Marley, the Quest, and What's Next!

World brotherhood drove him

At an outside table, in the bright sunlight, in front of the coffee house ‘office’ my close friend and occasional writing partner popped a big question:  “Did you see it?  He was on a mission.”  The Ravendove couldn’t wait to discuss a new film.

I said, “Yes, I had a few friends over and we all celebrated the man and his music.  He was this generation’s prophet.”  We were referring to the new documentary on Bob Marley’s life, Marley.  As a lifelong fan and student of Marley, I highly recommend the film for the uninitiated and the veteran Marleyites.  His epic story is well told and includes new info and never before filmed associates and lovers.  See it.  Marley was a man on a mission.

Are you on a quest?  Maybe you know someone who is on a quest?  Do you pity or envy them?  Life as a quest is not for everyone, but for those who do undertake it there is no other way.  They are history’s game changers, the people who have impacted us all.  Reflecting on the direction of my life these days, I have moments of wondering if I need to take on such a big purpose.  Maybe there is an easier way?    Perhaps there is a lifestyle that fulfills and is easy and just fun.  Do I really need a mission and quest?  Then the famous Howard Thurman quote comes to mind, ‘Stand before me in my moments of weakness my high resolve.”  The path of courage and purpose knows no other way.

 

Ravendove continued, “After seeing it my wife said she finally got me.  She knows what moves me now.  He was driven, he had no choice.  It wasn’t a matter of morality or emotions.  He had to live that way.  And she (Rita Marley) supported him in the mission.”

 

I agreed and replied, “The mission was more important than maintaining a conventional home life.”  Another example in that vein is Bill and Hillary Clinton.   Hillary supported Bill, not in a blind ‘stand by your man’ way, but because of the work.   The examples in 20^th Century abound where a charismatic leader’s mission over rode any other consideration.  The towering figures of the twentieth century come to mind from  Thomas Edison to FDR to Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr.  In that same vein Howard Thurman said that a man's mission is of primary importance and then comes his mate.

Biographies of iconic leaders reveal the power of living a big question.  How can I serve?  For true leaders service inevitably calls them to a mission.  The mission flows through their ‘god given talent.’  Marley, clearly shows how he was driven to serve by sharing his musical gifts.  Not some kind of philosophy read in a book or heard at a seminar, Marley shared his life’s struggle in his songs.   His early life of poverty, of being half-caste, and father abandonment were the fuel for his talent to express.  He pursued his quest for acceptance by digging for a deeper truth, one love or universal brotherhood.   Nothing could stop him.  He pursued it til he died and left this life with the question still on his lips:  How can I bring people together?

Firebird on the Quest

In truth, we all have a quest inside of us.  But most are unconscious of that mission and are satisfied with low level goals like making more money, having more pleasure, or just comfort seeking.  Finding that bigger question and consciously living that way can be the ultimate liberation for the Boomer.  No longer dependent on the external structures, the quest can truly begin in earnest.  What excites?  What fulfills?  What stretches?  What brings peace of mind?  Ultimately, how do I want to serve?

The quest never ends and the mission morphs while the quest continues.  Each step leads to the answer and the next question.  Discovering one’s mission takes more than study.  The hero’s journey is taken by all, but not all are conscious of the journey, according to Joseph Campbell in his seminal book The Hero’s Journey.  Reviewing my life story and uncovering the quest therein, I have noticed a cycle of awareness, action, and acceptance.

·         Awareness:  Taking time to see what is happening in my world, inner and outer.

·         Action:  Doing a specific physical act in the direction of the question.

·         Acceptance:  Non-resistance and consciously working with it.

But the questions don’t stop and nor should they.  Living in the question/ the quest, while living in the world is the answer.   And every answer is provisional because it leads to another question.  To expect to reach the end of life without questions is to indulge in the greatest hubris.  When we get to an end something new immediately arises.   Knowing that basic truth and accepting it opens the door to peace of mind.

The quest goes on.  Consciously and intentionally acknowledging that facilitates inner and outer harmony.  When I am on that last rest stop, I hope to look back and see that I have responded to my questions and accepted the answers that led to new questions.  Then a new and bigger question can arise, ‘what is next?’

Once a Hippie and Now...?

