p.s.

this is in reference to my last post...something I didn't really make clear:

regaining your sense of wonder entails a transformation of thinking, not translocation. You don't have to move to Easter Island or the heart of a flourishing city. (It is just my personal priority that I see the whole world). In theory traveling sounds like a way to inundate yourself with new cultures and ideas, but it is possible to travel completely hostile to newness. (i.e. go to a nice resort and sit on the beach for a week, not that it isn't relaxing).

It's better to make yourself and open book. While my conservative religious upbringing has inculcated in me a susupicion of relativism, multiculturalism, and tolerance, I think these values are more than black and white. I think you can have and open mind, welcome new ideas, new cultures, and new lifestyles withtout losing your core identity and strongest beliefs. I can believe in God and be rooted in Christ's work for me but still be open to what's going on in my community, in the nation, and in the world. Ha, as Christians we're CALLED to be aware and intellectually active! It's strange that so many eschew this.