Coming to a Conclusion

Far, far from the China Sea, it seems like I just landed in North America. BUT, as you can read, nearly two months have passed. Life's tidal movement pulled me forward and soon the travels in China and Tibet moved further and further into memory. Today, I write from Chattanooga, Tennessee where the leaves of Fall are just beginning to turn and Wal-Mart is big. I carry my great-niece and hope that she too will experience the fullness of life as I have.

Since returning to the U.S. I have traveled to the other edge of the Pacific Ocean in Oregon and California, been wine tasting in the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County (California; highly recommended), traveled through San Francisco and Marin County, been to the retreat center of Chagdud Gonpa in Northern California, a wonderful few days in Portland, Oregon. Many people have been interested in wanting to know what I experienced. Some wanted to know about the Tibetan experience, some about China; but most just want the 5 minute sound bite. What is amazing is the lack of curiosity. Sometimes I think it is a desire to respect my privacy and not be too intrusive; at other other times I think it is indicative of our time and cultural: self-focused and not interested in the greater world.

A friend of mine has made a couple of trips to Tibet and made an interesting comment that I'd like you to consider. He said that half of the monks in some of the monasteries aren't really monks, but employees of the Chinese government that are spying for the government. This seems like a preposterous statement and feeds into the image from the Cultural Revolution of a despotic and genocidal government. But even if this isn't true, what does this type of thinking do? It creates doubt. Given the history, if there was even a chance that this was true, what would people's actions be? It creates doubt and doubt restricts our actions. We become our own censors.

Then the Chinese government does things that makes me wonder what is really going on there. If you want an interesting read at about a recent event, go to Mikhel Dunham's blog at http://www.mikeldunham.blogs.com/. You'll need to page about a third the way down to read the piece Samye Monastery as Disneyworld.

Or what about them denying lamas visas to return to Tibet? Or the fact that I could post but not read my blog in China. Many little pieces to remind us that they have a different socio-political world that they operate within. As people from the U.S., we are known as people who share their thoughts and feelings more openly than many people. We have not had the repercussions that the Tibetans, Mongolians, or others have experienced. (There is another book that you might want to read: A Tibetan Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phuntso Wangye by Melvyn C. Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, William R. Siebenschuh. This is a book about a Tibetan communist and about his life. He was imprisoned for many years, in solitary.)

It is a different world, but my even my short journey is of little interest to many people. I have been surprised to see how many people in this country know about what has happened to the Tibetan people, even if they don't know the particulars. They know that there have been atrocities; they know Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet; they know the Dalai Lama.

Would I return? Has the difficulty of the travel quenched my interest in traveling deeper into Tibet? Will I ever go back? I don't know. I know it was an impactful trip; as was my journey into China again. Time will tell. Some people love traveling into Europe and other technologically rich countries, but I have an interest in having people with less material wealth educate me in other ways of being in this world. I fear that the more we continue to build the cocoon-like illusion of security around us that we become more and more insensitive to the rest of the world and I never want that to happen to me.

I will close this chapter of my travel life and return to visiting with 3 week-old Alyssa. I pray that she will grow up in a world that is more secure that what it seems like today; that she has as many rich opportunities I have had to travel this world; and that she laughs long and loud.

If you have access to Picasa there are photos in my albums. I am still new to it, so I don't know how to link it to this blog.

May you journey long and may your adventures take you to the edge- then return to the love of your family and community.

Thanks for reading.

Joseph