All manner of hippie stuff

On a bright sunny day I elected to get an instant dose of country and nostalgia less than a half hour from my home in Venice.  Winding through the Santa Monica Mountains I passed the crystal store and had a flashback of an old friend from college days.  'Whatever happened to Steve S?'  He loved Topanga and all aspects of the hippie culture.

Always an early adopter, he introduced us to marijuana and then various other consciousness altering substances.  As young suburbanites we yearned to get out of the housing tracts and into the bohemian vibe of Topanga.  Many weekends we would race through there in my little red sports car and stumble upon parties and love-ins.  In those communal days, as long as you were wearing the appropriate threads (clothes) you were welcome.  No invitation needed.  It was the era of free love, community, and music.

Creekside dining @ Inn of the Seventh Ray

An old friend reported that Steve S. had pursued a career with the unemployment department in state government.   Searching through Facebook I found him and we connected.   It turned out he had recently retired and was now free from the daily work grind.  Always musically oriented (he was a major fan of Rod Stewart), he used to play guitar in college.  I figured he would be playing a lot of guitar and taking a lot of foreign trips (he once did the almost mythical overland trip from London to Kabul, Afghanistan). 

We arranged to meet at the classic Topanga restaurant, Inn of the Seventh Ray, to talk old times and get up to date.  Set creekside, the Inn is an institution with healthy organic food and even better atmosphere...serene and in nature.  My overt and sincere agenda was to catch up with an old friend, my covert motive was to see how he was faring in 'retirement' given my own rocky transition.  We had similar backgrounds with secure, highly structured careers in government service that led to post work pensions, we grew up in the suburbs, and we were comrades in the cultural revolution of the 70s.    Our paths diverged when he transferred to San Diego State and I went to UC Berkeley.  Although he eventually joined the Employment Development Dept (after years wandering around the world and academia) and I became a teacher and administrator with LAUSD, we had a lot in common.  And as the song said, 'what a long strange trip its been.'

After catching up on history, he shared the challenge he has managing his time.  With its lack of imposed structure, his new lifestyle has presented unexpected dilemmas and rewards similar to those I have written about throughout these blogs.  But the issue that hit him by surprise was our old friend cannabis.  He related his dance with the herb, like it was a long lost girl friend.  Still loves her but has a hard time sorting out the mixed emotions of attraction, disappointment, and addiction.

Sacrament or devil's weed

Posted over the creek, listening to the bull frogs and watching the hummingbirds, we got down to the nitty gritty (as we used to say then).  Turns out he goes on binges of ingesting marijuana every day for weeks at a time and then goes on the wagon.  In order to stop, he'll go out of town for a couple weeks.  Then upon return, the siren calls and the easy entertainment and comfort is too much to resist.  Betty Bong beckons and he fires up again.  She seduces him like Salome and her seven veils.  Sometimes exciting and thrilling and other times an addiction that saps energy and will.  What troubles Steve is that he has worked for thirty years to have the freedom to do what he wants and he likes to get high.  But the simple pleasure has become problematic for him.

It has been reported that with the aging and retiring of the Boomer generation, the old pipes have been dusted off and more weed consumed by the now older ex-hippies.  So, it doesn't seem to be a situation unique to my old friend.  Many questions arise out of this dynamic:  1)  Managing and limiting use when the usual constraints (job, kids in the house) are gone, 2)  Health considerations when old habits are imposed on an older body (hang overs, excessive eating--'munchies'), 3) Possible enhancing fun and patience in learning new skills, 4)  Integrating the emotional and spiritual insights into the latter stage of life.

The struggle of my successful, affluent, professional friend is not anomalous.  The journey of older life can and should be filled with indulging in preferred recreations.  It may also be a time of spiritual questing and discovery.  New or long dormant interests in creative arts can at last be explored.  Coming from a pleasure seeking generation in the 70s, our formative years were indulgent.  Being conscious of one's age requires threading the needle between a possibly sacred experience that reveals and expresses deep seated desires and  and a sacrilegious excess into escapism and dependence.  How one navigates this path can facilitate the redemption and reward for all we aspired to in our youth or a journey down into delusion and escape. (By the way, reefer could be replaced with any pleasure done to excess; food, travel, alcohol, yoga, consumption).  Dive into that cauldron find the tasty mix that satisfies and keep your eyes on your dream.

