One of the most helpful comments I heard during my interviews with Gia-fu’s family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, came from C.H., Gia-fu’s next youngest brother. When I asked C.H. about a circumstance revealing what seemed a contradiction between Gia-fu’s words and actions, he said this. “Ah, Carol. People are multi-faceted. And Gia-fu, even more so.”

I’ve come to appreciate C.H.’s wisdom again and again as I hear from people who knew Gia-fu. Some knew him well, others slightly, still others knew him only for a short time, perhaps a few months and in a particular environment. Many understood the complex being they encountered. Others focused primarily on one or two facets, not seeing the complexity beyond. But all hold this in common: whether one, two, or many, all found Gia-fu’s facets memorable.

David and I have just returned from Sitka, Alaska where we participated in the Island Institute’s Summer Symposium. This year’s theme was Shaping an Enduring Human Culture, with Gary Snyder, Gary Holthaus, and Robin Kimmerer as faculty. Wonderful teachers! They provoked us to think deeply, differently, and about many angles of the theme, one of which was reciprocity — how we give and take in the world. It seems we know quite a bit about taking, and not so much about giving back to other people, animals, the world.

Reciprocity. From the Latin word reciprocus, meaning ‘moving backward and forward.’ Robin, Gary, and Gary provided multiple lenses through which to view reciprocity, including the notions that we need first to know the world, to look closely, with an open mind and heart, to be able to call things by their proper names.

Naturally, I thought of Gia-fu and what he dreamed of for Stillpoint, about families living simply, honestly, in nature, giving, and receiving. Gia-fu knew that this isn’t some easy, idyllic idea. It takes courage to look at oneself honestly, to be honest with others. It takes some grit to live that way, day after day, giving and receiving. And it takes the will to stay with it.

What a wonderful book launch celebration we had on Sunday, May 24th! Ken Cohen demonstrated a Chinese tea ceremony and had lovely tea for all 45+ participants. It was the perfect way to relax into our time together and read from Still Point of the Turning World.

A communal reading seemed to reflect the spirit of Stillpoint as I’ve come to understand it, so Carmen Baehr and David Chrislip joined me. The reading included excerpts from the early 1950s when Gia-fu was caught in this country by political forces spinning out from the Korean War. He had completed his Master’s Degree in International Banking at the Wharton School and had enrolled in a Ph.D. program in statistics at New York University. This he did not complete. He was bewildered, bereft, lost, depressed for some time.

Most people, myself included prior to researching this time, had no idea that the U.S. government forbade Chinese students in technical areas to return home. Some committed suicide. Others endured somehow.

Gia-fu’s consequent U.S. travel and searching ultimately landed him just where he needed to be. A divine accident, he would say. Others might call it good fortune. Still Point of the Turning World seems both to me.