25 February 2020
Dear friends,
Many of you have sent lovely emails expressing your concerns and worries. First, please know we are both doing well. Life is very quiet, eerily so. There is hardly any traffic on the road near our apartment but the air is clean and pure.
We miss our sevadar family tremendously. It never dawned on us how much they are part of the centre of our lives, and being without them is lonely. (To those in Italy who are receiving this – we miss you and look forward to having seva again.) But that is enough moaning. Though quiet, life is really okay. Ann spends a lot of time in the garden so she is content. I don’t know what I do but somehow I get through the day. Have been watching too much Netflix for sure!
I only leave the centre to go to the supermarket. The shelves are full and people are behaving well. We wait in a queue one metre apart and are admitted one by one. Then we are given gloves to wear while shopping. But there doesn’t seem to be any panic buying. People remain courteous and low-keyed although 90 percent are wearing masks. Toilet paper is abundant.
Slowing down is an adventure and a challenge. I’m not used to this pace and don’t really enjoy it. But they say patience is a virtue, and it’s about time I became a little virtuous. It’s been about three weeks since we have been in slow motion and I wonder what it will be like in two more months.
We are only allowed to go to the two villages in our immediate vicinity, but tomorrow we are going to risk getting stopped by the police and go a whole twelve kilometres away and buy vegetable starters. That way when seva starts again, our garden will be full and meals can come from the garden.
Of course this is all an exercise in living in his will. I’m looking at it as an opportunity, not an inconvenience. As time unfolds I’ll see how my attitude shifts. I hope I remain positive and contented. I’ll be anxious for it to end, but that is different from being anxious about it. It is his game and I’ll play it as best I can.
I hope all of you are well. It has been lovely hearing from you, either directly or through Ann. Please be careful and cautious. Although he is always looking after our welfare, we often have a different idea of what is best for us. If we are being forced into living a quiet life, then so be it. The key is whether I can enjoy it. I’m going to do my best. But I do look forward to being able to get on a plane – Naam Daan in four countries awaits.
I hope this note finds all of you thriving and positive. I’m sure I speak for all of us in saying how much I miss being able to go to satsang. I’m reading With the Three Masters and enjoying it tremendously. Great Master uses a Soami Ji shabd more than any other – “Heavy, intense darkness prevails in the world.” Every time I read that line I’m shocked into some kind of awareness. Our path is real and true. We need to live in his will and realize that time is short. What an opportunity we have.
Enough preaching. Ann and I wish all of you the very best. Stay healthy and enjoy.
XXX
Bill