The answer may yet be Blowin' in the Wind.

Keeping It Real While Living Your Dream

Malibu rush hour

"Enough already.  I'm done with traffic congestion, crowded waves, surf nazis and I'm moving to Hawaii" declared my old college buddy.  In my head I envied him.  He was making the bold move to Paradise.

After protesting on the front lines at UC Berkeley, we'd  been running partners for over forty years throughout the behemoth megalopolis of L.A.  His declaration was not surprising, he had maxed out on his hometown.   A lifelong surfer then in his mid-fifties, O'ahu seemed perfect with its mellow population and traffic jams that would be considered free flowing in the City of the Hard Angles.  Relocating there would be a dream fulfilled; year round waves, no congestion, and cheaper house prices.  

The patron saint of surfers, Duke Kahanmoku

For a variety of reasons he struggled with building a new life in Honolulu and found paradise to be more hell than heaven.  Unfortunately, he had not considered the main factors in a satisfying relocation and/ or retirement; community, purpose, and structure.  He was stuck with an expensive house to sell in a down market and facing another relocation.  As the old saying goes, ‘have your head in the clouds but keep your feet on the ground.’

Dreams are crucial elements in building a satisfying new life.  The Bible says, 'a people without vision will perish.' Living my whole life in the proverbial La La land, I have known many great dreamers.  Some are home grown dreamers but the greatest seem to be expatriates from their homelands where stodgy pragmatism ruled the day.  Coming to Hollywood's epicenter, freed them to pursue dreams that may have attracted ridicule and scorn in Providence, RI or Ann Arbor, MI or Jamaica.  Feels great for a while, no collection of old friends and family to remind you of who you have been.  You shake the Etch a Sketch and fill it with new friends and neighborhoods and sometimes even a brand new name.  It is liberating to start over.

Like the recent college grad who escapes a stifling, tradition bound hometown to become an actress/ writer/ musician/ waiter in L.A., for the post job Boomer reinventing by living out old dreams can be exhilarating.  When I left a highly structured career and stepped into the freedom of non-job life, long dormant fantasies became my focus.  If not now, when?  Basking in that glow of total freedom was intoxicating (“I can do whatever I want, go wherever I want, with whomever I want.”)   Bouncing around with false starts for a few years, I finally found and read Ernie Zelinski’s book, ‘How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.’  It was like he was in my head reading my thoughts.  I was not alone.   Zelinski asserts that newly retired persons need to address three unexpected issues to have a ‘Happy, Wild, & Free Retirement.'

1. Community:  Whether you choose to stay in your old home and renew your life there or move to a new place, it is important to build a community of like minded souls, a tribe.  People that you can relate to and enjoy.    For example, someone who has always lived in a homogeneous suburban setting may find the characters in Santa Fe either refreshing or weird.  
2. Structure:  Identify the key activities and skills you want to pursue and set up a personal schedule.  No boss at the counter checking on your arrival time, it is up to you to monitor your program and make it a habit.   A successful reinventor I know said:  “I set up a schedule with goals everyday but it is loose and always changes.”
3. Purpose:  What is your life about?  Where you live, who you spend time with, and what you do are all informed by your reason for living.  Whatever is your north star, keep your ship in that direction.  If it is travel, then plan your trips.  If it is starting a new career, then set up an outline of the necessary components.  If it is service, then find some practical venue to do it.   Then take action steps.

Clarity of Intent Shaman

Building a clear vision and dream is a crucial first step in living a rewarding post work life.  Taking the time to explore, to plan, and to experiment.  From that effort, the intentions of a new life emerge.  At a recent mens retreat, shaman Fu Ding Cheng said “The difference between desire and intent is clarity.”  Big dividends in satisfaction and fulfillment result. Besides how will you know you have arrived, if you don’t know where you are going?

Invest the time necessary to hone clarity of the three foundations of a successful post job life.  Meld inner awareness, external information, and practical applications into clarity around community, structure, and purpose.   Then through mastery of intent and attention, inner and outer energies coalesce and dreams manifest.  You'll be keeping it real AND living your dream.

