Experience the Himalayas
Tonight was experienced the Himalayas through the telling of Malcolm Pearse, photographer and mountaineer of summits that include Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, Machu Picchu (the Inca Trail), The Karakoram (K2 base camp), the Galapagos Islands, China, Tibet and the Himalayas.
At my first church, Church of Christ, a young man came up to me and introduced himself. "I'm Jan," he said and took my hand. "I'm Nicole," I replied. "Nepal?" he asked, and I laughed. And since then he always greeted me with "Nepal" and I liked it.
In Nepal, Malcolm explained, they love to dance after they have eaten. And then he showed us pictures of a group of St.Stithian pupils including their headmaster, Mr Wylde. It was a strange meeting of worlds. Lucy Wylde's father in a picture in a small room in a village in the middle of the Himalayan mountains, Nepal. (Lucy Wylde was at University with me - a brilliant actress and wonderful woman).
When the little man with the white hair got up before us and spoke, I was inclined to laugh. He spoke like a book. And he kept Lee and I laughing throughout. His words were perfectly combined into sentences. It was a virtual trip to the Himalayas, with his voice carrying us through each valley, each peak, each trek. The photographs were majestic and astounding, and the experience a load-off, simply because Lee and I found the same things funny and couldn't help laughing. It was so much fun to simply burst into laughter and find great relief in it all.
I consoled myself that if I never get to climb these beautiful hilltops, then at least I have experienced this. His telling and showing was a marvelous experience on its own.
What I came to realise was that the best vantage point is not necessarily from the highest peak, but of the highest peak. You've gotta make it to the top, so you have to climb that mountain, but some mountains are so holy that you are not allowed to go beyond the valleys. You have no right to attempt the summit. But people come to that place from which they have the best view of this holy mountain. Yet they never reach the holy mountain.
And even though I don't yet know how to apply this lesson in my life, as a spiritual lesson, I trust it is there, staring me in the face. It is not about reaching the summit, but about appreciating and admiring it. It is about finding that vantage point from which you can see the Holy Mountain.
So, to Malcolm Pearse, whose presentation we enjoyed so much, thank you! (He grew up in the Drakensberg and started shooting whilst young. He has won various awards for his work and has his own company Summit Ventures. It was an honour to be in his presence, also since we share the same faith. Thank you for the exhilaration of adventure and simplicity of life when out in the open spaces of high summits and rhodendrums.
At my first church, Church of Christ, a young man came up to me and introduced himself. "I'm Jan," he said and took my hand. "I'm Nicole," I replied. "Nepal?" he asked, and I laughed. And since then he always greeted me with "Nepal" and I liked it.
In Nepal, Malcolm explained, they love to dance after they have eaten. And then he showed us pictures of a group of St.Stithian pupils including their headmaster, Mr Wylde. It was a strange meeting of worlds. Lucy Wylde's father in a picture in a small room in a village in the middle of the Himalayan mountains, Nepal. (Lucy Wylde was at University with me - a brilliant actress and wonderful woman).
When the little man with the white hair got up before us and spoke, I was inclined to laugh. He spoke like a book. And he kept Lee and I laughing throughout. His words were perfectly combined into sentences. It was a virtual trip to the Himalayas, with his voice carrying us through each valley, each peak, each trek. The photographs were majestic and astounding, and the experience a load-off, simply because Lee and I found the same things funny and couldn't help laughing. It was so much fun to simply burst into laughter and find great relief in it all.
I consoled myself that if I never get to climb these beautiful hilltops, then at least I have experienced this. His telling and showing was a marvelous experience on its own.
What I came to realise was that the best vantage point is not necessarily from the highest peak, but of the highest peak. You've gotta make it to the top, so you have to climb that mountain, but some mountains are so holy that you are not allowed to go beyond the valleys. You have no right to attempt the summit. But people come to that place from which they have the best view of this holy mountain. Yet they never reach the holy mountain.
And even though I don't yet know how to apply this lesson in my life, as a spiritual lesson, I trust it is there, staring me in the face. It is not about reaching the summit, but about appreciating and admiring it. It is about finding that vantage point from which you can see the Holy Mountain.
So, to Malcolm Pearse, whose presentation we enjoyed so much, thank you! (He grew up in the Drakensberg and started shooting whilst young. He has won various awards for his work and has his own company Summit Ventures. It was an honour to be in his presence, also since we share the same faith. Thank you for the exhilaration of adventure and simplicity of life when out in the open spaces of high summits and rhodendrums.
Comments