Month: February 2018

Greetings from Cuncumen Chile.  Yes Boys and Girls you’re going to have to zoom in on your Google maps to find this place. Above is a picture of my home for the previous week and the next two. There are rooms here. I could have stayed in one. Figured I had best be getting used to this kind of living though since this surprisingly roomy shoe box of a tent is going to be my primary abode for most of the next 7 months. It does offer the benefit of an unrestricted view of the Milky Way to lull me into slumber every night. Hard to beat that.

I’m here for a meditation retreat of sorts. As many of you know for the past five years I’ve been meditating, studying, and practicing quite rigorously with Buddhist organization known as Shambhala. Shambhala is a modern manifestation of traditional Tibetan Buddhism, and I can honestly say it has absolutely changed my life. Personally I connect with Buddhism less as religion and more as a scientific tradition of investigating reality.  A tradition of investigating my mind.  Of learning how to be gentle with myself and others and learning how to be a more useful human person in this occasionally confused and incredibly beautiful world. This program is known as Sacred World and once completed will mark my entry into Vajrayana Buddhism. The very same Vajra that this blog borrows it’s name from.

For now though my sleeping bag beckons.  Morning meditation begins quite early in these parts. Just wanted to say hi and let you know that I’m still chugging away on this peculiar pilgrimage of mine. As always I’ll leave you with a few photos…

 

An Ode to Brian.

Brian and I are dear friends. Have been for years. Interestingly enough Brian also happens to share my towering height of 6’ 6”. Frankly to me he seems freakishly tall. Inconceivably tall. But, like the man who paints the AstroTurf said – I digress.

We met at a meditation retreat in NYC and quickly became good friends. We share many things in common, besides of course the fact that we are both dashingly good looking, hilariously funny, flawlessly charming, and obviously completely humble. Brian has a business background, a brilliant mind, a penchant for improv, and we have enjoyed countless deep conversations and shallow laughs.

As if that wasn’t enough, the glorious thing about Brian is that he always says Yes. “Hey Brian, want to grab dinner?” Yes. “Hey Brian, want to volunteer for this program with me?” Yes. “Hey Brian, want to go bowling, go hike in the Catskills, waste hours hanging out doing nothing?” Yes. Yes. Yes.

“Hey Brian, want to go down to a little known town in Chile called Valparaiso and spend two weeks in an Airbnb so that I can bring a little bit of NYC and a dear friend with me and maybe I can feel a little safe and loved and entertained and have a few laughs during one of the more terrifying transitions in my life?”

Yes.

So Brian, this Bud’s for you. Thanks for coming to Valparaiso. Thanks for being awesome and patient and entertaining and loyal and hillarious and for always saying yes. Thanks for being you.

And faithful blog readers, tomorrow I embark for Cuncumen Chile and a three week meditation program called Sacred World. More on that next time. For now though I leave you with a few pictures of this glorious city of Valparaiso. Adios.