and it feels weird. Even with all the prep I did in anticipation that it would be overwhelming, I am still amazed at how fast-paced and relentless life in the USA is. Nice that only 3.5 months can make you forget. I have pulled back a bit to ground myself and take care of all the crap I left behind. But coming home I do feel the onslaught of being in this country. Very aggressive society compared to where I was. So retreating a bit. Not that that’s a problem. Retreat is a fully viable form of interacting with the world. And the things that I have been gathering are still here, and it is me and the world, and that is actually not two but one, and even if I can’t easily feel that every second, I can feel it on another level, on the level of faith. And that gives me strength.

So my takeaway after 3.5 months in the Buddha Belt (Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar) and predominantly Muslim Indonesia is that we’re living in an evil world. These places are super corrupt, and nobody is really looking after them. There is no higher authority helping us out.

But that is just one level, the level of what we initially encounter. At the same time, it’s all good. We can bless this world and love it all the same. We can see see the evil for what it is: ignorance and confusion, and we can work to overcome those problems. Evil will always be there. I don’t think it’s something we can get rid of. It’s up to us how we want to relate to it and what we want to do about it.

Intensely experiencing Buddhism and Islam as I did on this journey, I thought a lot about how the channels to people’s minds often come thru religion, and wondering not just where we are at, but how we got here. Here’s a good interactive historical map that shows how the religions covered the earth:

When I think about people’s minds, I realize that they are always open and available to the truth, and that deep down each of us knows the truth, and so that places responsibility on me to always try to live up to it.

Until next time, I remain, still, Axil.