The Holy Land

I spent the last two weeks with my wife traveling through the “Holy Land” on a Christian tour. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law have recently become Christian and asked us to join. I had always wanted to see Jerusalem and, after I found out that we would also be visiting Jordan and Petra, jumped at the chance. Being in a busload of praying, “experience sharing,” and singing Christians for hours at a time was a new experience for me (brought me back to summer camp in my youth). I read the book Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus by Karl Jaspers on the trip which provided a great perspective on the lives of these four remarkable individuals and the legacy that they left behind.

Some highlights included Jerusalem and the old city (especially the Holy Sepulchre, Wailing Wall, and Dome on the Mount), swimming in the Dead Sea, the view at Makhtesh Ramon, walking through Petra and Jerash, a boat-ride in Galilee, and learning about the formation of Israel. Needless to say, we also saw a lot of churches. The food was good, but fairly repetitive (humus, chicken, salad, etc.).

We also saw the wall surrounding the Palestinian areas. Luckily, there was little violence while we were there. Another very special highlight was climbing Mount Sinai and watching the sunrise. Mount Sinai, of course, was where it is claimed that Moses saw the “burning bush” and received the Ten Commandments. This has special meaning for me because, earlier in my life, “God” had also handed me words to live by. The first time was when I was skiing in Austria (Solden) in 1991 when I was given the words “Art, Love, Tea” which still puzzles me to this day, but has had influence in my life (when “God” hands you words, its best to just take them). The second time was in 1993 in Nepal. I was on a bus driving down the top of Mount Nagarkot and this time I was handed (on an Apple Newton Tablet even!) four sentences that became a life philosophy for a period. They were:
1) All I bring is what I know
2) All I take is what I leave
3) All I leave is what I do (or achieve)
4) All I do, I do from love

The nice thing about this philosophy is that it works on the micro (e.g., meeting someone), and also the macro (e.g., life). Although I was not handed anything on my climb (camel ride) and descent (hiking) from Mount Sinai (though I did pick up a few rocks), it did bring back memories. The camel ride up was fun as I had my headphones and looped the soundtrack to Lawrence of Arabia. Although we did not visit, I did get the chance to see Aqaba from Eilat (big flag over Aqaba supposed to be the largest in the world). Didn’t get to dive the Red Sea either. All the more excuse for another visit in the future.