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Welcome to RTalk, the place where we agree to disagree.
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My guest today is Andy Beer. He is here in Sikinos, in Greece.
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Our topic is 'Nomadic Life'.
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Welcome.
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Hello and thanks for having me here.
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And you see how he's looking over here because we're actually in the same room.
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Wait a minute ...
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Hi, everyone. We are in the same room.
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So, dear viewers, don't be surprised if we look at each other while we talk.
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True to the title of our RTalk today, Andy is here and we will learn where his next stop is.
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But before, Andy, I would like to introduce you a little bit to my viewers, please.
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So a few words about you.
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Andy is almost sixty years old and he is living a nomadic life.
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I want to explore with him today what that exactly means.
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Reading his biography,
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I guess it all started at the tender age of 25 when Andy met Reiki in Australia
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and, to quote him,
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"his dependence on mainstream science as the source of all truth fell by the wayside".
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The spiritual quest has been central to his life ever since then.
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Some 20 years ago he became a Reiki teacher and in 2010 he started offering Satsang.
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His work incorporates tantric knowledge and the Path of Love.
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When not involved in group processes or in one-to-one sessions,
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Andy tends to live a simple life, often wandering with a backpack
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and sleeping outdoors, eating bread and oil
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- I can attest to that; he has been ravishing our herb garden out here -
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and foraging for leaves and berries.
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He also works, from time to time, as a hybrid software and reservoir engineer in the oil industry.
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Andy, I looked at your biography on your Web page and copied all this.
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Is this fair or would you like to add something?
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No, I think that's a good introduction. Thanks, René.
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I do have these two sides to my life.
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One is technical work, which I do from time to time,
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and then I often take long periods off from doing that sort of work and focus more
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on the spiritual side of my life, which is the most important part of life for me very clearly.
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So, when I'm doing the technical work, I'm also maintaining my spiritual path as best I can
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but it certainly gets a lot more intense when I'm not doing the technical work.
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I do have still a few questions about your biography.
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For example, some of the words, 'Satsang'.
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You are giving Satsang. For a layperson in a sentence or two, what's Satsang?
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So it's a meeting of people who are spiritual seekers, usually with a
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teacher or master present to answer questions.
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Although Satsang can take many different forms, it can be just a
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gathering in silence, like a meditation together.
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Or some people use music in the same sort of group setting.
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Literally, it is usually translated as something like 'sitting in truth'
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or 'sitting with a master'. It comes from Sangha, which is actually like a
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spiritual community, which is a group of spiritual seekers.
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I have known you for a long time Andy. We go back to the nineties when we first met.
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And of course you didn't give Satsang sessions then.
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So, when later - can't remember how I learnt that - I thought:
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"what a courageous man, you know, going to places like
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India which is renowned for Gurus giving Satsangs and here you are -
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in Hong Kong you would have been called a long-nosed white devil as a foreigner - giving Satsang
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How .... You hear a little bit the paradox I'm addressing. How do you deal with that?
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Yes, it is a good question, René. It hasn't been a problem, actually.
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Perhaps surprisingly.
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When I am teaching in India, a lot of the people coming to me are
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also Westerners and in a way we share more common language.
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So it can be a little bit easier
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for one Westerner to listen to another Westerner in this sort of work.
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Of course, there are some great Indian masters and teachers.
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That's not questioned at all.
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Sometimes Indians come to me. Sometimes it's that allure of the exotic
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of somebody who's got a different view on life.
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That can also be quite attractive and actually I think quite beneficial.
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So I think it's good that people move around.
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And also in terms of listening to spiritual teachings,
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I've always listened to many different masters and met many different teachers.
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And I encourage others to do the same.
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In fact, I saw on your web page that you have 'wisdoms gained', I think, is one of the chapters
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where you're using some of the people you have listened to and learn from.
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Another quick question.
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I was intrigued: "hybrid software". What's the hybrid?
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The hybrid in that sentence is actually between two different aspects
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of my technical work, but obviously I have a bigger hybrid
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between that and the spiritual being.
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In fact, we all are hybrid of a spiritual being.
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And at least one other thing, and probably a whole cluster of things.
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But actually, it is quite important in my outlook on life to see that
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I don't define myself just as one thing
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and I try not to define other people by just one thing.
