Exceptional psychic abilities in exceptional people

[gigha]

I guess without reading the book that she would have to be a woman of means. That being "means" is wealth?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by gigha (here)

I guess without reading the book that she would have to be a woman of means. That being "means" is wealth?

Far from it!

She was a Buddhist, a feminist and an anarchist, and was one of the most extraordinary women of the 20th century. Here's a photo of her, in Tibet, where she journeyed for a whole decade disguised as a Tibetan man.



Here's a must-read summary article. She absolutely belongs on this thread.

From http://huffingtonpost.com/barbara-fo...b_1082451.html

The Amazing Tibetan Adventures of Alexandra David-Néel

In 1965 Lawrence Durrell, on assignment from a popular woman's magazine, interviewed the 96-year-old Alexandra David-Neel at her home in Digne, in the south of France. Famous for her earlier adventures in India, China and Tibet, and the books recording these, Alexandra is best known for her daring journey to Lhasa over the Trans-Himalayas in midwinter 1924.

Accompanied by her adopted son Lama Yongden, she was disguised as a beggar/pilgrim and eluded soldiers, brigands and officials of the British Empire. David-Neel became the first European woman to reach Tibet's forbidden capital, and she remains the most accurate, extensive source on the arcane Buddhist practices of a nearly vanished world. Durrell called her "the most astonishing woman of our time."

When we interviewed the renowned novelist in a Greek neighborhood in the South Bronx, while researching our biography, "The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel," he fondly recalled her eternally youthful air. Although worn down by the hardship of her travels, Alexandra kept a radiance that had drawn countless admirers, including generals and heads of state.

She was born Alexandrine Marie David (a distant relation of the artist David) in Paris in 1868 to a left-leaning father, a publisher and a puritanical mother. Alexandra began her career as a lovely opera singer, complimented by Massenet. When her voice broke, she became a strongly feminist writer, while her interest in Eastern philosophy matured.

In 1904 she married Philip Néel, manager of the French railways in Tunisia. It was a marriage of convenience for both parties, and Alexandra soon took off for India. Her one significant love affair, with Sidkeong Tulku, the young, handsome, reforming Maharaja of Sikkim, ended tragically when he died in pain, poisoned, in 1914.

Alexandra, for solace and enlightenment, turned to the Gomchen of Lachen, the Hermetic master of a small monastery in a mountain village near the Tibetan border. Stout and ugly, the locals believed he could fly through the air, kill men by a glance and command demons. But the British authorities respected him, and with this wizard Alexandra seemed to magically learn Tibetan.

His occult knowledge formed the basis of her "Magic and Mystery in Tibet," translated round the world. The practices the Gomchen taught her -- such as tumo, breathing to create heat to ward off the piercing cold of the snows -- permitted David-Neel to succeed on her journey via unexplored country to Tibet's capital. Her "My Journey to Lhasa," published in New York, London and Paris in 1927, became an instant classic of travel and adventure.

Above Lachen was the Gomchen's cave, at 12,000 feet, where he spent most of his time in meditation. Along with her adopted son, 15-year-old Lama Yongden, Alexandra took up residence in a nearby, sparsely furnished cave, to which she adjoined her tent, cooking utensils and her bathing tub. She agreed to become the Gomchen's disciple and promised him obedience.

For the next two years, in cave, tent or cell, she studied tantric Buddhism with the Gomchen by conversation, reading texts, practice and telepathy. The Gomchen and Alexandra would sit together in silence, focused on the imagined aspects of a deity -- perhaps Vajrapani, the protector -- their goal being an entirely unified mental state. Afterward the Gomchen would quiz his pupil, who became sufficiently adept that in her trek to Lhasa she could receive messages "written on the wind."

Alexandra became adept at tumo breathing, involving meditation on the fire within. For a final exam she bathed in a mountain stream on a moonlit night, then sat naked, meditating until dawn. She caught a cold, but tumo would save her life on the journey to Lhasa.

First, she visited the Panchen Lama, second in the hierarchy to the Dalai Lama, at Shigatse, Tibet, crossing the forbidden border. She was impressed by the Panchen's erudition, and she realized that in Tibet she was coming in contact with a wise, civilized people. In contrast, the British Political Officer, Sir Charles Bell, despite being a Tibet enthusiast, had Alexandra expelled from both Tibet and Sikkim.

