BY DEREK CLARK

The Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery is set in the countryside of Southern Scotland, around 16 miles from Lockerbie and 20 miles from the Scotland/England border. Visiting this monastery is like teleporting to another country at another time. This would be the type of place I would definitely visit while abroad. Being warm and sunny certainly helped create the illusion of another time another place, weather we don’t get an awful lot of in Scotland.

This could be the ideal place to chill out in the current political and global climate. Dropping out and living in a monastery is kinda appealing for many reasons. I for one find today's constant switched-on 24/7 way of life has gone too far. With AI rapidly ramping up and looking like it will soon become the biggest global shift since the invention of the wheel, I feel the urge to move backwards. To disconnect from the Matrix. If I ever get the chance to retire, I can see a future where I disconnect completely. We have already entered a time where you are halfway through consuming a piece of content when you suddenly realise it has been created by AI. In six months or a year from now, the ability to tell the difference between human or AI-created content will probably be impossible. But I digress.

If you feel like dropping out, you can stay for a night, or longer at The Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, as long as you can live by the rules.

Five Golden Rules