Nepali spirit

One day in Nepal, I was given a short childhood story by a Nepali friend.

The story tells of experiences that have so far aroused slight terror. I think that in our culture a similar story would have the chance to see the light of day only after a few drinks between friends. The Nepalese girl not only wrote it on a piece of paper but also agreed to publish it online – here read the Nepalese story from childhood.

Why is it taboo to show strong emotions in public?

If you look at these people, then their openness is really surprising for Westerners.

Simulation

It would also seem that they do not know something like a lie. Declaration of attitude different than the one currently possessed, thus the pretending to be someone other than what is at the moment is for these people too complicated, or simply pathetic … well, why bother to do such an effort – only with the purpose of presenting for passers-by or friends, some theoretically correct attitude …

With us in the West, the phenomenon of so-called political correctness. In her name, we sometimes pretend that we are very happy with something or that we particularly like someone. A wide range of smiles, greetings, and farewells, however, seems to be the result of our uncertainty as to the desired behaviors. Here in Nepal I often meet with the fact that welcome smiles are not obligatory.

Curiosity

In addition, a phenomenon as common and obvious as a curiosity when confronted with other cultures is not hidden here. From the moment I discovered it, I do not hesitate to cross the threshold of a Nepalese house whose interior can be seen from the street. I understand that their curiosity is commensurate with mine – and each of the interested parties has an individual basis for it. Since I understood that hiding interest or any other emotion is unnecessary in this country, from then on I go out in front of these people in the need of taking photos or communication in terms of describing a phenomenon – a festival or a street forum dialogue …

By exchanging similar psycho-social reflections with a Nepali friend, I heard that actually pretending anything is not a habit for them.

Impracticality

However, they have – according to my interlocutor – another ugly quality. Namely, they do and say many meaningless things. They can talk a lot repeating, just to hear the sound of the voice. The fact is that even educated people say the same things in conversation several times.

At the same time, it can also be noted that for many projects implemented in Nepal, a completely impractical schedule has been adopted, undermining the steps taken earlier.

There are many interesting features of this environment that differentiate this culture from the west.

Openness

One of them is the lack of gloomy clouds hanging over the city, which – although it seems to be a very individual feature perceived – has been confirmed several times by my interlocutors from the West.

Communication between people is a natural phenomenon here and no initial apologies are needed for this. “Excuse me” Nepalese have reserved for stiffers coming from the West. They communicate with each other like friends – be it on a bus or in a trade …

The phenomenon of no fear of the object of potential communication coming from the opposite direction can be seen after keeping animals in cities and villages of Vedic culture. Because – as the great masters say – space is information, cohabiting humans share the so-called social moods.

Dogs or cats very rarely have special privileges here and nobody especially cares about their prosperity, although it happens that some have permanent places where they regularly receive a contribution to the bowl. And yet it seems that having in this country – comparable with the West – more freedom enjoys more royal conditions for life. They lie on the street freely in any place – hot sun when it is still cold in the morning, or in the shade – during the afternoon heat before the monsoon.

Describtion

There is another special feature of the soul raised in the Vedic culture: the lack of a notorious evaluation.
We, visitors from the West, feel obliged by the sacred law of a man of democracy to express their attitude and point of view regarding the majority of problems encountered. We do not realize that it is not necessary for anyone – neither us, nor the interlocutor, nor the object of the assessment.

We do not even realize the distinctiveness of these two things – the process of perception and assessment activities. Thus, we become entangled in many unnecessary moral dilemmas, from which then many further misunderstandings arise.
Most of us divide the world of encountered matters into those that we accept and those with which we disagree, or similar – for good and bad, or ours and not … So we have already established views on employing children, healthy food, government policy or ecological and party programs …

Coming to a country that uses its own, practical – in the opinion of people living here – solutions, such as sending minors to work, we suddenly have to confront our imaginations about the world with local realities if we want our assessment to be adequate.

Let us return to the story of our friend Nepalka mentioned at the beginning. In this story, most of us will immediately find our good and bad types and subject phenomena and people to the assessment.

Summary

Here life is simpler because it does not oblige anyone from a small one to collect ever-heavier luggage of personal relations and views.

I wrote the post with the goal:

1. to make my reflections on these people available to travelers in the direction of Nepal;
2. to provide all potential interested parties with reflection on the purposefulness of some of our behaviors – in

In short: Let’s learn something from the Nepalese people.