In Reply to: Hey AG! posted by Thinker on January 13, 2004 at 15:51:35:
Yes, I've gotten lazy and started abbreviating my handle.
I've been slammed at work and unable to come up for air--this is my lunch break.
I wrote some stuff on Sunday morning about Berg, sexuality & spirituality as a meditative reflection. I don't go to church, but I do set aside time for thinking about spiritual stuff.
The poverty and population pressures in Bombay are overwhelming. The air pollution was terrible. The people I met were great, though. The few native Christians I met were Catholics--maybe because this was an educational conference I attended, I met so many Indian Catholics, as higher education is a significant apostolic service for the RC church in India.
I visited the home of an Indian Moslem family who belong to a liberal sect that does not practice veiling women. My host in that family was our guide on a tour of an educational outreach project to shop kids in an Urdu-speaking slum. Urdu is a language largely spoken by Moslems in India. By "shop kids," I mean children between the ages of 6-12 sold as indentured servants to tradesmen and shop owners. The educational outreach is aimed at teaching these exploited kids to read, write, add & subtract. The teachers on this project are awesome human beings.
Nepal was absolutely beautiful. I didn't go trekking, but I did go to a hill station and watch the sun rise over the mountains. Wow!
I also learned some things about Buddhism as this religion is practiced by the Nepalese. I've read lots about Buddhism in books, but it's very different to have a Buddhist guide explain the meaning of the symbols used in the art and architecture, as well as the core beliefs and values held by ordinary folk.