What grounds you?
For me, having roots and a strong identity entwined within a past that continues to live through my very breath nurtures the constancy of my soul. To belong without question – as a birthright – keeps the blood flowing in the right direction, so to speak. Yet setting out to find words which describe ties to our ancestors and to our natural world is not an easy endeavour.
Searching for passages that convey the depth of these ties was, therefore, challenging. Found renditions of rarely expressed thoughts are sometimes incomplete, superficial, and occasionally prosaic. Depicting thoughts into words which capture our correspondent intentions is not an easy undertaking, particularly when we want to concisely communicate the profound and the complex. Fortunately, it was not an impossible feat for I happened upon this moving message:
“I am of the same spirit as my ancestors, indestructible and free. It is this same indomitable spirit that connects me to the eternal strand woven into all of creation, animated by its divine Source, regardless of time, matter and space. I am the container of the past, the present and the future. I am part of the tree of transcendence. I live with its roots embracing the earth, I am one with its branches merging with the sky. And together with the rest of my Kapwa, we shall unravel the promise of freedom, whether fighting for it in the streets of EDSA or Egypt, or realizing it in the deepest frontiers of the inner self, and in the realms beyond.”
by Mila Anguluan-Coger (“Reflective weavings on my inner banig” at http://www.babaylan.net/wordpress/category/babaylan-and-community-healing/)
The eloquent passage above could not have better explained that feeling of being one with that from which we sprung and with those from whom we inherit our selves. Thank you, Mila, for making this feeling known to consciousness. Such feeling of connectedness is a gift that has been lost in a realm where logic and reason reign. The unexplainable is easy to dismiss. And yet, during those moments of connection — we know, KNOW — a priori, that the experience is real.
Further gratitude to Perla Daly who created a mandala that symbolically synthesizes the same subconscious non-verbal connections with magnificent vibrance, as seen below. Those who are interested in purchasing her work can follow the appropriate links to order on her website at http://bagongpinay.org/bmandala/
Thank you also to those who took the pictures of Ta Phrom which are shown on this post. (The first featured image is from bongdy.com, 2nd image is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta_Prohm)
The Majestic Mundane 
This is such a beautiful and thought-invoking post. I really enjoyed reading your message and seeing the beautiful pictures – the sculptures and roots overtaking the Bayon style ruins, and the intricately stunning mandala by Perla.
This concept of strong ancestral identity is something that I myself have always tried to maintain, despite the cultural assimilation that is prevalent among children of immigrants in North American society. Holding on to your heritage and cultural identity is something that can be achieved with the right household environment, because the western cultural aspects will always be accessible, and will therefore be difficult to forget. However, the native ancestral roots are only available through limited resources, such as those few family members or elders that are in the same country as us.
Thus, it requires more effort to hold onto our roots, and I find this post to be one of those inspiring reminders of what we will lose if we don’t make that effort.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. 🙂