Another early sit ... touching the Earth ... good breakfast and over the wire to Trenac (an in joke for a friend who dubbed this place Buddlitz)... breaking in the shoes before Friday's return to serious walking ... which has been in mind far too much considering that living in the present moment is the core teaching and Plum Village is the perfect place to practice it ... a gorgeous sunrise, mist laying in pockets below ... loving the return to the rhythm of walking ... 5 km per hour and not to be confused with Mindful Walking, which is much slower ... the circuit loops round, past vineyards, fields of sunflowers and maize ... and back via Son Ha temple ... road signs indicating nearly 10 km, but the walk was little over an hour ... time for an informative chat with Alain from France ... offering a new perspective on the geopolitics of Europe ... to set alongside the narrative of Northern European neo-colonialism ...
A group viewing of Thay's talk in Lower Hamlet in 2014 on Resurrection. .. then time for a shower before Mindful Walking and Lunch ... two silent activities with a brief conversation with Andrew from Ireland on things philosophical between ... after lunch a second warm connection with Sergio, Portuguese seeker, sometime corporate then academic slave in the damp lowlands of Cambridge ... to discuss projects in Portugal, of course ... in general, how to re-imagine the world, specifically Portugal and the depopulated interior ... intentional, multi-generational, multi-cultural communities with a core secular and inclusive spirituality ... Thay has a lovely vision of such communities as an evolutionary progression in human consciousness ... group thought and action ... community as entity ... and yes, his wording may not include "secular" ... though the Order of Interbeing is light touch and inclusive ... albeit with monks and nuns in robes, rituals and the rest. ..
Dodging mindful working, after a hot shift with the weeds yesterday ... the blog calling in case anyone is reading ... anyway it helps to crystallise the thoughts ... and writer role, along with pilgrim, ready to take the stage ...
As Friday approaches the route South West becomes clearer ... walking direct from here to Pellegrue ... St Foy being an unnecessary dog-leg ... already thinking of cheese and eggs ... some bodily indications of the dietary change ... maybe iron or B12 vitamin deficiency, for which the resident community takes supplements ... according to Eddie, sometime editor with the BBC (British Bullshit Corporation), who has spent a year here, getting Thay's talks online ... a gift for the world ....
Best wishes for Friday, Steve - it would appear that the haircut has been designed for high speed walking - or was it for slow walking in Plum Village?
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