Spirituality and Snake vomit

I am not quite sure how to begin this blog posting. I would have wanted to write earlier, but somehow I’ve been too busy (doing nothing). Life here goes on. It has been almost three weeks since my departure from Brno. You know, you get into the daily routine and just numbly watch days go by. It has more or less been like that ever since. No major culture shocks so far. Some minor ones though, but those are about to come anyway. Just watch and learn.

Sri Lanka is in many ways a troublesome society. It has quite notable poverty rate, lot of homeless people, is affected with natural hazards, speedy inflation, I could go on. One thing however, that makes Sri Lanka a respectable society in my eyes is that it hosts people from 4 major religious backgrounds. The Buddhists, the Hindus, Muslims as well as Christians all live in peace and have their temples and churches set around the land. Yes, there is a conflict in the country, but as it so seems, not initiated purely by religious motives. Modern day Sri Lankans incorporate their spirituality into their everyday life by popping into the temple or spending a moment in front of the numerous altars (according to their respective religion) along roads. Everybody is free to choose their direction and act upon it.

We watched today the movie Road to Guantanamo, a very powerful survival (true)story about three British/Pakistani youngsters sent to the infamous American prison camp.
This movie, or more like the actions leading to its making, serves as a good reminder of what religious narrow mindness can cause. People need some degree of spirituality to balance with the everyday demands. However, no one should ever involuntarily accept a certain spiritual view. It should be everyone’s personal choice, be it God, mother nature, neighbour’s cat or whatever source of guidance one chooses to turn to. Current world order sees a division into two. For the extreme Islamists provoking the acts of terrorism only a single truth exists as does for the American white ruler Jesus freaks. Conflicts rise when all parties refuse to see beyond their beliefs. In the end, there is no certainty about the existence of something divine what so ever.

Oh yes, to finish off with a little random peculiarity. Saturday we went to the beach here in Colombo. Nothing spectacular there, just a shore a bit outside the center. Locked by the crowds spending their weekend afternoon, there were a bunch of different vendors and other entertainers. (Trust me, it can get kinda entertaining to try to get rid off them sellers of this ‘n’ that.) One guy came buy trying to amuse us with a cute monkey on a leash (for sure it had rabies…) and a boa snake around the shoulders. Well, needless to say we weren’t that amused. The charmer even revealed a cobra (of which I later heard that the poisonous teeth were removed) from a basket he was carrying with him. Still no sight of amusement from our site. Well anyhow, the most “amusing” part of that episode was to see the gigantic snake throwing up.:) I mean, that poor thing had probably just finished his dinner and wasn’t let to have any post meal siesta before it was already dragged along to hang on its master’s shoulders. For crying out loud… Let them snakes eat in peace!