My perceptions open with every new place I visit that is different than where I am from. New experiences will always serve as the catalyst from which people will learn more than they have previously known.
Thailand was an eye opener for me. I have traveled across parts of Canada many times and even made a few forays into the United States of God bless America, but have never before ventured overseas. Thailand showed me a state where there is no middle class, God works through the peoples perceptions of Buddha, and noone tells the common lie of caring for others before themselves; they simply exist with no excuses, reservations, or thin apologies…how refreshing and sincere. Of course there are other considerations to make but nutshells are nice so let’s leave it at that.
Ah, and then there is India, a land that some God a long time ago may have blessed, but since, India has risen and fallen more than a handful of times and has seen more than its share of interim gods since. The people are much like all other people of planet earth; they go about their daily bread by whatever means possible, kiss their families before they sleep at night, and try to take time to develop a personal ego. So it goes.
We all go about our lives in the way we see fit. Most of us search for and find some way to achieve our daily bread. Most of us have those we love. Most of us choose to see ourselves in a certain light in order to like ourselves and it is this light through which we subjectively view our world. India is no different, either is Thailand, either is Canada. So it goes. God bless us all.
Skipping country from Canada to Thailand was one step away from my subjective origins. Then I quietly became acclimatized whilst observing and accepting what I saw. But then to take off on the second degree of separation to India proved a further widening experience. I found people in yet another scenario of many poor versus few rich with little middle class to buffer the social and economic relations between. But these people choose to take their approaches to life very differently than others I have previously seen. They did not say “mai pen rai” when they were wronged due to being in the outer circle of the people in their society. They too cut in front of strangers in line but in India they get angry. Indeed, they do not forget their anger either, they boil and rant to their wives, verbally strike out at others and justify it to themselves until they are egoistically satiated. Very interesting. It was like watching a dog bark at a mirror at times; the reflection won’t change so why not just stop barking? The Thai’s seem to have figured that out, so why is it different in India?
This is the point when I have to back up and review life in North America, where ego is a challenge to others, road rage is a syndrome, and the individual reigns supreme. Where a grudge is fodder for a later psychological battle on a Freudian sofa. Same stink, different pile. So it goes.
Further observation showed me that people in India are all in fierce competition with each other to elicit the next dollar from each spender that exists. The markets are vicious with voracious proprietors trying to coax every and any rupee to enter the web that is their wallet. Anyone will tell you just about anything in order to sell you whatever item, idea, or service they are attempting to peddle to you. If they have nothing to sell you then they will at least try to convince the nearest proprietor that they have led you to them in order to gain a commission on anything you might spend there. The extent of the web is impressive and the lines are sticky. There were many a time that Cheryl and I would feel we were a flies being tempted by spiders (“Come into my parlor” said the spider to the fly).
“Where are you going?…They are closed for the day, you should come to my house and meet my family (who will try to sell you more things you don’t need)…I am telling you honestly…That is a good price…No, he is my brother, I told you I am telling you honestly…I sell this at three times the price to everyone else…It is good luck to buy this in India…That is not the train to Varanasi…etc.etc.”
Indeed the lies flow in India like slick oil from a freshly tapped source and when it rains it pours, but the ground that spews oil never makes an apology for the mess it makes. However, is this so different from the spewing oil we peddle in all other corners of this fine planet Earth? All people form their morals and values based upon life experiences. We do this until we are convinced that the previous perceived greys are now solid blacks and whites. We do this to such an extent that we even allow ourselves condescending anger towards all others that don’t see the lines we have clearly drawn for ourselves. This can take many forms from culture shock, to bemusement at what we see, to even outright ignorance and bigotry. At times I found myself quite confused by what I would observe in India such as 10 white lies in a breath, or two men yelling at each other over something one of them thought to do before the other one, but to judge it leads to subjective ignorance. This is true here, there, and the other place. So it goes.
Travel is a means to a greater end of the mind. We all form ourselves as we grow but travel forces an outside influence. This is a positive thing. The human mind is not a biosphere that survives well with the windows closed. It needs stimuli other than that from the inner ego otherwise it grows stagnant, dormant, and in the worst circumstances it overrates itself into inflated self-importance. Travel is a means of outside stimuli providing for wider understandings, intellectual and spiritual growth, and if one is lucky, might even lead to humility. No wonder Jesus chose to constantly walk the Earth instead of simply standing still. So it goes.
Thailand and India can be wondrous places or they can make one uncomfortable and angry. But if one keeps their mind open to the wider picture outside of themselves, they just might find something amazing about the outside and inside of their world. So it goes.
Happy travels of the mind.
Editors Note: So it goes…read more Kurt Vonegutt everyone!
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