October is in full swing, rain falling down, winds blowing and leaves turning colors. Flowers like the marigolds in the front yard garden are still in full bloom while some in the rain garden are fading away. Dying is hard but needs to be done in nature and in life.

Today a peace activist came to our home from Oregon. He is in town for the Peace and Justice Studies Association. He will read the Gandhi part in my presentation on A Conversation between Mahatma Gandhi and St. Ignatius of Loyola. A local friend came by who will read the St. Ignatius role. After a dinner of Indian Vegetable Curry and Middle East salad and some conversation between us we read our parts in the conversation. After the presentation on Saturday I will display the full conversation on the www.nonviolentcow.org web page.

Most of the vegetables for our vegetarian meal came from the gardens around the house. The recipe for the Indian dish came from my friend Kranthi in India. The conversation between Gandhi and Ignatius came from my mind after years of reading and thinking about these two men of history. I guess you can say the food and dialog in the presentation were home grown.

Both the meal and the script were good examples of Swadeshi, the use and service of our immediate surroundings over those more remote or foreign, that I was talking about in last night’s posting.

This principle reminds me of another saying of Jesus and the inspiration speaker Earl Nightingale, that your treasure is where your heart is and usually right where you are. Sometimes it just takes some dying to find it.

I know someone who is always looking for the phone call that will instantly transfer him into new living circumstances where his troubles will disappear and he will be free. The phone call never comes but while waiting he misses out on the treasure and freedom that is within his life right now. I try to tell him constantly not to wait but to live in the present but he says he is living in the present while he waits for the miraculous phone call. Dying to his dream is hard.

With Swadeshi, you find in the present and immediate surroundings what you need. “Your treasure is where your heart is.”

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