A VERY OLD, PERHAPS OUTDATED, ITALIAN PROVERB

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

Chi tanti anni vol campar

Del dottor non si deve mai fidar.

He who wants to live for many years

Must never trust the doctor.

In my opinion, the best medicine is living in contact with nature, breathing pure air, jogging in the forest, or swimming in the ocean. Also, yoga and other holistic disciplines are useful in keeping the body and mind in good health.

Every time I went to my doctor’s office in Enna to ask for a medical certificate to go to the gym or to the swimming pool, I found the waiting room packed with people waiting to have prescriptions filled. If all those patients practiced a sport in the open air, the doctor’s waiting room would be less crowded and the National Health Service would save a lot of money!

Indeed, body and mind are connected. Mens sana in corpore sano (sound mind in sound body) the Romans said. I agree with this maxim and, following the aforementioned Italian proverb, I stand aloof from doctors and medicines as much as I can.

Ettore Grillo author of these books:

– November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily

– A Hidden Sicilian History

– The Vibrations of Words

– Travels of the Mind

http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

THE LOST BEACH OF ERACLEA MINOA IN SICILY

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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About fifteen years ago, I visited the beautiful beach of Eraclea Minoa. At that time, I was attracted by the broad sand beach and the pinewood by it.
Today, I came to Eraclea Minoa again, but to my surprise, the beautiful wide sand beach didn’t exist anymore.
It seems that the cause of the disappearance of the beach is just one: man’s greed for money. In fact, they took sand from the beach to build buildings and altered the natural course of the river.

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I think we’d better ponder on the lost beach of Eraclea Minoa. Now and then, beautiful nature disappears from Earth: a strip of rainforest, a glacier, a vegetable or animal species, and so on.
I don’t deny the importance of money. But I just want to say that the most important value is life on Earth and then money or other things.
While I was walking on the shore, I enjoyed what humans cannot destroy easily: The  unique Capo Bianco of Eraclea Minoa, a white promontory at the end of the pinewood.
I feel sorry for the disappearance of beautiful nature because of human greed.
Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind

http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

WHAT IS AN EPHEMERA

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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Ephemera, also called mayfly is an insect whose life lasts only one day. It is born at dawn and at sunset it dies.
What would you do if your life lasted as long as a mayfly? How would you like to spend your day of life on earth?
I am not the right person to advise people about how to live their lives; I can only say what I do. I, ephemera in the universe, spend my life by striving to discover whether at sunset I’ll die forever or a new dawn will rise beyond the darkness of the night. This is my life, and all my travels are marked by this kind of spiritual quest.

Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

KOREAN TEMPLE, HAEINSA

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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Words can mirror the mind, but sometimes they are unable to express concepts and feelings. Some states of the mind are even inexpressible. The inability to convey my feelings through words happened to me today while visiting Haeinsa in Korea. I cannot describe the magic of that place through words. The temple stands in the mountain.

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Haeinsa is one of the biggest temples in Korea. Besides the main temple, there are many small temples. One of these is Baekryunam where Sungchul, a monk got enlightenment. This is his famous saying: Mountain is mountain, water is water. It means that reality is as it is not as we want it to be. Are we able to see things as they are? If yes, we are enlightened.

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As for the temple and its surroundings, the photos I have taken today can show the beauties of this unique place better than my words.WP_20181023_015

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
– Travels of the Mind
http://www.ettoregrillocom.wordpress.com
http://www.ettoregrillo.wordpress.com
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

THE PINE TREES IN GYEONGJU, THE CAPITAL OF SILLA

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THE PINE TREES IN GYEONGJU, THE CAPITAL OF SILLA

In old times, Korea was divided into three kingdoms: one of them was Silla.
Later, Silla succeeded in unifying the three kingdoms.
When we arrived in Gyeongju, first of all we visited the three Royal Tombs in Bae-dong. They look like big mounds but inside there are wooden rooms framed with a solid stonework. The rooms have the kings’ body, their crowns, jewels and personal things. In the past, many tombs were excavated by graverobbers, but some of them are still intact.

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Almost all the pine trees in the forests surrounding the three Royal Tombs are twisted.
According to a Korean friend of mine, botanists have studied the phenomenon and come to the conclusion that the pine trees of Gyeongju had modified their DNA not to be cut down. At the time, if the trunk was straight pine wood was used to build houses and palaces; being twisted, the trees would be of no use. Is it true? Who knows! Trees are also living beings. It cannot be ruled out that they have psychic processes and survival instinct.
King Gyeongae was the last king of Silla. He was killed by the rebel army of Gyeonhwon while holding a banquet with his court. Apparently, the step from joy of life to death is short and sudden!
Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
– Travels of the Mind

http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

AVALON, THE LOST ISLAND

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AVALON, THE LOST ISLAND

Glastonbury (UK) has been a holy place since time immemorial. It is said that the area was a marshland, and only the Isle of Avalon stood amid the swampy water.

According to legend, King Arthur and his wife Guinevere were buried on the top of the Isle of Avalon. Later the monks of Glastonbury Abbey found the burial place and moved the bones to the abbey where they still lie.

These days, the Isle of Avalon is called “THE TOR”. On the top of it, the Tower of Saint Michael dominates the vast surrounding plains. From up there the view is breathtaking.

All the area around Glastonbury is believed to be mystic.

It is said that Joseph of Arimathea was the Virgin Mary’s uncle. He used to come to England to trade in metals. In one of his travels he even brought the young Jesus with him.

After Jesus’ crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea brought the Holy Grail – the cup from which Jesus drank during the Last Supper, filled with the blood that dripped from the cross- to Glastonbury.

