Do Christians and God LOVE homosexuals?

My Dad made me a lesbian questioning her identity, while my Mother just stood by.

Does the Christian God of the Bible send gay people to hell?

Silk mylk's marketed to?

(Bible Animations) The God Jehovah (YHWH, Yahweh, Asherah's husband) hates gays, right? Homosexuality is an "abomination" to the almighty. We all know that. But that was the old Christianity. What's the new spin in the age of LGBTQIA+ rights? Same old gay hatred but using nicer and more inclusive words and pronouns? Do we let lesbianism and bisexuality slide but condemn male homosexuality, unless it's child molestation in which case we give fathers and priests (both patriarchs, who are the foundation of our Patriarchy) a big pass? Right, Padre? Right, Pope? Catholics have much to answer for in this respect, whereas Protestants mainly molest their own children rather than their neighbor's kids, right, relative to non-incest cases, when Mormons and all sects are added up.

TIMESTAMPS

• 0:12 - Is Being Gay a Sin?
• 1:47 - What is the outcome for those who act on their homosexuality?
• 2:01 - What does God think of gay people?
• 2:49 - What do good Christians think of gay people?
• 3:34 - Why do Christians care about the gay marriage debate?

Got any tough topics to have covered or answered the Bible Animation way? Send a comment. Sub Count: 7,475 #homosexuality #pridemonth #jesus

What about Buddhism?

Buddhism loves gays. Which is not to say that all Buddhists do. Buddhists are not told to hate gays or homosexuality. But the patriarchs (apart from the Japanese Zen ones and others who practiced or advocated pederasty, a kind of homosexual child molestation made famous by the ancient Greeks and, it would seem, the Muslim Pashtuns in Afghanistan) seem to love them.

Ancient scholar-monks may have been less favorably disposed to any non-normative "gay" practices, particularly cross-dressing, which in many countries around the world was a stoning offense. The wrinkle is that "homosexual" is not actually a perfectly defined term. It is, and just ask any gay person or social science buff, a social construct.

That means it is socially constructed by implicit bias and made into a consensus reality. Once it gets to that point, it seems like a natural category and we say and honestly believe that "everybody knows what it means."

But this is just not true. There is no fixed definition of "gay," even now. Do an experiment. Ask around. Go to Brazil or an American prison and ask them what "gay" means. The answer may shock you until you realize that the self-serving definition they're using is pretty popular around the world and throughout history. It may even make one wonder what definition one has been using all this time.

Isn't effeminate behavior "gay"? No, of course not. One can lisp, droop the wrists, talk in a high-pitched, whining, or singsongy way all one wants. That doesn't make one "gay." It may earn them the title. But surely homosexuality has to do with sexual behavior and desire, not one's choice of wardrobe. But because we cannot see their internal states or past conduct, we simply infer it.

What is "gay" in Brazil, parts of Europe such as Greece, and in American prisons? Making love to men? Nope. (Huh?!) Getting aroused by males and their openings and then raping them? Nope. (Say what?!) Wanting to be with a member of the same sex in a sexual way to satisfy some sexual urge? Nope. (You gotta be kidding!) A man knowing another man biblically? Nope. (Goddammit, that must be it?!) A male placing his aroused sexual organ into another male -- by force, trickery, implied threat, or financial compulsion -- with the intent of sexual pleasure that consummates in a futile procreative act? Nope. (Aw, you gotta be kidding?!)

"Gay" in Greece and some other parts of Europe, Brazil and many parts of Latin America, and throughout the American prison system means, get this, "being on the bottom." What?? Being the receptive partner makes one "gay" or developing feelings of attachment and puppy love or going about acting weak, receptive, effeminate, or insufficiently masculine and tough?

For example, in Brazil, go to the beach where all the beautiful people are, with stunningly attractive women are wearing bikinis and showing off their Brazilian hair removal, and ask the men hitting on them if they also want to have sex with males and boys walking around the beach. They're likely to say yes, in this way showing off their masculinity or machismo. Now ask if they want males having sex with them, and the answer is likely to be disbelief or something like, "What do you think I am, a 'gay'?"

