The Wanderer

The Wanderer, Mt. Kearsarge, Warner, NH, August 2007, Nikon D40 with 18-200mm VR lens, Focal length 75mm, Exposure 1/30 sec @ f29.0, ISO 220, exposure bias -1/3 stop, no flash, circular polarizing filter © Steven Crisp [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Step 6. Be the Bridge
{continuing the series, by Susan Skog}

"Out beyond the ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." -- Rumi

When do you demonize and fear people you don't even know? When you have incorrect perceptions of others, it's easier to fear, even hate them. Get to know the genuine in others. Meet people of other cultures, religions, and backgrounds. Find shared experiences, hopes, and beliefs. Connect on that holy ground, and peace will flow out from those moments.

I find this message to be true and important. If we are not exposed to other cultures, to other peoples and their ways of life, to other philosophies, other religions, other ideas about what is important in life, then we become isolated and stultified and quite possibly arrogant.

We may believe our ideas and opinions are "the best", or the "right" ones. Only based on the fact that they are the only ones we know. Or that others like us told us so.

Like everything in life, it is so important that you get direct experiential knowledge. That you experience this life, this world, with an open and receptive mind and attitude. And that you seek to make your own judgments (rather than rely upon others), or even better, that you withhold judgments and just experience the variety of life.

The world is a most fascinating place, and there is so much that is fascinating to see, to hear, the taste, and to experience. Broaden your horizons. Be a citizen of the world. And have a wanderer's heart.