0.5 Gap Year Update #5: MS, AZ, MI
Hello my lovely people,
I did a few other things after Taiwan. Behold…
Buddhist Retreat at Magnolia Grove Monastery in Mississippi (Thanksgiving)
Over five days, we did sitting & walking meditation, silent mindful meals, stick exercises, dharma sharing circles, and dharma talks.
(PVC) Stick exercises at 6:30 am every day – stretching and mobility. While it is intentional body movement (& more than Fo Guang Shan), it’s still not enough to fulfill the exercise criteria of my ideal lifestyle.
Walking meditation: Passed by these Buddha statues in the woods. It reminded me of the Black Mirror episode “White Bear” so I got a little scared lol (screenshot from the episode on the right)
I accomplished a lot more inner work here than at the monastery in Taiwan, mainly because this retreat was structured and not as geared toward tourists. Also, there was very spotty service, so I was forced to be alone with my thoughts. We ate vegan here, which was different from Taiwan where we ate vegetarian. Not sure if it’s a cultural difference (Viet/Taiwanese), a sourcing difference (i.e., feedlots in the US vs more ethical sources in Taiwan?), or slightly different interpretations of the “not hurting/killing animals” rule. I noticed a lot of the food products were from Costco lol.
Mindfulness was heavily emphasized–we were encouraged to do everything with mindfulness from putting on our shoes to brushing our teeth. At the Q&A, I asked if there was such a thing as being too mindful and the monastics said no. I’m not sure I buy that, but I’m also quite new to mindfulness/spirituality.
A question I had for a while but was resolved on this retreat was that one of the Noble Truths of Buddhism says the cause of suffering is desire. But if you don’t have desire how can you ever achieve anything? For instance, the monastics had to desire to organize a retreat. But a friend clarified that it’s not a lack of desire/ambition itself but the attachment to a certain result of that desire. Something I’m trying to get better at…
Grand Canyon (end of Nov - beginning of Dec)
I spent 6 days on a frontcountry camping trip to the Grand Canyon with People of Color Outdoors (POCO). It was a grand time with new friends! And so so stunning. It snowed the last few days we were here.
During a stop on our scenic drive, a few of us ran away from the rest of the group to climb on top of the rock on the left. The selfie on the right is us once we reached the top. A drone shot would’ve been so sick.
We did a day trip to Coconino National Forest (right next to Sedona). More big rocks.
Live love laugh POCO<3
Biosphere 2
I spent an extra day in Arizona after the break trip to check out Biosphere 2 which is basically an indoor mini-Earth. The intention was to more deeply understand Biosphere 1 (Earth).
The 3.14 acre property contains five biomes: rainforest, ocean, mangrove, savannah, and desert. It cost $363M to build (adjusted for inflation)!
The experiment was having humans live here for two years without interacting with the outside world (starting in 1991). So, growing, processing, and cooking their own food, cooperating with the same seven people, maintaining healthy balances for the various ecosystems, etc.
This idea was fascinating. The implementation? Umm…
Starting from 24 hours in, oxygen levels dropped to <14.5% (normal is 21%), because soil microbes and the concrete base were hungry (the base didn’t finish curing so calcium hydroxide in the concrete reacted with CO2 to create CaCO3). 12 days in, a biospherian sliced off a fingertip in the grain thresher and had to leave to get medical attention outside the facility. They had trouble growing food, ended up eating only 60% of the recommended daily calories, and lost 18% of their body weight (see pic below for details). By the end, the group had split into two factions that stopped speaking to each other.
But at least their apartments had a unique view.
Early inspiration for this project was an “ecosphere,” which contains water and living organisms in a closed system. It generates all the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients needed to live. There was an ecosphere on display very similar to the one below that was “several decades old and should continue to thrive for decades into the future.”
A few things I found interesting from the tour:
They had to have mostly tropical plants so that they produce oxygen year-round.
It’s the most airtight building ever!?? Even more so than spaceships or planes apparently. 10% of the air was exchanged per year (when it was still a closed system), and that was measured by injecting a certain molecule at the beginning of the experiment and comparing pre- and post-experiment concentrations of that molecule.
Not a closed system anymore cuz otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go in lol
To maintain ~1 atm of air pressure inside, the building has “lungs” which was a 16-ton aluminum saucer and 4 tons of rubber (black part around the saucer in the pic). As the air expands (from sunlight heating the building, for instance), the 20-ton weight will rise and maintain the desired air pressure.
(Aside: one of the sunrise views while driving toward Biosphere 2)
Detroit (mid-December)
Also I visited some family in in the burbs of Detroit. Kids can be kinda fun.
Something I’ve enjoyed recently:
ChatGPT gave me nothing valuable but Google Bard gave me some actually decent stuff...
That’s a wrap on my half gap year! Thanks for readingggggg – my intention with these emails is to stimulate conversations in real life (about anything honestly) rather than simply reporting on my life happenings. If I see you in person soon, (1) I can’t wait to see you and hear what you’ve been up to and (2) let’s chat! But if I won’t, I’m sending all my love and a big hug!
Happy new year:)
Megan