Photo: A Tibetan Mandala / Photo: wonderlane

Here at BNT, we’re sometimes criticized because we don’t always stick to the topic of travel. But the way we’ve always looked at it: it depends on how you define “travel.”

For many, travel is the experience when you leave home for a short or extended period. It’s a time when you are “away” from your normal life; from routines, common places, and familiar faces.

But this “unfamiliarity” also causes the traveler to become more aware – their brain needs to pay attention. It is no longer so easy to filter out the mundane details of everyday existence.

What changes from regular life? Is it simply the location…or is it an opening of the traveler’s mind?

We think it’s the latter. Because when you define travel as a mindset of openness and awareness, it is no longer necessary to relocate your physical body in order to “travel.” It simply requires turning inward, and the will to challenge your beliefs about yourself and the world.

With that in mind, it’s been an enlightening year for BNT. Christine and I are grateful to our readers and talented contributors that help make this place unique everyday. Here’s a brief roundup of our notable articles from the last 12 months:

Ed. Christine Garvin / Photo: Bhaskar Banerji

Christine’s Picks

1. This one sparked up a bit of controversy, which is always a good thing.
What Makes A Great Woman Traveler?

2. Ugh. It’s like a car crash. You just can’t look away.
Has Travel Channel Sunk To A New Low With Bridget’s Sexiest Beaches?

3. I can drink and be enlightened? Sweet.
Buddha Booze: The Practice Of Mindful Drinking

4. This piece was powerful, informative, scary and not that surprising.
Confessions Of An (Almost) Religious Hitman

5. I first heard about Dambisa Moyo’s strategies for igniting Africa on NPR, and admired the fact that she was calling for a new approach.
Is Foreign Aid Killing Africa?

6. Being a foodie and environmentalist, this one was close to my heart.
1,500 Indian Farmers Commit Suicide: Are GM Crops To Blame?

7. Another one close to my heart, as I’ve seen many others struggle with weight issues, and have had my own body issues for many years. Plus, it got BNT on the Colbert Report!
Overweight Charged For Second Seat On Airplanes: Is “Fatism” To Blame?

8. Love getting a sneak peek into the dirty side of an intense spiritual practice.
Sex, Smokes, And Rock And Roll: 10 Zen Center Do’s And Don’ts

9. I really appreciated Shelley Seale’s breakdown about what really makes us happy, not what we think makes us happy.
Live Long And Prosper: Deconstructing The Happy Planet Index

10. Gorgeous, lush, full, immune-building, yummy. Bring it on.
Photo Essay: The Fascinating Kingdom Of Mushrooms

Editor Ian MacKenzie

Ian’s Picks

1. Celebrating the special role of airports in everyone’s journey.
Why The Airport Is A Metaphor For Life

2. Juliane Huang’s brilliant article comparing Fight Club’s wisdom to the traveler’s ethos.
What Tyler Durden’s Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

3. Tim Patterson allows you to dive into the consciousness’ of your fellow backpackers… Freud would be proud.
Analyzing the Traveler’s Mind Through 3 Persistent Myths

4. Dani Redd digests the ‘heart of the earth’, and learns the mysterious secrets contained within.
Peyote Perception: Searching For Truth In The Mexican Desert

5. Although I compiled this piece, I certainly didn’t write the stories. Their wisdom is entirely relevant today.
The 10 Very Best Zen Stories For Travelers

6. Christine Garvin outlines how to create your own sacred space for your journey.
How To Start A Travel Shrine

7. A thoughtful essay from Mike Jones on how to make peace with danger on the road.
Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good Travelers

8. Another classic from Christine Garvin that offers sound advice on a controversial topic.
The First Timer’s Guide To Seeing A Psychic

9. Carlo Alcos shares some fresh insight on this well-trodden territory.
5 Key Ingredients In The Search For Happiness

10. F. Daniel Harbecke manages to hit the holy grail of travel essays – exploring Joseph Campbell’s philosophy in a 3 part series for travelers.
Heroic Travel: Joseph Campbell and The Powerful Mythic Journey

Of course, there are many, many articles we wanted to also add to the list. If you want more reading, check out the full archives.