Undaunted, Alexandra headed for Kum Bum monastery in Eastern Tibet via China. The Manchu dynasty had collapsed, China was in turmoil, but Alexandra pushed on past brigands and warlords and immersed herself in the monastic life and the study of rare manuscripts at Kum Bum. She observed the practices of Bon, an ancient faith, and she engaged in some of their occult practices.

In August 1922, with the help of another learned British official, Sir George Pereira, Alexandra began her zigzag journey to Lhasa. Alexandra was 55 when, along with Yongden, she defeated the fierce Himalayan winter and rugged terrain to achieve her goal.

The epic story of Alexandra and Yongden's reaching Lhasa is too incredible to summarize here. Victorious, Alexandra descended to India, flaunted her triumph before British officials, and sailed for France. She made her home at Digne at the foot of the Basses-Alpes, which she joked were "Himalayas for pygmies."

She stocked her villa Samten Dzong (fortress of meditation) with a collection of tankas, masks, prayer rugs, manuscripts and photos -- a miniature Tibet. She even brought home a necklace of gold coins, a gift from Sidkeong. She had refused to spend even one, no matter how desperate her need.

Over the next 40 years Alexandra and Yongden wrote two-dozen books on Eastern themes, ranging from adventure classics to "The Secret Oral Teachings In Tibetan Buddhist Sects," praised by Alan Watts as "wonderfully lucid."

Occasionally, the pair -- she dressed in a lama's robes, he in a black suit -- sallied forth to lecture in European capitals, always planning new voyages of discovery that she grew too arthritic to undertake. At 100 Alexandra renewed her passport, fruitlessly planning a trip across Russia that would end at New York.

Yongden had predeceased Alexandra, who passed away in 1969, just shy of her 101st birthday. At Samten Dzong, now a museum, some mementos from Alexandra's forbidden journey remain: a compass, a cooking pot, her automatic pistol, a native hat, box cameras, a Tibetan rosary made of 108 pieces of human skulls.

Alexandra's real legacy endures in her books, which have inspired many Westerners to travel to Tibet, to study Tibetan Buddhism and to live the adventure that is life.

[Flash]

A great woman

For the French speaking:

[gigha]

Thank you. Being wrong has never opened up so many doors for me. I do think that she was not from a family that worked in the coal mines. No matter what she did money was behind it. I am a feminist but i am male. I cannot go to Tibbet because I don't have the money. Back in the day you would have to have money to go there. Average joe can not make that trip.

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by gigha (here)

I guess without reading the book that she would have to be a woman of means. That being "means" is wealth?

Far from it!

She was a Buddhist, a feminist and an anarchist, and was one of the most extraordinary women of the 20th century. Here's a photo of her, in Tibet, where she journeyed for a whole decade disguised as a Tibetan man.



Here's a must-read summary article. She absolutely belongs on this thread.

From http://huffingtonpost.com/barbara-fo...b_1082451.html

The Amazing Tibetan Adventures of Alexandra David-Néel

In 1965 Lawrence Durrell, on assignment from a popular woman's magazine, interviewed the 96-year-old Alexandra David-Neel at her home in Digne, in the south of France. Famous for her earlier adventures in India, China and Tibet, and the books recording these, Alexandra is best known for her daring journey to Lhasa over the Trans-Himalayas in midwinter 1924.

Accompanied by her adopted son Lama Yongden, she was disguised as a beggar/pilgrim and eluded soldiers, brigands and officials of the British Empire. David-Neel became the first European woman to reach Tibet's forbidden capital, and she remains the most accurate, extensive source on the arcane Buddhist practices of a nearly vanished world. Durrell called her "the most astonishing woman of our time."

When we interviewed the renowned novelist in a Greek neighborhood in the South Bronx, while researching our biography, "The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel," he fondly recalled her eternally youthful air. Although worn down by the hardship of her travels, Alexandra kept a radiance that had drawn countless admirers, including generals and heads of state.

She was born Alexandrine Marie David (a distant relation of the artist David) in Paris in 1868 to a left-leaning father, a publisher and a puritanical mother. Alexandra began her career as a lovely opera singer, complimented by Massenet. When her voice broke, she became a strongly feminist writer, while her interest in Eastern philosophy matured.

In 1904 she married Philip Néel, manager of the French railways in Tunisia. It was a marriage of convenience for both parties, and Alexandra soon took off for India. Her one significant love affair, with Sidkeong Tulku, the young, handsome, reforming Maharaja of Sikkim, ended tragically when he died in pain, poisoned, in 1914.

Alexandra, for solace and enlightenment, turned to the Gomchen of Lachen, the Hermetic master of a small monastery in a mountain village near the Tibetan border. Stout and ugly, the locals believed he could fly through the air, kill men by a glance and command demons. But the British authorities respected him, and with this wizard Alexandra seemed to magically learn Tibetan.

His occult knowledge formed the basis of her "Magic and Mystery in Tibet," translated round the world. The practices the Gomchen taught her -- such as tumo, breathing to create heat to ward off the piercing cold of the snows -- permitted David-Neel to succeed on her journey via unexplored country to Tibet's capital. Her "My Journey to Lhasa," published in New York, London and Paris in 1927, became an instant classic of travel and adventure.

Above Lachen was the Gomchen's cave, at 12,000 feet, where he spent most of his time in meditation. Along with her adopted son, 15-year-old Lama Yongden, Alexandra took up residence in a nearby, sparsely furnished cave, to which she adjoined her tent, cooking utensils and her bathing tub. She agreed to become the Gomchen's disciple and promised him obedience.

For the next two years, in cave, tent or cell, she studied tantric Buddhism with the Gomchen by conversation, reading texts, practice and telepathy. The Gomchen and Alexandra would sit together in silence, focused on the imagined aspects of a deity -- perhaps Vajrapani, the protector -- their goal being an entirely unified mental state. Afterward the Gomchen would quiz his pupil, who became sufficiently adept that in her trek to Lhasa she could receive messages "written on the wind."

Alexandra became adept at tumo breathing, involving meditation on the fire within. For a final exam she bathed in a mountain stream on a moonlit night, then sat naked, meditating until dawn. She caught a cold, but tumo would save her life on the journey to Lhasa.

First, she visited the Panchen Lama, second in the hierarchy to the Dalai Lama, at Shigatse, Tibet, crossing the forbidden border. She was impressed by the Panchen's erudition, and she realized that in Tibet she was coming in contact with a wise, civilized people. In contrast, the British Political Officer, Sir Charles Bell, despite being a Tibet enthusiast, had Alexandra expelled from both Tibet and Sikkim.

Undaunted, Alexandra headed for Kum Bum monastery in Eastern Tibet via China. The Manchu dynasty had collapsed, China was in turmoil, but Alexandra pushed on past brigands and warlords and immersed herself in the monastic life and the study of rare manuscripts at Kum Bum. She observed the practices of Bon, an ancient faith, and she engaged in some of their occult practices.

In August 1922, with the help of another learned British official, Sir George Pereira, Alexandra began her zigzag journey to Lhasa. Alexandra was 55 when, along with Yongden, she defeated the fierce Himalayan winter and rugged terrain to achieve her goal.

The epic story of Alexandra and Yongden's reaching Lhasa is too incredible to summarize here. Victorious, Alexandra descended to India, flaunted her triumph before British officials, and sailed for France. She made her home at Digne at the foot of the Basses-Alpes, which she joked were "Himalayas for pygmies."

She stocked her villa Samten Dzong (fortress of meditation) with a collection of tankas, masks, prayer rugs, manuscripts and photos -- a miniature Tibet. She even brought home a necklace of gold coins, a gift from Sidkeong. She had refused to spend even one, no matter how desperate her need.

Over the next 40 years Alexandra and Yongden wrote two-dozen books on Eastern themes, ranging from adventure classics to "The Secret Oral Teachings In Tibetan Buddhist Sects," praised by Alan Watts as "wonderfully lucid."

Occasionally, the pair -- she dressed in a lama's robes, he in a black suit -- sallied forth to lecture in European capitals, always planning new voyages of discovery that she grew too arthritic to undertake. At 100 Alexandra renewed her passport, fruitlessly planning a trip across Russia that would end at New York.

Yongden had predeceased Alexandra, who passed away in 1969, just shy of her 101st birthday. At Samten Dzong, now a museum, some mementos from Alexandra's forbidden journey remain: a compass, a cooking pot, her automatic pistol, a native hat, box cameras, a Tibetan rosary made of 108 pieces of human skulls.

Alexandra's real legacy endures in her books, which have inspired many Westerners to travel to Tibet, to study Tibetan Buddhism and to live the adventure that is life.

[araucaria]

Posted by gigha (here)
Thank you. Being wrong has never opened up so many doors for me. I do think that she was not from a family that worked in the coal mines. No matter what she did money was behind it. I am a feminist but i am male. I cannot go to Tibbet because I don't have the money. Back in the day you would have to have money to go there. Average joe can not make that trip.

Why would you want to go to Tibet? Because this person did that? That would be very 'average Joe' thinking. If she needed money to go and had it, then that was money well spent. If you (think you) need to go to Tibet, either you will find the money or the journey is not necessary and you can do what you have to do from wherever you happen to be.

[skippy]

Posted by araucaria (here)

Posted by gigha (here)
Thank you. Being wrong has never opened up so many doors for me. I do think that she was not from a family that worked in the coal mines. No matter what she did money was behind it. I am a feminist but i am male. I cannot go to Tibbet because I don't have the money. Back in the day you would have to have money to go there. Average joe can not make that trip.

Why would you want to go to Tibet? Because this person did that? That would be very 'average Joe' thinking. If she needed money to go and had it, then that was money well spent. If you (think you) need to go to Tibet, either you will find the money or the journey is not necessary and you can do what you have to do from wherever you happen to be.

If you can't go to Tibet, then you can make Tibet come to you. Like this guy, who build an eastern temple in his backgarden in rural France.



The Creator, Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924) was a French postman who spent thirty-three years of his life building his 'Palais idéal' (the "Ideal Palace") in Hauterives, a village in the South of France. Cheval began the building in April 1879 as he reports:

"I was walking very fast when my foot caught on something that sent me stumbling a few meters away, I wanted to know the cause. In a dream I had built a palace, a castle or caves, I cannot express it well... I told no one about it for fear of being ridiculed and I felt ridiculous myself. Then fifteen years later, when I had almost forgotten my dream, when I wasn't thinking of it at all, my foot reminded me of it. My foot tripped on a stone that almost made me fall. I wanted to know what it was... It was a stone of such a strange shape that I put it in my pocket to admire it at my ease. The next day, I went back to the same place. I found more stones, even more beautiful, I gathered them together on the spot and was overcome with delight... It's a sandstone shaped by water and hardened by the power of time. It becomes as hard as pebbles. It represents a sculpture so strange that it is impossible for man to imitate, it represents any kind of animal, any kind of caricature. I said to myself: since Nature is willing to do the sculpture, I will do the masonry and the architecture"

For the next thirty-three years, Cheval picked up stones during his daily mail round and carried them home to build the Palais idéal. At first, he carried the stones in his pockets, then switched to a basket. He often worked at night, by the light of an oil lamp. Cheval bound the stones together with lime, mortar and cement.

[Limor Wolf]

This is a valuable thread indeed. It is a necassity to open up about our wholness as biological and spiritual beings in this on-going manifestation of reality (some say a Hologram) and it is also very sensible as some have alluded to remain quiet to certain extent when circumstances require. It is a tightrope to walk on.

Until not long ago, there was a grave mistake in the general perception of the world of science, of Anthropology, of psychology, of medicine, that the human specie has got to the height of it's development and is now ripe, that development can happen only in the area of technology no more in the human biological essence. Graver then that, that technology need to be imposed on the human being as part of himself so we can continue and develop further and have machine abilities. An inference of those who lack a strong soul essence in the body. That is until quantum physics and the continued decipherment of the genome has shown us otherwise, but the race to transhumanism is at it's peak. Truth is we are a specie on the verge of self- extinction which is not even close to be in full bloom, a small evidence to that is our very partial use of the brain (without getting into the false percentage argument) we have advanced so far from the Neanderthal to homo Erectus to homo sapiens (fast forwarding here), our next stage is so essential to our existance that it is forcing us to face Hamlet's (Shakespeare) famous question - "To be, or not to be..", The next stage in our development is Homo Spiritus. It is the assimilation and recognition of our spirit as ourselves and as the one holding the reins of the body. It is a must - to remove the blinding from our eyes, we don't have the previlege not to do this. We are on a major break of discovery that our world is not this limited thing that we learned to live in. We are not limited, but there are those who taught us to think this way. We must break out of these boundaries that we were placed in, because they are false.

They know better then us what is going on and if we want to have our 'say', then we better develop to our whole 'wholness' and do it fast.

So, in answer to Hamlet's question, only in a much broader meaning - 'To be or not to be..?', Everything suggests that the wise answer right now is - LET IT BE.

[grapevine]

Posted by donk (here)

Posted by Flash (here)
You are playing a mind game Donk, is this useful? this is not at all what was being done, using one's free will to trumps their free will. And you know it. This has little importance, it was just a plain Learning lesson for all involved, at the conscious or unconscious level. And you know this Donk.