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It's a trap that we fall into.
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And in fact, that leads us a little bit towards the nomadic life,
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because we often define ourselves quite strongly by where we live or where we come from.
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Well, I guess accepting that we are a hybrid being
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- I don't want to speak for the rest of humanity -
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but I certainly share this with you.
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That in itself opens access to multiple personalities which in itself is then a nomadic adventure.
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But before we get there, you know, in your biography, you said something about a major breakthrough.
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You did a Yoga session
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- I can't remember now ... well, I think it was in Canada in the Rockies or someplace -
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and described that it was a significant breakthrough for you.
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Still as part of your biography, give us a few sentences, what you connect with that please?
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Yes. A little bit of context:
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I was travelling at the time, as part of my nomadic journey and
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I've been traveling for a year already around the world on that particular journey.
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And I had settled in a town in the Canadian Rockies, in Canmore, for a few months, because,
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largely because I'd met a teacher, yoga teacher, Elisabeth Meyer
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She called herself a yoga teacher. Actually the teachings were more meditative and spiritual in nature.
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And after studying with her for some while, she was actually giving me
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an energy based, breathing based treatment, her own thing.
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Halfway through that, there was some huge release of energy in me.
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And of course, these talks relate a little bit at least to Reiki usually.
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Reiki has been a central part of my journey, spiritual journey.
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Of course, Reiki is a form of energy.
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With Reiki I've come really to see the whole of life in terms of energy.
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And that's been an important perspective, a shift in my perspective that happened with Reiki beforehand.
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I tend to sense myself as energy. Or at least sense energies within my body.
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And during that particular event there was a huge release of energy.
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I have felt huge releases of energy before and since and they are all amazing, they usually feel great.
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But in that particular instance, what came to me
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when that sort of energy turned into a realization in words was that I am not unworthy.
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And that was quite interesting to me, because I hadn't realized,
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I hadn't been conscious of the fact that I'd been considering myself to be unworthy.
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So in a way, it was something that I hadn't been aware of,
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plus a big shift in that unconscious understanding of myself.
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And that really had huge ripple effects for years afterwards.
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Even in that moment I felt, Wow, this is going to change everything.
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And it did.
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I mean it wasn't the end of the story for me. I still had a lot of baggage to work through.
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But if I had to hone in on a single point, I would say that was the most significant.
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Yeah.
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The term 'breakthrough' stuck out to me when I read it.
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Actually, I intend to have an RTalk on the very topic
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of breakthrough sometime in the future.
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And in my life, too, there are certain moments
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and I also like to look at them as breakthroughs, more so than ...
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I guess it wouldn't be all wrong to call it moments of enlightenment,
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of clarity.
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And I think and I suspect that that is an essential
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clarity to make such a significant decision, like leading a nomadic life.
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So I won't just spend a little bit of time to ...
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What does that mean, a nomadic life?
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I'm sure my viewers, they say, well, okay, it's the past ...
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- I shouldn't say past - it's the corona time, which has shown us
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that we can do a lot of work from home or simply by taking my laptop with me wherever travel,
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that then becomes like a nomadic worker.
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But when I did research on our topic today,
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a lot dealt with the nomads as a classical people in the Sahara and other areas, in Mongolia,
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who move from place to place, who don't have a place of residence, so to speak.
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And indeed yesterday, when I introduced you to these pretty ladies down at the beach,
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they ask you where you live and where you go.
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Maybe you tell my viewers what your answer was.
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I don't remember the exact words, but basically I don't have a home in the way most people have a home.
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By that I mean I don't have a fixed place that I regard as home.
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And I think for me that is one of the key defining factors for nomadic life.
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I mean, of course, people can go on holiday from home and travel and see a bit of the world perhaps go on long travels.
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But there's a sort of psychological aspect that might or might not be there.
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If I consider myself to be temporarily away from my home,
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then it's a different psychological situation than if I don't have that concept of home.
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And it's important to me because it does change many things in the outlook on life.
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If I am just temporarily away from my home, then part of me is always just waiting for when I go back there.
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This is that phrase 'go back'.
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Actually, for me, that's quite telling.
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Basically, I never go back, is my attitude.
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And so with that comes more an attitude of letting go, you know.