Thanks again to all our reader’s and contributors over the year. We hope to make 2010 even more exciting!

Shocked at what’s in store / Photo: CarbonNYC

Here we go, just a few days left in this God-forsaken decade. Well, it hasn’t been all bad, but we certainly are in for some changes in the next decade, no doubt (or, so we hope).

The same is true when it comes to travel – there are new fads and traditions already on the horizon. So why not take a little gander at what’s in store?

Thanks, Mark Morford, for your inspiration, as always.

Sexting

Oh, things certainly have changed since my day. To think, I spent five months in Italy in 1999 without sending a single text, much less participating in any kind of sexting (apparently a media term, not what the kids are calling it). I’m not sure the same could be said about the cigarette-chomping, cell-phone jabbering teenage Italians that surrounded me on the trains, if texting existed then.

Nonetheless, if America’s youth tells us anything about the world (and you know it does), probably at least a third of the kids you will encounter in most parts of the world, save certain areas in Asia and the Middle East, are texting a nude photo or video to a “loved” one right as we speak. Watch out in 2010, it’s just going to get hairier.

But before you text that hottie you met in Spain, give it a ponder:

Gay Spiritual Travel

Gay spiritual travel is here to stay, people. Get used to it. But please don’t use this site to book a vacation (introduction to boating?).

Astral Travel

Astral travel, the exiting of the physical body, will be all the rage starting in 2010. Seriously. Actually, it already is – these two words show up at least 4 times a day in my Google alerts. And no, my Google alerts do not include the keywords “astral travel.” At the very least, it certainly is a cheaper and easier way to get to India.

Religion Vs. Science, With a New Twist

Religion vs. science, science vs. religion. Eh. We’ve debated it quite a few different ways here at BNT over the years, so I think 2010 deserves a new way of looking at the subject matter.

Wait! Religion Dispatches is already ahead of the end-of-the-worst-decade-ever curve. Looks like we’ve been viewing things all kinds of wrong for a while now, when all we had to do was look to the WWF (and I’m not talking about the World Wildlife Federation).

Check out Dan Mathewson and Byron R. McCane, who “reveal how the equally toothless performances of New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and creationists like Ken Ham share more with the garish world of Hulk Hogan and the Iron Sheik than with serious scholarship.” Priceless.

Rasslin’ with Religion & Science from Religion Dispatches on Vimeo.

Now you can feel comfortable debating religion and science with anyone anywhere in the world, from Israel to Kentucky. Maybe.

Being Removed From Flights

When even Ivana Trump is getting kicked off flights, whose next? Babies? Best watch what you do as you board those flights starting in 2010.

What other fantastic travel truths do you see ahead? Share your thoughts below.

Beyond slicing them up as a pizza topping or sauteed beside a steak, I’ve never given much thought to mushrooms. But after reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I’ll never look at one the same again.

In the book, he talks about the mysteriousness of fungi and how we really don’t know very much about them. What really got my attention though, is their role in life’s cycle on the planet or, more specifically, in death. From the book:

Without fungi to break things down, the earth would long ago have suffocated beneath a blanket of organic matter created by plants; the dead would pile up without end, the carbon cycle would cease to function, and living things would run out of things to eat.

We tend to train our attention and science on life and growth, but of course death and decomposition are no less important to nature’s operations, and the fungi are the undisputed rulers of this realm.

Below are some fascinating photos of this strange organism.

[Note: Most of these photos are licensed All Rights Reserved. Matador received special permission from the photographers in these cases. Please note the license type before reusing any of the following images.]

