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About 10 years ago, I had the pleasure of spending a few nights in a Bedouin camp. It's difficult to describe how different the world looks from the desert. Not
by simple10 4y ago
About 10 years ago, I had the pleasure of spending a few nights in a Bedouin camp. It's difficult to describe how different the world looks from the desert. Not just the immediate surroundings but how the desert shapes their entire world view. It feels like a completely different timeline. Like a parallel world looking through a spyglass to the modern world passing on the horizon.
One night, a sand storm kicked up and started rumbling the tents. We were in temporary tents for guests and not traditional Bedouin tents. I remember looking up at the tent poles, watching them shake. Then in an instant, the tent just disappeared, going from the blackness of the tent to the most intense canvas of stars in the night sky. The wind had plucked the entire tent and threw it across camp.
The next day, I had tea with one of the Bedouin guides. Her eyes were bright blue like the Fremen in Dune. When she found out I grew up in Colorado, she said it's been a childhood dream of her's to visit. I thought at first it was because of the mountains, but then she pulled out a picture she kept with her. It was a large reservoir in the foothills outside of Denver. She dreamed of one day being able to swim in so much fresh water.
Much of Western Civilization is culturally rooted in the mythology of the desert. Its impact is often forgotten but runs surprisingly deep.
- noja 4y agoWow what a great comment. Please write more.
- simple10 4y agoThanks noja. I'll try to add more later today.
- sonofhans 4y agoThis reminds of of what Prince Feisal said in Lawrence of Arabia: > I think you are another of these desert-loving English: Doughty, Stanhope, Gordon of Khartoum. No Arab loves the desert. We love water and green trees, there is nothing in the desert. No man needs nothing.
- DoreenMichele 4y agoAt some point in the movie, Lawrence tells someone he likes the desert "because it's clean."
- sonofhans 4y agoI remember that! He was so fastidious. God, what an incredible portrayal. I remember this coming through clearly in The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, too.
- elliekelly 4y agoYou might enjoy the book Lords of the Atlas by Gavin Maxwell: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/fa9b6ea3-f262-4ab1-b297-3a673dfd93bc https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/fa9b6ea3-f262-4ab1-b297-...
- sharadov 4y agoBeautiful, you have a way with words.
- ThinkBeat 4y agoI find it odd they would use tents that disappear into the night for their honored guests. I do not say that lightly. Did they set it up or someone else? I have had the honor of being on the receiving end of their hospitality twice and it humbled me. I never spent the night with them though. I have since tried to return the favor
- simple10 4y agoIt was a freak event - act of god - sort of thing. It was a temporary encampment for guests. The tent was in the middle of the camp and the only one that got plucked. They were heavy canvas-like material and anchored down. It was a full on sandstorm with winds over 60mph if I had to guess. Strong enough to make it hard to walk straight. Most likely a dirt devil (mini cyclone) swept through the camp since the sky was clear of sand clouds moments after it happened. The wind lasted most of the night. The hosts were deeply apologetic, and I got the feeling it was a rare event.
- wrp 4y agoIn Wind, Sand and Stars (1939), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry describes chaperoning some Arabs around France. They were unimpressed by technological displays like steamships, locomotives, and the Eiffel Tower, but they were overawed at a waterfall.
- nxmnxm99 4y agoAnyone who resonates with this should read “A Road to Mecca”
- Maursault 4y agoAwesome tale of your adventure, and well-told. > Her eyes were bright blue like the Fremen in Dune. Fremen eyes were entirely blue. Even their sclera, the "whites" of their eyes, were blue. While it is still possible your Bedouin guide had blue sclera, it is vanishingly unlikely to impossible that this was due to melange addiction. But there are plenty of reasons why someone can have blue sclera. Anything that causes a thinning of the sclera could cause it. Some medications, like steroids, can produce blue sclera. Aging and anemia will also give a blue tint to the whites of the eye. While it is usually benign, there are a number of rare but serious disorders that can cause blue sclera, such as Marfan Syndrom, Russell Silver Syndrome, Hallermann-Schermann-Streiff Syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and others. Thus, if the cause is unknown, anyone with blue sclera should see an ophthalmologist.