Just for a moment I want to mention Sicily. I know Vikki has been there and loved it, right Vik? But did you all get a little shiver when they talked about the uglified city blocks with those concrete apartments wherein countless Mafiosa victims are embalmed? The ugly underbelly of Italian life, to be sure.
So India ... my new favorite saying is "congratulations to meet you!" I find Indian culture, people, dress and film intoxicating and strange. If there are past lives, I'm sure one of mine was in India, because I've always loved, and benefitted from yoga. I credit my enduring figure to yoga. I love what she says on p. 122, "yoga is the effort to experience one's divinity personally and then to hold on to that experience forever." I have never reached this depth of practice, but it's an elegant aspiration.
I guess I'm the only one who found the character of Richard a tad contrived. Don't get me wrong, I mostly liked him, but I can't buy the nickname Groceries, I just can't. Every time she used it in the book I cringed. Just felt random. But I probably need a Richard in my life. Nearing 48 it is difficult to recall how wrecked we can get by unhappy relationships--I almost couldn't believe how silly she was about David, until I thought back. What IS it that we do when we're young, that self-torture? I cannot exactly recall when it was, but suddenly I didn't feel so TIED to a man anymore. Anyway, let Richard's "please open my heart" prayer be a cautionary lesson to us all, eh? I'm analyzing my prayer carefully after that little episode (p. 140).
I used her chant, Om Namah Shivaya, to get to sleep now several times. I like it. Would any of you ever consider (if you had the funds) going to an Ashram? I was SO into it until the scrubbing of the floors part. I've been scrubbing Iris' pee spots all over my house lately, and I'm feeling anything but self-realized.
A lot of folks told me they found the portion of the book that took place in India their least favorite, but I LOVED it. I want to meet Elizabeth Gilbert, and I wish we could be friends. These thoughts and cravings for realization and spiritual quest are so near and dear to me. I think some of her richest passages come from her time in India--many mentioned by Nancy in the free-form post comments below.
Bead 49: I found her young existential crisis about death and aging charmingly told. I've had it, too. Stopping time, or being able to revisit ourselves with perspective--how cool would that be? Also in that bead is a lot of talk about enlightenment, which is a notion I find intriguing, but I'm skeptical of it. Do we attain enlightenment or ultimate delusionary states? I constantly struggle with inner restlessness and skepticism. I loved this last sentence from this bead: "look for God, suggest my Guru. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water." Whatever God means to any of us, it's good to seek the magic in life, IMO.
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