Photo: maureen sill

Preparing for my trip to South Africa was a blur of warnings, an avalanche of don’ts and watch-outs.

Once there, however, my dear friend Jess (born and raised in South Africa) explained the real meaning of the oft used phrase “This is Africa” (TIA) over two cool glasses of Savannah Dry. Essentially, that things here rarely work out like you expect them.

As we rambled about the differences in legality in our respective continents, she shook her head with regret and added: “The world’s gone soft.”

As many of us are undoubtedly aware, savvy traveling is a fickle see-saw; on one side, confidence can become arrogance, and on the other, caution can become paranoia. The former will get you into trouble, and the latter will deny you the best experiences.

The trick is to decide for ourselves how adventurous we’re willing to be, and, consequently, how much of the world we’re willing to experience.

Yet the mishmash of advice and horror stories with which the media inundates us makes it almost impossible to decide objectively. These occasionally useful hand-me-down prejudices are why people so confidently, and so foolishly, insist on branding country X as ’safe’ and country Y as ‘unsafe.’

Definition Of Dangerous

The area where Jess grew up is filled with more tragedy in one week than could fit in my local paper back home. It makes me ask: what defines a dangerous country? And how can we avoid letting fear paralyze us?

Worried parents say, “Go with a buddy.” Doctors say, “Get vaccinated.” But your backpack says, “What are we waiting for?”

This is why someone who has camped out in Burma might still fear walking alone at night in Brooklyn, or why someone can improvise à la 007 when his car breaks down in Egypt but can’t change a tire in Montana. This is why so many of us crave those hard-knock travel lessons like junkies: because that kind of traveling very easily shreds the definition of ‘dangerous’ into tiny pieces of arbitrary, amusing confetti.

As I silently observe the strength of people here in Africa, something irrationally pops in my head – a law midterm I wrote in college about the elderly woman who sued McDonald’s because she was burned by their coffee. Jess is right. The world – part of it anyway – has grown much, much too soft.

I see the electric fences around everyone’s farms, the orphaned Zulu children looking for work, the wrecks on the highways… but I also see how vibrant and breathtaking the country is, and how everything – the volume, the emotion – is seemingly turned up.

I can’t help but wonder if I myself have grown soft along with the world, and if it’s possible to de-soften – to scrub away the sterilization until the resolve, the spirit, and the dirt under my fingernails to reflect those of the people who embody the hardness I so admire.

The World In Common

Sometimes there does seem to be an overabundance of crime and suffering in the world. The fact is, people act desperately when faced with desperate situations. And it’s difficult to comprehend the mentality of extremism without seeing extreme conditions with our own eyes.

Photo: maureen sill

Perhaps this is why we tend to label countries ‘unsafe’ – out of misunderstanding.

A developed-world upbringing can obscure one’s perception of suffering. For example, war that is so horrific and arbitrary from the front lines can seem, from our safe classrooms, simply necessary in the course of history – both as a mother of invention and as a primal standard for survival.

And yet the same human problems – like hunger or heartbreak – exist regardless of what side of the picket fence you call home. The difference is that we can usually find a way to distract ourselves from those problems, while the overwhelming majority of people in the world have their eyes peeled back Clockwork-Orange style.

Whether it’s poverty or consumerism that we battle, whether it’s governmental corruption or political apathy that undermines us… when the shiitake hits the fanfaronade, the world does have more in common than one might think.

Getting Ready To Live

A country is only ‘dangerous’ if you choose to define it as such. Without labels, all places on this earth have their upsides and downsides, have certain elements of risk that can be foreseen and unforeseen.

This is not to say one should charge merrily into Somalia and start teaching soldiers to line dance. Savvy traveling is all about the tentative and skilled balance between confidence and caution.

If we travelers can embrace our adventurous attitudes boldly and responsibly, we can help to alleviate those media-charged fears just by understanding them. This is not mere danger tourism, but a realization that life is continually chaotic.

There’s an old Chinese proverb: People in the West are always getting ready to live.