But you just said you want to have sex with guys. "Yeah," they will explain, "but I want to be on top." This means they want to be aroused, active, and have agency, which will make them -- by this popular definition of "gay" -- perfectly "straight." In fact, ask the women, and they are likely to agree that only receivers are "gay," whereas as givers are even more "macho" for being indiscriminate sodomites, rapists, molesters, and virile givers.

It's the same in prison, where everything is perverted and topsy turvy in distinction to the world and mores outside the prison. The same in Greece. It's almost certainly the same in some parts of Afghanistan where foreign Pashtuns have settled and brought their own mores and ideas. See the practice that horrified American soldiers fighting for capitalism and world domination during the 20-year US War on Afghanistan called sex with "dancing lady boys" (bacha bazi) or "boy play."

There are girls they could be molesting, but they prefer to trick, force, or hire boys to dress as girls and then be passed around by normatively "heterosexual" men whose wives and daughters are home as they drink, sing, and have a gay night out with the boys (their peers) and their victims.

If we say "bitch" or "punk" in prison and subsequently in the ghetto, barrio, and machine shop or blue-collar workplace where whites on parole congregate, these terms do not refer to females so much as "weak" males, victims, receivers, prostitutes, gays, and those who were sexually abused or about to be sexually assaulted by "straight" gay manly men.

Therefore, as in ancient times, the Buddhist scholars, particularly the most famous one of all named Buddhaghosa (the "ghost or voice of the Buddha") wrestled with the catchall term pandaka. In a kind way we could translate this strange term as "pansexual," but the traditional rendering has been more akin to "pervert." And one did not need to be "gay" to be labeled one.

• "Gay" as we have been using the term to far has the functional definition, for this purpose and saying nothing about its changing nature and definition, of a member of one biological sex (XX or XY or an anomaly such as an intersex or hermaphroditic individual)
• Bible Animations, June 17, 2023; CC Liu, Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

California blizzard 100 mph winds, 12 ft snow

Jon. Petramala, 3/2/24; WXChasing; ABC7 News Bay Area; TODAY; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

(Jonathan Petramala) March 2, 2024: Experience the chaos in this short documentary, showing firsthand the impacts as a blizzard blankets Northern California, leaving hundreds stranded on Donner Pass I-80 for hours...including us (the camera crew)! What's for dinner? It may be us if we're not careful. Witness the harrowing scenes of snow piling many feet high, trapping drivers in their vehicles overnight. Wicked winds gusting over 100 miles per hour, closing the freeway, Interstate 80. Power is knocked out to thousands. Feet of snow will continue to fall through the end of the first weekend in March. And there's another storm on its way.

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:34 The first I-80 closure in the storm
• 03:00 Category 2 hurricane force winds
• 04:13 Snowshoeing in a blizzard
• 07:27 Stuck with a [delicious] toddler in a blizzard
• 12:00 I-80 closes, stranding hundreds of drivers
• 13:00 The 2-wheel drive problem
• 15:00 CHP clears highway
• 16:33 Towing a news van

Help support independent journalism and by liking and subscribing to this channel. Also, please consider becoming a member. For raw video of this epic California snowstorm, check out @wxchasing on YouTube.

• California's massive blizzard slowly weakens, but a second storm is forecast for next week (NPR)
• The human cost of climate-related disasters is undercounted, a new study finds

Powerful blizzard slams West Coast with up to 12 feet of snow

(TODAY) March 3, 2024: Residents in the mountains of California and Nevada are hunkering down as a new blizzard threatens to bring many feet of snow. White-out conditions have closed a major interstate and caused power outages across the region [with wind gusts of up to 100 MPH so that even bears are emerging out of the California redwood forests because it's too cold (now that they do not hibernate due to climate changes)]. NBC’s Steve Patterson reports for Sunday TODAY. #Blizzard #California #Weather

(Foresty Forest) Life in a 4x4 Van: Camping in Lake Tahoe for the blizzard

(WXChasing) Truckee, CA, digs out from epic blizzard of 2024: Tow trucks

recover dozens of tractor trailers buried in snow, some  up to the windows.

