Well I no longer live in a God realm. I now live among the other humans of Earth, here in the Bay Area. Going back to Maui end of April to get the last of my things and ship my car. It will probably be a long time before I make it back there.

I made the move originally because my lama asked me to do it. He is here in the Bay Area. But now that I'm here I see it is good for me for other reasons also. The aspiration of my spiritual practice is not to become a God.

(To you non-Buddhists this may not hold the same meaning as it's intended. In Buddhism there are said to be several realms beings live in, each with its particular form of suffering. The God realm inhabitants have everything perfect in terms of enjoyments and pleasures, but they suffer from the fear of inevitably having to leave that realm and fall to a lower realm. The suffering of the human realm is primarily the suffering of constant busy-ness, which I'm sure you Bay Area folks (and working parents almost anywhere) can relate to.)

Anyway, the aspiration of many people's spiritual practices is actually to live as Gods, though they don't realize that and probably wouldn't like the accusation if they happened to read this. I'm sure some people reading this do actually have that motivation for their practice, but I doubt if many of them would admit to seeing themselves in the description. Well I am quite clear that the aspiration of my practice is no longer that, so Maui wasn't really the most "juicy" place for me to be. It felt stagnant. I feel so much more alive here, despite the fact that my pleasure and enjoyment is extremely lessened. And my stress is majorly increased. And I'm not into that human realm busy-ness crap either. Life here is just harder, with less personal space, less beauty, and a general level of aggression people carry within them which is a little intense for someone accustomed to the Maui vibe.

But I got used to NYC after Bali and I'll get used to the Bay Area after Maui... though I must admit to avoiding San Francisco like the plague still.