Supermoon, Polyphony, Ash

10 things from the week...

1. Overnight work trip to Mesa County brought me back to the Wine Country Inn in Palisade, Colorado--situated amongst vineyards at the foot of Mt. Garfield. Just in time for dinner at the Peach Street Distillers and the partial eclipse of the harvest supermoon.

2. During my long drive out west (four hours each way, two consecutive days), listened to a few Ezra Klein podcasts (recommended by Lauren): "On Children, Meaning, Media, and Psychedelics," "Tired? Distracted? Burned Out? Listen to This,"

3. Also appreciated Ezra Klein's "The Men--and Boys--Are Not Alright"--particularly in light of National Suicide Prevention Month. Females may attempt suicide at a higher rate, but males successfully complete suicide at a higher rate because they use firearms. Middle-aged rural males are especially at risk with significantly higher rates. As the podcast has it, suicide risk is tied to experiences of uselessness, worthlessness, or feeling that families would be better off without them. Seek help if concerned for yourself or others. Call 988. Or text 988. Or text Crisis Text Line.

4. Professional networking event this week involved a tour of Clear Cannabis--fascinating glimpse inside this emerging industry. Edibles, vaping mechanisms, and health benefits (especially as compared to alcohol and pharmaceuticals) are leading to the mainstreaming of this plant medicine. The fastest growing user population are adults over 60. Meanwhile, illicit use by youth has not grown since legalization. "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds."--Bob Marley, "Redemption Song."

5. As Rosh Hashanah approaches, for the past couple of hundred years many Jews have made a practice of reading Psalm 27 twice a day ("lead me in a plain path").

6. Pope Francis ended his three-day visit to Singapore, a country with at least five different faiths, saying that “all religions are a path to God.” “They are like different languages in order to arrive at God, but God is God for all. Since God is God for all, then we are all children of God."

7. "God has created the world in play"--Sri Ramakrishna. Eknath Easwaran's commentary: "A simple, childlike story in India's ancient scriptures tells how multiplicity emerged from unity. The Lord, the One without a second, felt very lonesome one morning. After all, he was the only thing that existed in the entire universe, so when he looked around him, he could see no one but himself. This did not satisfy him at all. He wanted to play. So he made playmates. Out of himself he created the myriads of creatures, the two-footed and the four-footed. He started playing with them, playing hide-and-seek, which is what life is all about. We are all playing this game with the Lord. We are all seeking him, and he is hiding playfully from us."

8. On a recent roll, Pope Francis also spoke up about the essential value of literature-- “Contact with different literary and grammatical styles will always allow for deepening the polyphony of Revelation without reducing or impoverishing it to one’s historical requirements or mental structures...Literature helps readers to topple the idols of a self-referential, falsely self-sufficient and statically conventional language." (thanks, Dad!)

9. "In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do. You will have something remaining which is not completely burned out. Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ashes. This is the goal of our practice. That is what Dogen meant when he said, 'Ashes do not come back to firewood.' Ash is ash. Ash should be completely ash. The firewood should be firewood. When this kind of activity takes place, one activity covers everything."--Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

10. Praxilla (via my father): "Loveliest of what I have left behind is the sunlight,/And loveliest after that is the shining stars and the moon's face,/But also cucumbers that are ripe, and pears and apples."

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