Ignorance

"The trouble with people is not that they don’t know, but that they know so much that ain’t so."

Josh Billings

(Graphic courtesy of Nevit Dilmen and Wikimedia Commons.)

WW: Autumn moon

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Shop Talk

“Writing about spiritual stuff for a secular audience is like doing card tricks on the radio."

Mary Karr

(Photo courtesy of Farhan Siddicq and Unsplash.com.)

WW: November on the North Pacific

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Good Comic Strip: Garfield Minus Garfield

This is pure genius, but bear with me, because it won't seem like it just from the description.

In Garfield Minus Garfield, Irish tech professional Dan Walsh experiments with the Garfield comic strip by deleting every character from it except Jon, Garfield's long-suffering, socially-awkward caretaker. In so doing, Walsh ends up elucidating a life that's played out in front of us for nearly fifty years, but remained almost invisible.

The results are uncanny. And a little heartrending.

From a Zen standpoint, the project is also a graphic demonstration of delusion. In Walsh's strip, Jon's largely hallucinating his reality; he himself is literally the only thing in-frame.

The point may be a little facile and solipsistic, but it's fascinating to see his Everyman grapple with suffering, in a world he's created between his ears.

Plus it's hilarious.

So if you like dark koanic humour, give it a click.

(Lead graphic courtesy of Garfield Without Garfield; explicated strip courtesy of Whatculture.com via Pinterest.)

WW: Sheep

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

The Deal

Regulars may have noticed that posting on Rusty Ring has become a little haphazard. That's because I've been managing my mother's home hospice for the last two months. Aside from the daily march of tasks, it also includes regular upheavals in routine, resulting in topsy-turvy days and weeks. Since predictable scheduling is the first requirement of blogging, the results are showing up here.

The underlying situation is of course a source of stress, making the actual work a kind of distraction – and therefore a relief – in an ironic way. But once again I'm finding meditation invaluable. As ever, I hesitate to vaunt it too much, as newcomers and interested non-meditators may form inaccurate expectations.

Zazen doesn't fix anything. It doesn't make me care less, and I'm not sure it even makes me fear less.

It just makes me fear better.

If that makes no sense, welcome to Zen.

I have no idea how I survived these things before I became a monk.

Anyway, I'll continue striving to maintain the regular posting schedule, in full knowledge that I'm bound to fail. And I'll concentrate on offering stuff of value when I do, even if it's a line here and a quotation there.

Because one of the sub-vows of my Rule is, "I will do what I can, even if it's unlikely to succeed."

Peace and progress to all seekers.


(Graphic courtesy of Zoltan Tasi and Unsplash.com.)