Bears come out as Sierra snowstorm moves in

(ABC7 News Bay Area) March 1, 2024: As the snowstorm comes in the Sierra, the black bears are coming out of hibernation. Experts warn people to keep coolers outside and not leave food in the car because bears will break in if they smell a trace of anything. https://abc7ne.ws/4c05nby #laketahoe #sierra #weather #snow #storm #bears #abc7news

ABOUT: TODAY brings the latest headlines and expert tips on money, health, and parenting, waking up every morning to give all that's needed to start the day. If it matters, it matters to us, because we are in the people business and will do anything to please viewers and increase corporate profits. Subscribe to our channel for exclusive TODAY archival footage and original web series. Connect with TODAY Online. Visit TODAY's website: https://www.today.com/. TODAY: https://www.youtube.com/@TODAY

Walt's Disenchanted Kingdom (Catholic League)

The Catholic League; Team Coco; Pfc. Sandoval, Crystal Q., Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Team Coco) The Catholic League condemns Aubrey Plaza’s movie The Little Hours, as she explains to Conan back in the summer of 2017. Members of the Catholic Church aren’t pleased with Plaza's bisexual sex comedy that stars Plaza as a chain smoking, foulmouthed nun who's into other nuns, though it ‬now seems Pope Francis wouldn't oppose it on LGBTQI grounds.

"It is trash. Pure trash." - The Catholic League

But The Catholic League has bigger rats to fry -- like the blanks down at Disney Corporation promoting a "homosexual" agenda, getting all "woke" and pro-LGBT, corrupting children when the company used to be so wholesome, selling North Americans and the world a vision of nice and safe and mostly harmless, like when it corrupted the minds of millions of little girls by making them yearn to be princesses (with no regard for what others would have to be to serve their hierarchical role as monarchs) waiting for knights on white ponies or dashing princes looking for damsels in distress to "save."

The Woman Who Married a Bear

Lisa M. (Friends of Jung); Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Yeti, Meh Tehi, Miche or "Bear Man" is a legendary cryptid found all over the world.

The History and Meaning of the Iconic Grateful Dead Bears - Extra Chill

Tonight, we’ll explore The Woman Who Married a Bear [i.e., who had sexual relations with an ogre, yaksha, rakshasa, wild-bear-man or Yeti, Sasquatch, Bigfoot], an ancient tale told in cultures around the world, about a young woman who lives with her family near snow-capped mountains [the home of yetis and yeren "wildmen" in Chinese] at the edge of the known world [such as Nepal/Bhutan/Tibet].

Yeren: China's "Wildman" [Bear-Man]

(South China Morning Post, 8/25/18) Tales of the Shennongjia Forest yeren, or "wildman" [sometimes Bearman], have been spread widely in China over the last four decades. Records of it can be found in ancient poetry books, dating back thousands of years. This "Bigfoot" has been described as a hairy, ape-like creature, with facial features that resemble a human. This mysterious figure is covered from head to toe with long brownish hair and has been sighted over 400 times during the last four decades in Shennongjia Forest and surrounding areas. SCMP interviewed witnesses, explorers, experts, and even opponents trying to unveil the mystery of the legendary monster.

Sex with stinkin subhuman ogres?

Myths, dreams, and visions visit all of us on the edges of the known world. It is the edges where our instinctive, collective, animal "souls" [or archetypal memories] hold the grail of renewal.

We are not separate. The Archetype of the Animal-Human-Divine [tiracchana-manusya-deva] is often symbolized as world creator in creation mythologies.

This ever-present wisdom of our shapeshifting creative animal [base or instinctive] selves seeks integration and expression.

Carl Jung discovered that living on the edge of his known world brought Big Dreams and visions, which led in time to the discovery of his life’s work.

Let’s bring our bear dreams to share and hold sacred. What heals and guides the individual self or soul can also heal and guide our world. Dream, Myth, and the World of Inter-being, Thursday, June 30, 2022, 7:00 PM | Meetup

Wim Hof: Breathwork (video)

Wim "Ice Man" Hof (gaia.com, 7/18/20); Ellie Askew, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Iceman Speaks: ...the Method (Wim Hof)

Time is running out to watch this video FREE on Gaia. It's titled "Using Breathwork to Make You Stronger and Calmer with Wim Hof." The "Ice Man" in an exclusive extended interview shares his knowledge from a journey using breathwork [yogic pranayama] coupled with cold therapy. The combination has made him mentally and physically super strong -- reaching to find the limits of human potential. WATCH

New book: "The Wim Hof Method" (8/20)

Wim Hof, Dr. Elissa Epel, PhD, 2020; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

The Wim Hof Method available Oct. 20, 2020

This is the ONLY definitive book authored by Wim "The Iceman" Hof on his powerful method for realizing our physical and spiritual potential.