Step Back in the River and Taste the Fresh Water

The venerable maxim ‘You never step in the same river twice,’ popped into my mind as I drove south on Lincoln Blvd to LAX.  Originally, I imagined a nostalgic trip, a type of pilgrimage to honor the teacher and the teachings.  Upon arriving at a non-nondescript office building was the first surprise of the night, the organization occupied a whole floor.

Escorted by a new friend from Australia, we went to the meeting room.  It contained one hundred chairs arranged in a semi-circle facing the platform, with its four white and chalkboards that outlined the ‘work' or agenda.  Two high director’s chairs completed the scene.  Almost a replica of (except for the modernized chairs and the white boards), the room where I did the original ‘training’ back in the seventies.   Not much had changed. 

  

As before, the seminar leader began the evening by welcoming guests with a thumbnail description of the seminar.  Well-dressed in a suit with an open collar shirt, he personified an educated, intelligent, and confident professional.  Little had changed in this culture in the over thirty years, since I had last participated.  In spite of name changes, retirement of its founder, sale of the the intellectual property, and myriad attacks in the mainstream media, the core of the training survived intact.  More than I can say about my own body and spirit.  But that is another story.  

What brought me here to this meeting?  My Australian friend had traveled over six thousand miles, specifically to continue his education with this organization and to immerse himself in the rich stew of the consciousness/ spiritual community of Santa Monica/ Venice.  He was committed to reinvention.  What could have been the draw for him to come so far I wondered?  Initially, I had politely declined his invitation, not wanting to go through the high pressure sales pitch/ enrollment process I remembered from the old days.  Then at lunch one day he said with a big grin, ‘You know mate, I forgot that as a graduate you are eligible to sit in on the seminar.’   

Werner Erhard on his directors chair

Mulling it over, I decided that the time had come to revisit the origins of my personal spiritual path begun so many years ago (1979 to be exact).  I have long considered the training as the turning point in my personal growth path.  My inner life was kick started with those two weekends .  Connections made after that first experience led to meeting an Indian guru and then a new age television minister and one seminar led to a workshop which led to a retreat and so on.  Personal and spiritual growth became a pillar of my life.  Suddenly over thirty years had passed.  I retired from my career in education and began a reinvention process.
  

Life review is common after significant transitions such as 'retirement.'  Where did I come from?  What did I accomplish?  Connecting the dots of one’s life.  So, when this friend invited me, my notion was that it might be fun to go down memory lane for an evening.  Maybe a bit like going to one’s old high school or first summer camp.  Remember the good things and taste a bit of the old emotions.   But subconsciously, I felt something needed to be completed.  Some strings needed retying.   

Sitting in that familiar setting and format, I felt like I had been on a long trip in space and returned to earth but time had stood still.  I was older and a bit wiser but the scene was the same.  The chalk boards on the stage announced the intended results of the seminar and laid out the agenda for the evening.  One highly verbal older woman reported she had been doing this work for over thirty years.   She gave it credit for the three degrees she had earned and declared her intention to publish her book, at last.  A young woman shared her challenge in getting her new husband to understand her.   Another person declaimed about her cranky neighbor.  

The normalcy and commonsensical nature of their dilemmas was striking.  Not in an obscure ivory tower way, nor in a god soaked church, but simply human and down to earth living.    Real people with practical projects and goals in the world. The supportive and clear thinking of the seminar leader impressed me.  He did not play around with platitudes and vague concepts. Very real and practical coaching.

What does it all mean to me?  In this highly transitory era where computers get updated daily and even the laws of physics are provisional, personal growth workshops have a short shelf life.  In spite of the highly trendy nature of the human potential movement of the 70s somehow Landmark has survived and prospered.  Standing alone after all of its peers have long since died, Landmark (the successor to est) is over forty years old. Is it a cult?  Not to me.  Money is not requested nor donated as in ‘spiritual’ settings.   It is straight; pay for the seminar or if indigent get a scholarship.  No coercion, no usurping of your decision making, no handing over your money.