At the foot of “THE TOR”, there are two springs across from each other: “The White Spring” and “The Red Spring”. Their water is thought to be miraculous.

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The “White Spring” is inside a cave. The water flows into two small pools, one bigger than the other.

As soon as I entered the cave, I felt a strange energy, similar to that I had experienced in a cave in Tanzania ten years ago. Here, there were naked people, both women and men, that bathed in the water. Four women stood in a circle with their hands up holding roses in the middle of the wider pool.

Inside the cave, small altars with bones of animals, ribbons, small stones, and similar objects were placed all around.

One of the women in the cave told me that if I dipped my legs in the water my brain would be purified at once.

Inside the cave it was dark. The burning candles couldn’t light it.

The “Red Spring” stands in the open air. The water seems to be colorless. Walking uphill I arrived at “Chalice Well”. The water looked quite reddish due to the iron that it contains.

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In Glastonbury I have learned something more about legends, history and traditions of England. The rites which people perform in the cave of the White Spring are unique.

Some day, if somebody asks me where to go while he is traveling in England I will answer without any hesitation: “Go visit Glastonbury! You will not be disappointed definitely. It is one of the most amazing, mystic, and magic place in the world.

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:

– A Hidden Sicilian History

– The Vibrations of Words

– Travels of the Mind

http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

THE UGLY DUCKLING

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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THE UGLY DUCKLING

The story, written by Hans Christian Andersen, is about an ugly duckling that looked different from the chicks of the same brood. He was dark and ugly. The other ducklings didn’t want to play with him. He remained isolated in the corner of the pond, until one day he decided to run away in search of a place where he would be accepted.

Wandering here and there, he joined first a family of geese and then a farmhouse. Both the geese and the farmers considered him ugly and useless.

The ugly duckling spent the winter alone and hungry. With the arrival of spring he landed up in a pond where very beautiful birds were swimming.

He didn’t dare to approach them. It was unthinkable that a so ugly duckling, as he was, would have been accepted by those graceful birds! He kept standing on the edge of the pond until one of those birds glided towards him.

“How beautiful you are!” I have never seen such white feathers!” said the swan.

The ugly duckling bent his head incredulous and saw his image reflected on the water. He was a swan as well! His feathers had become white!

A similar allegory can be found in Jalaluddin Rumi’s Mathnawi. Rumi tells his hearers that they are “ducks, being brought up by hens”. They have to realize that their destiny is to swim, not to be chickens.

Both Rumi’s and Andersen’s stories are allegories of life. There is a natural evolutionist process in all living beings. It varies from individual to individual, depending on the happenings of life.

Character and personality may change, like the feathers of the swan. The essence, the innermost being is always the same.

Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

USEFUL TIPS

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USEFUL TIPS

A few days ago, I heard of a Russian lady who was jogging on the beach of Arambol when about ten dogs surrounded her. One of them, which was a puppy, jumped up to her arm.

Probably, the puppy wanted to play with her, but it scratched her arm with its sharp canine teeth. She washed the very small wound with sea water and kept jogging. Later, the owner of the guesthouse advised her to go to the doctor.

It was a guy from Austria who told me what had happened. He knows India very well.

He also said that fifty thousand people die every year because of rabies in India. There are many healthy carrier dogs. They look healthy, like the puppy that bit the Russian lady, but they are rabid.

Actually, rabies is widespread in India. Whenever a street dog bites you or even scratches you with his teeth, don’t hesitate to run to the doctor for the full course of post bite injections: five shots.

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
– Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

MANDALA

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MANDALA

A mandala is a ritual drawing or painting usually round-shaped. It symbolizes the universe.

In some parts of India, every day housewives draw a colorful mandala in front of their house. To make it they use chalk powder which they drop from their hand very skillfully. Over the day the drawing of mandala fades away because people step on it.

Walking on the beach of Goa, I could find somebody who draws a mandala on the seashore. The work will not last long. Soon the tide will erase it.

While looking at a mandala on the sand, I recalled what once happened in an ancient Zen Monastery. A master gave his disciple the task of heaping dry leaves under the blowing wind. There was a deep meaning in that seemingly absurd task?

A mandala drawn with chalk powder or a mandala on the sand has the same meaning of heaping dry leaves under the wind? I think they symbolize our life. Every day we strive to heap dry leaves that the wind will blow away sooner or later. Every day we draw our mandala which will disappear tomorrow like that on the sand.

Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

8 MARCH 2028

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

8 MARCH 2028

When I was an eleven-year-old student, our teacher made us write an essay with this title to stimulate our imagination: “8 March 2028 – describe yourself and the world around you on that date.”

In my essay I made a lot of predictions about my future life, but as far as I can remember, none of them turned out to be real.

I didn’t predict that I would become an author and a traveler.

We can program our life, but very often it goes its way regardless of our plans. Casual happenings drag us here and there beyond our control.

Now I am at Arambol Beach in Goa (India) for my winter holidays.

How did I spend the last day of the year? At dawn I went jogging on the beach, saluted the rising sun, and helped some fishermen that asked me to give them a hand to beach their heavy boat.

At night, I walked along the seaside where thousands of people were waiting for the stroke of midnight.

On the first day of the new year, I went to the beach at daybreak again. There were a few cleaners that were collecting the garbage littered by those who had celebrated Happy New Year all night.

I jogged and then saluted the rising sun as usual. It was the same sun as yesterday. Seeing me, the fishermen waved their hands from a distance. Nothing had changed! We humans divide time into days, months and years, and make wishes whenever a new year comes, but in nature there is only an uninterrupted flow of happenings without beginning or end.

Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo