Eat, Pray, Love

months, after all). The Balinese quite literally live off their image of being the world’s most
peaceful and devotional and artistically expressive people, but how much of that is intrinsic
and how much of that is economically calculated? And how much can an outsider like me
ever learn of the hidden stresses that might loiter behind those “shining faces”? It’s the same
here as anywhere else—you look at the picture too closely and all the firm lines start to melt
away into an indistinct mass of blurry brushstrokes and blended pixels.
For now, all I can say for certain is that I love the house I have rented and that the people
in Bali have been gracious to me without exception. I find their art and ceremonies to be
beautiful and restorative; they seem to think so, as well. That’s my empirical experience of a
place that is probably far more complex than I will ever understand. But whatever the
Balinese need to do in order to hold their own balance (and make a living) is entirely up to
them. What I’m here to do is work on my own equilibrium, and this still feels, at least for now,
like a nourishing climate in which to do that.
Eat, Pray, Love