A course in obstacles
biqa peula (New Guinea) "potentially disruptive, unredeemable true statements"
mokita (New Guinea) "truth everybody knows but nobody speaks"
orenda (Huron) "the power of voiced, focused will, the opposite of kismet or fate"
rasa(Sanskrit) "the sentiment that is evoked by a work of art"
ostranenie(Russian) "art as defamiliarization, making familar perceptions seemstrange"
yoin (Japanese) "experiential reverberation that continues to move you along after the initial external stimulation has ceased"
conmocion (Spanish) "emotion held in common by a group or gathering"
istiqara (Arabic) "a request for spiritual or practical assistance in the form of a dream"
reve a deux (French) "a mutual dream or shared hallucination"
baraka (Arabic) "the gift of spiritual energy that can be used for mundane purposes"
idee-force (French) "an idea that has an active, substantive power"
Of course there are others I don't often use, like koro (Japanese) "the hysterical belief that one's penis is shrinking" and torschlusspanik (German) "literally, door-shutting-panic, the fear of aging specific to unmarried women." The value of this little collection of words isn't so much the addition to my vocabulary as it is the affirmation and sense of commonality that is evoked upon realizing that something which was hard to communicate, tricky to understand or impossible to share with another person has in fact been known and shared and named by others - and more often than not, others whose lives look very different on the outside than my own.
I experienced one such affirmative boost this morning, when my dear friend, Rene, told me about barchay. Barchay (pronouced "par-chay") is a Tibetan word for life-aggravating obstacles which occur directly in line with spiritual progress, particularly if one has just traveled away to practice, or made a decision to devote oneself to a spiritual path. Like going into seclusion in the Himalayas and getting a yeast infection. For example. Apparently, these things are so common, and even necessary, that... they have a word for them. It is barchay. Barchay is said to be a kind of welcome blessing, a karma-cleanser, and a help to all those moving through their journey.
Before I left for this beautiful cathedral on this beautiful hill, my life completely shifted, in truly miraculous ways, to pave the way for me to come. Everything pointed to it. There were dreams, visions, money, support of all kinds - It was undoubtedly the direction I should go, and I came believing that I would be up for an incredible blessing once I got here. As it turns out, "the brighter the light, the sharper the shadow," and I am here now, with my viola and my yoga mats and my many pens and pencils, all but completely unable to use them. My right hand is immobilized by an enormous cast, I have broken out in a stubborn armpit rash (apologies to the sqeamish), my life in Chicago is unravelling day by day, and every idea I have for my own work is almost immediately thwarted by obstacles like heavy rain, unsteady ladders, unsaved data and general irritability. I have heard a few life-hearty Christians say, "if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans." Maybe God is laughing, I don't know. But if so, hopefully in a little while I will join him.
I think maybe everything is going exactly as it should. At this point it would be foolish to assume I am in charge, so I am going to take 108 deep breaths and get some collards out of the garden for dinner. I need an umbrella. And a flashlight.
Hi Karen. I wanted to share my favorite persian word that describes a complex albeit common concept. Its "Ta'arof." It means several things: 1) to offer something but not really want to give it away. or 2) to be offered something, decline, but actually really want it. It can also mean 3) to continue to offer or refuse something despite protestation. I've started using it in english, eg. "stop ta'rofing" when someone refuses something I'm offering.
I wanted to take this opportunity to share another good word, one that may apply to your situation and exists in English. "Serendipity": the openness to accept some good fortune or discovery when specifically looking for something else entirely. Its such a good word that it has been translated into other languages from English. It was named originally by a British man studying a book called The Princes of Serendip, a translation of Hasht Bihisht (Eight Heavens) from the Persian by Amir Khusrau. Its a tale chronicaling observations of a lost, blind camel and other chance findings by three princes.
Anyways, I hope your thumb/rash heals, feel the power of the standing poses in the meantime, and try your hand at opposite hand sketches-big hug, me.
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I just read something about barchay in the book Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott.
"Carolyn Myss, the medical intuitive who writes and lectures about why people don't heal, flew to Russia a few years ago to give some lectures. Everything that could go wrong did-flights were cancelled or overbooked, connections missed, her reserved room at the hotel given to someone else. She kept trying to be a good sport, but finally, two mornings later, on the train to her conference on healing, she began to whine at the man sitting beside her about how infuriating her journey had been thus far.
It turned out that this man worked for the Dalai Lama. And he said-gently-that they believe when a lot of things are going wrong all at once, it is to protect something big and lovely that is trying to get itself born-and that this something needs for you to be distracted so that it can be born as perfectly as possible."
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