Malik Watkins's Bloglines

This is one of my days….a day….on a train in North Italy, heading towards Milano….not a new experience and not an old one, yet…is anything really new or old? Rolling through Rovato, Cremona, Iseo, Chiari, Romano, Treviglio….and others…

Off into my contemplations, gazing into the distance of the mountains, and in between….the farmland, the buildings and homes….murals of life, some graffiti….the man with the wheelbarrow working his garden – the colors arise, the rider on the horse in the fields, people going to and fro….attached….all….with our stories of us….reminds me of the travels….the babies, Mama’s, men, families….all around the world and each – a story. A friend of mine, an art expert I would say, shared that when assessing a piece of art….its value/significance….one of first tests is to determine if you can see yourself in it….

Seeing these things….these people….reflecting on living the roaming worldy life….sitting thoughts….some of the reverie others simply – an immersion….time of reflections simultaneously and living them….And with this flow, I think of the recent time standing in the New Old World….I find myself on top of Mt. Galicica….with the seemingly duality of the lake: Lake Prespa and Lake Ohrid, of which the vastness is seen here….Big Bits of Macedonia, Albania, and Greece….but the beauty lies beneath…contemplating in this beauty, what is seen, but more of what is felt…maybe even a precipice each of us may face….from the Village of Peshtani….

to our own ‘Magaro Peak’….how did we get here….most assuredly, strenuous treks up the mountains can and will make us think of our life….and to learn and absorb some of the cultures nearby….to see and feel the lives within….more specifically….to raise questions…. as a friend once said, to question our existence….one healthy outcome being – more humility….to combat the illusion of all knowing self-importance….so much to learn in the world….

Not far away, resides Prilep!! Admittedly, a place I knew nothing of….oh how we often don’t even know what we don’t know…unawares!! Right from the start….I recall loving the writings of Tolkien….oh how fascinating, and not to take away the genius, but here in this place….seems to be the real stories….the confluence of reality and the imagination….just change the names. I find myself reading about the Lordship of Marco! Going into the old realm of Serbia, the Ottomans, Greece and the history of the Slavic….of course that opens so many other doors to kingdoms and empires….what has come and gone….the rise and fall of civilizations, people, families…and individuals….and of course, these are my feelings and thoughts….in short….a brief of my own provocation….and like art, we all have to see ourselves in it….to get our own meaning….

Bringing these thoughts forward, they become art in our mind….alive….and no longer static…. And we can see ourselves within ….To see ourselves within something….our life, family, our job/career, bosses/managers, our friendships and associations, relationships, our own ideas of love. We feel and see ourselves in them….as they fit….and then maybe one day we stand on the mountain….the precipice….and realize the things of our focus that we engage in…are no longer focused on us….and we go on searching….even if for ourselves….then, to accept or not….

Which brings me to a movie and book I’m all in…these days….thoughts and feelings….as is said:

“What could…what should be done, with all the time that lies ahead of us? Open and unshaped, feather-light in its freedom and lead-heavy in its uncertainty? Is it a wish, dreamlike and nostalgic, to stand once again at that point in life, and be able to take a completely different direction to the one which has made us who we are?”

Much more to come on the Balkans….in the mean time….I’ll be walking back the last few years of the travels, while I walk forward….Peace!!