Reginald Spittle's Blog: See my book blog, page 30
September 3, 2019
Dalai Lama: Ethics and Life in a Big, Big World
He is the spiritual leader of the people of Tibet, living as a refugee in India for 60 years.
He was Lhamo Thondup at birth. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, he has traveled the world, speaking out on topics well beyond his passions of human rights and Buddhism.
The 14th Dalai Lama, now 84, has authored numerous works, including Beyond Religion, a book I have read and read, and then read again.
One of the most revered leaders in the world, he draws readers into thought about the purpose of life, ethics, and how to be a better and happier person. His appeal crosses nationalities, races, religions, and practically every distinction that can be used to divide.
He poses questions about justice, nonviolence, materialism, capitalism, economic justice and a mountain of other topics.
In Beyond Religion, the Dalai Lama is optimistic and practical. Eloquent and approachable. Spiritual and human.
In the final chapter, he is a teacher, guiding readers through methods of mental cultivation through meditation.
August 27, 2019
Siddhartha: A Search for Fulfillment
Siddhartha is a handsome young Brahman who is wealthy, exceptionally intelligent, and loved. He seems to have it all, but he feels unfulfilled.
With his loving friend Govinda, he leaves his family and the comforts of home in search of enlightenment. He meets Gautama, but even life with the original Buddha is not enough, so he moves on, leaving Govinda behind. He fasts, lives without possessions, eventually slips back into materialism and a life with a beautiful woman.
As an old man living alone and working as a ferryman at a river, he reconnects with Govinda in a poignant meeting. Is Siddhartha, alas, fulfilled?
Siddhartha is German author’s Hermann Hesse’s most famous book. Hesse, who died in 1962 at 85, so beautifully describes Siddhartha’s journey that many readers return to the book. The conversations with people he meets are compelling and the narrative, originally written in German, is deeply human.
Each time I read Siddhartha, I find myself reading passages over and over. It resonated with me as a youth in the 1960s and it touches me as a man now in my late 60s. Messages of hope and beauty emerge from the book’s shadows.
Siddhartha mirrors aspects of Hesse’s own life of discontent. The author suffered depression as a child, attended a seminary, where he rebelled and fled. He attempted suicide at 15.
I devoured all of Hesse’s novels while I was in college in the early 1970s. Siddhartha was my favorite, but I was also drawn to Narcissus and Goldmund and Peter Camenzind. Click on the book cover above to go to Amazon.
Is there a Siddhartha in all of us?
August 25, 2019
Mont Blanc: Camino Lessons Travel to the Alps
See that speck of a building below the glacier? It is Refugio Elisabetta, one of a collection of remote hostels on the 110-mile Tour du Mont Blanc.
I would never have stayed there if it had not been for my hiking adventure on the Camino de Santiago.
Perched on a spur in the Italian Alps, Refugio Elisabetta offered triple bunks in a crowded coed dorm and bright orange clogs for walking around an outdoor setting that left me gobsmacked. I showered in minimal privacy, shared a sink with other men, and waited to use the only toilet with a seat. We had lucked out with a private room with barely enough room for one set of bunks, but its tiny window opened to a view of the glacier. The dirty duvet made me wish I had packed my sleeping liner, but I was grateful for the bed after several exhausting days of climbs and descents.
Refugio Elisabetta was a highlight of our two-week trip around the Alps’ tallest mountain. The delicious communal dinner came with quick-binding friendships with trekkers who had traveled from throughout Europe. Some were sleeping in tents in the campground down the slope from the building.
In Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows, I describe the restless night in my first albergue in Spain and how I had ruminated about the lack of privacy in coed dorms and bathrooms. Our first long-distance backpacking adventure eventually guided me to come to terms with ghosts that had haunted me since childhood.
And, oh, so thankfully, the Camino lessons led me to Refugio Elisabetta.
August 23, 2019
The Asian American Male: Who Is He?
What is it like to grow up in the United States as an Asian immigrant male who was born in Manila, Philippines?
For Alex Tizon (the photo above was on the inside book cover), it was a lifelong struggle to overcome the shame he felt as he faced popular stereotypes that portray Asian men as weak, short, and unsexy, among other characteristics. While growing up, he collected memories and files of evidence that he believed refuted those stereotypes.
The culmination of his effort was Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self, a powerful, brilliantly illuminating and sometimes humorous story of his life and of Asian men in America.
A Pulitzer Prize winner and ground-breaking journalist at the Seattle Times, Tizon’s last career stop was the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.
When a book touches me, I write to the author to share my appreciation. But I was shocked and saddened when I looked for Alex Tizon’s contact information and discovered he had died, of natural causes, in 2017, at 57.
You can get his book by clicking here.
August 20, 2019
Mont Blanc: What a Sight
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Patience. Sue and I had learned during our pilgrimage across Spain that our perseverance would be rewarded, eventually. I chronicled our trials in Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows.
