Any culture that can survive between 8000 and 15000 feet in altitude needs to be better understood

Some of you might not even have been above 8000 feet in elevation your whole lives here in the U.S. unless you have been either on a plane or been to the Colorado Rockies or the High Sierras or Cascade mountains or other mountains or mountain ranges here in the U.S.

But now, imagine trying to live at 8000 feet to 15,000 feet in elevation year around. That is a feat whether that be in South America or in Tibet or wherever on earth people are trying to do this successfully.

So, when my now ex-wife and I spent a lot of time with Tibetans and Tibetan Lamas in 1985 and 1986 in India and Nepal all the way to the Tibetan Border then we realized these were exceptional people in that they could even survive as a culture so long at these altitudes even if most of them died by their 40s or 50s because of it.

So, unfortunately my ex-wife and I broke up before we could become Cultural Anthropologists helping record whatever we could about Tibetan Culture and Tibetan Buddhism as Cultural Anthropologists.

For us, we realized after spending so much time in Asia (4 months) mostly around Tibetans that this culture had so much to teach the world (especially in a time of Global Climate Change) because life is going to get pretty difficult just living almost anywhere on earth now in various different ways.

So, there is an attitude that Tibetans generally have that I have met (in the 1980s especially) that is helpful for ongoing survival of the human race here on earth.

Part of it is the capacity to laugh (especially Tibetan Lamas) at almost anything. This releases them from the stresses of life a lot by doing this. So whether something is funny or just difficult you will often find them laughing which is different than in this country.

This capacity to release and to let go and to laugh at various crisis points is a quality American Soldiers often share with the Tibetans too.

The best way to put this is there are many points in life where you can either "Laugh or Die!"

So, the Zen of doing this might save your life one day!