mini-announcement
It's time...to begin slowly sharing the news: I'm going to Belize in July. This isn't something I feel compelled to advertise to every random friend and acquaintance, and I doubt that it will be mentioned on Facebook (well, I'm likely to post photos after the fact).
But I am going. Cornerstone Foundation is an intrinsically interesting organization, that seems to be about the same things I am (community empowerment, respect for culture and the individual, AIDS outreach). In some ways it seems like an ideal setting for my practicum project, and I'll be exploring that as well. My adviser and I are planning an independent study based around this time...likely including a literature review on Complementary Alternative Medicine.
And then there are the things less easily explained. The appeal of the rainforest- Nathaniel Hawthorne would find this extremely interesting. That's a fascination I've had my whole life (For the past fifteen years, Madagascar has been very close to the top of the list of places I want to visit ...maybe when the political climate settles down.)
There's the need to set some time aside for just listening and growing. For me...there's something profound and enlightening about leaping headfirst into adventure in unseen places, be it Tamil Nadu, India or a molecular toxicology lab in northern Maryland. Truth crystallizes, pieces come together, paths open. Mystical, yes, but true to how the world and I interact.
Madeleine L'Engle wrote that she understood very little about the Holy Spirit- except that no work of creation or art could take place without it (I would provide a direct quote, but my copy of The Irrational Season has wandered off). I believe the same is true of healing, much as we've forgotten it in our materialistic medical and scientific culture in the western world.
And so this trip....is about openness, to the gifts of God and the universe. It's about worship, and insight, and about becoming someone. It's a step towards hope and fearlessness, an embrace of adventure and the unexpected and inexplicable.
But I am going. Cornerstone Foundation is an intrinsically interesting organization, that seems to be about the same things I am (community empowerment, respect for culture and the individual, AIDS outreach). In some ways it seems like an ideal setting for my practicum project, and I'll be exploring that as well. My adviser and I are planning an independent study based around this time...likely including a literature review on Complementary Alternative Medicine.
And then there are the things less easily explained. The appeal of the rainforest- Nathaniel Hawthorne would find this extremely interesting. That's a fascination I've had my whole life (For the past fifteen years, Madagascar has been very close to the top of the list of places I want to visit ...maybe when the political climate settles down.)
There's the need to set some time aside for just listening and growing. For me...there's something profound and enlightening about leaping headfirst into adventure in unseen places, be it Tamil Nadu, India or a molecular toxicology lab in northern Maryland. Truth crystallizes, pieces come together, paths open. Mystical, yes, but true to how the world and I interact.
Madeleine L'Engle wrote that she understood very little about the Holy Spirit- except that no work of creation or art could take place without it (I would provide a direct quote, but my copy of The Irrational Season has wandered off). I believe the same is true of healing, much as we've forgotten it in our materialistic medical and scientific culture in the western world.
And so this trip....is about openness, to the gifts of God and the universe. It's about worship, and insight, and about becoming someone. It's a step towards hope and fearlessness, an embrace of adventure and the unexpected and inexplicable.
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