The Blind Donkey

"Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind.

A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure.

Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of the clouds;

Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs night after night.."

Ikkyu

I had the pleasure of attending a fund raising evening for Mathan Vilner at the Land of Israel Musem in Tel-Aviv.

Mathan Vilner is a China expert who is a member of the Israeli Georaphical Society, their bussiness is to arrange guided tours for cultivated people who like to experience forigeness deeply. They have earned a very good name in a very tough bussiness.

Mathan Vilner is now in Germany going through cancer treatments. The fund raising was held to enable him to pay his medical bills. It consisted of his friends giving lectures on a variety of things (South American Shamanism/ Indian Dancing/The South Pacific/The Poetry of Ikkyu) And selling Art objects. So the sale and the tickets were the money earners. It was a long night, around four hours long.

There was a very noble and warm feeling to the whole event. Many people showed up for starter. Because the people giving the talks are very well known in their respective fields (Osnat Alkabir in Indian Dancing and Jacob Ras from TAU on Japanese Poetry to name just two) so it had a lot of appeal. All these wonderful people would share their passion with you for only 100nis, and you'd be helping someone.

And as truly moving this event was with these dear people selling objects which they really care for to save a beloved friend. (A woman sold a silk kimono her adoptive mother in Japan gave her, a man sold a mask from Bali his daughter bought on her bat-mitsva trip). I felt a sadness upon me. Because I know that when people in Sweden or Holland make the choice to become dancers or travel guides they don't have a dark shade in the corner of their minds saying: "As much as this makes me happy, this choice might mean that when I'm 40 I'll have to sell everything I own to survive cancer."

Sure, they have other fears. But since they live in countries with a good public health care system this is not one of them. Some fears might be universal, fear of death, fear of old age, fear of being unloved. Some are very specific, I don't wake up fearing not having enough to eat today. Yet many people in the world do. In the west, this fear is no longer with us. We are wealthy enough to worry about eating too much.

I believe that the fear of dying for lack of means to pay for health care will and should be treated as fear of starving to death. There is no reason for it. It can be prevented.