JEFF FEARNSIDE - Travelogue: Kentucky

J e f f F e a r n s i d e

Travelogue: KENTUCKY

Just as Uzbekistan provided the perfect note on which to end my stay in Central Asia, so has Kentucky provided the perfect reintroduction to the United States. I was extremely fortunate to be selected the sixth Writer-in-Residence at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, not only for the writing I was able to complete there, but also for the many incredible people my wife and I had the pleasure to meet. The Bernheim staff professionals are exactly that, consummately—friendly, helpful, and thoughtful human beings. Interviewing Wendell Berry at his hillside farm was a special highlight, as was meeting the monks of Gethsemani, the former home of Thomas Merton. My wife and I enjoyed every day of exploring the arboretum and forest, the entire surrounding region, with its standing history that dates to the American Revolution. And, of course, there’s the bourbon!

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“One day the Buddha held up a flower in front of an audience of 1,250 monks and nuns. He did not say anything for quite a long time. The audience was perfectly silent. Everyone seemed to be thinking hard, trying to see the meaning behind the Buddha’s gesture. Then, suddenly, the Buddha smiled. He smiled because someone in the audience smiled at him and at the flower…. When someone holds up a flower and shows it to you, he wants you to see it. If you keep thinking, you miss the flower. The person who was not thinking, who was just himself, was able to encounter the flower in depth, and he smiled. That is the problem of life. If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything.”—Thich Nhat Hanh, from Peace Is Every Step

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