Cafe Musings 201

'The Thinker' and I have been planning to go on a trek to Tibet. We have been planning this for over an year. We now finally seem to have a viable plan and looks like we may end up doing it this summer. We like to prepare for our treks by spending a lot of time together. Sometimes discussing the details, the logistics, but mostly we end up, like today, just talking. Talking about anything. sometimes we discuss our previous treks, our shared experiences. He has been trekking far longer than I have so he has more stories to tell then I do. Often he tells me stories of his experiences, sometimes to prove a point, sometimes to express his fears or sometimes simply to enrich my knowledge.

Up in the mountains everybody is a guru. The awesome power of the mountains breed humility and humility is the preferred grounds where spirituality sprouts. Extreme cold and rarefied air make conversations difficult, so people speak as little as possible. But they converse as much as you and I, they only do it through their eyes and with slow clean gestures.

I once spent a whole evening with a family in Spiti Valley. They hardly spoke a word but everybody in that family, including a naturally exuberant 5 year old boy, did everything a normal family does. The father helped the little boy with his home assignments, the mother cooked and the daughter helped set the table.... all of it in a calm quite way. They politely smiled (the little boy and his sister giggled) while i foolishly wasted my energies trying to fill up the silences with my constant chatter. That was a long time ago. Now I am as comfortable with silences as they are.

Talking blunts all other senses and therefore its only by being silent that one observes better, perceives better, understands better. Mastering silence is at the very core of all evolved religions. Its through silence that one acquires the sensitivity to listen, appreciate and eventually advise.