Joshua Allen Moore

2001

It's my first full day in Vienna and I figured high-time that I make contact. (The hectic call to Tom Davis to get John Harris' phone number from Jan Duvall doesn't quite count.) It's fitting in a way that this is my first contact: up to this point, I've essentially been 'at home' visiting friends, that is to say, I've spent the past two weeks in the Mannheim/Heidelberg area seeing everyone that I hadn't seen in a year. While there, I did try to write my first report:

"2001.6.13, Wednesday -

"I've finally taken a day to myself after several of running about and visiting long unseen acquaintances. First today, I finished the book which I had brought with me, Fellowship_of_the_Ring. It's an old favorite and certainly put me in the mood for adventure-though I do hope it remains a good deal more safe. It also has reminded me of just how much one misses of any given situation. Rereading the book, I found new relationships despite the fact that I've read it two or three times. And coming back to where I once lived a year of my life, I expect the same to happen.

"To this point, I've mostly sat around and spoken with friends whom I made a year or longer ago. After hearing that this is the Great Ideas Tour, people asked what I was going to do. To begin with, I said, I'm going to visit my friends. That, they said, is a Great Idea. And I'd have to agree."

I still do, but I was having a hard time justifying my time there as a part of the Great Ideas Tour. I know, I know. I can make of it what I will. And I have. I wouldn't give up my time there if I were to do it all again. And part of what I realized after seeing everyone is that my year-abroad was more significant to both me and my friends here than I had thought. Somehow in the past year that had become clear. I'm now left in a situation of considering coming back (see what you all have started: my parents WON'T be happy with you!) to study, or work, or what not. These thoughts are still rumbling around, so no need to worry just yet. But who knows...

I also decided while in Mannheim/Heidelberg what I wanted out of the trip (at least for the time being):

"The other thing that I've done today is finally turn to the mission at hand. The first part of this being my emails, which I'm sure all were surely convinced would be almost nonexistant. (I'm actually a little surprised myself.) The other part of my mission, at least as I interpret it, is to have great ideas.

"Now, I debated this last point somewhat. It could be that such a tour is intended merely to expose me to the great ideas of others. I figure, however, that the good folks of the Ramsey Committee expect something more.

"So, not that I have any guarantees to stick to it, but the basic theme for my trip, around which my own thoughts have long been circling, is the production of contenment and the reduction of suffering. To be more specific, I'm looking at two methods of accomplishing all this. The first being a way, Way perhaps, to personal contentment, namely Zen. I mentioned it to many that I would be attending a Zen retreat in Plum Village near Bordeaux, France. Interestingly enough, the branch of Mindfulness practiced in particular is Engaged Buddhism, which has not only personal enlightenment but also social improvement as its goal...."

That's essentially where the first-last-unsent email left off. The other method has to do with social evolution and how we in general we need to work towards Diversity in all things in order to ease suffering. In other words, the theme has expanded to become all of that which I study in New College:

"Convolution: New Ways of Learning and Living" (I'll be writing my thesis of this title next year, and so this all works together fairly well then. I'll try to spare you all too terribly much of that, though.)

So, wondering what I've actually done? Well, for example, I went with a friend, Eva, to her families country residence. By country residence, I mean a plot of land out in the country where there are lots of thistles and trees and grasses and a single trailer that they sleep in when the weathers too bad to sleep in a tent. Anyway, the weekend after I arrived (I got here on Saturday, June 9th. at 11:30am) we drove up to here home town and then to the country residence. What struct me about the whole setup was that even of the surrounding farm land, things were left in a much more pristine condition that what I'm use to. This, when the land has been heavily inhabited for many times longer that on which I live.

But it started even earlier when I visited Eva's Weinberg. Does 'Weinberg' say anything to you? I don't quite know if the concept exists in English (correct me if I'm wrong), but because of the population density (or so I think) people also have land in the city but off a ways that they use as a garden/summer retreat. From some little grandma, Eva has a piece of mountain with wine grapes that she tends to. If this happens in America, it's only in California.

And I've seen signs asking people to voluntarily reduce their speeds put up by families, parking tickets given out by kids to people who park where they wish to play, forestry programs that ACTUALLY work, windmills, the solar city of Freiburg, and water collection units on rought tops. There is, simply put, always a better way of doing things, and though I certainly won't give Germany/Austria credit for doing everything or anything for that matter perfectly, I will say that there are hundreds of small things that we could change in our daily lives to make a difference. (Oops, sorry, I'll get back down from my soap box now.)

I've also stood at 794 meters (Rosskopf mountain) and looked at the beginning of an 'soon'-to-be ocean (because of the Kaiserstuhl). And I've wondered aimlessly through Vienna for hours on end, and finally found John Harris Fitness Center. And much, much more, but I once again have to run off to the fitness center for dinner. (though it don't think it'll take me 4 hours this time!)

I don't know how impossible all that was to sift through. There may be more than a few Germanizations as until I met up with John Harris I spoken no English since leaving America. That, on top of the fact that this is the combination of two different emails and many different thoughts all piled together under the pressure of a ever-decreasing Internet Cafe Remaining-Time counter, and I can imagine it's not all that clear.

I'll try to send some more periodic updates as my plans allow. Barring interesting detours, I'll be in Vienna for the next week or so during which I'll also visit Bratislava and possibly Prague. After that I head to the Zen retreat in France (I don't think I'll have time to visit Switzerland.) Then finally, I will be backpacking through Sweden with Eva, who in no small part is influencing my considerations to stay here, but THAT I'll save for another time...

All my love from beautiful Vienna. Vivez sans temps morts.

Joshua.

ps for all of you familiar with my dietary habits, would you EVER have believed that there's a vegetarian restuarant AND a vegan deli right at the doorstep of John's apartment?! Hot Damn! Add to that the fact that there's a Buddhist book store and the Austrian Buddhist Center next door and I'm may just never leave. smile...