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Here I am for the first time to visit you René on this beautiful island of Sikinos.
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Maybe I'll come back in the future and maybe I won't.
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So when I leave a part of that process, is to just let go.
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With great gratitude for beautiful experiences, but also to be able to let go.
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And I feel that's important because in that letting go, there's a space for the next port of call.
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You know, where do I go next.
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Sometimes I plan that, sometimes not.
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That doesn't matter so much either way.
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Can I be open to that new experience?
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That's part of a nomadic life for me as well.
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But that's constantly saying goodbye .... to people.
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You actually will leave from the island tomorrow.
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We haven't seen each other for decades, literally, so we will have ...
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My wife and I will go down to the port where we'll wave good-bye to you
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and you're off into the sunset.
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Now, let's for a moment not talk about the romantic side of such a picture but about the emotional side.
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You're leaving us behind and you're going, you're saying goodbye.
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And I do it know, when I'm down at the port people leave from the island.
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That happens every day here.
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And I see you how often they are heartbroken and sad.
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So if every leaving is associated with heartbreak,
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how's your heart, Andy?
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It's been broken many, many times, René.
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That is a very good observation.
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And I feel the difficulty is ...
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not so much that it's heartbreaking,
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but being able to keep going through heartbreak without becoming closed or defensive or avoiding the situation.
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It's ... You know, saying goodbye to company that you've been enjoying is, of course, always ...
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there's always that sadness.
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But that, of course, is balanced by the joy of having lived those moments and shared experiences.
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And of course, I don't forget all that. It is still there in my memory.
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It's more to do with this aspect of:
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do I need to attach to something and ...
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feel certain that I'm going to go back to it?
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Or can I appreciate it fully and then, in a way, let go in the sense of
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being open to completely new experiences and not relying on being able to repeat what has gone before.
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Because, of course, we all never know.
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Even if I have a home somewhere, disasters can happen.
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Things don't turn out the way we expect. Maybe there's an earthquake.
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I mean, who knows?
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The list is endless.
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So in a way ...
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I think it's also ...
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more realistic to say goodbye in that letting-go way.
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It doesn't preclude... It doesn't mean I can never come back.
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Perhaps I will. Probably I will.
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But it's ... psychologically, let's say
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the intention is not to have a dependence on that, not to feel,
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oh, that's where my home is, so I need to go back there.
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Your see, with a nomadic life
0:17:38.530,0:17:45.590
there is this challenge of not really becoming attached to a place, let's say.
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When I say 'a place', this actually applies to many things.
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It's the same with people, really.
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Of course we can relate to each other remotely through these electronic means
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And so, it's not quite so extreme.
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But it's similar, hence the heartbreak.
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Yeah. And I guess it's a reminder that each time you leave a person or a place, that ...
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the separation is actually just an illusion.
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You may go away, Andy, but our connection will remain.
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You know, the question about taking leave and saying goodbye to people
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has kept me busy for practically all my life, because being somewhat of a kindred spirit ...
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I like to travel a lot. I traveled on a motorbike. Andy is here on a motorbike, his next stop is Morocco.
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So he's going through Ancona (Italy) and then through the alps, France and go all the way to ...
0:18:54.690,0:18:56.210
what's the place you're going to?
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Spain, Barcelona.
0:18:59.020,0:19:04.980
So ... having traveled also like that and already before that as a young man,
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I have discovered something in me that ...
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taking leave of somebody was for me not so much filled with sadness, grief or such ...
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inverted commas: 'negative' feelings.
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But it was more pregnant with joy and gratitude.
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Gratitude for what is, has been and joy of what's going to come.
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And actually, it was not seldom that I noticed that I was almost like a little bit ashamed of those feelings as a younger man,
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because the common behavior is, oh, we take leave from each other we must be sad.
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And of course, the ultimate taking leave from each other is when a person dies.
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And I felt this so often, that when I have comforted somebody who
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passed away that, yes, there's an element of grieving and of sadness.
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But I also always felt there is this tremendous potential for joy,
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because it reminds me of the essence of life and I am not distracted with my broken bicycle ... (laughter) trivial garbage.
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This dilemma of what society is expecting or what is commonly done and
0:20:31.640,0:20:33.450
how I personally feel ...