1. Monterey mushroom Taken in Monterey, California. Photo: JonesGGallery (Creative Commons)

2. Shaggy Ink-cap As the cap matures it deliquesces into an inky black fluid. This specimen was found by the side of a path in deciduous woodland. Photo: Steve Greaves (All Rights Reserved)

3. Storm mushroom In late August 2008 Tallahassee, Florida was hit by Tropical Storm Fay. A week later in Indianhead Acres, the effects of the storm are still noticeable. Mushrooms grow wild. Photo: Andres Plata Stapper (All Rights Reserved)

4. 3D mushrooms You will need your red/cyan 3D glasses to get the effect. Found this tiny cluster of mushrooms while out walking through the woods after dinner yesterday. Photo: ian5281 (All Rights Reserved)

5. Firey mushroom It’s hard to believe that a mushroom could be so bright. I almost needed sunglasses to photograph this one. Scarlet Waxy Cap is one of the common English names for this mushroom. Photo: Dean Gugler (All Rights Reserved)

6. Parasol mushroom It is a very sought after and popular fungus in Europe, due in part to its large size, seasonal frequency and versatility in the kitchen. Photo: Claude@Munich (All Rights Reserved)

7. Glowing mushroom The name of this species is Mycena chlorophos, they only grow out of decomposing wood. The luminesence is caused by oxidisation with the air. Photo: aardvaarkau (All Rights Reserved)

8. Log mushroom Taken in Uvas Canyon. Photo: pendeho (All Rights Reserved)

9. Orange mushroom Taken in Upper Michigan. Photo: blondieyooper (All Rights Reserved)

10. Morel mushrooms Found on Memorial Day of 2006 near Bear Lake Michigan. Photo: Jim Stoner (All Rights Reserved)

11. Lemon mushrooms I really like the location of these parasitic mushrooms. Right in a crevasse of a deciduous tree, nestled in next to the epiphytic moss. Photo: backpackphotography (Creative Commons)

12. Turkey tail mushroom Mushrooms can apparently sprout up in a day or two if the right conditions exist. According to my mom, the naturalist, this one is called a Turkey Tail and is normally not seen in this round form but usually is layered on the edge of a log. Photo: BlueMarla (All Rights Reserved)

13. Mini mushrooms The most picturesque little mushrooms in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Photo: jeua (Creative Commons)

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Think you got a handle on life and death? These articles might make you rethink that:

Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever

The End Of Death: Further Conversations With Jason Silva

Who Wants To Live Forever? Depends On Where You Live

Photo: Eddi 07(OFF)

During a recent three-way conversation with a “spiritually-open” man, whose faith was based at least in part on Christianity, the other man joked, “Yeah, you’re only allowed to kill people when they don’t agree with you, huh”? The spiritual man replied, “Nope, that’s Muslims.”

With that comment, and this time of the year, it seems appropriate to look the peaceful and open ways of different religions and spiritual belief systems. Especially considering we often only hear about the bad, or sad, stories about religion. Islam, which consistently takes a beating by our media, may have roots that surprise you. Check out Muslim Dialogue:

According to a tradition of the Prophet, ‘Peace is Islam’ (Al-Bukhari). This means that peace is one of the prerequisites of Islam. Similarly, a Hadith states: A Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands people are safe. One of the attributes of God described in the Quran is ‘As-Salam’, which means peace and security.’

This is a nice reminder that no religion is the problem – it’s human beings who twist a message and create havoc from it, whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Taoist, or anything else.

Think only one faith can exist within a close-knit community? It is possible for a family to have multiple religious beliefs and not want to convert (or kill) each other, as a recent piece in the Rapid City Journal shows.

Talk about multicultural, this family has a Unitarian Mom, a Tibetan Buddhist Dad, a son who is “reading his way through the Bible,” and two other sons, one who is agnostic and the other who is an atheist. Mom Mahala Bach, who is on the Black Hills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s board, has this to say about the openness of religion in her family:

I believe in a creator, but I don’t put a name to it. I don’t call it God or Goddess or Yahweh or Jehovah or Creator…for us, expressing spirituality is about relieving suffering right here in our own community.

Shadow of Light

Slowly, quietly, and positively wickedly, love is beginning to overshadow all else, including religious and spiritual differences. The LOVEolution thinks there’s a spiritual conspiracy going on:

On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things seem dark. But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening underground. An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called to a higher light. It is a silent revolution. From the inside out. From the ground up. This is a Global operation.

