Bird's Eye View: May 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

A Final Thought of Life

It’s midnight. I can't sleep. Death is on my mind. In a good way.
Getting older makes it more inevitable when some of my friends
are dying or critically ill now.
Yet I never thought of death as “the end game” of my being.
I always felt it would be the beginning of a new existence
somewhere else.

Life can be its own death when aging.
The drying up and tearing down of the body and mind.
A spirit, on the other hand, would be free from
deteriorating matter.

When I hear of immoral people inflicting great harm
upon innocent people, I wonder if there is a Hell for them.
I know there is a Hell on earth for the innocent who
suffer at the hands of these people.

The Book of Revelations in the Bible mentions a
kind of Hell.
I never finished reading it, I was so terrified just reading it.
Although, some clergymen have read it repeatedly, it has not
hindered them from ungodly conduct; and the “eternal flame”
of Damnation doesn’t seem to be discouraging
to too many politicians.

Personally, I think Hell can be anywhere and everywhere.
It's more noticeable in Syria, Nigeria, and North Korea
which come to mind; although there are many hot spots.

I read a book years ago about a conversation with
God, in which, the messenger believed there is no Hell
in the Hereafter.
It can be as believable as anything else I have heard.

People base their belief of Heaven and Hell
on their faith.
And what is faith, but believing without knowing.
There is no scientific proof.

When a plane crashes, killing hundreds of people,
I wonder if there was a master plan, a predestination,
of chosen people coming together for that final journey.
Is it all in a plan when that one person who has a ticket,
misses the flight?
I wonder when I see someone doing something life
threatening, how they managed to live so long being so
stupid.

Then there is the ‘conversation with God.'
Every Spirit chooses to come "back" to earth to
experience life in the flesh. Love, hate, pain and joy
to name just a few of these earthly feelings.

Some religions believe that our spirit keeps coming back
to earth, reincarnated, until we have passed all our earthly
challenges.
The theory behind a conversation with God, from
what I gather, is that every Spirit
is a collaborator in their life and death. Spirits
collaborate to role play different earthly virtues
and vices.
Virtues and vices come in human form representing
Love, Hate; Evil, Good.
A Spiritual collaboration for the purpose
of reaching the ultimate Life experiences.

The Spirit, electing to come back to earth to experience
torture, is obviously, mindless of human suffering.
Much like a woman giving birth, forgets the pain long
enough to get pregnant again.

I don't understand how a Spiritual Soul
can be separated from the same Soul in the Flesh;
I assume, the Spirit once transported back to earth,
is only mindful of the flesh and everything that
it compasses; just as the Flesh is not mindful
of the Spiritual 'collaboration.'

The Spirit desires to have earthly feelings as
an extension to its life. In other words, it looks good
from afar.

The Human Experience
Humans cannot fully appreciate feeling love without
knowing hate.
A young child protected by his loving parents,
goes out into the world and feels the hatred
from strangers towards his race or privileged life.
Only then does he become aware of how
precious it is to be loved unconditionally.
He may have a fear of losing their love.
He may react by pleasing his
parents; or he may feel angry or pity towards
those who resent or envy him.

The Spirit, separating from the Flesh upon death;
having gained this earthly knowledge is
enlightened through this process of unburdening
itself from the toll of flesh and bones.

This conversation with God tells us that there is no
Hell because we are all collaborators in the scheme
of Life that teaches us to
"walk a mile" in each other's "shoes."

I believe it started in the Garden of Eden when God
put the serpent in the fruit tree. According to the Bible,
God created every living thing, including
the fallen angel, Satan. Satan, obviously, has
a purpose in Life too.

By my "faith" I am not as afraid of death from the
Spiritual side;
as I am of torture, pain and aging, being earthbound.
Death is grievous when we are separated from
our loved ones; and that is, an earthly feeling from
what I know being here.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Our Tuscany Vacation: A Hamlet in the Vineyard

It was a memorable vacation, although, I did get homesick the last two days
and I was glad to be home in Montana.

It might have been due to the fact that we were in the country
and “no" one spoke English,
except the tour guide and the managers at the Hilton condos.

The Italian people are very friendly. I did try speaking
what little Italian I learned from my Babble App,

but no one understood me. What a surprise.

My daughters like to say that when people listen to me speak,

they wonder if English is my second language.

The one item not in the photos below, was an incident I
will always remember.

One late night when we ran out of time looking for an
ideal place to eat, we headed out of town. Along the darkened
road we saw a faint light from a tiny cafe along the roadside.

It was your traditional small town cafe run by a couple.

One small room of 5 tables. The two Italian families sitting at

one table were very loud. It did not seem to bother the other
families dining at the other tables. It was probably just entertainment
for them to listen in on someone else’s conversation.

The food was very good.

The man waiting on us looked very pleased he had customers,
even if we did not know how to speak Italian. He spoke no English.

My Italian Babble App questions of “What country are you from”
and "Do you speak Italian?" does not help.

After he cleared our plates, he spoke in rapid fire Italian, as if,
we would understand.

Acting like a typical foreigner, you know the ones who come to the
USA and ’nod’ their head in agreement when they don’t
understand a word you are saying?

I kept nodding my head, hoping he will bring the receipt. When he left the table.
My husband said, “I think you just ordered 2 of “something.”

I said, "You're, kidding?”

He said, “No.”

I got up from the table and rushed to the counter with a gesture of
my hand. While writing in the air my signature,
as if, to say I would like the receipt.

He looked surprised and immediately walked 5 steps to the kitchen
curtain to say, “No, no, no..”

to the cook, to stop whatever it was I ordered.

I shrugged my shoulders and made a “I am sorry” face
and everyone, including the customers sitting by the counter

laughed.

My husband said, “Hilton.”
He was hoping he would understand that the foreigners have
invaded the countryside.

The owner looked puzzled and went behind the kitchen curtain
to get the cook. She understood English, but did not speak it.

Although, the man looked rather rough in character; the woman,
in her 30’s could have been an image of the Virgin Mary with her
porcelain perfect skin and round deep brown eyes. Even I could not take my
eyes off of her. I could see Michelangelo sculpting her face into stone.
After all, it is Italy.

She seemed shy and would not look at us.

My husband said, “Via di Casanova,” which is the road that the
Hilton Grand Vacation Club condos are built...

never mind it was in another town, as word gets around
in small country towns.

The owner said, “No?” with a puzzled looked.

The cook firmly said, “Open!” to him.

I picked up three of his business cards from the counter and
pointed to them. He smiled and nodded. He understood now that

the Hilton condos are in business and that I will send customers
to his small cafe that generally caters to the local community.
As we said our goodbyes, the owners and the customers,
laughingly replied, “Arrivederci!”

I gave the cafe owner's business card to the HGVC managers
to include on their list of recommendations since
they had encouraged us to scout the area for
new places to eat.

A few days later we went back to the cafe during the day.
The man was not there, but one of the customers introduced himself
to us, as being British, but lives in Italy. He told us of a
hidden restaurant in the valley that few people know.

That one may just be our secret.

Photos: Tuscany Italy trip April 2014

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