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Do you know what I'm talking about? How do you deal with this and how do you feel?
0:20:38.779,0:20:42.859
Yes, I do understand exactly what you're saying, René.
0:20:42.943,0:20:47.720
And it's very ... it's resonating with my own experience.
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Especially ... I think you mentioned gratitude at one point.
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And I think, that for me is really a key.
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If I'm feeling gratitude then from that gratitude, there is a great joy.
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It goes hand-in-hand with that gratitude.
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So feeling that ...
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it's ... for me, that's also a sign that I am recognizing what great gift, for example if somebody has died,
0:21:16.210,0:21:19.600
what a great gift that they have been part of my life.
0:21:19.780,0:21:21.590
(Joyful laughter.)
0:21:21.970,0:21:30.580
Isn't it amazing, that I am here in this life and another human being shared some part of their life with me in whatever way.
0:21:30.710,0:21:36.170
It could be a passing friendship, a moment, a smile with a stranger in the street, anything.
0:21:36.970,0:21:39.490
These are beautiful sharings and ...
0:21:40.920,0:21:44.920
the gratitude for them is honouring the other person, I feel.
0:21:46.030,0:21:52.200
And actually, if I look at the sort of sadness that comes with parting and with grief,
0:21:52.970,0:21:59.310
I actually feel that, if I'm feeling that it's more a self-pity in a way.
0:21:59.620,0:22:03.770
I've lost something, you know, I liked it and I want more of that.
0:22:04.060,0:22:09.420
So, I don't think it's really honouring the other to feel that sadness
0:22:09.710,0:22:14.870
as much as feeling gratitude and joy is honouring.
0:22:15.760,0:22:20.330
So I don't worry what other people think about me too much, that's the other aspect of this.
0:22:20.500,0:22:27.819
Yeah, you obviously don't care much about that and that's of course everyone's preference.
0:22:28.269,0:22:36.620
And I think that not caring so much about living according to the norms of society
0:22:36.770,0:22:41.859
and doing your own thing comes at a price. Maybe ...
0:22:42.130,0:22:45.549
I don't want to go there now. I want to bring up something else first.
0:22:45.633,0:22:51.609
But I do want to mention it at this point we shouldn't glorify this too much.
0:22:52.029,0:23:00.279
Now. I'm saying 'agreeing to disagree' and sometimes I'm getting criticized that and not enough disagreeing.
0:23:00.609,0:23:07.539
So I said I am a kindred spirit. What you do and what you say resonates strongly with me.
0:23:07.839,0:23:13.690
But let's look at this from more critical point of views.
0:23:15.900,0:23:22.690
When I was a young man and I'm going on about the motorbike and I travelled around the world.
0:23:23.140,0:23:28.980
To a great extent it was escapism, running away and finding something new,
0:23:29.010,0:23:31.839
not dealing with what I've created so far.
0:23:32.799,0:23:34.990
So the question of ...
0:23:36.789,0:23:42.380
Is what you're doing a way of avoiding commitments?
0:23:43.250,0:23:45.299
In relationship, for example.
0:23:45.690,0:23:57.059
And also, is it a way of escapism which is smacking of an egotistical way of life?
0:23:58.049,0:24:01.319
I think these are justified questions.
0:24:01.403,0:24:06.110
And I said at the beginning, you're no longer 25 years old. You’re a mature man now.
0:24:06.569,0:24:14.010
I can get away with it, I can say, well, it was the delusion of a young man to hop on a bike and travel around the world.
0:24:15.630,0:24:21.070
So do give me some push-back please, Andy, when I say
0:24:21.410,0:24:28.930
this is delusioned egotism you're practicing here and it's avoiding commitment.
0:24:29.990,0:24:31.770
Yeah, I've set my piece.
0:24:32.850,0:24:34.060
Great challenge, René.
0:24:35.210,0:24:36.354
I hope that's okay for you, Andy.
0:24:36.438,0:24:40.840
Absolutely. I'm completely unperturbed by what you've just said.
0:24:41.250,0:24:44.620
You know, there is an element of truth in it, no doubt.
0:24:45.620,0:24:48.610
To kind of put the other perspective on that:
0:24:49.240,0:24:51.660
Commitment, for example, let's start with that.
