Day 25

 Most every day, Pierluigi accompanies me on my walk up to Livadia.  Generally, I have an idea as to what topic to use for my daily posts regarding these walks.  Pierluigi is a true scholar and like a walking Wikipedia–he knows something just about everything.  So today the topic was “arrival” in reference to the part of my walk when I finally arrive at Krios and I asked Pier if he could tell me anything of a philosophical nature regarding the concept of arrival. So, BOOM, he hits me with Aristole’s  telos (“end”),  the telos being the goal or purpose of  a thing, the final cause. Because an arrival implies an end.

Well, it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for as the final cause of my walk is not arriving at Krios but what happens in my head while I’m getting there.  The arrival is just a form of measurement—the time it takes for the round-trip of getting there and getting back is the time span I allow myself for thinking and meditating.

I would like to be able to BE HERE NOW more often, to live the moment without anticipation.  But it seems that, like most of us, I often live my life here while wanting to be there.

Nikos Kazantzakis, known mainly for “Zorba The Greek”, said:

I felt once more how simple a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roasted chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else. And all that is required to feel that here and now is happiness in a simple, frugal heart.

now

then

The above foto is of me taken a few years ago.  I still use the same dress, bandana, knapsack and shoes!  Look at the difference in the wall graffiti from then and now.

Arrival at Krios is marked by a house that sits next  to the steps going down towards the beach. There’s a carob tree that doubles as an auditorium for singing cicadas.  Cicadas live about 17 years underground sucking tree sap for their survival.  Then, in a kind of rapture, they all come out in hoards and, from larvae, turn into winged insects.  The males immediately start singing looking for a mate.  The hotter the weather, the louder they sing. After mating, the females deposit their eggs in the tree.  This goes on for about 2-4 weeks and then telos, it’s all over and the cicadas die because they’ve arrived at the final cause.

 the carob tree

There is a well-known mariachi song about the cicada, “La Cigarra” and is the source of today’s mantra.

 I sing happily, sing, sing, happily sing sing.

Related links:  La cigarra Lyrics +Amazing Cicada life cycle video + How To Meditate While You’re Doing Housework