- Tear all the mechanism apart, identify the
key issues, repair and re-assembled.
Seven in the morning, the bus station with shopping
mall is still full of lifelessness.
Here is the new city of Jerusalem, people
are still in bed to enjoy the last part of their dream. The fresh air is shared
with less souls and clear.
The hostel where I stayed located in the Armenian Quarter,
right on the border with Jewish Quarter.
Here is city with thousands of years of histories,
the city where all the great powers and three revealed religions would
sacrifice all they have to claim the ownership.
For Christians – where Jesus had been
living, being suffered and was ascending.
For Muslims – where Isra va Miraj happened.
For Judaist – where First Temple and Second
one being lost.
There is a huge difference in the scales of Jerusalem
between the past and presence.
The old Jerusalem includes David city and
ancient sewer, and the presence of Jerusalem excluded the previous part but
Christian and Armenian part.Only the Muslim Quarter and the Jewish
Quarter are the oldest part.
Jerusalem can be broadly divided into four
square blocks in accordance with: Northwest - Christian Quarter / Southwest –
Armenian Quarter / Southeast - Jewish Quarter / Northeast and Great North - the
Muslim Quarter.
This time, I happened to choose the time
when the Jewish celebrate one of the three festivals - Shavuot (harvest
festival), and the Muslim celebrate Ramadan(the month of fasting).
From the very first day, there are soldiers
stationed everywhere in the old city, fearing of any attacks from anyone who
defends their own belief.
Taking tram through the new town and directly
to one of the old gates – Jaffa Gate.
Over the tram stop where I got off, I could
see directly from the open streets of Jerusalem, the new walls are at the top
of the old city walls, just like every city in the world, being built on the
previous self and the rest were left under the dust.
The hostel where I stayed is just on the slope
of Armenian Quarter. With an open roof, we are able to watch the skyline of
Jerusalem 24 hours a day.
And the skyline, is the most extraordinary
one I've ever seen.
Since I started to travel, I know a brief
history of the development of today's religions, and now coupled with the
complex relationship in politics.
Simply put, few people can clearly
understand the concept of their own Holy Book, "love" and
"tolerance" are the ideas which remain undeniable.
The creeds of “God so loved the world”, as
well as cultural and religious compatibility (Islam), have been completely
forgotten. Moreover, followers stick with the creeds created by descendants, and
abandon the most fundamental concept.
Shouting the name of their master, fighting
for their own interests, and thus causing death
of lives.
Jerusalem, you can see the scars in this
city, it is the wars and the fights, the wounds remained, being repaired, and
starts all over again.
The bells of the churches, the melodies from
Western Wall, and the sound of the Muslim call to pray are all happening at the
same time, being harmony and lingering.
Churches, mosques, and the Jewish school are
fully occupied of the skyline.
----
The morning bell was running through the
whole Armenian Quarter.
Sunlight was falling on the shining paths with
no one walking on them.
Both sides of the Bazaar were yet opened.
The iron plate explained to the pedestrians
that the pavements were from the Roman Empire, which was discovered in the 20th
century by archaeologists.
The sun is still falling down here, and the
glow from thousands of years ago kept irradiating on the pavements, where all
the changing happened each day.
----
From any entrance to the Western Wall area, you
must go through a simple security check.
People in front of the Western Wall, moving
their bodies forward and backward, with eyes closed, reciting the scriptures,
while the wall in the front is full of notes.
We called it the crying wall, but the Jewish
people don’t cry, instead, they celebrate the life of existence.
This is the rely of the past, expecting the
Messiah would come back to life and lead the people to build the Third Temple (some
of them believe the Third Temple shall be built to welcome the Messiah).
----
Wailing Wall in the evening becomes much
lively during the celebration of the
harvest festival.
Men and women are separated into two parts and begin to sing
and dance.
The Black suits set was passed on by the
Polish Jewish from 18th-centur, with
payot flying and the celebration commenced.
----
Throughout the Holy Land, I wish I were a
cat.
As a cat, like a guardian, watching the
movements of people, at the same time, the history waves of the city.
Find the eternity through passing all the
corners and in the eternity, to search for the answers of presence.
What is God?
What is the purpose of the existence of
human being?
Why get into wars?
Why comes the death?
Where is the answer to all this?
Only being a cat, as a guardian, to see
through things and the world.
----
That day, I walk on Via Dolorosa, the Calvary
road that Jesus had been walking on.
There are marks where the visitors and
pilgrimages can be led through the Calvary.
From the very beginning of the path, started
from a church, then passing the stone dungeon where he was jailed. To the place
where he failed, where he had help, and where he met his mother – Maria. To the
last point, the church of sepulcher, where he was crucified and ascended.
Follow the bronze
plates set by the livings, the real Calvary is no longer there available. What
has left is the memories for his sacrifice.
The wall which cannot be through was
established by predecessors; the road cannot be passed was paved by them as
well.
----
I came here with wounds.
I thought I was strong enough to observe and
understand everything here, but I only found my own insignificance and
self-righteous.
I thought I could process and take stimulus
in the front but then I realize all I have in my mind was a total blank.
I came with wounds, leaving with another new
ones.
Like Jerusalem, the injury had left but the
scar. Few years later, severe argument had brought new injuries, on the recovering
ones.
We are and we will be in such a loop in the
flow. Same wounds over and over again before recovered.
We are not so-called "God", getting
to know all the answers.
But every time we recover, we feel less pain,
being more stronger than the last time. No matter how the wall was overthrown, the
next one would be built more sturdy to stop any harm.
I came with wounds, leaving with another new
ones.
Jerusalem gave me the opportunity to reprocess
myself, to re-examine my own needs and personality, find a new outlet, a new
start.
The wound is still there, but no pain.
- To be continued ...
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