Last night my husband and I returned from a 10 day trip to Africa. It is hard to capture in words the expanse of what we saw. We went to Tanzania and  Zanzibar  and did a 5 day safari. Even though we decided to invest in a high tech camera for our trip, I don’t think we were able to capture the beauty that surrounded us. The virginity of the landscape, the wildlife, the people, and the culture made one feel as if we had come back full circle to where it all started.

To experience where life as we know it started, was both a grounding and humbling experience. One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to the Masai village. It seemed like the Masai have frozen in time.  They lead a humble existence, but are satisfied. It was fascinating to see their lack of dependence on the rest of the world. They did not need any imports from china, nor did they need money to buy ‘things’. Their existence was self sufficient.

Self sufficiency, a rare commodity, highly prized in a world facing financial crisis. But in today’s world  ‘progress’ and  being ‘self sufficient’ seem mutually exclusive choices. The Masai have clearly not ‘progressed’ by world standards. But what is ‘progress’?  Is progress having a good credit rating, is progress owning new gadgets, is progress having a big house. Why is progress defined by what we own or the potential of what we can own?

As the developed world redefines ‘progress’, and is slowly coming to the realization that we need to be self sufficient, we need to preserve our environment and nature, we need to reduce reliance on  finite natural resources, be less consumerist, less greedy, the developing world continues their quest towards ‘progress’. Each at a different level of realization and evolution in the circle of life. It makes me wonder do we all evolve in the same way? Is evolution completing  the same circle of life? Or can we learn from others mistakes, journeys and lessons, creating our own circle of evolution.

In today’s changing world evolution is still taking place, but it no longer can bee seen though changing physical characteristics and adaptations, but instead it is our intellect, self realization that defines how evolved we are. After all the progress if we have come to the same realizations that the Masai have held dear for centuries, who has really evolved and who has completed their circle of life?