Hof has a message for each of us: “You can literally do the impossible. You can overcome disease, improve your mental health and physical performance, and even control your physiology so you can thrive in freezing temperatures.”

With The Wim Hof Method; Activate Your Full Human Potential, this trailblazer of human potential shares a method that anyone can use ― not just extreme athletes or spiritual masters ― to supercharge their capacity for strength, health, and happiness.

Hof has become a modern legend for his astounding achievements, such as withstanding extreme temperatures, breaking world records, and running barefoot marathons over deserts and ice fields.

In his gripping and passionate style, Hof shares the story of how he developed his method, along with testimonials and new insights from the university research studies on its amazing results.

With guidance suited for any reader ― young or old, sick or healthy ― readers will learn how to harness three key elements of

1. Cold
2. Breathing and
3. Mindset

to take charge of your own mind and metabolism. Yet the most important result of Hof’s method goes beyond improved health or performance:

It is a path for reconnecting with our spiritual nature. “With these practices, you awaken to your inner source of power and fulfillment,” he says. “You find you can control your destiny.” More

How to evolve physically right now (video)

Scott Carney, Wim Hof (Kindle Edition); Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Evan Carmichael ft. Scott Carney) Does the Wim Hof Method actually work? #NeverSick, May 6, 2017: Does the "Iceman" Method work? Investigative journalist and author of What Doesn't Kill Us, Scott Carney wanted to debunk Hof. In this episode of How to Never Get Sick Again, we see the results.

What Doesn't Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength

This New York Times bestseller traces our evolutionary journey back to a time when survival depended on how well we adapted to the environment around us.

Our ancestors crossed deserts, climbed mountains, and traversed oceans without even a whisper of what anyone today might consider modern technology.

Those feats of endurance now seem impossible in an age where we take comfort for granted. But what if we could regain some of our lost evolutionary strength by simulating the environmental conditions of our forebears?

Investigative journalist and anthropologist Scott Carney takes up the challenge to find out: Can we hack our bodies and use the environment to stimulate our inner biology?

Helping him in his search for the answers is Dutch fitness guru Wim Hof, whose ability to control his body temperature in extreme cold has sparked a whirlwind of scientific study.

Author Carney also enlists input from an Army scientist, a world-famous surfer, the founders of an obstacle course race movement, and ordinary people who have documented how they have cured autoimmune diseases, lost weight, and reversed diabetes.

The Way of the Iceman: How... (Wim Hof)

In the process, he chronicles his own transformational journey as he pushes his body and mind to the edge of endurance, a quest that culminates in a shirtless, record-breaking, 28-hour climb to the snowy peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro wearing nothing but a pair of running shorts and sneakers.

An ambitious blend of investigative reporting and participatory journalism, What Doesn't Kill Us explores the true connection between the mind and the body and reveals the science that allows us to push past our perceived limitations. More

• The Way of the Iceman and Becoming the Iceman

Living TREE bridges and Yetis (video)

Bing, 6/27/19; Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Wiki edit

The roots of invention

Monsoons make this the wettest.

Welcome to the wettest place on Earth. "Living root bridges" can be found in the tropical rainforests of Meghalaya state, northeastern India, among the wettest places on Earth.

The gentle waterways that flow through the region’s valleys become gushing torrents during the summer monsoon season and would wash away traditional bamboo bridges.

So generations of indigenous Khasi people have devised a way of building root bridges by shaping living trees, like one near the village of Mawsynram.

It works like this: Rubber fig trees are planted or located on opposite riverbanks. As the trees' above-ground roots grow, the Khasi guide them across the water, sometimes with the support of temporary scaffolding like bamboo.

Limestone cave expedition, Jainta Hills

After years of tending, the roots eventually join and take hold of each other, forming a living suspension bridge that provides safe passage over swollen rivers. The innovation has proved critical to the Khasi people.

