an old writer and his words

  • DONGSHAN’S ILLNESS

    If you tell your teacherthat you are feeling painduring your practicehe will ask you wherethe pain is.If you point to a partof your body he willturn away but if youpoint to your headhe will tell you thatyou can heal yourself. A reflection on Case 98 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • I WANT TO BELIEVE

    I want to believethat I am a man of words,to think you would agree,for words inundate my world. In my home I live among wordssome mine, mostly those of others. They follow me like a shadowat noon, the sunalways on my face. I want to know what theywant from me but theydo not answer or…

    Lou Faber

  • DID YOU?

    Sitting on the chairin the photographer’s studiodid you ever pause to wonderthat day, the snow fallingoutside the papered-over windowskeeping the light whollywithin his control,how many lonely menmight keep your picture, youtheir imagined once loverwho left, who died, whogrew apart over time,on their mantle, coffeetable, nightstand, dresser.Did you even know youwould be framed countless timesin several…

    Lou Faber

  • GOING SLOWLY

    It is a simple fact that I amlikely going blind, but onlyslowly so far, one eye witha hole in its vision, but outsideits event horizon, largely normal.It is odd that when you know youwill likely lose your sight thatbecomes less scary, you approachit as something new, testingyour vision constantly butlooking more closely, takingin details you…

    Lou Faber

  • ID, NON EST

    What is surprising is its fragility,the cold hard but oh so thin veneerthat is willingly exposed, but alwaysat a nominal distance so that itsshallowness can hide behind the illusion.Even when among its peers, it wantsto inflate for the bigger it appearsthe less frail it seems to thosecasting the passing glance at it.You would not imagine…

    Lou Faber

  • IMPEDIMENTS

    Pause for a moment and considerwhat you truly think of the window,stared at but never seen, at worstan impediment, at best a shield.Is that why it gathers dirt and dust,a vain attempt to establish a presencethat we quickly try to deny again.Doors have an easier time of it forwe must acknowledge them, bidthem a handshake…

    Lou Faber

  • UNFOLDING

    Wake into the morning’s lightunsure of how you arrived in this moment,of what this day may promise,of how it will unfurl before you, perhapslike a work of art of a dementedorigami unfolding randomly, everythingor nothing at all, no way of knowing.This could be a delusion, could bethe dregs of a dream that night left behind,could…

    Lou Faber

  • WHERE AM I?

    Wandering aimlessly throughthe park, along a well trodden,now well rutted trail, uncertainwhere I was at that moment ormost any moment lately,I came across a weathered signwith what once might have beena map but was now a dot withthe legend “You Are Here” whichsettled one existential question.I realized in that moment Imost likely wanted to be…

    Lou Faber

  • THE POWER

    You tell methat the keyto the universeresides in E.To Einsteinit was simplea point from whichthe universe arisesits final catafalque.How, I ask,can symbolic failurebe critical,what is so specialabout fivewhy ought I carefor the third degreeof a natural scaleI cannot hopeto ascend.Perhaps it isonly your eccentricity.You tell meto refine my visionto consult Eulerbut it is fartoo transcendentalfor…

    Lou Faber

  • COMPASSION

    You cannot discover compassion, itisn’t something you can buy on Amazonor find along the side of a rural road.It cannot be found in books, or giftedby ministers who promise anythingfor a tithe and pledge of your soul.It is something that exists within you,much as curiosity exists within a catalongside its own form of compassionthat nature…

    Lou Faber