How many of us would, if we could, trade our Purell and SPF 70 for some wicked scars and stories? Think of your best travel stories; I bet they involve a mishap, a scare, or some averted danger that is your new party trick.

Every one of those surreal travel moments is another millimeter your comfort zone gets stretched. And though some of our loved ones will still worry when we travel to a ‘dangerous’ destination, we travelers know that the only real danger is pretending we are ever in control.

Perhaps this mentality could be captured in a new phrase: T.I.L. – This Is Life.

What do you think about the definition of dangerous travel? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Photo: h.koppdelaney

There is a bit of sadness inside me today. This sadness is not so much for myself, but rather comes from reminders of the pain that is felt by so many the world over, again and again in their life.

It began yesterday during a conversation I was having about addiction. The reality that so many people carry the pain of addiction – whether that means “stronger” addictions like drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, or “lesser” addictions like food, work, the computer, the television – with them for most of their years can leave one feeling deflated at best, hopeless at worst.

Continuing into this morning, I was a bit torn apart by an op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled, The World Capital of Killing. Nicholas Kristof drives home the point that the continued genocide in the Congo may have already surpassed the numbers who died in the Holocaust, and yet the world still sits by and allows the murdering to continue.

The part that triggered tears was Kristof’s recounting of the continuous gang rape of a 14-year-old girl by the Hutu militia, which included sticks that tore apart her insides and left her “dribbling wastes constantly.” At 19, she has been “fixed” internally by Dr. Mukwege at the Panzi Hospital through many operations on two separate occassions, only to be raped, and ripped open, once again upon returning to her village.

Painful Lessons

How can we make any sense of this type of pain? It’s hard to see that there could be any lessons to these types of tragedies. I’m beginning to wonder if “learning a lesson” is the point. Maybe the “answer” lays more in learning what to do with that pain.

Photographer Dave LaBelle gave a presentation at the Pictures with Purpose workshop about his documentation of homeless people in Skid Row, Los Angeles. In it, he discusses how putting a face to the homeless and drug addicts brought some very significant changes to the area:

Chapter 1: Dave LaBelle | Connecting the Eye and the Heart from Francis Gardler on Vimeo.

The point that LaBelle exemplifies is that “now we know them, now we are involved.” This is the outcome with both people and place when we travel, this is what feeds us when we sit down together over a pint at a pub, this is what moves us when we watch a short video or read a piece about the suffering of others.

What can we do with that pain? We can try to hide it, which many of us do (for a while at least, and often unsuccessfully). Or, we can seek to shine a light upon it, to bring it to the surface. As scary as this sounds, it gives us a chance to free it, connect with others who have similar painful experiences, and hopefully transform sorrow into creative energy that can help others.

Continued thanks to all of you who go out into the world and share your story, or bring back with you the stories of others.

Have you used a painful experience to help another person? Share your thoughts below.

Community Connection

As Dave LaBelle shows us, a great way to share people’s stories is through photography. Get your free download of 15 Publications That Pay For Travel Photography, and be on the look-out for Matador’s travel photography course, coming this year.

Photo: Boston Globe

First off, if you are pondering whether or not to check out a sacred temple during your next trip, you may (or may not) want to put one of these on your list: 5 Temples & Monasteries on Perilous Cliff Sides.

Certainly worth checking out is this amazing photo essay of India’s 60th anniversary of the Constitution of India and 80th anniversary of the 1930 Declaration of Independence from British rule, Colorful India.

Think Buddhism is all about peace and love? Not so, according to Michael Jerryson, who discusses Buddhism’s “dark side” in his article, Monks With Guns: Discovering Buddhist Violence. Luckily, BNT’s own trusty Buddhist, Ian MacKenzie, enjoys taking his beard on peaceful adventures, and has the pictures to prove it.

At Matador, we’ve been keeping a close watch on the ups and downs in Haiti. A few other news sources have felt the need to dissect “taboo” aspects of Haiti culture, including Voodoo. On the other hand, part of an interview with Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, Jew Do Voodoo? A Jewish View, looks at how Voodoo and Jewish tradition have more in common than most people would think.