In this environment, bridges made of harvested materials would quickly rot and fall apart, leaving villages cut off and isolated. Building a living root bridge requires patience, however.

It takes about 15 to 30 years to grow a bridge sturdy enough to support humans. But the investment pays off. As these bridges age, they get stronger. Some are 100 feet long and can hold over 50 people.

Giant "wild men" of the world



Yeti (Mande Barung) of India

Of course they exist and gov'ts know. Ask Lloyd Pye.

In the U.S. knows them as Bigfoot, in Canada as Sasquatch, in China as Yeren, in Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, the Chechnia, and the Caucasus as Almas or "Wild Man," in Brazil as Mapinguary, in Sumatra as Orang Pendek, in Australia as Yowie, in Vietnam and Borneo as Batatut, Indonesia as Sajarang Gigi, in Bangladesh as Ban-Manush, in India as Mande Burung and, most famously of all, in Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet as Yeti or "Abominable Snowmen."

The little-known Indian version of this legendary ape-like creature is called mande barung -- or "forest man" -- and is reputed to live in the remote west Garo Hills of the north-eastern state of Meghalaya, India.

I was invited by passionate Yeti-believer Dipu Marak to travel throughout the area to hear for myself what he says is compelling evidence of the existence of a black and grey ape-like animal which stands about nearly 10 feet (3m) tall.

• "On the trail of the Indian Yeti" (BBC)
• In the footsteps of the Yeti: Hunt for Mande Burung (independent.co.uk)
  

The Mande Burung is a cryptozoological ape-like creature that inhabits the Meghalaya subtropical forests in the remote Garo Hills of the Northeast India. In July of 2019 I was invited by passionate yeti believer Dipu Marak to travel throughout the area of the Garo Hills, Meghalaya, in search of India's Yeti.

• Will Indian Army's Yeti post boost interest in cryptozoology?

No proof allowed not even hair DNA

(Indpendent.co.uk) [In 2008] a group of amateur "Yeti-hunters" from Meghalaya gave two hairs they say they discovered in a "nest" of the Mande Burung to a renowned British primatologist. Having examined the hairs, Ian Redmond said they were like that of no other creature known to live in these jungles. Even more teasingly, Dr. Redmond said that under the microscope the hairs most closely resembled those of a human, a chimp, a gorilla, or the purported "Yeti hairs" brought back by the late Sir Edmund Hilary's 1953 Mt. Everest expedition. More

Monsters are real, and U.S. gov't knows (video)

Brenton Sawin (Mysteries to Search, 12/17); Pfc. Sandoval, S.Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Christian policeman and military vet tells of killing a pod of Bigfoot creatures

Host Brenton Sawin

"Michael," not his real name, gives a first hand account of Sasquatches he was ordered to kill while on active duty for the U.S. government running a security detail for police removing booby trapped marijuana crops.

The CDC (Center for Disease Control), MIB (men in black), DEA, MP (military police), local state troopers, game wardens, and other governmental agencies know all about it and have known for some time.

They're like a cross between a bear and Hulk

Native Americans know Sasquatches are real and warned the invaders, only for it to be kept secret by the white Man...until white men who moved into the area had their own run ins with these wild creatures ("demons").

These creatures have features in common but are of distinct types. Some are peaceful nature protectors, others are utter monstrosities: giants, cannibals (half human, half hair-covered beasts), brutes.

He saw enormous breeding monsters, babies

While in the military Michael was helping state troopers in Kentucky (though he does not mention the state) when he ran across a troop of Bigfoot (called Yakkhas/ogres in Buddhism).

Hear the testimony, which includes confirmation of the "giant" (red haired, six fingered rakshasa reported by Steve Quayle) taken down in Afghanistan by a special American tactical team. COMMENTS

• ATTENTION: This video was not monetized. They said it was not suitable for all advertisers, which makes it hard to keep producing these shows. Consider supporting: paypal.me/BrentonSawin to help offset this issue. Thank you. (brentonsawin@gmail.com, online store alpha-mysteries.myshopify.com...)

Krampus: Christmas Devil's Night (audio)

Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly wiki edit; Al Ridenour (KrampusLA), Connie Willis (C2C)

Evil Krampus Xmas card

Krampuses are horned, anthropomorphic folkloric figure, "half-goat, half-demon," who during the Catholic Christmas season punish children who have misbehaved, in contrast to Saint Nick, who rewards the well-behaved with little gifts.

