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!