 

Dip into the river and taste new water

My journey to the past demonstrated that the lessons I learned back in the day are still relevant.  My experience was different because I am different, but the message was the same.   Tell the truth about your rackets, complete the past, make and keep your agreements, and live from intention.  Timeless technology that lives on.  The trip to the river that night was not a journey down memory lane but a taste of the flow of my life. 

Our experiences and education of years past are not necessarily dead and gone.  They can be revived and applied in this stage of life.  Consider a reconnection with old programs, teachers, schools, places, and activities and see if you can find the pearl of great price?  That pearl is eternal, never decays, and in fact grows bigger in the incubator of a life lived with on purpose. 

Build a Bridge Over Your Generation Gap

Black Light Flashback

Prompted by a notion that popped in about three months ago, I stepped into a neighborhood church , the Church in Ocean Park.  Built in the 1920s, it is a bastion of alternative cultural and progressive political events.  In the entry way there was a group of five holding hands and praying; a tall, long haired young man and four young women dressed in yoga togs.  Instant hit of calm and peace.  

Going upstairs, the glow of the black light highlighting a fluorescent paint mandala summoned old memories of concerts, darkened apartments, and head shops. The yoga class was finishing, with a room of about 100 lying in savasana (corpse pose) deep in meditation.  Mats rolled and stowed and then we were ready for the dance, the Sacred Dance.  

Christo Pellani & crew

On the pulpit festooned in Indian fabrics and prayer beads was the eclectic band of violin, didgeridoo, djembe' drums, guitars, and bass.  Unfolding slowly and meditatively, the crowd of all ages and genders, but mostly twenty and thirty something women, awoke.  The free and unconditional dance of individual souls merged into a diaphanous body of twirling, jumping, gyrating oneness.  Flowing sarongs covered whole back tattoos, yoga pants, skintight tank tops, and hand woven vests.   Hairstyles ranged from dreadlocks to waist length blonde to bald to gray to colored spikes.

Looking at the crowd it could have been 1970 and not 2012 except for one crucial element.  In this youth culture there was a sprinkling of older people.  Individuals like myself, original hippies who were in such places in the 70s.  Back in the day the old generation would have nothing to do with us and vice versa.  This segment of the youth today have taken the torch handed to them by the Boomer generation (yoga, meditation, free dance) and improved on it with a powerful infusion of globalization.  On stage the performers were a mix of ethnicities and played a variety of world beats, melodies, and chants.  Above all the apparent differences, there was a celebration of oneness.  

Walking into that setting with my 1970 ideas, I feared that they might not be cool with an old guy in their party.  Nothing of the kind.  By the second thirty minute song I was jumping and contact dancing with the best of them.  In keeping with the theme of unity in the many, a giant circle was formed to close the night and each dancer said their name.  Not anonymous consumers of a performance but a members of a group--the Sacred Dance. 

1970 or 2012?

Some great lessons were learned that night: 1) The generation gap has bridges, 2)  The seeds of love we planted have bloomed, 3) Movement liberates the spirit. 

The Sacred Dance had been on my  to do list for months. Each month I had something pressing that kept me away; the undone taxes due next week, the emails unanswered, the dishes not washed, the Lakers on TV. I always had a case for staying home--the default position for most people in the evening, especially those over fifty.  Breaking out of that inertia and into active life took effort.  Without effort I would have been sitting like a stiff on the couch with a glass of champagne or two.  

In this inner dance is the paradox of the spiritual path.  Often spiritual teachers suggest to surrendering to spirit/ god/ etc.  Usually this is interpreted as going with the flow, not making stuff happen.  It is a balancing act of trusting the inner call and making right effort.  Buddhists call it skillful means or in more colloquial language 'knowing when to hold'em and when to fold'em.'

That night I tasted the gift of these times.  The kids are alright.  The generations are not at war.  I know many people in their twenties and thirties that are fun to be with and enjoy my company.  One fellow, Evan, at one of my 'offices' (coffee shops) considers me a peer even though he is thirty years my junior.  He said, it is what is in the heart that matters, not age.  This young man  has many tribal tattoos, piercings, and earns his living on his computer.  Definitely not a Boomer. 

