Phew! I was able to summarise this in 60 characters: "hiking the Grampians for pilgrimage and men's mental health".
I have been mulling over this for a few weeks now and have decided to hit send:
I am going to hike the Grampians as part of my pilgrimage to find a suitable monastery, and any funds remaining will be donated to The Men's Table to support men's mental health.
What does hiking the Grampians have to do with finding a monastery? Everything. Because really the monastery is internal and a deep immersion in the wonders of the natural world will help me reconnect with that - help me to see straight and get my priorities in order as a I recalibrate from my experience at Bodhivana and prepare myself for engagement with another monastery next year, Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS).
And what does hiking the Grampians have to do with men's mental health? Everything, in a way that really doesn't need to be articulated.
What I may need to articulate is how this hydrid fundraiser works:
- I am funding travel to SBS in Malaysia, a few living costs and the Grampians hike using the $2500 I got from my tax return
- I am short about $150 to do this comfortably
- a single Floating Meal fund would be $240, meaning one man could afford to attend a Men's Table for six months, which might get him through a rough patch he might not otherwise survive
So I've set the fundraiser at $390 to start with, knowing that GoFundMe will auto-adjust if there is a lot of interest in this.
Clear as a tannin-rich stream in the Grampians!?
I will update more soon, and meanwhile if you have any questions you can find my contact information at Passages , the Substack where I am documenting this.
For general information, here is the (slightly out-of-date) About page.
Or if you want to read the newsletter, you can find that here .
Organizer
Bodhi Paine
Organizer
Wellington Point, QLD