As an anthropology professor hoping to invite my students to see and fully immerse themselves in the world, I fell in love with the story of Walter Mitty. I even adopted the Life motto from the movie as the "Student Learning Outcomes" for my Cultural Anthropology Class:
To see the world,
things dangerous to come to,
to see behind walls,
to draw closer,
to find each other,
and to feel ...
that is the purpose of Life.
So how fitting it was that the movie played on our seats in the final hours of our 24 hour journey to Vietnam. Brilliant young Avery, sitting beside me, shot me a knowing look, and I could see her smiling under her mask. In the rows in front of me were all of the students, each one very different form the others, each with a remarkable story. And I could see Ben, my former student, now cancer-survivor and all grown up as a masterful inspiring leader, on board as my assistant. It was perfect.
Some people travel for food. I travel for religion. I am not religious myself - not by most people's definition - but I love religion. I love immersing myself in other worlds, feeling and tasting every bit of this world from a different perspective. Every encounter nourishes my soul, gives me new tools for dealing with hardships and my own shortcomings, and offers new and often hopeful and helpful ways to imagine what is really going on here on this little rock hurtling around that big ball of fire.
So I have to give a big special thanks to Lợi Huu Tran from CaoDai TV, a great friend and the first to respond to my broken Vietnamese. He put me in touch with Canh Tran, Elmer Nguyen and the wonderful people of Cao Dai. They generously hosted us for the first week of our trip and put together an unforgettable itinerary that allowed us to fully immerse ourselves in the Cao Dai religion, an especially beautiful and nourishing religion that blends elements from all of the world's faiths by worshipping a transcendent God (represented by the Divine Eye) and includes Jesus along with Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Confucius as spiritual guides.
And special thanks to the monks of Tịnh Xá Ngọc Cẩm, Phố Cổ Hội An, another fascinating blend of Mayahana and Theraveda Buddhism, who kindly invited us to worship with them at the First Full Moon ceremony in Hoi An.
The Art of Being Human amzn.to/2vDOPUo
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