Rob and I are just returned from a weekend in Corvallis, Oregon.
Although I frequented this quiet town of 50,000 a great deal as a child, I hadn't realized how old-fashioned it is. Inviting public spaces, easy pedestrian access to shops, and the grand lawns and plantings of the OSU campus all lend an air of civility and graciousness to the place. The overwhelming culture is comfortably progressive, and far from passive. People seem genuinely interested in how public policy influences their community. They're also a literate crew. You can see local theatre for $10; local bookstores flourish, and 80% of residents use the library at least once a week.
The weather was beautiful; the roses in Avery Park were romantic; people were eating gelato at little sidewalk tables on 2nd St. Our friend Mushin has a lovely house that truly feels like home; her backyard contains a sweet little zendo; the rent for her upstairs is reasonable; she's willing to let me put up a clothesline outside, get a worm box for the luxuriously-oversized back porch, and make yogurt and sauerkraut in the kitchen. Falling in love was all too easy.
I do have a worry, though. I have no job. I have no profession, no idea of how to make money. Yet so far everything is working out well, and working in its own time. I vow every morning to cultivate patience, gratitude and faith. Here is the field where the practice of faith is necessary; I have no deeper fear than having no place to live and no way to make money. How to hold that fear, and to discern the appropriate path to take?
Yes!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think I saw you in Grass Roots book store, upstairs, on Sunday. You were dressed like a Zen person. I used to do zen meditation, etc, and kind of lost track of it. I wasn't impressed by Abby's group last time I was there, mainly because the meditation kept getting interrupted by unnecessary comments, and the leader from your monastery was there, and she really didn't say anything very inspiring, so I haven't been back...but I am sure it is not fair to judge it just on a couple of tries. Maybe most of the time they actually just focus on the meditation and have a few relevant and inspiring comments. I work Sundays, so I can't go, but definitely the interest is there, although I find elements of christianity to be more inspiring than anything in zen, but don't look at it as a "one or the other" type of deal. Still, I would be interested to hear more about life at the monastery.
christopherfarrell@gmail.com
inclementreality.blogspot.com
chris farrell
Post a Comment