0:24:52.420,0:24:58.119
Of course, it could be that I make a commitment to a specific person.
0:24:58.203,0:25:03.279
It could be an intimate relationship or it could be some other situation.
0:25:03.363,0:25:06.940
Say I'm caring for an elderly relative and commit that
0:25:07.010,0:25:10.070
I'll be there at their bedside until the day they die.
0:25:10.329,0:25:14.720
Now, that would obviously preclude traveling and running away
0:25:14.770,0:25:18.010
and escaping and whatever other angle you want to put on it.
0:25:19.720,0:25:21.640
So I haven't made such a commitment.
0:25:21.759,0:25:23.130
That's a choice.
0:25:24.299,0:25:28.210
And in a way, the way I see it is, I've chosen to commit to something else,
0:25:28.260,0:25:35.930
which is to explore my spiritual world as profoundly as possible.
0:25:36.060,0:25:38.090
In a way I've just given priority to that.
0:25:38.600,0:25:41.250
So is that selfish? I don't think so,
0:25:41.333,0:25:47.280
because the world needs us all to, you know ...
0:25:48.180,0:25:55.780
get a bit less materialistic and a bit more spiritual now in our behaviour towards each other and towards the planet.
0:25:55.990,0:25:58.250
That's needed. No doubt about it.
0:25:58.500,0:26:00.140
So I don't feel that ...
0:26:01.789,0:26:09.850
I am lacking commitment and I don't think that the priority of my commitments is ultimately that selfish.
0:26:11.220,0:26:13.820
So I don't really have any concerns there.
0:26:13.890,0:26:23.980
But in a practical sense, for sure, a nomadic life makes it very difficult to maintain a very steady, intimate relationship with someone
0:26:23.980,0:26:28.580
unless two people take that journey together. That's always possible.
0:26:29.160,0:26:34.280
And ... I forget the other points you were making there
0:26:35.030,0:26:37.360
Escapism was the other.
0:26:38.410,0:26:41.950
Escapism implies that I am escaping from something.
0:26:42.040,0:26:46.040
Obviously a committed relationship could be one such thing or
0:26:46.040,0:26:50.600
I made a big mess in my life somewhere and I'm just running away from it.
0:26:50.849,0:26:54.589
I don't really feel that's the case in my life.
0:26:54.673,0:26:57.359
I feel I ...
0:26:58.549,0:27:05.120
especially at this age, I'm feeling a little bit more like in a Hindu tradition where
0:27:05.180,0:27:10.750
a man might at a young age make some money and then get married, have a family maybe
0:27:11.160,0:27:15.510
- which I haven't really done in the conventional sense myself -
0:27:15.510,0:27:20.370
in the older age he would leave enough money for the family to be Ok
0:27:20.370,0:27:23.670
and just go off alone into the forest on his spiritual journey.
0:27:25.250,0:27:30.720
I see that not as escapism, but as another stage in a life.
0:27:30.980,0:27:32.420
Now, this is a little bit ...
0:27:34.339,0:27:40.060
perhaps a misleading analogy in my case, because I started all this at the age of 30 or whatever.
0:27:41.099,0:27:45.090
So I don't think I would claim this is a direct analogy.
0:27:45.740,0:27:47.960
It doesn't feel like escapism to me.
0:27:48.920,0:27:49.800
I think ...
0:27:51.750,0:27:55.910
You know, there have been specific things in my life in the past
0:27:55.993,0:28:01.880
where I'd say .... I probably didn't really handle that in a way that I would now.
0:28:02.990,0:28:04.570
Welcome to the club.
0:28:07.339,0:28:07.965
Okay.
0:28:09.680,0:28:10.960
...
0:28:12.890,0:28:14.839
I was looking for a video to show.
0:28:15.289,0:28:17.049
I like to have a little intersession.
0:28:17.133,0:28:20.539
I didn't find anything on nomads and so on.
0:28:20.920,0:28:23.120
But then I looked up, because ...
0:28:23.730,0:28:30.410
I think this is also to a degree a romantic delusion which you're running after.
0:28:30.493,0:28:32.200
Or let me rephrase this.
0:28:32.630,0:28:36.109
I'm sure that a lot of people will see it that way.
0:28:36.440,0:28:39.700
So I looked up 'romantic delusion'.
