Universal beauty

Sunset - heading south from Amman

Beauty is universal.

We saw it in the stars over Wadi Rum in Jordan.

About 3:30 am my tent-mate and I, returning from the ladies’ room, paused to look up, and stood there in awe for perhaps 20 minutes. (And yes! Even in the Bedouin's desert there are now tourist comfort facilities.)

Planting our feet in the sand, we gazed up to find the good old Big Dipper, Orion’s belt we think, although it seemed early in the season for the great hunter; and Cassiopia’s Chair. These Mid-East constellations are the same ones I grew up with in Palos Heights, Illinois. Isn't that something to think about!

Reluctantly we gave up counting the infrequent shooting stars as the desert chill drove us into our little tent.

There were dramatic daytime thrills of beauty as well.

Here is another:

Light challenging darkness

And my prayer for the people of Jordan -- that the silver lining be a promise of education, peace, and prosperity for all the country. And why not now?

Barren and beautiful -- Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum formation, Jordan

Next time you watch “Lawrence of Arabia” trotting along on his camel, notice the background. Notice Wadi Rum. In Jordan we camped in Lawrence’s desert.

Wadi means valley. Rum doesn’t mean liquor; I don’t know what it means. Just Rum Valley . These eerie and beautiful rock formations remain from an ocean that once covered the whole area.

Wadi Rum Tent Village

The Bedouins provide tent villages for tourists. You can hike the dunes, or climb the rocks during the day, and come to your tent village for an evening of dancing. No kidding. The belly dancer invites tourists to join her. After she departs, Arab men start a round dance ending up with a long line of hand-holding, Europeans snaking merrily around the dance area.

In the morning we are awakened exactly at 7 by a bellowing camel behind our tents. Enterprising young men offer camel rides to early-rising tourists.

Bedouin alarm clock

Did the Children of Israel traverse this land in their forty years of wandering? It’s possible. Nobody knows for sure. The sandy desert would have been considerably harsher than the wilderness to the north.

O’Toole’s Lawrence had a horrendous ego problem that became his undoing. Moses didn’t. The Bible refers to him as the meekest of men. I take “meek” to mean Moses was a good listener. He listened to God because he couldn’t figure out how to lead his people on his own. Which is a pretty good reason!

So my lesson here is to learn to be as good a listener as Moses. That means silencing the inner chatter, silencing ego, silencing the desire to be right, silencing distractions. And listening to that one Mind who created all those stars glittering above us around 3:30 am.