No matter the religion or spiritual affiliation you subscribe to (and hey, this goes for travel too), this global operation seems to be touching many of us. Why is that? The threat of 2012 looming? Economic losses? It is interesting that so many people seem to be changing, affected by a deep desire of wanting something more real, less defined – a revival of the spirit, if you will.

I like Spring Break Time’s thoughts on the subject:

Within the core of our being, there is a wild mustang, a free spirit wanting to desperately break free from the mental fences we’ve built around ourselves; it’s in a way, the safety net that our mind has created for us to shelter us from harmful situations. However, that wild mustang, free spirit is your authentic self; and whether you choose to follow it or not, your authentic self wants to be released from your mental and emotional grips…and it will work fervently towards that end whether you want it to or not.

As we look ahead to 2010 and the necessity of tackling some of the largest problems the human race has ever faced, authentically living out our soul’s purpose is a necessary part of the equation – no matter what religious beliefs each of us have.

Do you have some positive religious experiences that defies how the media normally portrays a certain religion? Share your stories below.

Back in 2006, my friends and I became enamoured with the ridiculous foreign pop star Gunther. This somehow led to shooting our own parodies of his music videos, including the one above for Gunther’s Christmas Song.

To relive those good times, I’m sharing the video here.

Merry Christmas!

For more of our Gunther goodness, check out The Ding Dong Song, and Tutti Frutti Summer Love.

Director Olaf de Fleur with film’s subject Robert T. Edison.

Robert T. Edison was born and raised in Nottingham, England. When he was fourteen years old he began to practice Buddhism.

In 1994, he became the first Buddhist monk in Iceland and founded a Buddhist sect. Five years later Robert decided to “disrobe” and get married.

After sixteen years of celibacy Robert had to deal with the “real world” – getting employment, paying his bills and dealing with the needs of his partner. In short, he had to act normal.

Filmed over 10 years, Act Normal is a fascinating journey by a man looking to either face the world head on, or ultimately escape it.

Watch the trailer:

I caught up with director Olaf de Fleur to interview him about the film, his interest in Buddhism, and what it’s like to dedicate 10 years of his own life to a project.

The Interview

BNT: First, what drew you to Robert Edison as a subject? Did you already have an interest in Buddhism?

OLAF: I was doing a film at the time with several interviews about the meaning of life, Robert was one of the subjects. I was drawn to Buddhism through him and started to randomly film.

The film follows the subject for quite a period. Were you on board to make a documentary from the very beginning? Or was it an idea that evolved over time?

It evolved over time. I filmed some interviews with Robert, following him around with my film-making friends, always when I was going to close the film, something new happened. It all sort of happened by itself. I can’t say it was a very conscious decision to make this film.

The best kind of film work I do happens like this, almost by itself, with limited conscious participation. It’s hard to describe, but it’s just a feeling I follow and it’s nothing very complex. Just a little gut kitten I chase down a street.

At one point, the protagonist Robert T. Edison, talks about how the life of a monk is not running away from life’s problems, but rather “confronting them head on.” Do you agree/disagree with his statement?

Act Normal / Buy Now

Agree or disagree is not perhaps the right term. I can relate to what he’s saying by that. It rings true for me, but of course not with everybody. Confronting life’s moments at their core, the feeling of each moment, sounds more true for me than chasing distractions.

Robert also says that while most religions agree life is suffering, religions disagree on the cause of suffering. What are your thoughts on this?

I don’t really have strong opinions on this. Which is an opinion in itself.

I haven’t studied religions at all. I’m more of a fan of trying to see things as they are. I could talk about religion for a long time, and I did do that as a teenager. But I feel that matter is so opinionated and polluted in discussion that I’ve mostly dropped it from my mind.

Finding useful rational tools that help in day-to-day moments is essential for each individual. I feel that the term “religion” is not extremely useful as everyday-life tool. Of course we each have our opinion about it.

With the wealth of material, what were some of the biggest challenges making the film?

Making a decent structure. Over time structure creates itself. So it was more a matter of patience and not trying to rush things. In this kind of a film there is no right or wrong structure, it’s very free flowing. In the end I decided to mix time phases of Robert’s life. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Did you have any favourite scenes that had to be left out?