Krampuses are companions of Saint Nicholas in regions including Austria, Bavaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, and Northern Italy along with Black Pete.

Black Pete, Santa's Euro elf

The origin of the figure is unclear; some folklorists and anthropologists have postulated a pre-Christian origin for the figure.

 

In traditional parades and in such events as the Krampuslauf ("Krampus run"), young men dressed as the ogres participate. Such events occur annually in most Alpine towns.

Krampuses are also featured on holiday greeting cards called Krampuskarten. More

Rise of Krampus, Creepy Christmas

The Moorpass [Krampus] troupe from Maishofen, Austria (© Moorpass Maishofen/C2C).

Krampus (creepychristmascoloringbook/com)

Krampus, the European horned Christmas Devil character, has increasingly been featured in movies, TV, greeting cards, and ads, as well as parades in North America and Europe. 

Krampus expert Al Ridenour (facebook) the stuttering historian, researcher, and author of The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas joins co-host Connie Willis to discuss how this darkly folkloric figure is once again becoming iconic and why its true history and meaning is still a guarded secret.
 

CREEPY XMAS: Is the happiest time of year also the creepiest (Creepy Christmas)?

Winter has an even darker and richer lore than Halloween according to artist, researcher, and author Sam Shearon.

His creepy Christmas coloring book has a variety of traditional and legendary beliefs from around the world, including stories of characters and creatures like Grýla, Santa Claws, Rabid Rudolph, the Grimace Tree, the Yule Cat, the Abominable Snowman (Yeti, Yakshi, Rakshasa), and more. It's fearsome festive cheer. More + Audio

• IMAGES of Krampuses -- Buddhist ogres or yakshas

Isn't Krampus just a yakkha version of German Belsnickel? 

Belsnickel or Pelznickel (from pelzen or belzen, German "to wallop, to drub") and Nickel, a hypocorism of the given name Nikolaus) is a crotchety, fur-clad Christmas gift-bringer figure in the folklore of the Palatinate SW Germany along the Rhine, the Saarland, the Odenwald area of Baden-Württemberg, and Pennsylvania Dutch communities.

• Archbishop James Long discusses the tradition of Christmas and birth of the Christian god, which is a little different than what the Bible tells us. More 

• 

  It happened to me; I was molested.

  Molesting children as a social norm in U.S. (Monarch or Auschwitz II?) From very early childhood, Paul Bonacci was subjected to tortures as profound as any the Nazis inflicted. This is not merely a comparison but an actual continuation. From sexual degradation to witnessing and forced participation in Satanic cult murders, Bonacci suffered the cracking of his mind and "multiple personality disorder." Tens of thousands of American children have been diagnosed MPDs; virtually all of them are thought to have resulted from sexual abuse, of which perhaps 85 percent were cases of Satanic ritual abuse.

Himalayas: Walking Afghanistan to Bhutan

Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Rachel Martin, Levison Wood (NPR, 5-29-16)

Sagarmatha Nat'l Park: Gorak Shep to Pheriche from Mt. Everest Base Camp (T. Fuhrmann)

Seeing Mt. Everest is not so impressive as one imagines (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images).

.

Adventurer says, "Walking the Himalayas" wasn't about "sticking flags in peaks"

Walking the Himalayas (Levison Wood)

Levison Wood walked 1,700 miles, from [formerly Buddhist] Afghanistan to [the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom now a democracy] Bhutan along the Himalayan Mountain range.

He says that seeing Everest, the highest mountain in the world was "just magical."

When NPR talked with British adventurer Levison Wood back in 2015, he had recently completed an epic, 9-month journey, along the length of the Nile River [in Africa]. When asked where he was headed next, Wood told said he did have another big expedition planned but that it was "top-secret."

Wood is now back from that top-secret journey -- which turned out to be walking the length of the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Bhutan. He joins NPR's Rachel Martin to talk about "a few high points, literally and metaphysically."

 

Wood wanted to explore the valleys and foothills of the great mountain range, but the expedition much more than a trek. "For me this wasn't necessarily about climbing mountains or sticking flags in peaks," he says. "It was really an opportunity to share story of the Himalayas, the history, the geography, the cultures."