Renewing, reviving, refiring, and reinventing post-work Boomers can learn a lot from the young people today.  Go to a yoga festival, attend Earth Day celebrations, join Facebook groups of mixed ages, and get out and do something new and different.  Don't be afraid to stand out, you won't.  With any luck you may be considered a wise elder.  Regardless enjoy the seeds we planted then and know the fruit today is sweet.  You'll probably find it rather familiar.

Stop Studying and Start Experimenting

Ever play a game that had no goal?  No end point?  Was it fun?  Did you play again?  At a recent gathering of friends someone pulled out a word game called Bananagrams.  No one else had ever heard of it but within five minutes we were all playing and totally engaged.  Predictions were made about who would win due to certain skills he had but that didn’t dissuade us.  One of the players said she is a tough competitor and really wants to win but that is less important than playing.  Kinda like life.
  

Life is not a roulette wheel.  It is not totally dependent on chance, skill counts. Developing skill in the next (post work) chapter is both an inner and outer job.  First step is developing clarity about the qualities you seek.  The next is skill building.  This can entail training and study but at some point it is time to pull the trigger and get out and do it, experiment.  Pay attention, make adjustments, and do it again.  Likely it'll never end and after one goal is achieved another emerges.  And as with the competitive player mentioned above, participating is the great reward regardless of the result. 

As I write these words I am looking at the new Sayulita, former surfing village near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, being built in the plaza.  The roads have been torn up, utilities buried underground, fresh adult sago palms planted, all in anticipation of up leveling tourism for this formerly sleepy fishing/ surf village.  A gentrified town means more business equals a better standard of living and the residents presumably win.  They and the government are taking a bold reach for the tourist dollar.  On the beach a few steps away are dozens of beginner surfers renting boards and rash guards and getting out on the waves.  They fall, get back up, and fall again and eventually catch a wave.  They are not aware of the big set about to hit Sayulita.  They are practicing and learning a new skill with the goal of riding to the beach.  

How many times in life have we had big idea such as personal or spiritual growth but never got specific about how that would look?  So, we begin our journey on the path.  Some get very serious.  They take seminars, workshops, retreats, classes for years.  Pursuing the gold ring of peace of mind, contentment, happiness and other worthy aspirations.  But many never arrive and just continue 'growing' (in theory).  I've heard some proudly call themselves 'seminar junkies.'  They are like a heroin addict whose original reason for the drug gets lost in the comfort zone of chasing the high.  Many people are lost in the addiction because they have not implemented the learning in the world.  Seminars, trainings, and workshops are great and can offer positive insights but without grounding in the ‘real’ life it is just a concept or theory.   There is always another teacher or course.  

Dan Millman has written about this in his book, ‘What is the Purpose of Life?’  Quoted in Science of Mind magazine, he says ‘in fact being a seeker can become a chronic condition—and the search can in many cases, only reinforce the dissatisfaction that sent us in the first place.’  He suggests practice in the world is the way to end the constant search.  Like the surfers who get in the water, paddle into a wave, fall down, get up, and eventually ride all the way home. 

The players in the word game Bananagram, the beginning surfers, the town seeking more tourists are all practicing, experimenting with new approaches.  That is what brought me to Sayulita.  For too long I fantasized about getting away from the cold winters in Santa Monica and going to a foreign redoubt to focus on my writing projects.  Analyzing the pros and cons of where to make such a move set my head spinning like the girl in The Exorcist.  I went around and around trying to figure out how this would fit into my overall life plan.  I was stuck in a miasma of indecision.  Finally someone suggested calling it an experiment, a practice.   

Taking that cue, I made the reservation, set up a plan (rules of the game), and did it.  I can apply the lessons of that experience to the next project.  Until I actually did something in the world, it was a fuzzy concept in my head and no progress was made.  The big rock in the road was striving for absolute surety and clarity of the result before doing it: analysis paralysis.   What I needed was to take out the hammer and chisel and chip away.

One of my teachers, Rick Jarow, advised to not set ultimate goals and set trajectories with interim goals, since oftentimes en route we will gain information that can shift what we want.  Keeping this in mind helps to lighten the importance each decision.  Life is filled with adjusting and so should our goals.   The key is to take action in the world and pay attention (awareness).  In my case, I checked Sayulita and realized my vision was not compatible with the town’s goals--new data.  They want more tourists in buses and I want a natural, peaceful, native, tropical getaway.  Without the experiment, I wouldn't know that and it would be another one of those maybes occupying space in my mind.  