No, not really. I did not care much if the film was too long. It’s that kind of a film. If you’re interested in the subject then you’ll watch it. I was not trying to reach a main stream audience. When you do that, it’s useful to drop scenes for the sake of duration. That was not the case here.

Through the process of the film, how did your own understanding of Buddhism change? And your understanding of life?

It changed my life meeting Robert. The film was basically done for myself and those who have similar thoughts, doubting society and it’s emphasis. That there is more in the simpleness of life.

I don’t see myself as Buddhist. I’m just curious why humans complicate life and I love to study both ways, the complexities of the mind and the beauty of simple elements.

Watch a 10 minute behind-the-scenes short film.

Learn more and purchase Act Normal on Poppoli Pictures.

Photo: spcoon

This is my last post for the week as I begin the holiday ritual of traveling to see family and friends. It is a ritual that takes on a bit more importance with each passing year.

I’ll admit, Christmas has always been an exciting time for me. More than a few of my friends say that’s because it’s also my birthday. Ok, ok – I’m not going to deny that’s part of the reason. But the type of excitement around my birthday has changed dramatically since I was a child, or even since my early 20s. It now comes from appreciating the year I’ve just lived through, and anticipating (and declaring) what I hope for in the coming one.

Last night, a recurring dream – one I haven’t seen in a while – showed up. It always begins with me as an undergrad at UNC Chapel Hill, usually right before senior year. I’m debating where to live – on campus or off – even though I have already been living in an apartment.

It has had its odd variations depending on where I find myself at the time, such as if I live on campus there in North Carolina, how will I make it to dance practice in San Francisco? Living off campus meant tiny rooms, while living on, being a senior, I had the most massive and expansive rooms to choose from.

Still, I could never decide. The one thing that is always noted, though, is that I had already graduated from there and gotten my Masters. Yet for some reason, I’m back.

There was a palpable difference in the outcome this time, though. Last night, for the first time, I chose what I wanted – the big, beautiful (shared) room on campus. And I was extraordinarily happy about it.

My take-away: I’ve been debating whether to change something in my life that I’ve been hesitant to take on because of struggles I previously encountered. But the purpose of change arriving now is to get it right this time, to take my time with it, without the same type of struggle. This dream showed me I’ve finally taken that first little, yet expansive, baby step.

The Rise and the Fall

Photo: Beverly & Pack

Sometimes – often – we look above the surface for proof of change. We want big, ferocious, in-your-face, Obama-winning change. All else takes too long and therefore doesn’t feel real.

I can’t help but give a little knowing look when people start to complain about how “little” Obama has done since taking office (Jacob Weisberg shows a different perspective in his piece on Slate.com).

This knowing look does not come from the fact that I believe he has done little, but rather that the day he was elected – although historic on many levels – I thought, “oh no.”

Americans (in this case, at least the ones who backed him) did what we do best – quickly elevate a “savior” to heights impossible to attain, and then when he doesn’t immediately deliver the goods, we tear the savior down just as swiftly and call him tragically flawed.

The reality is, change comes at a slow, but steady pace. We must first determine the larger vision, what we want in the end. But we can’t get hung up on that; instead, we must contemplate the ingredients necessary to make the changes happen, and then implement them in a steady fashion.

The fruits of our labors won’t show up right away – as my 23-year-old self had hoped after finding out I had some sort of vague, undefined sickness – but rather over time, with small shifts and changes, tweaks and re-tweaks.

I guess maybe the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other Capricorn goat of my almost 31-year-old self is finally beginning to emerge.

Burden of Proof

Photo: The New Yorker

The New Yorker recently ran a story about a safe zone in Pittsburgh, one that has risen from the ashes of “deindustrialization and urban decay”. There on the North Side of the city, the owner of a successful telemarketing firm, Ralph Henry Reese, bought a house in 1980.

Since then he, along with his wife Diane Samuels, purchased four more on the same street, and in the last decade, decided to turn these houses into refuges for persecuted writers from around the world.

Previously a blight on the city, this block of homes now provides rent-free shelter for two years to writers whose lives are threatened, mostly by their own governments. As a part of the international organization Cities of Asylum project, Reese and Samuels also provide extra expenses and medical care.

