I can't believe that it is still New Year's Day, especially because the first half of today was still New Year's Eve back home. We went to a cool temple, the dancing Shiva temple, ”this morning, where the sensual stimuli were rather intense.

We walked around, barefoot, on dirty stone floors, avoiding occasional animal feces on the grounds, looking at beautiful statues and ancient monuments being tended to by bare-chested priests. All this, and I was also "sheepdog" for the group, making sure that all 38 of us were moving through the bustling crowds efficiently and quickly. I was both grossed out and turned on by the sights, sounds, and smells that struck me at a primal level. I personally appreciated the masculinity of the sights, and left it appreciating being a man at another level.

Once we left this temple, we went to a completely different site: Auroville, a community based around the ideals of Sri Aurobindo and a woman known as the Mother, with absolutely beautiful grounds and some great architecture. I was struck by the similarities of the community to the Wright Leadership Institute, and yet am proud of how much the institute is in the world and really exploring what it is to be human so that we can tend to higher spiritual principles in a grounded way.

We ended the evening with dinner at a beautiful resort in a formally tsunami-hit area. All in all, I am seeing how important it is to maintain my spiritual disciplines, like meditation, which help me be my best self.