0:28:40.650,0:28:46.720
I discovered that there is a psychological phenomenon 'Erotomania'.
0:28:47.030,0:28:47.930
...
0:28:48.079,0:28:52.660
which is the love ... hold on, I wrote it down.
0:28:52.750,0:28:55.050
Here it is, I can read it to you.
0:28:56.420,0:29:02.310
It is a rare disorder in which an individual has a delusional belief that a person
0:29:02.660,0:29:08.280
of a socially higher standing falls in love with her / with him.
0:29:08.599,0:29:16.589
So for a moment I thought, okay, that's the end of using the idea of romantic illusion.
0:29:16.673,0:29:20.990
But of course, it is a little to some extent.
0:29:22.510,0:29:28.510
I think you addressed that already quite convincingly and gave us some insight.
0:29:30.140,0:29:37.430
But in my thinking I then thought, well, who is the higher authority in Andy's life
0:29:37.840,0:29:48.879
who he could have the illusional, the romantic delusional believe that that person falls in love with him if he lives the life he does.
0:29:49.400,0:29:56.510
And I don't think there is a human being, I could answer that question,
0:29:56.940,0:30:02.420
but something like god or creation or evolutional power.
0:30:03.950,0:30:05.390
Is that why you're doing it?
0:30:05.473,0:30:12.310
Is that why you are living the life you live, because you have this romantic delusion that
0:30:12.360,0:30:19.510
a higher power, god or whatever you consider to be god, therefore will fall in love
0:30:19.920,0:30:24.570
when you knock on Pearly’s gate to permit you entrance.
0:30:24.960,0:30:26.150
No.
0:30:27.029,0:30:33.390
It's an interesting take, René, but I feel that my spiritual journey is not
0:30:33.473,0:30:37.140
about hoping that God will fall in love with me.
0:30:37.223,0:30:38.220
Absolutely not.
0:30:39.000,0:30:43.529
It's more the opposite. Maybe hoping I will fall in love with god, if I haven't already.
0:30:45.150,0:30:47.339
Or with nature. Or with existence.
0:30:47.880,0:30:57.410
For me, the spiritual journey is – if it's about anything – it's about letting go of this need to feel separate.
0:30:57.510,0:31:01.250
Like I'm a separate person, a separate entity.
0:31:01.890,0:31:04.019
And allowing myself to open up.
0:31:04.103,0:31:11.970
And the boundary between myself, what's me and what's not me, allowing that to melt away.
0:31:13.049,0:31:15.930
So it's the classical union with god.
0:31:17.009,0:31:22.440
It would never occur to me to think of that as god falling in love with me. Not at all.
0:31:22.559,0:31:27.490
I've come from existence and that's where I'm headed back to.
0:31:27.990,0:31:35.130
So it's me removing my own delusions, is really what this spiritual journey is about.
0:31:35.490,0:31:40.790
And with that removal of delusions of separateness, of course,
0:31:41.530,0:31:45.830
a different life opens up, inside myself.
0:31:47.579,0:31:57.640
And it's ... No, I don't think it comes into this sort of psychological attitude that you were hinting at.
0:31:58.109,0:31:58.735
Okay.
0:31:59.400,0:32:00.460
I tried.
0:32:00.860,0:32:02.500
(Laughter.)
0:32:04.049,0:32:07.230
We're coming slowly towards the end of our conversation.
0:32:07.980,0:32:13.720
Andy, what are maybe your parting thoughts?
0:32:14.760,0:32:22.060
How do you feel. You've enjoyed the hospitality of the island of my wife, of me,
0:32:23.220,0:32:26.790
you are going to leave tomorrow on a boat going to Piraeus,
0:32:27.180,0:32:31.460
another boat to Ancona and then you've like a thousand kilometers or more
0:32:31.640,0:32:36.250
ahead of you on your motorbike to go to the North of Africa.
0:32:38.339,0:32:40.769
How are you? How do you feel?
0:32:40.853,0:32:42.299
How was this conversation?
0:32:42.599,0:32:46.690
What's the final words you would like to share with us?
0:32:48.550,0:32:56.090
It's interesting. When I've been staying in a place - I've been here a week and just at the end -
0:32:56.210,0:33:02.039
of course, the mind starts to think ahead, but that happens less and less for me.
