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PAINFUL LEARNING
It was a lesson that took himfar too long to learn,was one he needed for years.He couldn’t remember all the timesthat he had set out to accomplish somethingyet that day was given over to Murphyor the corollary of his famous law,for he almost never accomplishedwhat he had set out to do.But the lesson was deeply…
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RAKUHO’S LAST MOMENTS
If I ask you “do youwish to find enlightenment,”how do you answer?If you say you doyou are yet another stepin the wrong direction.If you say you do notwish to find enlightenment,why are you practicing?If you sit on the cushionin total silence saying nothingyour answer willecho off the walls. A reflection on Case 41 of the…
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AND COUNTING
The dawn brokethe counting beganeach daya new dawna new count.The resultswere notedwrittenfor posterityout of habitfor no reasonfor no onecared any longer.No onecould remembera day whenthe countwas zerowhen the gunswere for oncetruly silent.
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ANTIPATHY
Some of his acquaintences said his problemwas that he constantly demonstratedantipathy toward people, toward things.He knew, of course, that was not thecase but he dared not say that lestthey use it as yet another exampleof his antipathy. The reason, he leftunsaid, was that he didn’t have antipathy,it was that such an emotionrequired feelings about things…
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PRAGUE
When we walked the streetsof Prague, we felt at once alienbut surrounded by so many tourists,almost somewhat at home.Unlike in Lyon or Arles wheremy limited high school Frenchallowed me the most rudimentaryof conversations, in Pragueit was pointing or Google Translate,and then I wore the mark of touristdespite wearing clothes Ihad purchased there the day before.We…
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THE NEW GODS
From their two-bedroom apartmenton the outer edge of Cupertino,the Gods evicted from Olympusare creating their pulsating metahell.They know how easily we, lemmingsenchanted by the sparkling void,offer ourselves up in sacrifice, alwayswanting still another gigabyte,entranced by the idea of the Deusex machina, blind to our own truth.They promise us eternity, a heavenof a parallel binary universe,redemption…
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FAMILY
Of the few remaining cousins, nowas old as I, a number we do not mentionor want to believe that he was her onlylover, as though she was the young girlwho left Charleston for Washington, D.C.They cite, as justifying empirical evidence,that she never married, alwaysthe beloved aunt, nothing more allowed.My later discovered existencelaid waste to their…
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IMAGINE THAT
There is a certain joy in writing fiction,for many readers will assume the protagonistis the author or at least partially basedon the author, never pausing to considerthat the villains and lesser charactersare just as likely to be based to some extenton the author or bits of his or her life.And often the readers are not…
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UMMON’S WHITE AND BLACK
If you come upon a masterand he says “give me your answer,”how do you respond?You cannot say to himthat he has not asked a questionfor that would be an answerto a question you sayhas not been given.Better you should bow to himand sit silently before him. A reflection on Case 40 of the Book of…
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FLOATING
They are swimming around today and it is disconcerting. But they bend to no will but their own, so he must live with them. They have names now, the larger ones which makes it easier, for he can engage them in conversation, although it is all monologue as they have nothing to say. He hopes…
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