outrageous\u00a0 cost for\u00a0 a 2nd class room.\u00a0 We stayed that night at the lovely Aberage du Terrior in the tiny town of\u00a0 Servon. The Aberage is a delightful old stone chateau overlooked by the village church.\u00a0 It had been completely redone inside with modern German windows and bathroom.\u00a0 The owner is a gourmet chef — and his wife served us mouth watering duck<\/i>al’orange<\/i>on Waterford (not Limoges!) porcelain with white table cloths and crystal glasses.<\/span><\/p>\n

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WAR – THE INVASION BY NORMANS – THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY. \u00a0<\/strong> The next day, an hour’s drive north took us to the lovely city of Bayeux on the Normandy Coast.\u00a0\u00a0 Normans or “North-man” are descendants of the Vikings that invaded France in ancient times.\u00a0 My own ancestors are descents of Vikings and the Scottish barbarians that terrified the Romans by stripping naked, painting themselves blue and running screaming at the enemy waving their swords and cudgels.\u00a0 Such a rush!<\/span><\/p>\n

Our human adventure seems to include the intense sense of aliveness we get courting danger.\u00a0 I vividly remember body surfing a hurricane wave body screaming with joy and fear as I was bounced down it like a ping pong ball.\u00a0\u00a0 Or skiing “suicide hill” or walking on fire barefoot, — or jumping from an \u2026\u2026..<\/span><\/p>\n

The 600 foot Bayeux tapestry depicts the invasion of England by the Norman duke William the Conqueror in 1066ad.\u00a0 When Harold reneged on his oath to William and grabbed he English crown for himself,\u00a0 William negotiated the pope’s approval, called\u00a0 up an army for 5-10,000,\u00a0 chopped down a forest to build a few hundred ships,\u00a0 and won the war and crown of England with his skillful use of mounted knights and prayer.\u00a0 Changed the course of English history.\u00a0 It was all a great adventure – until you close in on the torn and broken limbs, the suffering faces, and the cries of bereft families.<\/span><\/p>\n

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WAR AND PEACE ON OMAHA BEACH.\u00a0 <\/b>Nine hundred years later,\u00a0 on the beaches a few miles from where William set sail, our human war-games climaxed with the greatest invasion in history. Over a million men in a thousand ships stormed the Normandy coast as screaming bullets shredded bodies and turned the blue waters and the white beaches red with blood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Franny took a nap while I drove the few miles from our pleasant inn to Omaha Beach.\u00a0 Images of movies recreating men jumping out of amphibian craft into a buzzing maelstrom of bullets was in major contrast to this lovely warm beach with its gentle waves, strolling beach combers, and laughing windsurfers.\u00a0\u00a0 I could find no evidence of\u00a0 the invasion until I drove behind the modern beach houses (well, no old stone\u00a0 houses \u00a0is evidence in itself),\u00a0 and up a hill to a small concrete pill box — about 15 feet across.\u00a0 I imagined being a German soldier in that emplacement waiting for an invading American to toss a grenade into my concrete tomb. [Unlike our last trip, where I surfed in off Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic,\u00a0 I only got to wade in the Atlantic here.]<\/span><\/p>\n

That night we had great dinner in a quaint little beach town,\u00a0 where a sunset illuminated the ghostly remains of one of the “instant” invasion harbors where endless tons of equipment was brought ashore to support the invasion.<\/span><\/p>\n

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BACK TO PARIS.\u00a0 WAR-PEACE-FOOD-PEOPLE-PRAYER-MONA LISA’S SMILE.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Versailles-garden\"<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>Final<\/strong>\"\"<\/span><\/a><\/strong>ly,<\/strong> we drove back to Paris to complete our circle of northern France — past the opulent\u00a0 Versailles Palace where King Louis and Marie Antoinette were dragged from to be guillotined – – and past the Arch de Triumph where Napoleon armies and American tanks paraded in victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/span><\/a>\"\"<\/span><\/a>In Paris,<\/strong> as I dodged pedestrians and scooters — and wondered about climbing to a sixth floor walkup (no elevators in the 1800’s) — Matilda took us to the wrong Rue De Recollects – student housing,\u00a0 not our hotel.\u00a0 After much confusion, driving up and down, questioning in French and English and arm waving — a friendly student found the right address on her iPhone — and reprogrammed Matilda (who says the French aren’t friendly!).<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/span><\/a> \"\"<\/span><\/a>Parisian peace.<\/strong>\u00a0 The next day, Franny rested while I walked past rushing crowds to near the famed Notre Dam cathedral.\u00a0 But is was the man in the church across the street that captured my imagination.\u00a0 I hope that his God answered his prayers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"\" \"\"That evening we had a tasty meal at a local students cafe in the famed Montmartre<\/strong>\u00a0 surrounded by the steamy energy of modern students and the ghosts of Renoir, Degas, and Picasso.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 \"\"<\/span><\/a>Our final day<\/strong> we braved the Louvre<\/strong> with all its incredible treasures — from the 4000 year old first legal Code of Hammurabi to the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa.\"Mona<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/span><\/a>\"\"<\/span><\/a>And finally home,\u00a0<\/strong> to lead twenty meditators in our living room the next day, and to schedule Franny’s hip replacement operation for\u00a0 the next week. \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

And so, our human adventure continues.\u00a0 Went surfing\u00a0 last week here in the Pacific ocean at sunset (to complete\u00a0 my urge to\u00a0 surf the Atlantic on Omaha Beach).\u00a0\u00a0 Franny is recovery grandly — and I am learning (its a stretch) to be a caretaker with a smile. \u00a0 Our\u00a0 son Stephen sent me a picture of\u00a0 our granddaughter Kennedy as she joyfully enters her human adventure.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Love,\u00a0 Carter and Franny<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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The French Adventure.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 War and Peace and Spiritual Renewal in France. Franny and I are back from our French adventure.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had a wonderful and deep meditation retreat near Limoges (with friends we know from around the world), \u00a0long drives though the rolling French countryside and rippling streams, stone bridges and towns and villages churches, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":373,"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartersmith.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}