Asking direct questions in an open forum is a "mind game"? And I know it??

What mind game is that, pray tell? The one where I get people to think about the implications of these powers people seem to having trouble deciding if they exist?

I state my intentions clearly, as always. I am asking valid questions that Christine lauds below--why are you making accusations that I am somehow being manipulative?

As I said, I believe in these powers. I believe they can be manipulated and used by others for less benevolent purposes and less benevolent people than Paula and Carmody when I wrote them.

So to answer your question, I think it would be very useful to be the many sensitive and vulnerable, the people strong in these powers, to think about the questions I asked, so they'd have this greater awareness that appears to me by the descriptions on this thread to be an evolutionary advantage to be used in your favor.

I feel it is extremely useful to at least have disclaimers and discussions (such as my posts attempt to generate--call that a mind game if you want) in discussion of this very REAL topic to point out that we are actually discussing the exact tools of intra-species predation .

I understand Carmody and Paula's examples are not that, all my purpose is to get people to take some of these ideas a little further, rather than keep their awareness at the lower level you seem to be (to me) defending.

No mind games in my book, I clearly stated my intent and beliefs: I am trying to bring light to what I feel is a dark area, raising the awareness of those I truly care about, in hopes they protect themselves from becoming the prey of "exceptional abilities"

Posted by Carmody (here)

Posted by donk (here)
Carmody, I have a question...and it kinda ties into the direction I hope the thread's moving:

I claim to have made approx 4000 people SIT DOWN, at the peak of a given concert, when the rest of the crowd was standing (+50,000 people). (among other instances)

I have zero doubt in my mind you (& other "exceptional" people) are able to do this...but what gives you the right? Isn't that some sort of violation of others' free will?

Also: who's to say there's not someone MORE exceptional, compelling you to "choose" to do that, without you realizing?

I'm not wanting to get into the details. One could express it as me making people sit down, but the reality of how such a thing occurred...might be something different. There was no violation of free will.

Even the way people speak of it, betrays the projection of such, the sheer internal separation from the depth of self (knowing) that is required. 'Power', 'ability', 'gift', etc.

It's like saying my ear is these things...when... everyone's got an ear, or whatnot.

As for being compelled by someone/thing/etc else to do such a thing -----no.

Slightly off topic here but I think it's worth mentioning that language - any language - is woefully inadequate when it comes to matters like this and is open to misinterpretation. And that is why we go off on tangents or get hold of the wrong end of the stick. Until we become telephathic, when we can convey full meaning through the whole, there's not a lot we can do about this, except to grin and bear it and give each other the benefit of the doubt. The very worst thing we can do on this forum is to be seen to question another's integrity which is, I think, is what happened here. And this is down to our personal interpretation of language . . . .

[Agape]

Posted by gigha (here)
Thank you. Being wrong has never opened up so many doors for me. I do think that she was not from a family that worked in the coal mines. No matter what she did money was behind it. I am a feminist but i am male. I cannot go to Tibbet because I don't have the money. Back in the day you would have to have money to go there. Average joe can not make that trip.

You can do about what you want to do , suppose you really want it .

[donk]

I think my language was relatively clear w1nfmill, and flash and Carmody were even clearer. And it seems no one wants to talk about it--that the responsibility that comes with great powers...a lot of people here seem to want to make that a "tangent" (I feel I understand you pretty well).

I think that's troubling. All these pages to "prove" the existence of psychic powers, on Project Avalon?? I would think most here believe, and it seems like most that could choose not to enlighten us any more than anecdotally.

So be it...I just wonder why so few think this important--or why it's ok to make it seem "slightly off topic"?

[grapevine]

Posted by donk (here)
I think my language was relatively clear w1nfmill, and flash and Carmody were even clearer. And it seems no one wants to talk about it--that the responsibility that comes with great powers...a lot of people here seem to want to make that a "tangent" (I feel I understand you pretty well).

I think that's troubling. All these pages to "prove" the existence of psychic powers, on Project Avalon?? I would think most here believe, and it seems like most that could choose not to enlighten us any more than anecdotally.

So be it...I just wonder why so few think this important--or why it's ok to make it seem "slightly off topic"?

Because my post had nothing to do with "Exceptional psychic abilities" Donk, that's why. I stand by my words - language is sometimes inadequate for what we are REALLY trying to convey. But if you insist in keeping this stance going then you are trolling the thread and I won't be supporting it with any more responses. . . .
This thread is too good to be undermined in this way.

