Ways of Seeing: Amid world chaos, a small victory

Sitting at Quaker Meeting one recent Sunday morning, I heard messages about the horror in Israel and Gaza and how we as peacemakers might help. I could not focus on this big topic, though. I was thinking about wood.

In July, I traveled to Mongolia again, hoping to interview the various protagonists in my documentaries.

It begins with a nail. I’m trying to stay calm and focused and mindful. I know I leave for Mongolia in two weeks, and I haven’t been there in four years.

When acting on an impulse, I usually do not know why I am doing it. My guidance tells me what I need to do but not how or why.

Since the first time Sas Carey stepped foot on Mongolian soil in the summer of 1994, she felt a “leading” — a calling to “support and document the traditional Mongolian nomadic lifestyle.”

A driving force in my life has been exploring. “Marrying Mongolia,” my new book, follows that theme from childhood.

“Everything that happened in my life led me to Mongolia. Or maybe it just seems that way as I look back on it,” said Sas Carey, Middlebury author of the new book “Marrying Mongolia, A Memoir.”

When you follow your inner guidance or calling, amazing things can happen. For instance, I went to Mongolia, a place I never dreamed of going.

Religions are split in their opinions about psychics.

My adventure for the past two-and-a-half years has been to write a memoir. I have enjoyed taking myself back into my life stories and experiences and sharing them.

If you are like I am, you don’t pay attention to how to get somewhere if someone else is driving. You and I can focus on the scenery or read a book. When I am in Mongolia and hire an interpreter, I let her lead me to wherever we need to go to accomplish a … (read more)

Why is it so hard for us to be satisfied with what we have?

During the beginning of the month, when it wasn’t below zero, I lost heat. Sitting at my computer, not moving around the house or yard, my hands were icy.

I met Khongoroo (pronounced Hungara), the protagonist, 15 years ago when she rode her reindeer into a Dukha reindeer herding settlement I was visiting.

My mother called being a part of a conversation “getting a word in edgewise.” I never had trouble doing that, maybe because I was the oldest of five kids. Never, that is, until after COVID-19. I spent more than a year living alone, not seeing or interacti … (read more)