Here is actual footage of my book signing the other day in Richmond, Virginia.
OK. Maybe not quite that bad. But these bookstore signings are hit and miss affairs. Sometimes I get a big crowd and sometimes not. The Richmond signing was one of the nots. But for a small group they had tremendous enthusiasm and interest, and that made up for it in a major way. It was an afternoon thing and those are always difficult to pull people in for.
But the evening talk in Ekoji Zen Center, also in Richmond on the same day, was a packed house. Plus I kept running into people over the next couple days in town who said they'd wanted to attend one or both of the talks but hadn't been able to. Can't suit everybody's schedules, I suppose.
ANYWAY, my publishers notified me that I was name-checked by Andrew Sullivan, a popular blogger for Atlantic. You can see the article here at this link. Cool.
Also check out this interview from RVA magazine in Richmond, VA.
Next, my friend Cassandra sent me a link to this really nice article. Go read it first and then come back and we'll talk about it.
OK. You read it? Good.
I really like this article. It says a lot of the same things I've been saying for ages.
I especially like what he has to say about responsibility. I've been feeling lately that time idea of karma, when understood properly, is the ultimate in taking responsibility. You're not just responsible for your own stuff, but for the entire universe.
Too many people misconstrue karma as something that points outward. They hear the idea and go, "Are you saying all those people that died in the tsunami/concentration camps/tragic gardening accidents deserved it??? You fiend!!!"
But it's not like that. Karma points only towards you. Don't worry about other people. See how it works for you. It's the ultimate in taking responsibility for yourself.
There's just one problem with the article. And, unfortunately, it's a pretty big problem, and one that eludes many people.
It's not enough to have this experience just once. Your old, habitual ways of responding to and interacting with the world will reassert themselves very quickly even if you are fully consciously aware that they are bullshit. This is also why garbage like Big Mind® is useless even if it could give you an enlightenment experience in a single day (which it cannot).
Practice is vital. It is the only way to develop new habits. The philosophers this writer cites, such as Krishnamurti and Ekhart Tolle are occasionally really good, but lack the vital component of solid practice. This is why, as brilliant as their philosophies sometimes are, they will never really work. They're beautiful and often true, but ultimately impractical.
Zazen practice is kind of like experiencing this writer's shower moment over and over again, allowing it to become a habit that's ultimately stronger than the older patterns because it's based in reality.
Whatever.
Thus endeth my Spring 2010 Tour of the USA. Next stop France and then on to Poland, Germany, Finland, Ireland and Holland. After that Japan. And then Great Sky in August.
In the Fall I'll have two new books out and it'll start all over again. Hope to see some of you there!