If you are interested in the view of another earth-based tradition, watch this moving video on where America is headed, according to a Hopi Elder.

We love seeing people at MatadorU make the career change to travel writing. Here’s another great roundup of how to go about developing a “small” business (i.e. travel-writing you): 9 Unconventional Steps to a Thriving, “Very Small” Business.

Finally, with Valentine’s Day on the horizon, we couldn’t help but wonder, if being encouraged to have sex in a restaurant bathroom isn’t romantic, what is?

Have a great weekend!

In typical Bill Watterson style, the strip above weaves philosophical debate between the antics of Calvin and Hobbes. This particular comic caught my eye, as it seems relevant to travelers.

Often, it seems the reason people decide not to travel is a fear of the world outside their borders. With few exceptions, they believe that most people are out to do them harm (that humanity is essentially evil).

A traveler, on the other hand, tends to believe the opposite. They embrace visiting other cultures and lands, because they trust that most people are out to help them; they believe humanity is essentially good.

The third option of course: is the people are crazy. This implies that the question itself is problematic, because you can’t possibly understand the motivations and worldviews of everyone. To judge humanity as mostly good or evil means you have to pass judgment, which says more about yourself then anyone else.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Photo: alicepopkorn

Fewer than twelve places left in America where silence pervades. Nowhere in Europe.

Those are some pretty intense statistics. Before you say, “I can go out to my backyard and get some silence,” in a recent Newsweek article, audio ecologist Gordon Hempton defines silence as “the complete absence of all audible mechanical vibrations, leaving only the sounds of nature at her most natural.” And we’re talking about having this absence over many square miles here, people.

Hempton believes we are facing the very real possibility of “silence extinction.” And when you start to bring up all those open spaces in the US – like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada – remember planes. Or:

…The snowmobiles roaring through Yellowstone, helicopters flying over Hawaii volcanoes, and air tours over the Grand Canyon.

Yeah, not too many places you can get away from our transportation machines. But does it really matter if we are left with no silence?

The Noiseless Experience

Photo: Pardesi*

What’s the point of silence anyway? Often, we don’t even realize what silence means until we have a chance to feel it for a good while. There are some – I’d venture to say more than a few of the younger generation, in particular – who have never truly experienced more than a moment here or there of silence in their entire life.

To be in silence gives the chance simply to re-ground into the self. For me, wired to be a bit high-strung, silence provides “de-stringing” action that brings down those stress hormones, so damaging to our overall health. Very few people can truly unwind while surrounded with noise, even if it’s the everyday noises we’ve gotten used to – the cars zooming on the freeway near our house, the construction we pass everyday on the way to and from work, even the low buzz of street lamps outside our bedroom windows.

The power of silence is even found in areas we believe cannot be healed; as Hempton points out, “recent studies have shown that nature experience can be as effective as medication in the treatment of autism.”

This is the scary thing about losing silent places: our experience of travel will change. One thing I look forward to most about adventuring to a new place is finding a golden space of noiseless action; sure, there is always the rustling of animals, and nature sprouting, but nothing man-made. It just feels different to the body, instantly, to be in this type of space.

Or, as Hempton notes:

To be in a naturally silent place is as essential today as it was to our distant ancestors…we are given the opportunity not only to heal but discover something incredible—the presence of life, interwoven! When I listen to a naturally silent place and hear nature at its most natural, it is no longer merely sound; it is music. And like all music, good or bad, it affects us deeply.

How can we help? Rerouting aircrafts is the major answer that Hempton offers. Individually, we can refuse to participate in tours that fly over sacred, silent areas, such as national parks. Drive to designated areas in these parks, and then hike your way away from the noise. Surrender some of these spaces to the animals and creatures that inhabit the area.

And leave that iPod at home.

Do you think trying to maintain silent places is important? Share your thoughts below.

Not the real Simon Black.

What do you get when you cross Jason Bourne with Donald Trump? Likely the enigmatic figure of Simon Black.

Simon writes dispatches to his website Sovereign Man, including his newsletter “Notes from the Field,” sharing in his own words “shockingly candid information about the markets, my travels around the world, and surprising secrets we discover along the way.”

I spoke via Skype with Simon to uncover his philosophy on traveling, thinking outside the system, and what true freedom really means.

BNT: On your site, you reveal Simon Black is not your real name. You say “I go by an alias because I value privacy and discretion– there’s not enough left of it in the world today.” Is there anything more you can tell us about your background?

SIMON BLACK: I used to be in the military, and did that desert “stuff” for a while. But then I became disillusioned with the direction the country was headed. I spent so much time in the military overseas, that I didn’t feel comfortable in the US anymore.

The first place I went afterward was Panama. Someone that I had been stationed with was down in Panama back when the US forces were still here, back in the 80’s. And this guy just could not stop talking about how great Panama was and how I had to check it out, so I did and it was fantastic.

I’ve always had a real estate background, so that’s the financial end of how I view the world. I started doing some real estate investment down here in Panama, and it just led to more and more things, and next thing I knew I was traveling all over the world, and here I am.

What motivated you to start up your site Sovereign Man as opposed to keeping your knowledge to yourself?

Logo for Sovereign Man

I think that travel is the best teacher. You can go to school for years, and you’re not going to learn the kind of things that you learn when you’re running around Africa, and Latin America, and Asia.

When you spend so much time with different cultures, and you actually put your feet on the ground somewhere and you meet the locals, and you get to know prominent and influential people in different countries, you really learn how the world works. You don’t learn that in school, there’s no textbook for that.

And so over the years I built up some level of knowledge particularly in certain industries, whether it is international finance or offershoring. I realized that a lot people were recognizing where the world was headed, and they were uncomfortable where the world is headed.

What direction do you feel the world is headed?

Well, a lot of people looking for answers right now. They don’t like the way that Western society, and the United States, Western Europe, seem to be turning increasingly socialist – they don’t like what’s happening with the present administration. They don’t like what happened in the previous administration.

They don’t like war, they don’t like death, the don’t like deficit, they don’t like socialized bank bailouts, they don’t like excessive regulation, they don’t like high taxes, and they’re looking for solutions. And these are exactly the kinds of solutions I’ve come across over years of traveling.

When you grow up in the US, you grow up thinking America, USA, #1, and maybe that was true in 1986. You get indoctrinated from very early age into this system, and it’s that system now that says America is #1.

Religious people seem to think that God and Jesus Christ are Americans. And America is the first among equals in the world. And anything outside the US, whether it’s medical care, whether it’s a government system, whether it’s corporations, technology is somehow inferior – and the fact of the matter is that it’s not.

People are surprised go overseas to places and they find the quality of everything they can get is phenomenal.

For some people disillusioned with the current system, their reaction is to get angry, particularly at the government. yet you believe people need to eliminate the mindset that “you are subject to a corrupt government that is bent on degrading your personal liberty.”

I think the illusion that you can have some grassroots campaign and change the system and fight the man is frankly bullshit. I just don’t see it being possible. It really is counterproductive and at the end of the day, you have yourself and your family to worry about.

And there’s literally an entire world of opportunity out there – whatever the problems you might have, there are limitless options and solutions out there to improve your life, whether it be a personal situation or a professional situation.

One of the things we do is get people to think globally. People in the United States, they’re out of a job, they can’t find work – well, where are you looking? Are you trying to find work in Fort Myers, Florida, the epicenter of the real estate collapse? Probably not a good idea. You have better chances of finding a job in different places in the world.

People get so focused on their country, they became a slave to their geography, and it’s just completely senseless.

How can people think outside their geography?

People have a box that they live in, whether it be their country or their neighborhood, and with that worldview, they end up fighting for turf in this little box, fighting over changes that they don’t like.

And in truth, that’s a pretty enslaving battle. If you’re going to fight that battle, you’re going to lose, because things are going to change, there’s no way to prevent it. If they’re not changing in your favour, then that’s just the way it is.

I’m trying to get people to realize that this box, the system everyone believes in, is a complete fallacy. I don’t want to start quoting the Matrix, but seriously, a lot of things that western society deems important – our FICO scores, whether we own or rent, our position in the rat race, etc. are complete nonsense.

Extensive travel is one of the ways to step outside of the box and see all of that garbage for what it really is.

You see just as soon as you go somewhere, the way you previously viewed an area, the way you viewed the people, they way you viewed your own opportunities, probably came from people who had no first-hand experience and it was all hearsay. You suddenly find lots of opportunity there because you’d freed yourself from this artificial mental construct that kept you confined to a singular geography.

Our goal is open people’s eyes a little bit.

Your site newsletter aims to “provide concise, actionable information each day to help achieve those ends.” Can you eleborate?

For those that are ready for it, we offer slaving away in a cubicle and worrying about your credit score, or whether you’re still going to have a job tomorrow. Human beings are not meant to exist in that way.

What does true freedom mean to you?

I think true freedom is being able to make your own choices, without having the influence of other entities you haven’t invited into your life. I’m a permanent traveler, I don’t have a home anymore. That usually blows peoples’ minds. They say, where do you live? And I say, I don’t live anywhere. Where do you get your mail? I say I don’t get mail, I don’t have a postal address. When I tell this to attorneys they say, where do you get served? I don’t get sued either.

In 2009 for example, I spent a month in Dubai, month in Argentina, month in Panama, couple months traveling around Europe, several months in Asia. I spent some time in New Zealand, Croatia, Colombia, Chile… all over the place. I just go from place to place, I generally have a reason to go, either personal or professional opportunity.

Freedom is being able to have complete control of my time and make choices, and choices are based on what I want, and not being told by someone or something else.

We’re not promising anybody a magic pill here. We’re not saying if you hate your situation, all you have to do is take this pill, call this lawyer, buy this piece of property and you’ll be good to go. Everybody is completely different in the things that make them happy.

I think everyone wants more freedom in their life, whether it’s freedom from their asshole boss, or being able to have more time, or not having to worry about money, or their bills, all these types of things that people tend to worry about. You know everybody has issues and challenges, and it’s about the ability to build away from that.

That’s really what I’m providing on my site. Actionable advice to achieve more freedom, that allows you to live a happier, richer and fuller life.

For more, visit Sovereign Man, and sign up for Simon Black’s newsletter “Notes from the Field.”

Disclosure: http://cmp.ly/3

What do you think of Simon’s advice and the ability to achieve true freedom? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Photo: Jayel Aheram

Last week, one of the greats passed on.

No, I’m not referring to J.D. Salinger, although he was also one. I’m talking about Howard Zinn – historian, writer, and social justice activist. He is the author of the quintessential book that changed my life, the People’s History of the United States. If you haven’t read it, whether you are American or not, it will without a doubt re-frame everything you thought you knew about world history since the Declaration of Independence.

In a 2004 interview passed along from BNT writer Daniel Harbecke, Zinn discusses his beliefs around whether or not the desire to kill is a part of human nature:

Essentially, from his own experience in the Air Force to the vast research on history and anthropology that he focused much of his work on, Zinn could not accept the idea that young men, in particular, have a “desire or thrill” to go to war. Instead of humans possessing a “killing instinct”, he believes that leaders use complex tactics to get a population behind war.

Zinn questions, why would we need a draft if we have the spontaneous urge to kill? Propaganda through media outlets, whether that means the intricate placement and timing of code alerts and Bin Laden references, or men being sent by horse to towns throughout the land to espouse the government’s message, goes far to shift the perspective of a group of people (read: instills fear).

For those who don’t jump on that bandwagon, there is coercion punishable by jail time, otherwise known as the draft.

It seems to me we often like to blame atrocities on human nature. But as Zinn notes, the environment in which one finds him or herself has a lot to do with an urge towards aggression or murder, just as much as it has to do with the urge to be peaceful and loving. For example, Native-American and African tribes are often thought of as extremely aggressive OR peaceful, while in truth, their outward expression has had much to do with whether or not another “tribe” ruled over them – in other words, their environment.

While we can’t always choose our environment (perhaps this is part of what pulls us to travel), we do have a choice in how we act and react to our circumstances. Hopefully, our continued evolution allows us to better understand this fact. So instead of blaming “human nature” for war and killing – therefore blaming the people of a land – we can see more clearly the agenda of our leaders.

Rest in peace, Howard. We will miss you.

Do you think the urge to kill is inherent in humans? Share your thoughts below.

Photo: chany14

Sometimes, you guys just say it better than we do.

Ok, I would go so far as to say you “often” say it better than us, because your voice is completely authentic when writing on your Matador blog. Your experiences aren’t edited for content, length, or need to get a certain point across. You are just speaking your truth.

In the spirit (ha ha) of celebrating this authenticity, we’ve (specifically, the extraordinary Eileen Smith and Julie Schwietert) been searching through the community blogs for the most poignant writing and expression. Trust us, there is a lot of great content there, so the job isn’t easy. And this will not be the only time we put together a collection.

But for now, check out these five fantastic pieces that exemplify the search for the sacred and profound:

1. Looking for the Sacred, Finding the Profane, David Defranza

Sometimes, we believe we are searching for something intangible and beyond words, and instead we find that which is normal or everyday. Interestingly enough, as David Defranza points out, memories of “the smell of snow and of people, dirty blankets and hot tea” of Mount Kailash in the Himalayas is where true beauty is found.

2. What it means: Jerusalem in 100 words, Alyssa C. Martino

How are we awakened (or reawakened) by place? And does it always happen in the moment, or does it sometimes take years before we fully feel the impact? Alyssa C. Martino ponders the meaning of her trip to the Wailing Wall:

Me, I can’t even recall what I wrote on that note in the crevice; I wish I could reclaim that prayer, make it count, make it matter, rewrite it like this history of stubbornness.

Photo: keithusc

3. I Just Need to Get Out, C-Sunshine

Many of us at Matador carry the “dream” to take off and leave it all behind, minus a backpack, a good utility knife, and enough pesos to make it to unchartered territory.

C-Sunshine writes of her sorrow over her mother’s death when she was only 15, and how the only time she has felt alive since is when she is traveling.

She desperately seeks to leave her world that includes a great job, wonderful roommates and loving boyfriend, in order to take on the wildness of freedom:

I wake up everyday go to work, school, and make love to my boyfriend, but I can’t wait to go home and fall asleep making a wish that I won’t have to wake up and do it again the next day…I dream of leaving, every moment.

4. An Incredibly Deep Translation Error, Jgbrandt

What is the power found in a simple language mistake? It might make you think about who you are in relationship with others. During a writing exercise in a class he taught abroad, Jgbrandt’s student wrote, “My friend and I were fighting this week because we don’t understand ourselves.” True, he probably meant to write “don’t understand each other”, but the lesson of his mistake is that we fight based more on our own misunderstood feelings than what others do.

As Jgbrandt notes, “that’s the nice thing about travel. It helps you understand yourself, and your world around you, a bit more truthfully.”

5. Life at Vimutti Buddhist Monastery, Turner Wright

Behold the meditative power of the run. Beyond caretaking duties at a Buddhist monastery in New Zealand, Turner Wright connects spiritualism to exercise, weeding to living in the present, and understanding how Monks can live and practice the Middle Way. Here’s a moving thought that also serves as a nice little reminder:

Mindfulness can be achieved by focusing on anything in the present: the sound of your breath moving in and out of the lungs, the chirping of birds in the distance, even the subtle development of painful tension in those reliable legs.

What are some of your favorite spiritual pieces from the Community? Share them below!

Community Connection

Interested in adding your own voice? Then go set up a blog in the Matador Community! If you are hoping to develop your skills further or make travel writing your profession, look no further than the cutting edge curriculum at MatadorU.

Not all gurus looks like this… Photo: baronvonhorne

Some years ago, I had a discussion with my friend over the value of spiritual literature. I had offered her a particular book (okay, I’ll be honest, it was The Celestine Prophecy) with the wish that she find some sort of insight into her own life.

Months passed. When I asked her about the book again, she confessed to tucking it into a drawer and promptly forgetting about it. After pressing her further, it was clear she had an aversion to even attempting to the read the book.

Granted, the Celestine Prophecy has its flaws. In fact, I can’t remember ever reading a novel where so many characters stared at each other “intensely.” But the narrative does contain an overall message that many around the world have found beneficial – the idea that there is more to life than what we tend to see with our eyes.

When I explained this to my friend, she remained unconvinced. “Why do I need to read about someone else’s version of spirituality?” she asked. “Why can’t I just find out for myself?”

I considered her question. “It’s true, you could do it yourself,” I replied. “But think about it this way: if you were about to head into an unknown jungle, wouldn’t you like to have a map?”

Union With The Divine

At the time, we were only speaking of spiritual literature, yet I feel the metaphor extends all the way back to the spiritual teachers… or as some call them: gurus.

The word guru tends to evoke mixed feelings in most people. You might conjure images of Indian sages who preach non-attachment on the hand, while using the other to pick the pocket of their devotees.

But to understand the true meaning of guru, you must first look to the Yogic system of beliefs, succinctly described by Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love:

Yoga is the effort to experience one’s divinity personally and then to hold on to that experience forever. Yoga is about self-mastery and the dedicated effort to haul yourself [to] a place of eternal presence from which you may regard yourself and your surroundings with poise. Only from that point of even-mindedness will the true nature of the world (and yourself) be revealed to you.

In this case, yoga can be swapped with any belief system that offers the tools and motivation to turn inward. To return to the question of my friend: of course you’re free to stumble about life on your own, making mistakes (and hopefully learning from them), until finally you arrive at the same place.

But often this stumbling causes much unneeded suffering to yourself and others. To use the same metaphor, it’s like trying to hack your own trail through the jungle again and again. Authentic spiritual literature can save us valuable time to practice self-inquiry much more effectively.

Finding A Guru

Fortunately, books can only bring us so far…which brings us to gurus. Elizabeth Gilbert offers her eloquent description:

A great Yogi is anyone who has achieved the permanent state of enlightened bliss. A Guru is a great Yogi who can actually pass that state on to others. The word Guru is composed of two Sanskrit syllables. The first means “darkness,” the second means “light.” Out of the darkness and into the light. What passes from the master into the disciple is something called mantravirya: “The potency of the enlightened consciousness.” You come to your Guru, then, not only to receive lessons, as from any teacher, but to actually receive the Guru’s state of grace.”

I’m sure you’ve experienced the presence of a graceful being at least once. They may not consider themselves gurus, but they appear to attract people to their calm; their inner peace permeates the air around them.

Photo: dey

Now imagine this presence offering you the guidance and wisdom to understand your own mind and self. If a book can quicken your path to enlightenment, the right guru can light a fire under your chakra.

So let’s say you agree with me on the value of having a relatively enlightened spiritual guide. How to actually find a guru that fits your heart?

If you take a stroll down the nearest big box book store, you’ll quickly drown under the warm smiles of “gurus” of every size, shade, and style. They’ll offer you spiritual laws of success, how to find the perfect love, how to attract a massive bank account, and how to banish suffering (along with those extra pounds on your hips).

In truth, offering enlightenment is big business. With the rising amount of people beginning to awaken from their slumber, many teachers fill the demand with their specific brand of spirituality.

How can you tell the holy from the hubris?

There’s no real guideline for how to discern the right guru for you. In fact, it may require much trial and error, along with intuition and insight.

