Welcome to my blog which yet again has a stirring of plot within. Last week’s triumph, an apparent promise of kindle publication out together by the best publisher in the world, has had no further developments so already the author is wondering whether it was just an illusion of something about to happen – the Vedantic world process in embryonic form one could say. On the other hand, I discovered this week that the local newspaper had given a half-page article to my idea of a Day of the Dead. The significance of this, in terms of this blog, was that this publicity was based on a telephone interview with me, together with obvious reference to the articles I have written for my death website. In other words, the effort I put in to creating a base of authenticity to work from has proven, at least in this instance, rewarding.
A consequence of this publicity, however, is that if I now bail out of the whole thing, it will be a public matter, not only because the newspaper have asked for updates but because I have now also had my first meeting with possible companions on this journey. (Journey!? What has the X-factor done to us?) In fact it was Harry Palmer ‘s notes on actions you can take to make a creation, particularly the advice ‘Utilize someone else’s energy,’ that made me take the step of putting an announcement on the town’s noticeboard about the DOTD that asked for help. 3 replies came in and I met two of them in a pub last Wednesday night.
Pubs are not my cup of tea, especially pubs that don’t sell tea. The first to come was David, a catholic druid who sits with the dying for a living. His belief is that the Dead are having a very good time indeed. The second to arrive was Janetta, a social worker, an occasional funeral celebrant and (I think) a trainee priest in the Goddess temple. Of course, in any other town, or circumstance, these tertiary identities could be quite easy to make-fun of, however I don’t intend to make that mistake because one of the fundamental points of the exercise is to acknowledge the universality of death in the human experience in whatever form it manifests. (All right; I need all the help I can get.)
In the hour I had before my concentration went, (since becoming a smoker again an hour without tea and a fag is too long) we mostly swopped stories of our interest in the subject while I tried to make some general points about where I was coming from. As neither of them are wealthy or web designers, when the point came that they asked what they could do, there was little I could tell them. Although I could see clearly that they both were happy to stay longer, and discuss more, I did what I do, I started to pack away my things and said I would get in touch with them by email. (I did something similar the next day when Linda told me she had some ideas for me.)
When I began this account those 45 or so weeks ago, my idea was to utilize ‘self-improvement’ ideas to self-improve. I was particularly influenced by Robert Fritz’s book on Creating and over the next few days I’m going to have to reread it, because this DoD (Day of the Dead) is really an accidental creation and I don’t recall a chapter on this concept. The question is how successful can an accidental creation be? Or rather, how successful can this accidental creation be? Even as I pose the questions answers suggest themselves. Clearly, some accidental creations can be world-changing; (okay, I can’t at this moment think of any but science is full of stories of accidental discoveries and inventions, isn’t it?). For this one to become a full creation, it will need to become utterly deliberate. Should I really bother, bearing in mind it is likely to cost me money than earn it and I can’t feel any emotional excitement about it whereas if I knew a novel of mine was about to be launched on the world I’d be sleepless?
***
Over the last few months, I have begun to meditate more often, not for long periods but maybe for 20-25 minutes four times a week. I first learned about meditation in 1976 and in my ashram days would often be in meditation sessions lasting a minimum of an hour. I’ve never really enjoyed the practise nor found much stillness, mental or physical, while doing it and certainly no ‘states of monumental peace’ that my friend Chintamani once described. Many years have passed between one bout of irregular mediation and another even though I’ve suspected that while the sessions never seemed exciting the overall effect was beneficial. Not much has changed but now I’m less inclined to seek ‘an experience’ and am using it to try and instil in myself the habit of repeating my mantra because this will be my strategy at death, to hold on to the mantra as my anchor. Even so there have been a couple of times when I’ve almost thought, no, actually did think, I was about to slip into a supernal state. It is this thinking that is the problem of course and I often remember a story by Yogananda who once became excited because he was having a vision of his guru and the visionary guru went up to him and said, ‘Calm down, for god’s sake or you’ll blow me away.’
*****
I’d like to think that the call by some group for Christians to be treated in anti-discrimination law like disabled people are is a deliberate joke and means to imply that the religioners are mentally ill and for that reason should not be scapegoated. Sadly, I rather fear that this call is as stupidly serious as that of Baroness Wadi’s when she claimed that Christians were "sidelined, marginalised and downgraded in the public sphere".
If only.
No comments:
Post a Comment