 

Levison Wood chronicles his 1,700-mile journey in his new book Walking the Himalayas (hardcover, 293 pages, purchase).

 

His travel guide

What about the environment (NPR.org)

I actually met Binod when I was 19 years old. I traveled in the Himalayas as a young backpacker. So when I was 19, I was there in the mountains in Nepal and it was actually a civil war going on at the time between Maoist insurgents and the government.
 

Binod actually rescued me one day — there was some fighting going on and the entire royal family was actually killed in Nepal. And Binod took me into the hills and looked after me for a couple of weeks. That's how I met him — that was 14 years ago.

And so when I decided I was going to walk the Himalayas he was the obvious guide. I wanted to go repay my debts to him and it was great to have this reunion and go and see his family after all this time.
 

The people living around the Himalayas

Stupa or chorten, Buddhist reliquary mound, Bhutan (boldadenturesnepal.com)

Maitreya Buddha in Ladakh, Himalayas

It's such a diverse region; the people in the western edge of the Himalayas in Afghanistan and Pakistan [which were forcibly converted from Buddhism to Islam] don't really have that much in common with the people in the east in [Buddhist] Bhutan and Tibet in terms of religion, or ethnicity, or language.

But what they do share is this common bond of living in the foothills of this great mountain range and sharing those daily perils and the dangers and challenges that come with that.
 

On how he had previously traveled in Afghanistan

Melt, grow, fate of Himalayan glaciers?

I traveled to Afghanistan before, both as a soldier — I was there on operations in combat back in 2008 — but also I traveled there a couple times as well as basically a backpacker.

I'd actually gone kind of undercover dressed as an Afghan, I learned a bit of language and trekked across the country way back in 2004. So it was kind of a homecoming to go back.
 

Afghanistan — there are parts that are very dangerous, you've got the Taliban and all the rest of it...actually though, there are still parts that are so remote that it actually means they're safe because the only people that live there are nomads.
 

In the area where I started walking in the northeast, the only people that lived there were nomads. These people were the descendants of Genghis Kahn, the Kyrgyz people that have got nothing in common with the [the CIA and Pakistani Intelligence-created] Taliban that live in the southern regions. 

Day he got dropped off to begin his trek

So the journey began in...this very, very remote part of Afghanistan. I got dropped off by helicopter because that was the only way to get there...it's called the Wakhan Corridor, it's this narrow valley that separates Afghanistan, from Tajikistan, from China, and from Pakistan.

[We] get dropped off there — literally on the roof of the world. The first person we encountered was actually this nomadic shepherd and he had a big stick and he came up and he was sort of prodding us, wondering where we came from — out of the sky?

He actually asked us if we were Islamic State [ISIS]. He thought we'd landed to convert his tribe into fundamentalism, and he said: "Look, we don't want any of that around here." 

• For 3 climbers, summiting Meru was an "irresistible" challenge 
• Melt or grow? Fate of Himalayan glaciers unknown

Experience in Buddhist Bhutan

Tiger's Nest Vajrayana Buddhist monastery, Bhutan (adventurewomen.com)

 

It's very difficult to describe. It's one of these very unique places in the world where nothing else comes quite close. After the chaos of Nepal and India going into Bhutan felt like entering a completely different world. Suddenly the streets were clean there was no pollution...

I think Bhutan is the only carbon negative country in the world....

 

But are they as happy as US? (valleyymca.org)

And it was just so pristine it was like going back in time 500 years. All the houses are very beautifully decorated, very ornate, the people are very happy [it's the only country in the world to replace the GDP, or Gross Domestic Product," with a better index of prosperity, Gross Domestic Happiness], they live in this kind of feudal system where...everybody is a big fan of the monarchy and everybody seems very happy. There's not much dissent there. ...

It was an education to go to somewhere like that and literally feel as though you're being transported back in time.

High points of the trip

I think from a purely personal point of view going to visit Binod's family after all these years and sort of closing that circle that was a real high point for me.

...But also physically getting over some the highest passes in the world, going beyond Everest Base Camp, seeing the highest mountain in the world, right there on a beautiful clear blue day, was just magical. More + AUDIO

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