Usually if I go silent for a while it means I'm fishing. Not the case this week. Work has been a killer, with nearly every spare moment spent grading, often till after midnight.
I may post less over the weeks to come. Partly because of work, but partly because I would like to concentrate on writing some stories about experiences on the water, or elsewhere in the outdoors. These may take a while to become fit for public consumption, but I will try to get out at least a few in the coming months, along with anything else that strikes my fancy. However, one thing I'm sure of is that the web really doesn't need another half-assed self appointed political pundit. I'll stick to what I know and like best. Mostly.
Had another session of Zen study last night. One thing that stands out about the teachings there are how direct and practical they are (e.g. "Accept what is. Don't chase after what is gone."). Some of the sayings are susceptible to caricaturization as simplistic or or unrealistic, but I think most of them get at genuine truths about the good life. Many of them seem like analogues to Christian ideas, and this has made me think about how much these teachings have been blunted by habit and social convention, or simply diluted by abstraction. Systematic theology and historical criticism of the Bible are fascinating to intellectually inclined people like me, though they have to potential to be distractions from a genuine spiritual life, too.
Of course there are those tortuous meditation postures we're taught at the Zen temple. Next to those, the mental gymnastics involved in comprehending the Trinity are a breeze.
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