Being Enlightened? - Day 365
Despite a long journey to our next destination, we had time on the beach relaxing, Tim playing and me reading a powerful book in the now. Am I being enlightened?
We moved on today, from the beautiful town of Knysna with its interesting people, crystal clear waters and enchanting forests surrounding it. Our journey took us through the Wilderness – that actually is the name of a town, where we stopped for a short while on the massive stretch of golden beach with the rolling waves of the Indian Ocean. While Tim was occupied creating a sand sculpture, I relaxed reading The Power of Now, a Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Was I going to be enlightened sitting on this beach I wondered? Actually, I didn’t question that. It just sounded good!
I tried reading this book a few years ago and didn’t get very far, however, now I am lapping up every word and every page. As I was sitting there, I read: “Use your senses fully. Be where you are. Look around. Just look, don’t interpret. See the light, shapes, colors, textures. Be aware of the silent presence of each thing. Be aware of the space that allows everything to be. Listen to the sounds; don’t judge them. Listen to the silence underneath the sounds. Touch something — anything — and feel and acknowledge its Being.” (p. 63)
I stopped reading and first looked in front, at every wave, watching the ebb and flow, the life force of the seas. I noticed the shades of turquoise, the sunlight glistening onto the swell just before it breaks, the white foam gradually dissipating as the water reaches the shore. I picked up tiny grains of sand, marvelling at the variety of colours. I shut my eyes and listened to the power of the waves caused by the pull of the moon and sun, transmitting energy.
I was just at that point of being enlightened when suddenly, Tim’s voice pulled me out of my trancelike state. “Come and have a look at this”. Sometimes he really is so childlike, one of the many reasons I love him. I got up and walked down to see his creation. It was a hippo head, and he explained that when the sea comes in, it will look as if the hippo is in water.
We drove back on the N2, bypassing George and heading towards Herold’s Bay for another stop. I was a bit disappointed, not like the review I had read “On a beautiful stretch of beach with decent surf is this tiny village”. I suppose, in my head I had a quaint tiny British village, not one with lots of fancy large modern houses all crowding on top of one another, peering down onto the bay. We didn’t stop for long, just enough time for me to drift off to sleep and being abruptly woken by Tim slapping my back “Is it lunchtime now?”.
We found Dutton’s Cove restaurant sitting high and overlooking the view of the sea. Tim asked for a flat white “Oh, you mean a cappuccino with extra coffee” replied the waiter. I proceeded to explain that a flat white has smooth, velvety micro-foam on top rather than the bubbly foam of a cappuccino. I think my explanation was lost in the wind.
Our trip took us inland, past vast farmland of both dairy and grain, where surprisingly I noticed two Elephants in the distance! We stopped off at a quaint rustic town called Heidelberg to buy food for the next couple of days. It’s in the valley of the Duiwenhoks River overlooked by the huge Langeberg Mountains. Some of the houses are quite grand, many built in the early 1900s with verandas surrounding the properties covered with curved metal canopies and big bay windows.
As we turned right onto the R324, the landscape changed. We were driving through the Tradouw pass, which, for some reason, means “The way of the Women” in Khoi language. It was 16 km of wiggly track, another of master road-engineer Thomas Bain’s handiwork, snaking through the steep mountains with the river meandering in the valley.
We finally reached our Airbnb down a 3km rough track to a Fruit farm. Here, they grow lemons, peaches, apricots and pears. Our modern, spacious Lounge has a view of their freshwater lake, where we can use their canoe to sail on, with rugged mountains surrounding us. I think tomorrow we will have a lazy day, soaking up the serene atmosphere here. Perhaps then I will be enlightened.
