Dalai Lama Is Taking A Subtle And

Comedy Is Nothing More Than Tragedy Deferred.

Visiting A New Town Is Like Having A Conversation. Places Ask Questions Of You Just As Searchingly As You Question Them. And, As In Any Conversation, It Helps To Listen With An Open Mind, So You Can Be Led Somewhere Unexpected. The More You Leave Assumptions At Home, I've Found, The Better You Can Hear Whatever It Is That A Destination Is Trying To Say To You.

To This Day, At My Relatively Advanced Age, I Still Don't Have A Place I Can Really Call Home. I've Never Bought Property. I Just Move Between Temporary Base Camps. I Know That The Very Notion Of Home, Of Having A Family Or Community, Is A Hard One For Me To Embrace.

[the Dalai Lama ] Says Western Traditions Can Teach Tibetans A Lot About Social Action, And He Thinks Some Christians Are Very Good At That.

My Christmas Present To Myself Each Year Is To See How Much Air Travel Can Open Up The World And Take Me To Places As Far From Sheltered California And Japan As Possible.