In all its subtlety and complexity, life is just a beautiful mystery. I guess it comes down to how you look at it. Like at the end of the movie Dogma when God is asked what the meaning of life is ..she just smiles and tweaks the nose of the questioner. And are you really going to get any more profound than that?

Well I guess you could...depending on your spiritual outlook, but don't we have the tendency to overanalyze, to make things a lot more complicated than they really are? The mystery...could it come down to that old saying in 2 statements:

1. Don't sweat the small stuff...
2. Everything is the small stuff.

Seriously, how difficult is that to follow?

Things are understandably different and strange right now. I don't feel culture shock as much as feel the vastness of the world weighing down on me. Not that I feel lost, just appreciative of the vastness and the variety of life. When I was on my way to the airport to leave China I met a gentleman from France. He asked me what I was doing in China and I related my story briefly to him. Although he was about twice my age he had a look like he completely understood, and smiled appreciatively as I shared some of my dreams with him. He told me that now would be the most difficult part of my journey because I would no longer be an American in Tibet, a man on a mission, I would be just another person back in my culture and country...that I would be returning to all those things that I had left behind: society, politics, relationships and family. He shared with me that he had done something similar when he was my age...he had gone and lived in Egypt, but that those days were long over...now he was visiting China on business and was finally going home to see his 2 kids and wife.

While I completely understood what he said, I didn't agree with him. Of course one never knows what life holds for them, but this is not an extended vacation that I have returned from; it is a faintly outlined road to journey upon in life. Is it the only road? No, and it's not the easiest road either, but I know I cannot go back to that person I was before. sitting at a desk, bullshitting at a water cooler talking about what I did last weekend or looking forward to what I was going to do this weekend. The trick now is to figure out exactly HOW I will accomplish the goals that I have.

Anyway right now I am busy relaxing and getting ready to go to Los Angeles and researching NPO's (my next project is starting one...I'll let you know).

And here are some pictures of what I have been up to recently:

Some folks I love dearly and I
and my new tattoo, done by a fellow practitioner and a real cool guy http://www.lovehatetattoo.com/main.html go to artists "aiden"