I have come to one of those magical places you sometimes arrive at on wanderings that feels like home.

Leh in Northern India has been a melting pot of cultures and ideas for centuries. It’s calm and smiles are easy to come by.

Leh was a key hub on the Silk Road. Caravans only stopped a half century ago, as modern political realities created borders were camels and yaks loaded with goods once crossed freely.

Ladakh, the region where Leh lies, has its own common language and culture. Within that fits a harmonious intermingling of the worlds faiths. My first night here I stayed with it to Tibetan Christian family and awoke the Muslim call to prayer from a mosque where Buddhist prayer flags hang from the cupola.

Later, I spoke with and Islamic man and told him how beautiful I found his religion. “I love the Sufi mystical poetry,” I said and recited him a quatrain from Rumi.

“I want to learn more about Islam,“ I told him with Rumi hanging in the air.

He looked doubtful. “You’re an American? Never have I met an American who liked Islam,“ he said. Because indeed, the message from our media has cast a world of beautiful people devoted to a loving tradition as enemies.

“We should never use the term, ‘Muslim terrorists,’” the Dalai Lama said at the teaching I attended last month, “Otherwise, we should use the term Buddhist terrorists in Myanmar. This is the 21st-century, we must look from a wider perspective.”

Then the yak wool trader — for that is what he was — pointed to his chest and said “All humans, we have the same heart.” We shared that moment, each content with its contents. I tied a Guatemalan friendship bracelet on him and went on my way smiling towards the undiscovered day.

Thanks for popping by. If you enjoy this land, feel free to give a lil tip to the Integral Heart kids in Guatemala and check out my books on Amazon 🙂