Sometimes we revel in these small stories of change; sometimes, we barely notice them. But as we sit in a season tailor-made for reflection (if we want it), the story of a house shifting from something seemingly useless and ugly to a true sanctuary with immense beauty clearly demonstrates the power of change. There is death of the old and rebirth of the new, but without the old, and in many ways, revisiting it, we have no new. The key is to give it the time, and energy, it needs to bloom.

I hope all of your desired changes build slowly and fruitfully through 2010, and that you give them the time, space, and air that they need to flourish in the long run. Me, I think I’m going to dream a little more.

What are some of the changes you’d like to see in 2010, personally or globally? Share your thoughts below.

Photo: -babo

Following the whole Copenhagen meeting was quite depressing (though not at all surprising).

Touted as the consensus-building answer to our Earth’s woes (uh, us), it merely exemplified that almost every country will put their ability to make money above the future of the planet. Now here we are, left with a watered down version of the Kyoto Protocol.

But I’m not here to lament the fact that, as a human race, we can’t seem to get our you-know-what together. Ok, maybe just a little bit. Mostly, though, I’m here to contemplate what the Earth does for us travelers, and what, in turn, we must do for it.

Weird thought? Yes. Still, it is quite obvious that beyond simple survival questions, without lands both near and far, we would have nowhere to travel. We would lack inspiration to write, to discuss and break through borders in our minds and hearts, and find it harder to believe in the connections possible even when different languages are spoken.

Though not about a traveler’s dilemma around climate change, John Wihbey at the Huffington Post wrote a moving piece, After Copenhagen Chaos, A Bit of Emerson for the Soul, about the breakdown at “Hopenhagen” (or Nopenhagen?), and what we do now. He notes:

Environmental thinking…has always had a practical and a philosophical side. At this difficult moment – one that feels almost funereal for many, the very winter of climate discontent – there is still some consolation in recalling the philosophy that got the discussion going.

I agree. If we can’t understand what got the discussion going in the first place, then how can we reassess and move forward?

The Next Great Hope

Photo: Christine Garvin

A traveler makes their way to new and different places not only to experience other cultures, but to literally see new lands. I think about my most recent drive across the US along I-40, which takes you from the flat farmland of Southern California to the mountainous region filled with leaf-covered trees of Western North Carolina (and eventually, the warm beaches along the Atlantic ocean).

Dry desert with seemingly hand-crafted rocks jutting out from the Earth greet you in Arizona and New Mexico; the “Old West” brush and prairies appear in Northern Texas and Oklahoma; the sunset flirts in the rear view mirror, casting golden highlights in Alabama and Tennessee. This beauty, among reflections of it all over the world, is at the heart of the environmental movement and is the purpose for the discussion.

Wihbey also states:

When you look out on wind-blasted peaks that sweep down into valleys of frosted trees – when you are “out there” among the eloquence of the elements – thought of this “romantic” type comes in purer form. So does deeper reflection. What is nature? Why is it valuable? What is our relation to it? Where are we going together?

My questions are: What are we doing? Why can’t we seem to change? It’s as if we are stuck in some way, even though change is such a normal human process. Maybe it’s because we think we will go “backwards” in order to save these precious views for our children and grandchildren, that to have enough clean water available to drink and to keep coastal cities above ocean level means the end of commerce, and comfort, as we know it. And this scares us.

What to do, then? Similar to a recent post at BNT about how science needs to bring sexy back, Wihbey includes a perspective from environmentalist Stewart Brand. Brand laments that we need a whole new paradigm beyond romantics and scientists to take on the environmental battle – we need environmental “engineers”: essentially, problem-solvers that will push us over the tipping point.

Perhaps this is a possible answer to the argument between George Monbiot and Paul Kingsnorth about the seemingly inevitable-coming apocalypse. From what I can see, some sort of new thinking is crucial. Otherwise, the beauty – and our travels – will simply be distant memories.

What do you think must happen now that Copenhagen didn’t fulfill its promises? Share your thoughts below.