i’ m writing from perhaps the most beautiful place in the entire world; a tiny village on top of one of many high peaks in the cloud forest here, in Costa Rica. The pueblo is called La Florida, and it is where our land, adjacent to a 4,000 wilderness refuge, which Carter and I bought about 7 years ago and are now trying to sell in small parcels. We  have a partner who is a young man originally from Colorado but who lives here full time, and is excellent with land deals, and builds great structures using natural hardwoods, bamboo, cement and artistic tiles. Here many people build with artistic flair more than any other place I’ve ever visited. Everywhere you go is sheer beauty, either of Nature’s making, or made by a caring, Nature-loving person.

I’m lucky to be using their supersonic Mac cuz my friend’s girlfriend, a native costaricense, is a graphics designer, so she has the latest and greatest of computers. It’s so funny, because outside the red-dusty moutainous road isn’t even paved, down the street is a soccer field where the weekly game of soccer (futbal en espanol) is being played while the ladies fry up chicken and plantains, and there is only one other public building, a little shop that sells milk, coffee, cigarettes, that kind of thing. Everywhere else is just rolling hillsides, far off views of the vast-reaching Pacific, and every once in a while you spy people’s quaint homes that cling to the land with matching bonnets of blooming plants and vines. I’m in love with the smiling faces of these people who great each other with “Adios” (go with God) not when they say goodbye, as in other Spanish-speaking countries. This country intrigues me so much. My heart is very happy to be here, although I love living where I am in the States, in St. Augustine, Florida too. For a place in the USA san augustin is the BEST.

So i hope you are reading this as a happy, fulfilled person. I pray that each one of us maintains the gift of magical life, and the privilege of being a member of Planet Earth’s special family, boons that have been given by our great good fortune to be alive at this time, in this place, with these challenges before us. Such an important time in human development is happening … right Now! I thought of us all when I read a passage from a book this morning. It was about a California guy (who eventually became Bhagavan Das, the kirtan-wallah known to so many yogies everywhere) who went to India looking for “the Answers” about life, In his spiritual autobiography “It’s here now” he recounts his adventure (Wow, what a life this guy has, makes mine look like suzy stay-at-home! ha ha!). So when I got to the part where he was saying the following, i was thinking of all us other seekers — no matter where we are along the path leading to fulfillment, enlightenment, whatever you want to call it. the former little boy named Michael Riggs, who transformed himself into a wandering sadhu in India, Nepal, Shri Lanka, and anywhere else he’s gone, shared these words with his reader and now i want to pass them on to you.

“My teacher taught me that it doesn’t matter how many times, thousands of times, tens or hundreds of thousands of times I’ve tried to do something and didn’t do it right (reaching union with the Source of All, in this guy’s case) … all it takes it to keep trying, because when you do get it ‘right’ all the other times you’ve tried and failed simply don’t matter. The only thing that matters is that you stay in the moment, trust in God, and take one step after another as it presents itself to you. That is true enlightenment.”

Just wanted to share that thought with you.
lots of love and Light, and confidence that you are doing exactly the right thing, this very moment.
your pal, lordflea