Mont Blanc had stood tall, 15,771 feet, for the first several days of our 110-mile adventure around the Alps’ highest member. But it had hid from our view.
On the morning after the toughest climbing day of our lives, our patience was tested again as we inched up 3,100 feet toward Col de Seigne. The aches from day three worsened, making us wonder how much more we could take. We didn’t say it, but the Tour du Mont Blanc had made us question why we had attempted such a trek.
Then, at the mountain pass, Mont Blanc’s grand pose was the best pain killer I have ever felt. It graciously posed for photographs with us before we stepped from France into Italy, where we picnicked at nearly 8,300 feet in the crisp, blue air and gawked at one of Earth’s wonders.
Patience. Indeed.
August 19, 2019
Why I Trek
Why I Trek
Why I Trek
— Read on carryoncouple.com/2019/08/18/why-i-trek/
You have seen my wife Sue in photographs on this site. Readers of my book have seen her artwork and benefitted from her expert editing. She is the inspiration behind our backpacking trips around Europe. Why does she trek? It is quite a story; check it out by clicking on her blog post above.
August 18, 2019
Mont Blanc: A Climb That Took Everything We Had
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We knew the third day of our 110-mile trek around Mont Blanc would be our most challenging backpacking test ever. But were we ready? Our first long-distance trek, Spain’s Camino de Santiago, had taught us to be prepared for surprises at every corner and over every hill.
We climbed all morning, 4,317 feet, to an altitude above 8,000 feet. When Sue reached the snowy top of the mountain pass, or col, she was greeted by cloud cover, which closed in quickly, along with a chill. And then came a realization that reminded us of our climb to O’Cebreiro in Spain. But the bad news in France’s Alps was worse than what we faced on the Camino.
We were one col short. Another climb, on slopes steeper than they look in the photos, loomed. Reg was anything but a happy hiker when he turned sideways in the bottom photo to look back at Sue. The path led up, into dripping clouds, around and over rock and ice. Our rubbery legs and aching knees then faced more than 3,000 feet of descent to our hostel in Les Chapieux.
So how have we learned to endure such difficult times? Our lessons began in Pamplona, Spain, as we took the first steps of our monthlong pilgrimage. We tell and illustrate our story in our book, Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows. Click on “trekking slide shows” in the menu to view Sue’s short slide shows from each of our treks.
I would love to hear from you.
August 16, 2019
Mont Blanc: Are We Really Going Up There?
Courage. Sue and I needed a backpack full of it on the Tour du Mont Blanc as we faced climbing into the mountains behind us.
During our two-week adventure around the highest peak in the European Alps, I packed more courage (mixed with a measure of fear) than I ever imagined possible as I tackled the greatest physical challenge of my life. My courage was born on the paths and in the albergues during our walk on Spain’s Camino de Santiago. And I borrowed bravery from Sue, for whom “give up” has never been an option.
Our book, Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows, tells and illustrates our story. Click on reviews on the menu to see comments from readers. I would love to hear what you think.
August 10, 2019
This Road to Freedom Will Captivate You
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Freedom. Henry David Thoreau wrote about it in Walden. Cheryl Strayed experienced it as she walked the Pacific Crest Trail. Jon Krakauer wrote how a young man encountered it in Into the Wild.
When Ken Ilgunas graduated the University of Buffalo with $32,000 in debt, he feared a life without the freedom he valued more than anything. Defying his mother and conventional wisdom, he endured hardships and life-threatening adventures in Alaska as he worked jobs few would consider. He knew that difficult times, mixed with astounding experiences, would build memories he would treasure forever. Through it all, he penny-pinched himself debt-free.
Now what? he thought. His answer may seem out of character for readers of Walden on Wheels. I will reserve it for your discovery when you read Ilgunas’ superb book, which often made me recall the words of Thoreau, Strayed, and Krakauer.
Ken Ilgunas is as extraordinary a writer as he is an impressive person. His book is an adventure, but so much more. It will tug at your heart, tickle your funny bone, and spark thoughts like “I wish I could do that!”
August 1, 2019
Trail Climbs to Breathtaking Crater Lake View
Crater Lake provided the backdrop on the first day of August for our hike to Garfield Peak, a stone’s throw above 8,000 feet and 2,000 feet higher than the surface of the deepest fresh water lake in the USA. Sue and I found the altitude a bit challenging for our lungs at first, but after a stop for snacks, made it to the top in less than an hour. We are fortunate that our home in Ashland, Oregon, is just a two-hour drive from the national park.
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Matt and Karen Smith wrote my favorite national parks book, Dear Bob and Sue, in which they describe their visits to every American national park. Their presentation is unique and entertaining; check it out by clicking on the cover. They have just published book three in the Dear Bob and Sue series. Sue and I also enjoyed the Smiths’ book about their Grand Canyon dory trip, Dories Ho!
