As of Sept 26, I’m entering a three-month practice period at Tassajara, so things will be quiet on this blog and on my Huff Post blog for a while.
I’m happy to say that Fire Monks is humming along, finding readers in places both expected and unexpected. Fire season will slide into snow season while I’m away. May the fires that have yet to start bring new life.
I wrote a parting commentary published today in the Duluth News Tribune. The Pagami Creek fire burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the approaching 20th anniversary of the Oakland Hills fire closer to home have me thinking about our relationship with fire. It’s easy to feel animosity towards wildfire when it’s threatening our homes or our loved ones or places–especially when lives are lost. I understand that feeling.
But in the long run, fire is not our enemy. As Abbot Steve Stucky says in Fire Monks–fire is more like an old friend we have to be strict with from time to time.
Until we meet again, be well!
Archives for September 2011
Latest (and last for a bit) Huff Po blog
…unless I find a way to blog from the wilderness…
What Meditation Won’t Do for You
New Huff Post Blog on Finding Time
My latest Huffington Post blog on a meditator’s expanded experience of time is here. The editors gave it a “How to” title, and it does end on a practical note, but it’s not a checklist or a receipe. (As Suzuki Roshi once said–and one of my teachers, renowned Zen chef Edward Espe Brown likes to quote–“You cannot eat a receipe.”) In the post, I offer my own experience of making peace with time through meditation practice. Bon appetit!
Fire Monks is a KWMR pledge premium
Tomorrow, KWMR Community Radio in West Marin will be airing an interview with me as part of their fall pledge drive and National Preparedness Month, from 10-11:30 am PST. And, they will give away free copies of FIRE MONKS as pledge premiums!
I am working on posting one or two more Huffington Post blogs in the next couple of weeks. After that, it will be quiet on fire-monks.com for the remaining months of the year, as I’ll be offline for three months of retreat–at Tassajara. Retreat isn’t exactly the right word for a practice period, but more on that later…
Mark your calendars: Just found out the paperback release date is June 26!