InTheTemazcal

Jordan will travel from the Midwestern United States to Manaus, Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon. It looks like this, from where I sit, here and now.  Image Source: Google Maps. In preparation for my daily dedication to Jordan*, for his mission to Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, I looked to Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. I   chanced upon his chapter entitled, "You are not Your Mind." There, Tolle opened, "The Greatest Obstacle to Enlightenment," as follows: Enlightenment - what is that?  A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. "Spare some change?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. "I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then he asked: "What's that you are sitting on?" "Nothing," replied the beggar. "Just an old box. I have been sitting ...

The "Temāzcalli," known commonly today as, "temazcal," refers to the Aztec steam bath, similar to the sweat lodges, kivas , and inipis of other North American natives. Source: University of California-Berkeley. 1903. It has been four years since I last crawled over the earth, through the doorway of the temazcal . In four years I have not planted my forehead on the earthen floor of the lodge entrance to speak the words "con todas mis relaciones" ("with all my relationships"). " Temazcal , also known as temazcalli , is a traditional native Mexican American purification ceremony. It's similar to the sweat lodge, or inipi , of the Lakotas, or kiva of the pueblo dwellers in the western United States." (Bacon 1996-2016)  Victoria de Durango, Durango, Mexico, where I first participated in a temazcal . Source: Wikihistoria. 2013. Four years seems appropriate as I prepare this post. Four years seems appropriate as I recon...