an old writer and his words

  • WASH YOUR BOWL 無門關 七

    There is no stick, no shoutwe go uninstructedon a full stomach. We do not see waterin the midst of an ocean. We are given a sinkfull of breakfast bowls, plates,cups and spoons. Handlessly we performour task and sitto lunch with Joshu. A reflection on Case 4 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber

  • BACK LOOKING

    On the worst day, of the worstweek, or even just a day, like mostthat did not go the way you want,step outside at night if the sky is clearand stare upwards at the universe. Realize that you are seeingmore than a monumental collectionof celestial bodies, that you areexperiencing so much history,and moments older thanmankind itself,…

    Lou Faber

  • IMAGINE THAT

    You said you can only acceptwhat is real and tangible,everything elseis a delusion or figment. I cannot accept your premiseas a generalization, it eliminatesso much, for what you call realmay be otherwise to me. And given that you are notalways present, perhapswhen you are not, when youare not actually tangibleyou are a delusion, and thatis…

    Lou Faber

  • NANSEN CUTS THE CAT 無門關 十四

    Thirty blows of the stickif right, thirty blowsif wrong, or Namsen’s swordand a severed cat a half to eacha whole to none Be thankful youdidn’t argue about a manfor with a shoeon the head, your feetmay touch the sky. A reflection on Case 14 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber

  • MARCH ON

    We marched regularly, often carring placards,this week against an insane warin a place we had no busines being,next week for the racial justicepromised for a century but never delivered,and then for the ecology, trying to savethe world that our parents promisedfor us as little children and failedto provide, choking through the smogand the teargas, scraping…

    Lou Faber

  • LINES

    We love drawing lines and borders. There are few things we do better than that. But increasingly we have lost our once finely honed skill at placing them where they ought to be. I won’t even get into walls on borders to keep out families, those like our families were once. I mean small lines…

    Lou Faber

  • PROGRESS?

    It is progressing, but thatshould not come as a surprise to you,for they told you it would happenand you accepted that as a fact. It is the speed at which it has progressed,much faster than you imagined,what was once clear, now vagueever more amorphous, half alreadyeffectively gone, and the other half? I imagine what would…

    Lou Faber

  • THE POET?

    He stood in front of the classin a more than half empty lecture halland leaned into the podium, almost smiling. He was here, a real poet, half famousby his own reckoning, totally so by ourssince he was rumpled, as a poet ought,his sport coat tweedy and ill fitting. Still we harbored some doubts,for there was…

    Lou Faber

  • THE HALF TRUTH

    As a Jewish kid in a small cityI suppose I had it pretty good, enoughof us that I didn’t totally stand out,and it helped living a single blockfrom the Jewish funeral home, somejust didn’t want to travel all that farwhen the inevitable time came. But we soon moved to the suburbs,the shtetl neighborhood was gone,and…

    Lou Faber

  • CALLING THE MASTER 無門關 十二

    Each morning ask yourselfif it is you who is thereand answer: “Of course.” Remind yourself“Do not be madea fool of today”and assure yourselfyou will not Each morningfour selves,each deluded, eachthe fool, of one selfwhich is no selffree of all delusion. A reflection on Case 12 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber