Tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. I am leaving for Bombay, India. This trip will also take me to Kathmandu, Nepal. The excuse for this journey is to present a paper at an international social work conference; this excuse provides me with substantial airfare and hotel discounts and a professional expense deduction on my income taxes--all of which makes the trip financially feasible.
The real purpose of the journey is spiritual. It is my vision quest see the sun rise over the Himalayan mountains. Why this for a pilgrimage? I don't know. Something I have learned fairly late in life is to follow my bliss, which means keeping myself open to the mystery of joy in the midst of all the confusion and fear that assaults me daily.
Yeah, I feel a certian amount of fear about this trip--the U.S. is on a heightened terror alert and of course, I carry a U.S. passport. Just today I read that the French have cancelled international flights into Cincinnati and Los Angeles. I'm flying through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, known to have its share of terrorist activity.
I'm not afraid of death, but I would prefer to continue living for a few more years. My husband worries about me taking this trip--he declined to go along with me for a number of good reasons, but still respects & supports my desire to do this pilgrimage to the Himalayas.
In 1998 I travelled alone in Egypt (Insh'Allah--in submission to God's will) and discovered the cave monastery in Assuit where Jesus, Joseph & Mary are reputed to have resided after fleeing Harod's slaughter of innocents. This was just a few months after terrorists kidnapped and murdered some German and Japanese tourists in nearby Luxor. The ordinary Egtypians who I met along the way were shocked by this affront to their custom of providing hospitality to strangers. They were extremely kind and generous to me.
I don't know what I am to learn on this journey to India & Nepal, but I will surely be pondering the desperation and indiscriminate fury of terrorism as I start out.