INDIAN TIBET
There is a part of Tibet the British kept from China and is now a part of India. The region is called Ladakh and this is its capital of Leh. It’s the Upper Indus river valley after it flows out of Chinese Tibet and before it reaches the Line of Control with Pakistan.
Ladakh is geographically and culturally Tibetan, where Tibetan culture still flourishes. Here the great gompas (monasteries) of Thikse and Hemis are active, and where you are welcome in hidden mysterious gompas like Lamayuru over a thousand years old.
There is an ultra-remote part of Ladakh called Zanskar where the Zanskar River flows through the crest of the Himalayas to reach the Upper Indus. Running the Zanskar is one of the world’s greatest whitewater experiences. We’ll see and do all of this next August on our Indian Tibet Expedition. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #120 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY IX
Sensei Trump in meditation
[This week, TTPer Yasuhiko Kimura provides us profound guidance on keeping our sanity amidst the excess stress, mass neurosis, and cultural decadence permeating our society today. Thank you, Yasuhiko! –JW]
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. ― J. Krishnamurti
When the majority of the population suffers from a certain mental disorder, it becomes normalized. Thus, we can restate Krishnamurti’s above quote:
It is no measure of mental health to be well adjusted to and normal in a profoundly neurotic society.
The question is: How can we help people free themselves from this mass neurosis and decadent mass culture so as to restore sanity within and without?
THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL GRAVES
East of Borneo in Indonesia is a large starfish-shaped Island called Sulawesi, where in the south-central mountains the Toraja people have created one of the most exotic cultures on earth. They bury their dead in caves carved out of vertical cliffs, with balconies at the entrances lined with clothed wooden effigies called a Tau Tau as guardians for the departed.
The Toraja live in villages composed of family long houses with enormous peaked roofs of wood and thatch, decorated with exquisite painted art and scores of buffalo horns. While Indonesia is predominantly Moslem, the Toraja are a blend of Christian-animist. They are a gentle, peaceful people, marvelously welcoming and friendly. It is a priceless privilege to spend time with them, as I was able to during the summer of 2016. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #49 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE WOKE GOLDBRICK RUINING THE MONARCHY
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – LIVING WITH HEADHUNTERS
Yes, that’s me at 16 (in 1960!) with Tangamashi, a Shuar Jivaro chief who adopted me into his clan. The Jivaros are the only people on earth who make a shrunken head of their enemies killed in battle – called a “tsantsa.”
They inhabit the Amazon rain forests of the Ecuador-Peru border; living with them was the first adventure I had by myself alone. Tangamashi accepted me, taught me how he made a tsantsa from an enemy’s head skin, took me blowgunning monkeys with curare-tipped darts, and introduced me into the Jivaro spirit world with a tea they called “natema” from the Banisteriopsis vine – a very colorful experience. How cool can you get for a 16 year-old kid?
It set me on a path of an adventurous life from which I have never wavered – and there’s no slowing down now. Another great adventure always awaits. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #25, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/12/21
This doddering senile pedophiliac idiot has become the world’s most terrifying laughingstock – for his child-molesting fingers are the ones with access to nuclear launch codes.
Yet there are solutions to him and to the fascism his election theft has unleashed upon us. Read on.
RUSSIA’S HISTORY AS A MARKER FOR ITS FUTURE
Memorial to Boris Nemstov on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in Moscow assassinated here on February 27 2015
Early spring in Russia is a season of awakening from winter slumber—and it is remarkably rich with hopeful historical markers.
The notion of “thaw” is forever connected with the liberating death of Joseph Stalin on March 5, 1953, and the “secret speech” of Nikita Khrushchev to the 20th Communist Party Congress three years later, when the “cult of personality” was denounced.
Today, President Vladimir Putin may be busy building his own cult, but his address to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the organization that inherits the tradition of Stalin’s brutal all-penetrating KGB control, betrayed his fears of uncontrollable shifts in Russian society (Svoboda.org, February 26).
CLIMBING JACOB’S LADDER ON THE ISLAND OF SAINTS
Jamestown on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic is two blocks wide and a mile long in a narrow deep ravine. One of the world’s longest straight staircases, Jacob’s Ladder, was an original way to get out – 699 steps each 11 inches high – and it’s a workout.
People who live here call themselves “Saints” and pronounce their island “sent-uhl-LEEN-ah.” It’s famous of course for where the Brits exiled Napoleon after Waterloo. His residence and gardens on a high promontory, Longwood House, is preserved with original furnishings and his death bed. Dying in 1821, he was buried in a beautiful peaceful glen nearby (in 1840 he was reinterred at Les Invalides in Paris).
After climbing the Ladder and visiting Longwood, you’d want to refresh yourself at one of Jamestown’s pubs, where local Saints will be happy to hoist a pint with you. And don’t pass up a visit to the Saint Helena Distillery, the world’s remotest distillery, to learn how Head Distiller Paul Hickling makes his memorable Prickly Pear Whiskey, White Lion Spiced Rum, and Jamestown Gin – all in unique stepping stone bottles in honor of Jacob’s Ladder. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #46 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 03/11/21
The fun has just begun and the sky isn't the limit! Better watch out or the DMT-smoking QAnon Shaman who is your Facebook friend will get you!!
Far-Left Nation: Your Facebook Friend May Be Next ‘QAnon Shaman’
Something big is happening in Washington DC, even bigger than January 6. The DC Swamp Dwellers are all nuts. You'll need to read Eric Frank Russell's "The Space Willies" to understand just how utterly devastating that is. They have no idea what's hitting them, and will continue to hit them. And they can't stop it...
FNC's Carlson: Lawmakers, Media Hyped Imaginary QAnon Invasion in D.C.
Arizona is serious about the Second Amendment:
Arizona Senate Passes Bill Declaring Federal Gun Controls Unenforceable
THE WITCH IN THE WHITE HOUSE
The millions of Americans who were paying attention throughout the 2020 election campaign all became painfully aware of the fact that Joe Biden's cognitive abilities were slipping and slipping fast.
His wife, as the person closest to him, should have been the one to call the campaign quits in order to reduce stress on the man. Instead, so anxious to become the First Lady by any means necessary, Mrs. Biden continued to push her failing husband's campaign forward as if he were mentally qualified.
The woman is egregiously guilty of elder abuse for allowing poor Joe to suffer the indignities of encroaching dementia in public.