Saturday's expedition to the city produced more books for the library and another conversation with Andreas, who is very keen to introduce the Greek philosophers to a local audience, many of whom are more interested in the Eastern sages ... or the various forms of Christianity still hanging on in the face of widespread apathy if not downright animosity ... being the religion deeply embedded in the national psyche, with concomitant emotional reaction as the narrative dissipates and horror stories emerge about depraved priests ... though on another loop, a book arrives from Dominic, a Dominican monk and friend from Newcastle, sometime enthusiast for A Place to Be and heretic by some standards ... this latest addition to the library is called The Lost Knowledge of Christ and will be reviewed when read ... after The Holographic Universe, previously in the library and revisited after a loop via David Bohm, whose Wholeness and the Implicate Order offers an alternative and compelling version of quantum theory, though even the lay version is hard going for this unscientifically wired brain .... Bohm, to loop again. was great friends with Jiddu Krishnamurti and co-authored The Limits of Thought, another stray from the previous version of the library ... hopefully being read and circulated as all the best books deserve .... and looping again, Dominic's book describes The Enneagram, taught some years ago at the base for APtB by interfaith minister and APtB founder member, Janette ... also regular at Findhorn, an early inspiration for the Retreat House ...
Sunday dawning bright demanded an extended wander, the daily routes being usually under two hours and mostly the same way ... so after a steep climb South it was a heavenly hike West along the high ridge, descending through peat bogs and East along the back road home after four hours more or less non-stop ... such guided expeditions clearly part of the Retreat House offer .... possibly with the peat bogs circumnavigated ....
So to yesterday's assisted shopping trip to Hexham ... a real boon to folks unable to get about without help as well as able bodied people without cars, since the bus route from Stanhope involves two or three changes and around three and a half hours ... hmm, maybe time for the much discussed lift-share scheme ....
As for Wear and Dao, google says around 400 folks around the world see it, though how many read it is unknown .... the first and only potential publishers are tardy in their response, though it is already published here anyway and if a few folks enjoy it, that's fine for me ... to be honest, I write for myself .... to clarify thoughts and hopefully find handy to prompt the unreliable memory ... though Easter is a helpful hook, even with its wandering dates ... two years ago the blog was in Santiago, six years ago floating in the sea at Zambujeira do Mar ...
Well, dear readers, I hope you are enjoying the blog, tangents and loops and all ... maybe the meaning will become clear sometime .... meanwhile there does seem a centre to the chaos .... visible through the upstairs back window of the cottage and current base ... the energy is gathering ... the art to find the collaborators with authenticity and the heart for the vision ...
Steve - passed through Avila North of Madrid last week and thought of you.
ReplyDeleteSome folks there had it that when the Jews and Muslims were cleared out of Spain, they took their wisdom to Greece and that was the nascence of Greek Philosophy...
...struggling with the timeline in that idea James ... Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and company were around well before Mohammed was born ... closer to the time of the Buddha ...
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