We arrived in Singapore sometime late this A.M. The current schedule puts us at about twenty-three hundred to berth. I suppose I will go to Chinatown and little India to see the markets and culture in order to get away from the west as much as possible. After thinking about it, there is nothing that I would need to buy except for some green tea and to get some Indian food for lunch and Thai food for dinner. I do keep thinking about buying a tape recorder to keep better track of my thoughts but if they are not to be remembered before I at least get them down on paper then it was not meant to be. Much is still trying to draw me backwards but I will continue to go forwards.
Having sent my book back to Carol has lightened my load and along the way it will become lighter. I still want to make plans, be somewhere I am at peace, buy some land that I can cultivate but it is the impatience and desire for instant gratification that stops our foresight and vision. For it is each new day that is the blessing of the world made anew and since I still have much to remember, it would be in vain to create paradise now, out of my ignorance.
The Atlas arrived in the Singapore port at approximately zero hundred hours. I had the urge to depart the ship but since it has started raining {monsoon months} and the rails have stopped and all the happenings are in bars and in dance clubs, I will await the morning and try to make my first stop little India by getting on the MRT at Tanjong Pagar taking it to the Bugis Terminal. In the early morning hours, there is said to be aromas from garlands, music, and the cultural awakening of the area.
Although I am not tired at the moment, it may prove to be an omen of a city that contains much spiritual energy. I shall wait on the ship until the train system restarts at zero six hundred or I may have to wait until I can get money exchanged for the MRT fare.
Yesterday morning I was awoke by a dream. The dream started with me reading a definition of Raja Yoga in a book and the definition was, exploring the world. Then I saw a vision of Christ and then I saw a vision of a man standing on a dune with light linen cloths with a sash around his waist and a turban around his head and I heard a voice call out “Indian Prince”. I rolled out of bed and the clock showed zero seven hundred so I got dressed and headed into Singapore. I took the MRT to the terminal furthest north and started walking back to the ship. I crossed the Muslim area of town Sultan then into Little India where Scott and I ate lunch and where he gave me a bit of reality that cleared up my vision of self. Then into down town, a boat ride on the Singapore River, and into Chinatown and supper at a food market where you can eat a filling meal for about one dollar and seventy cents, US. Then back to the ship where I thought about self and came to the realization that my spiritual conviction, as strong as I proclaim, is for the sight of man. While in his presence I do my best but when in darkness and in secret I let my weakness slip with my gluttony. Partaking sometimes with alcohol, cokes, chocolate, air cooling, eating in restaurants that have and use air-conditioning, listening to the radio, refrigerated drinks, still buying books and taking this ship which pumps its pollution into the air in carrying me across the world. But just maybe this was the reason for this trip, so that my hypocrisy would be shown and strength will be gained to overcome more temptation in the world, making the spirit stronger and gaining peace with self and gaining peace with my Father.
Remembering my dream back in Lucedale after reading of Sai Baba, thinking he had red frizzy hair, but in the dream he had dark frizzy hair, I was walking in Singapore and saw a picture of a man. I said to Scott, “I think that is Sai Baba”. Then a man came out and asked, Do you know Sai Baba? Sai Baba did not have red frizzy hair but dark frizzy hair, as in my dream. As I draw closer to India, contact is being made. Although I will not stop in India, my path my bring me back east and if it is to be, our paths shall cross in the physical, if meant my Father’s plan for me.
This was to be my time in the wilderness. Yet within this, things of the world surround me. So, this instead is my time in purgatory. I am now between that of the material and spiritual worlds. The path is clear yet I am wearing shoes that must be discarded to walk on the holy ground.
Judgment must not be passed on others, their behavior I must not condemn, and their thoughts and beliefs I must not say to them they are wrong and will be their end. For did I? Do I listen to those who do it to me? No, I only run faster in the other direction. All the Love one can hope for can be found in this world.
