The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to New New England & Beyond

Neighbors

Change is hard. Our ways of thinking are invisible to us. The study of history, as I see it, isn't just the study of events, but the study of thought. We think we see the world as it is, but really, we see the world as we think it is. When the way of thinking changes in a culture as a whole, the whole world changes from the perspective of that culture.

Looking into the deep past, one can see the evidence of this in the Himalayas over twelve hundred years ago. Records have it, a traveling monk from India named Padmasambhava [pronunciation sample] was on a mission to bring his radical Buddhist teachings to the inhabitants of the Himalayan Mountains. On arrival, he found a wide region of warlords and nomads. He established the first Buddhist monastery in the remote town of Samye. He was a profound visionary. He taught the idea that enlightenment could be realized not just by individuals, but by society as a whole. This teaching spread throughout the Himalayas. In a few hundred years the region was transformed into a unified nation focused on compassion and contemplation. In spite of invasions from China and Mongolia, the seat of power shifted from the forceful to the mindful. Regardless of internal battles and political intrigue, the people of that country restructured their world in a way lasting for the better part of a thousand years.

More recently, with environmental changes and the fall of the global economy, increasing numbers of people have changed their ideas about their relationship to each other. Before this shift, a thing was to be owned, items had a numerical value, and people had a worth based on the value of their things. After the shift, things were useful, but never owned, and people became prosperous purely because of their generosity.

As is true with every sea change in thinking, there are always people who cannot or will not adapt. The framework of unit-based worth was in place for millennia, shaping the thoughts and realities of people throughout the world. People awoke to this way of thinking and they dreamed in this way of thinking. Their every idea had its roots in the concepts of exchanges and equivalencies, in the notions of prosperity and poverty. Such a prevalent and powerful force does not die easily. But it does die eventually.

– The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide, Vol. 6, lines 143 - 146

In the evening, as the sun was setting, and after an enjoyable meal, Marto led a story for the children in the still, warm air of the town's central square. The story was the same one he had led in Sherwood, but this time both in rich-thext and verbally, so all the children could follow along and provide their additions. At the conclusion, the children began to doze off in their parent's arms. Marto stood up and noticed John from Sherwood arriving, carrying a basket of bread and biscuits. Gradually, he was noticed by the others in the square. Marto had been so caught up in his story, he forgot to check for the members of Sherwood he had secretly hoped would be arriving.

"Ex-cuse me," John said aloud, in a hesitant voice. "we have come here from a ... neighboring tribe. We are looking for ... Lauren?"

["I am Lauren,"] replied Lauren. ["No need to speak aloud. We are not phobic."]

["Many of us were following Marto and we were moved by his experiences in your village,"] thexted John. ["It was decided one of us would come and introduce ... ourselves,"] the crowd was parting. The people were in shock. No one from Sherwood had come here in many years.

Many of the inhabitants were angry. ["We've all been right here, right outside your walls! All this time and, you just noticed us?"] they threw their thoughts at him, ["What is this about? What do you lofty high ones want?"] others asked.

John remained calm. ["You all have a right to be angry at us. I know you must have a lot of questions."]

The parents who had adopted children seeking refuge from Sherwood expressed their suspicions. ["Are you here to take our children back? You can't. They are ours. They live with us now."]