When I returned to Kamloops in 1996, it was unusual for an information technology company to set up shop here. High speed Internet access was very expensive, and for the most, very unavailable in residential neighbourhoods. At the time, and many times since, I've joked with technology associates in larger centers that I moved back to Kamloops, "... because it's the navel of the I.T universe," leaving it up to their imaginations as to exactly what kind of navel I had in mind.
Well,it turns out that I was closer to the truth than I thought. Two recent stories, appearing respectively in the July 21 and August 1 editions of the Vancouver Sun and the National Post, relate that a location west of Kamloops up the Deadman Valley is in fact the Centre of the Universe.
As the Vancouver Sun's Kelly Sioski reports, "the claim was made in 1984 after a Tibetan monk arrived at the Vidette Lake Gold Mine fishing lodge, located on the Hudson's Bay fur-trading trail between Kamloops and 100 Mile House."
The monk had been sent here by his Tibetan lama Tarthang Tulku to investigate, then declared a spot, which is now marked by an "x" to be the middle of it all.
If one is lucky, one might might occasionally hear the "sound of singing" at the location; that's a dead give-away for the universal nexus.
It's a fascinating story, which I would love to believe. Do any of you readers know enough about Tibetan beliefs to comment on whether this is the real thing or just an uncorroborated filler for slow news days? Please share your information or opinion with Right Up Your Alley: Kamloops readers; just click on "Comments" (below).
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