Basic Principles

At the risk of sounding like an apologist, I feel like this is an appropriate place to display my thoughts on the reasons behind this trip that I am taking. I am not sure that I have told people about them in direct terms nor necessarily have I been asked about them, but I feel like its something I should do for at least my own piece of mind. Primarily and most bluntly, it is about the elimination of old habits, based on the hope that either habits in general will become less dominant or, at the very least, new, healthier habits will be taken on. My life up to this point, and especially so for the last few years, has been dominated by certain things (and it is not necessary to mention them here) and some time ago, I came to the conclusion that that dominance could be affected significantly by a major shift in my life situation. A literal example would be a static system that requires a shock to get it back on the road of motion, of some sort of forward, progressive development. In large part, this has to do with an insurmountable inertia caused by an utterly paralyzing laziness. My ass is lazy, bar none. And I simply did not have the will or energy necessary to change that particular aspect of my life. And so, I decided to put myself in a situation where it was all sink or swim, where the kickstart would come or I would simply float to the bottom of a very uncomfortable shit bucket. I have some amount of faith that these new conditions will provide the proper impetus. Its not that I don't see myself as capable of overcoming it, rather its me relying too much on the comfort of my environment here to bring the effort into being. In addition to that general need, of course there is also a worldly impetus at play here. I have a substantially strong desire to learn all about a different culture and society, where interaction between people (which is, after all, a bed-rock of any society) is governed by a wholly different set of rules and regulations. To submerge myself in it would not only lead me to question and re-evaluate my own assumptions about the subject, but also provide this whole new model with which to compare (something that is a rarity in life). Furthermore, I am going to do something that carries a lot of weight within my outlook anyways, and that is teaching. To inspire and influence a future generation, in my eyes, is trully a way of impacting the environment around us, and here I am given this opportunity to do so on the other side of the world. Its a great one. Writing about this stuff now makes me realize that I can keep going with the list for quite some time, but there's no real need for it now, because the main points have been made. Let me end on just this last one. Starting with my primitive interest in Buddhism in high school, continuing through my formal education in college, and in combination with an absolutely amazing Japanese author, I have become convinced that in the East lie answers to many great questions that we Westerners have either answered through science (or some branch thereof, such as philosophy) or simply left as unanswerable (except maybe by science a few years down the road). I believe I have an opportunity here to seek out those answers, or at least be in closer proximity to them. Ok. There it was. My excuse.

To all those close and dear to me, please take care of yourselves. I will surely miss you. Thank you for everything. And I hope that our friendships could only grow and mature with this test of time, simply time. My greatest love and admiration. Poma.