I'd rather be in the civilization that created the Buddha 'dharma'. They proclaimed people could free themselves from life's woes by abandoning desire and achieving a heightened psychological, moral and spiritual awareness. Not mythology, fantasy, community rituals. When I get back to India or Nepal, I just go out in the street and there's some wonderful festival going on, and it unites the community, and it allows for celebration and ritual and fantasy, and continuation of tradition, and definition of identity. In America, there's none of that.
People seem lost and unhappy.
Unfortunately, after living in India, you know, any place outside of Asia seems terminally dull. I can't adjust. I've mostly made a living as a writer. I've written several screenplays, which are the only times I've made a lot of money as a writer. None of them have gotten made, but I was paid, which is fine by me.