Message from smontano

[Anonymous]

Okay, catching up here...
This lecture was particularly interesting because it is bringing us into the present time. Up to this point, I've been learning all the names, etc., but this lecture brought up names I actually recognize.
I guess one of the biggest lessons for me here is the actual history of Tibet. I see Tibet as a separate country from China, a theocracy, just as the Vatican is a separate country from Italy, and a theocracy. So it was interesting to me that it was just sort of absorbed as part of China and showed up on the map when the Mongols took over. I wondered if anyone notified Tibet of the change. At that time, it was called the top of the world because of it's elevation, but also because of the fact that you could only get there during a very specific window of time, during which certain rivers thawed and allowed passage. I would like to hear a lecture on Tibetan history from a Tibetan teacher.
The Opium history was really incredible. I guess I wasn't surprised that the British had the trade they did - I think at the time it was considered a drug just like alcohol. I don't know if it biochemically alters your makeup to create the addiction as heroine does, but obviously no one was concerned about that. For a comparison to Opium, you may want to view the movie, "Air America" - a movie about the CIA operated airline during the Viet Nam war. It was from 1990 and starred Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr.