Enlightenment

Okay, enough moaning about the horrors of the publishing industry. Isn't the entire world in a state of deterioration and collapse? We live in the end times and the fall of old empires. But to paraphrase the Lord Krishna as he spoke to Arjuna on the eve of a great battle. "No one's dyin' here. We're all immortal." I credit my present state of equanimity on a recent re-read of a wonderful little book a dear writer friend in New York sent me. It's called The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas. The author wrote his gem of wisdom in one room in San Francisco back in the days of psychedelics and flower power. Here's my favourite line: I offer no resistance to this reality. Great for calming you in the face of universal human madness. Here's a sweetie thing he says in his foreword: I'm not really expecting anyone to take these sentences and expand them again into a feeling of realization. But if one of you whom I never hear about gets a little higher and happier, then I would write all this again a thousand times over. And here's a bit that made me laugh out loud: The thought of these possibilities is so staggering, trying to contain them in writing is so ridiculous, that it is hard for me to move my pen any further. Ach, Mr Golas, you're a pet. I hope you are happy wherever you are, a chara.