We Travel, Initially, To Lose Ourselves; And

Often When We Think Of Exile We Think Of Destruction Or Loss. But The Dalai Lama Always Says Exile Is Reality, It's Something We Can Make Use Of, And He Has Used It To Get Rid Of Everything That He Thought Was Stifling And Old, And To Create A New, Improved And Much Healthier Tibet.

More Than Any Religious Figure That I Can Think Of, Dalai Lama Goes Out Of His Way To Attend Interfaith Conferences; Religious Harmony Is One Of His Urgent Priorities In Life.

Traveling Is A Way To Reverse Time, To A Small Extent, And Make A Day Last A Year - Or At Least Forty-five Hours - And Traveling Is An Easy Way Of Surrounding Ourselves, As In Childhood, With What We Cannot Understand.

Our Own Country Seemed More Polarized Than It's Ever Been And Since The Two Terrorist Attacks Of 9/11, Religion Was In Greater Disrepute Than At Any Other Time In My Lifetime.

The Dalai Lama, These Days, Encourages Westerners Not To Take Up Buddhism, Partly Because He Feels That Our Roots Are Deep In Other Traditions, And We Should Go Deeper Into Our Own Traditions Rather Than Just Acquiring The Surfaces Of Others.