[donk]

I'm "trolling" for information, playing the "mind game" of getting people who know to explain a basic idea to me--you can characterize my posts however you want, but all I'm doing is trying to learn and broaden the thread from "do they exist" to "if they exist...what then?"

Soooo...when is it ok for your exceptional ability to be used on another being? What excuses what I see as a violation of another's free will?

If someone made me sit down or anything, I would be upset...if I knew about it. So if the target of exceptional abilities is unaware, it is ok?

[minkton]

Posted by gigha (here)
I guess without reading the book that she would have to be a woman of means. That being "means" is wealth?

This is your first response to a remarkable bit of input about a fascinating woman. Good piece of information for you there.

IN terms of moving toward exceptional abilities, one of the things we have to do is notice our sticking points and overcome them.

[minkton]

Posted by donk (here)
I'm "trolling" for information, playing the "mind game" of getting people who know to explain a basic idea to me--you can characterize my posts however you want, but all I'm doing is trying to learn and broaden the thread from "do they exist" to "if they exist...what then?"

Soooo...when is it ok for your exceptional ability to be used on another being? What excuses what I see as a violation of another's free will?

If someone made me sit down or anything, I would be upset...if I knew about it. So if the target of exceptional abilities is unaware, it is ok?

Exceptional abilities are exceptions to rules. If you can transcend what are considered to be the laws of nature, you transcend what are considered to be other normal laws as well. this is just a fact.. you skip a few zones and land in a new territory. This is what coyote is all about.. playing with what is considered ok and not ok.. only by embracing the blurriness of boundaries can exceptions occurr.

Your delineating lines in the sand when the sand is blowing in the wind is causing conflict in this thread.. because this is not a rule oriented thread, its a creative space oriented thread.

Reistance to laws being shifted out of place is understandable. trying to draw lines where there are none is understandable.

[grapevine]

Posted by Carmody (here)
Collective reality in time/space 3d flow, as manifestation of the ego/will/body/emotions of the individuals, as a 'coven' group, but 7 billion of us in shared 'hypnotic trance'.

Is it 7 Billion lost in the Matrix - or - just one with a huge Disassociated Identity Disorder?

[RunningDeer]

Blabber rant removed. Left this reminder for myself:

One cannot sprinkle enlightenment on another. (no kidding, Paula) That’s not anyone’s job. We each have custom maps for our life experiences. I choose to be the driver. I don’t stand on the side of the road, hitching a ride, with fingers crossed that they will kinda go in the direction I might think I kinda wanna to go in.

[donk]

I did not mean to creat conflict on the thread, I apologize, I thought my concerns were relevant and important to the subject, I will take them somewhere and let the discussion continue on topic and without conflict.

[RunningDeer]

Blabber rant removed.

[grapevine]

Deleted to keep thread on topic. Apologies . . . .

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by gigha (here)

I guess without reading the book that she would have to be a woman of means.

Then read the book.

(That's why I posted the link: http://projectavalon.net/Magic_and_Mystery_in_Tibet.pdf )

If you have a simple question (like what was Alexandra David-Néel's background?) then by all means just ask it. Happy to help. Or just look her up on the net -- very simple to do.

If you want to make a point because you have a chip on your shoulder about money and what you feel you can't do, then please keep that off this thread. And if you think what she did was somehow made easy for her, (again) just read the book. It was an almost unique journey, of staggering bravery and vision.

Posted by gigha (here)

I do think that she was not from a family that worked in the coal mines. No matter what she did money was behind it. I am a feminist but i am male. I cannot go to Tibbet because I don't have the money. Back in the day you would have to have money to go there. Average joe can not make that trip.

I went to Ladakh in 1988 (twice) without a penny to my name. The way I did it was to advertise in a New Age magazine, and offer to lead a spiritually-oriented trekking group there. (I'd never been to Ladakh before, but I didn't let that stop me from being a group leader.)

17 people signed up, and my own (quite wonderful) trip was paid for. I earned it, it was highly successful for everyone, and everyone won. I repeated it a month after I'd returned, and once again the following year.

If you want to travel somewhere, just find a way and decide to do it. This sounds like a tough thing to say, but you're just inventing reasons for not doing what you want.

This thread is about exceptional people. You can be one if you choose. That's just one of the many, many things that we can all learn from Alexandra David-Néel's extraordinary personal story.