an old writer and his words

  • PHOENIX

    A Phoenix may rise from the ashes, but you and I have seen the aftermath of the flames and all that rises are our memories and dreams. We lack both wings and a certain amount of faith, for ashes are all that is promised and in the end we are no more than dust avoiding…

    Lou Faber

  • THEN

    Before the after now is present. It was never like this before, it will not be again anytime soon, for there is no time soon that has yet to be or just gone by. After the before we find ourselves here and now.

    Lou Faber

  • WITH EYES WIDE CLOSED

    Between this moment and the next lies an unbridgeable gulf that the mind leaps with great ease, never looking back, or down into the abyss. It is only when the body stops, tries to grasp the space between, that everything collapses and falls into itself until all that is left is improbability.

    Lou Faber

  • WHEN OR IF

    In a clockless world all life is an approximation and clear boundaries evaporate like the mist off a morning pond. In that world this moment seeps into the next, night becomes day, only to return again. The Buddha knew this for in his clockless world all that existed was this moment an instant that was,…

    Lou Faber

  • CLOUDY

    They promised rain yesterday. It did not rain yesterday. The sky grew dark, the clouds gathered, convening, no doubt, to consider rain but clearly they did not reach a consensus. They say it will rain today, but we have no reason at all to believe them, for they are wispy and darting around under the…

    Lou Faber

  • KEMBO’S ONE ROAD 鐵笛倒吹 八十四

    As you walk along a road do you know where it begins or where it will end and what lies along it. Perhaps the road is a twisted loop with neither beginning or ending, but if asked where you are on the road you are always here. A reflection on Case 84 of The Iron…

    Lou Faber

  • TO BE, OR

    The beauty and the difficulty of being in the moment is the realization that there is no moment in which to be. When you ask what time it is, I can only answer by referring to what time it is not, for time must be relative to that which no longer exists, or has yet…

    Lou Faber

  • TEMPUS FUGIT

    The problem with bringing then into now is that now slips away and then no longer really exists. You may wish all you like for summer to remain, but Autumn demands her due and even the leaves grow tired and need that final rest. Do not deny the clouds, but treat them like a stray…

    Lou Faber

  • CELESTIAL HARMONY

    The summer sky barely pauses to consider what might be going on beneath it. Everything seems to move, there can be no stillness. Once in the rarest of whiles, the sky and the river align, and each is frozen in a stasis that defies understanding or categorization. The stars realize this and shine a moment…

    Lou Faber

  • MEMENTO VIVERE

    The moment arrives suddenly and appears at your feet, threatening to trip you into the hole of time that marks the edge of this moment as it once did the one before this. If you stand perfectly still You may move forward with the easy grace of enlightenment.

    Lou Faber