0:33:02.160,0:33:04.780
It's more and more a case of just being in the moment.
0:33:04.920,0:33:09.240
So I think this question will be more pertinent tomorrow when I am about to get on the boat, for example.
0:33:09.750,0:33:11.800
So it's not really in my consciousness.
0:33:11.843,0:33:16.070
Of course, I have some practical things to sort out, to book ferries, and what have you.
0:33:16.180,0:33:21.500
But I really don't think about the next week or two. No, it's not needed.
0:33:21.990,0:33:27.610
So part of being in a nomadic life for me is also allowing me to be more and more present
0:33:27.810,0:33:30.599
where I am in the moment, whatever that is.
0:33:31.170,0:33:36.640
And it's just, as I was talking earlier about not clinging on to the past
0:33:36.680,0:33:41.759
it is also not so much having an attachment to a particular future.
0:33:42.660,0:33:47.000
And then my awareness naturally comes back to today.
0:33:48.799,0:33:49.710
So that's one thing.
0:33:49.793,0:33:51.570
And as we are reaching towards the end,
0:33:51.570,0:33:54.269
I just want to touch on one other aspect of the nomadic life.
0:33:54.353,0:33:56.590
And that is to do with comfort,
0:33:56.860,0:34:04.349
because it's not comfortable, it is not a comfortable life to be always moving and having no security.
0:34:05.160,0:34:12.700
And I think that's why it wouldn't suit everybody in this very physical sense of the nomadic life.
0:34:15.059,0:34:21.510
And it's probably the reason that a lot of people would much rather have a home and know where home is.
0:34:22.139,0:34:27.040
And that's a more comfortable way to be.
0:34:27.840,0:34:32.350
But if I were to live that myself, I know I would not be strong enough
0:34:32.350,0:34:35.780
to overcome the tendency to just live life from habit.
0:34:36.389,0:34:39.360
So for me, nomadic life is also about
0:34:40.949,0:34:46.210
living a life where it becomes quite difficult for me to live from habits
0:34:46.440,0:34:49.620
and that again forces me to be more present,
0:34:49.920,0:34:55.340
more aware with the moment, where I am, what's around me.
0:34:56.370,0:35:02.099
And that's important in my spiritual life, it is just to be present.
0:35:03.579,0:35:08.960
And that is one of the gifts a nomadic life gives me.
0:35:11.560,0:35:16.590
I'm glad you brought that up, because I said earlier, maybe we should look at the cost,
0:35:18.139,0:35:21.970
the price you pay for your choice and you touched on that.
0:35:23.800,0:35:28.690
While you were talking, I was thinking that, whether we like it or not,
0:35:29.280,0:35:35.210
in many ways the modern developments, at least in the workplace,
0:35:35.293,0:35:38.820
is becoming more nomadic for many of us.
0:35:39.920,0:35:46.500
Hopefully what you said, particularly now at the end, is also giving some stimulation
0:35:47.320,0:35:54.920
and maybe even some wisdom for people when they deal with their everyday nomadic, at least professional lives.
0:35:55.190,0:35:58.300
So thank you very much for that, Andy.
0:35:59.059,0:35:59.960
Anything else?
0:36:01.369,0:36:06.669
Just a big thank you to you, René. It's been a treat to be here on Sikinos with you. That's for sure.
0:36:06.752,0:36:12.829
Well .... it has been a treat to have you here and we can do something very exceptional.
0:36:13.159,0:36:15.730
I move over to you ...
0:36:17.420,0:36:22.900
and say goodbye to everyone like that.
0:36:23.809,0:36:28.330
Thank you very much for having watched. I'll go back and show you the jingle.
0:36:29.179,0:36:30.460
Thank you, Andy.
0:36:30.829,0:36:32.630
This was a great talk.
0:36:32.929,0:36:33.739
Bye-bye Andy.
0:36:37.949,0:36:38.969
Bye, dear viewers.
0:36:39.053,0:36:45.449
And of course, if you can, please subscribe to ...
0:36:47.369,0:36:48.239
Please subscribe.
0:36:48.869,0:36:49.699
Thank you very much.
0:36:49.783,0:36:50.219
Bye-bye.
