Speaking of luck, a few years ago I volunteer to help an organization that hosted the Dalai Lama in Seattle 10 years ago. Two months ago, members of this organization were invited to Dharmashala, India to have an audience, and I was invited along.
I write books and blogs. I teach story telling. But no words can describe this experience. Neither do the following videos, but they do demonstrate his speaking style.
But neither of these show his sense of humor, and he made my group laugh and laugh and laugh, despite talking about injustice, global warming, and the current lack of leadership from the U.S.
My biggest learning on this trip was that this monk is not along in his compassion, his wisdom, and his sense of humor. Every Tibetan I met was like that as well. And this visit to Dharamshala included visits to the Tibet in Exile government, including the President, one members of Parliament, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, headmasters of schools, creators of nunneries, tour guides, and more.
My work is in Conscious Capitalism, and here I found a whole society that embraces those ideas. A society that 60 years ago fled their homeland with nothing more than old books, that today has preserved their culture, kept up their fight for freedom, and does so with a smile if not a joke.
A trip like this opens one’s mind to new possibilities, and I’ll post updates when I made progress on those.