Headley Beare was a remarkable man – polymath, gifted teacher, educationalist, writer and communicator. From 1981 to 1995 he was a professor of education at Melbourne University. He believed that mystical awareness, insight and experience are available to all people, in all cultures and traditions, regardless of their theological/religious traditions.

His book Dolphin’s Leap, Hind’s Feet (Morning Star 2014), is a brilliant compendium of his best writings on mysticism…

~~

Excerpt (page 41. What do you make of this?):

In his book, The Haunted Earth (P. Read, 2003, Sydney UNSW Press, pp. 10-11) he reports an incident told by linguist Ian Green who had been working with Aboriginal communities in Australia’s Northern Territory. In 1981 three teenage girls who had been studying in Darwin were killed in a road accident on the Stuart Highway, the arterial road leading into the Centre. The Marrithiyel Aboriginal community was in “fathomless grief” over the deaths. The Marrithiyal people recognize the Dingo as their spirit ancestor – it guards them, mothers them, symbolises the spirit of who they are. The mourning community therefore resolved to travel back to Nambiyu “deep in dingo country”, as a kind of ceremonial visit to their ancestral ground. It was now dark, Green reported, and he and half a dozen others were travelling in the back of a utility. One of them decided to turn on the spotlight and point it behind the vehicle.

Padding silently thirty metres behind were three dingoes ghostly pale in the gathering dusk. When the vehicle stopped, so did they. For some seconds they stared, then turned into the darkness. Profound terror seized the party.

~~

[http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/gifted-teacher-responsible-for-many-innovations-in-australian-education-20101003-162ld.html#ixzz3GxH3V4H0]