an old writer and his words

  • INSTAHELL OR METAHELL?

    Some might call us linguistic sadistsand it would be difficult to argue that point.We take a perverse joy in torturing language,as though trying to make it agree with whatwe imagine it should do in our delusional world.And I am willing (and quite able) to lay someof the blame on social media, that baneof modern existence…

    Lou Faber

  • SUIGAN’S EYEBROWS

    If you sitwith two teachersand ask themto explain the Dharmaeach may givea different answer.Both are right,both are wrong.Which do you believe?Does it matter? A reflection on Case 71 of The Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • NOTHING TO FEAR BUT

    He knew his emotions swunglike a pendulum in an everwidening arc, and that centralto the swings was the pit of fearon the precipice of whichhe found himself yet again.Some days it was the fear of rejection,that was a practiced reality for himyet never less intensely painful.Other days it was the fear of acceptancefor with that…

    Lou Faber

  • JUST LIKE US

    We love nothing more than to anthropomorphize. It is one of our defining characteristics. It makes our lives simpler since we can relate more easily to people than animals or things. And after all, we did make God in our image, or is it the other way around? Does God deimorphize us? Anyway, we know…

    Lou Faber

  • ONCE, AGAIN

    His mind was dancingwhile his feet were firmly anchoredto the unyielding ground.It has long been this wayhis mind demanding a freedomhis body is incapable of granting.But in his dreams his body hasinfinite flexibility, can moveas the mind needs only to imagine.those moments of freedom, he knowswill depart when the day once againimprisons him, locking himin…

    Lou Faber

  • SHINZAN QUESTIONS THE NATURE OF LIFE

    Why, when you sit on the cushiondo you imagine yourselfbecoming a Buddha?If you can imagine yourselfbecoming a Buddha, youare not yet readyto become a Buddha.If you sit on the cushionand imagine nothingyou grow ever more readyto find what you nolonger seek so much. A reflection on Case 70 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • URBAN DREAMS

    The city crawls beneath youlike so many beasts awakenedin your recent nightmare, skitteringto somewhere you dare not imagine.This is not your city, it could never be,for cities are mere illusions, veneersfor prisons from which few escapeand fewer still are paroled, andyour sentence only ends in your death.Some say cities are beautiful, butyou know they are…

    Lou Faber

  • SILENCE?

    You smile when you saythat my voice is muffled,that you cannot understand whatI am trying so hard to tell you.You have taken my tongue, the priceperhaps for saying what youmost do not want to hear.So you may laugh at me, atmy attempts to speak, but youwill never silence me for I canyell, I can write…

    Lou Faber

  • THE OTHER WORLD

    He pendulated between two worlds,always on the fine edge of transition.Night brought amniotic dreamsthat washed away the digital bondsthe day had fashioned from his thoughts.Here was a freedom that reality detested.Here there were no walls, only open doorsand he could freely wander his psychewithout impediments, without that voicethat was always perched on the razor’sedge of…

    Lou Faber

  • SAD MONOLOGUE

    It is a truly sad momentwhen you first come to realizethat the inner dialog you thoughtyou were having with your psychehas been little more than a monologue,the ramblings of the court jester,or worse, the fool, your psychehaving grown deaf to your complaints,your incessant worries, or worse still,the ever growing fears you bring uponboth of you,…

    Lou Faber