15 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Choosing A Guru

With the help of my friend and Taoist teacher Casey, I’ve compiled 15 questions to ask yourself as you navigate the guru gauntlet. I’ve used the word “teacher” in place of guru, just to give the label a rest. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Does the teacher ask you for money before he/she offers their teaching?
2. Does the teacher believe in absolute certainty?
3. Does the teacher encourage you to think for yourself?
4. Does the teacher pose problems that only he/she can answer?
5. Does the teacher focus primarily on ideas without action?
6. Does the teacher make you laugh or smile?
7. Does the teacher laugh at themselves?
8. Does the teacher encourage you to talk to other teachers?
9. Is the teacher in good spirit and health?
10. Does the teacher mix physical, spiritual and mental techniques to help a student grow in a balanced manner?
11. Is the teacher just following mass media or mass market trends?
12. Does the teacher try to use complex language, other terms or jargon to hide what they don’t know?
13. Do you like the other students?
14. Does the teacher break their own system (make exceptions for themselves relative to their own rules of conduct)?
15. Does the teacher show the unexpected?

To reiterate: do you need to find yourself a guru? Of course not. You’re free to experience existence on your own, discerning your own lessons from your experience.

On the flip side, there is a very real danger of becoming dependent on the guru for their presence, wisdom, and clarity. In this way, the relationship can mirror an addiction and in fact, become an obstruction in your spiritual path. An authentic teacher should merely lead you back to yourself, to realize truth on your own terms.

There’s a Zen saying: If you meet the Buddha on the road…kill him.

But that’s a topic for another article.

What do you think about choosing a guru? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Photo: Jazz Defo

I’ll often join a group on Facebook, without much thought, when a friend requests me to do so. I wanna share the love, and don’t necessarily take the time to delve deeper into the meanings of of groups like, “Hot Chocolate” “F-ck Gluten, I’ll Punch Gluten In the Face” and “Those Who Enjoy + Partake In the Distribution and Acquisition of High Fives” (yes, all groups I am a part of).

But it is certainly interesting to check out some of the groups on Orkut, India’s Facebook equivalent, as did a recent Global Post article. That’s because it is a place where “young, urban” Indians can meet people in their caste, as part of groups such as Brahmins of India, The Great Marathas and i love intercaste marriage.

Oh, right, the caste system. Something we sometimes forget (or maybe assume has changed in the youthful, urbanized centers of the country?) about India, what will all of the yoga this and spiritual that, and even with the well-publicized slums that we consider somewhat comparable to our homeless in the West.

Seems the caste system, according to social media expert Gaurav Mishra, has failed to shift much at all:

Surprisingly with urbanization, with education, with more people traveling and getting exposed to other cultures, these divisions have not really gone away. Caste even now — even in urban, educated India — is still an extremely big issue.

Caste Vs. Class

It really should come as no surprise that the caste system ended up playing a role in social media. From the more simple voting in polls about the shyness factor of Brahmin (one of the highest castes) girls to the more complex socio-political ramifications of discrimination, programs similar to affirmative actions, and empowerment or disempowerment within tribes, social sites are simply a microcosm of culture the same way they are in the West.

Hearing about this setup made me ponder our own social networking ways. Then I remembered an article I read about the caste…ahem, class divisions popping up between MySpace and Facebook users, beginning in 2007. As Facebook initially was an “invite only” platform for college students developed by a couple of Harvard minds, it quickly became the “cool clique” to get into.

Even though it opened to high school kids in 2005, their beginnings, and the negative media coverage that MySpace was beginning to get about being “sketchy”, made the divisions between Facebook and MySpace clear: one was for college students, the other was for musicians and those who didn’t quite make the cut. And to some extent, although Facebook has grown by leaps and bounds since then, the socio-economic breakdowns have remained the same.

So, I can’t help but wonder – are our social networking habits really that different from India’s? They may not be quite as well-defined, but there certainly seems to be a similar flavor.

What do you think of India’s caste system showing up in their social media, and the class system showing up in ours? Share your thoughts below.