I’ve been trying to figure out what to write abotu the time in Thailand, since we’ve been here almost 2 weeks now. Really, though, I haven’t been able to sort through what I think enough to write something coherent.
This is my first time in Asia and the most overwhelming thought is that things are just different from what I know. Not that this is a moment-to-moment struggle or anything … at that level, life just seems normal but with different food and surroundings. But when I start to understand the world around me and thing about the “activities” we’ve done, places we’ve explored … I have trouble digesting them.
First on the list of things that I have trouble wrapping my head around: Buddhism. I know that most of this is because I’ve never spent time learning what Buddhists actually believe, so this is the first time I’m trying to figure that out … mostly through the explainations of tour guides. The language thing is a minor complicating issue but I think the real problem is that I try to find corallaries in my faith. There seem to be some, but I think there are more differences than similarities. I have a hard time getting my head around the idea that they really don’t have a god or a heaven, and that so much seems to be about offering money and flowers and good wishes to try to have a better life, now or in a next incarnation. I wonder about that as we wander through temples … and how to show respect without somehow compromising something that is important to my relationship with my God.
There are definitely things I admire about Buddhism, too. The beauty of the temples (even the ones that are almost ruins) reflects the honor, respect, and worship that God truly deserves but really doesn’t get very much in the Western pentacostal world I live in most days in Seattle. We don’t spend much time giving that kind of beauty, time, and money for the upkeep of our churches, where we worship a God who made the universe.
Also, you see little momentos everywere here that remind the people to take time out of their day to remember their faith, to be “mindful,” and to take a moment out of the day to day reality to think about what it means to be a worshiper and, say, an employee or a friend (at least that’s how these things were explained to me).
We met Karis, a missionary here who used to attend our church in Seattle, and she helped us understand that there is an ever-present reality of the spirit world here in the locals’ perceptions. The reality is true wherever you go, of course, but more recognized here.
But how does this fit with my faith?
The other things … daily realities of what fruits are what. Mangosteins are fabulous by the way … and in Thailand watermelon still has flavor but jackfruit is DISGUSTING and SMELLY.
And then the more surreal experiences you never thought you’d have … riding an elephant and a ox-cart, for example … that are very exicting ad so fun!
And the conundrum of being in a country where you bargain for everything … even when the starting price is so low that if you saw it in the US you’d think something was defective with what you’re buying. How much of a responsibility do I have, as a citizen of a much richer country who makes US dollars and someone who wants the world to be an economically and environmentally self-sustainging place, to just pay higher prices because I can? Is is somehow worth the fun of bargaining or is it somehow more humanizing to pay a bit more and increase a real person’s livelihood for one day? Or is the whole idea that I can make a difference in that way just egotistical?
I’m going to stop now … I think you have an idea of what we’ve been up to (shopping, riding elephants, visiting temples … the rest is mostly reading and eating) and I”m being much too philosophical.
