June 23rd, 2014 – Tiputini Biological Station
The occurrences of today… Other than the abundantly boring travel time, in which I was forced to explore the expanse of my mind, today was all about commemorating the Ceiba experience. Before we left this morning, I wanted to leave my mark behind by etching my thoughts onto the pages of history listed in the TBS Reserve Guest Catalogue. I chose to memorialize my experience through recording the changes I have undergone because of this place. Divulging the knowledge I have gained about myself in context of the world. The time I was given here allowed me to become lost within the winding side trails of my scattershot brain and immerse myself in the true essence of what I never knew I was. This was truly the greatest feature of my time here.
Opportunities for self-reflection were boundless. I was even graced with the fortune of meeting the lively volunteer support staff, Ms. Bridget (Jones). When she engaged in conversation with me, I felt like I should have been writing every word that drifted off the contours of her lips. Her word floated through the air, stuck with the aura of ancient insight and scent of an examined life. The pure wisdom that was contained within her words resonated within my mind. She was a professor of life. Her knowledge and understanding of both the natural history of the world around us and her deep connection with nature and wildlife led to her discovery of the self and provided an extremely unique and multi-faceted view on life. I had finally met someone here who thought about the same things I did: where I belonged in the context of life and how I was important in the development of this world, what my duties are as a citizen of the Earth and how should I balance that with a pursuit of the self and personal bliss, and perspectives on justice and beauty and all the other subjective intangibles that have proven to be unanswered to this point in time.
It is truly a shame I cannot spend more time with this woman. She held no secrets from me and was completely honest about the trajectory of her life, something I hope to be able to do someday in the future. Even though I may only have spoken with her for a total span of maybe 2 hours, we had developed a strong enough connection that, on this momentous enough occasion, we parted with a warm embrace alongside a heartfelt goodbye. She placed the seal on my envelope of departure from Tiputini.