Each of us needs to find that place where you have done enough workshops, seminars, retreats, reading, etc and then DO IT.  Do something physically on the trajectory of your vision or dream.  You will likely be surprised at what you find somewhere over the rainbow.  

As the World Goes Global, Be True to Yourself

Lone fisherman on the beach, Sayulita, Mexico

One afternoon on the beach in Sayulita, Mexico, amid the horde of North American tourists drinking margharitas and eating ceviches, outnumbered by at least a few hundred beach hustlers to his one, I glimpsed a lone fisherman.  He was standing at the ready with net in hand, as the tide went out and the surfers rolled in.  A youngish man in his thirties, he crouched among the tide pools as still as a statue and patiently studied each new wave ready to collect his dinner.  Twenty years ago in this spot, he would have been the norm.  Maybe a few trailblazing surfers would be out there but today he is the lone survivor.  So strange was this sight another gringo was ready with his telephoto lens to catch this rare event.  His patience proved greater than mine and after ten minutes waiting, I continued my stroll through the palapas and vendors of cheap silver and hammocks.  But he was not the only anomaly on the beach that day.

Weaving a bark h

In a couple hundred yards, I saw a young girl adorned in tribal dreadlocks weaving her original and strange craft.  Not an ancient tradition like the fisherman’s, but unique to her.  Weaving feathers and beads with she wore a pointed wizard’s hat made of bark.   Not the mass produced hipster hats made in China that are the vogue today.  Also, not making the typical colored thread bracelets made to order with your favorite sports teams, city, or person’s name.  She was pursuing her path, her calling.  Not following the throng of mass appeal. 

Xipatzin:  Didgeridoo & more

These days in Sayulita can be seen the effects of globalization with all of its ills and benefits.   A burgeoning Mexican middle class shares space with the North Americans now.   Shopping at Costco, Home Depot and at organic farmer's markets, they are indistinguishable from the tourists til they speak.   In part due to NAFTA, in part to modern communications, our cultures have blended into an amalgam of tastes and styles that serve the mass merchandising ethic.   Middle class lifestyles have an almost irresistible appeal all over the world with undeniable benefits of comfort and entertainment for millions.   The lure of modern culture is seductive.  Drop the old lifestyle and you too could be like the stars on the telenovellas.  Only a few hold outs resolutely follow their inner calling, what comes natural to them, what is authentically them.   I met a few here in the former isolated surf beach, now developed into a tourist friendly destination which is currently undergoing a major facelift of the old town center.  Another of the originals on the beach is Xipatzin, a multi-talented musician, poet, and fire artist.   He regaled me with his powerful Rumiesque poetry instantly translated on the spot.  Following your inner call is never easy but must be especially difficult in a town like Sayulita where the lure of the mass marketplace has arrived.

Gentrification comes to surf village

Be True to Yourself the Beach Boys sang to our generation.  Valid fifty years ago when they wrote it and even more so today.  Being true to yourself is not an easy path.  Many newly ‘retired’ persons find themselves lost.  Freed from the demands of 9 to 5 can be an existential dilemma.  With a fresh canvas to fill, many questions arise; What gives my life meaning?  What do I want to achieve?  What pleasurable hobbies/ experiences call me?  Who do I want to associate with? It is easy to slip into default and mass produced lifestyles, entertainments, and activities (mostly planned to extract maximum dollars).  Maintaining a personal path can be challenging to fishermen and crafts vendors on a tourist beach, it is a matter of survival.  For renewing Boomers the risk is just breaking out of our comfort zone and heeding our innate urge to express our uniqueness.   

A vision of an original and vital life guides my decisions and fuels my quest to swim free from the homogenizing tide of globalization.  Taking up the call to live from the inside out defines freedom for me.  Even as the world around us changes.  Everything changes all the time.  But be like the fisherman among the hawkers on the beach, like the girl weaving a one of a kinky bark hat, and the musician doing didgeridoo healings on lobster red ladies from Montreal.  As Robert Frost said back when Beach Boys sang Be True to Yourself, taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.