HOW TO BAKE YOUR LIFE : EARLY MORNING REPORT from THE HERMITAGE

My body feels wonderful on just 4 hours sleep. Music still on radio, from when i retired last nite. Paul Gambaccini presents his "America's Greatest Hits" show 4 2 hours on Radio 2. Music and self-massage. At some point i get-up 4 warm water and lemon. i check smart-energy-meter 4 yesterday's usage. Gas - £0.71pence. Electric - £1.39 pence. The kettle, on the stove, doesn't get 2 whistle. i make my drink. i water the plants. i fone my brother in Oz. He's at his counter at the bookshop. i return 2 bed 2 read. i lie on my belly, supported by elbows. The bedside light is a bit weak. Eyes manage in half-light......



The Earth's Wild Places
Your eyes, your mouth and hands,
the public highways.
Hands, like truck stops,
semis rumbling in the corners.
Eyes like the bank clerk's window
foreign exchange.
I love all the parts of your body
friends hug your suburbs
farmlands are given a nod
but I know the path
to your wilderness.
It's not that I like it best,
but we're almost always
alone there,
and it's scary but also calm.
Gary Snyder, This Present Moment, Counterpoint, 2015.

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Awareness : Every Pore of the Skin Has to Become an Eye
It is difficult to speak of bodily knowledge in words. It is much easier to experience it, to discover what it feels like. It is as if the rays of light of your intelligence were shining through your body, out your arms to your fingertips and down your legs and out through the soles of your feet. As this happens, the mind becomes passive and begins to relax. This is an alert passivity and not a dull, empty one. The state of alert repose regenerates the mind and purifies the body.
BKS Iyengar, LIGHT ON LIFE, Rodale, 2005.

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Out of bed, 2 make bread, this time. It's 4.30. i knock-up the dough and place on mantelpiece in sitting-room to catch the draught of warmth from the gas fire. The vases, now pushed 2 the left-hand side, appeal for a group foto......

 

......then i sit zazen, to also catch some warmth, as am still in a state of undress. It's a mild December. It'll be a short-lived winter?
The loaf is baked in about 40 minutes. Doughgen's little-known fascicle comes to mind = HOW 2 BAKE YOUR LIFE. Have been baking 4 over 40 years but am still a bit half-baked at best of times.

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Bernard hemensley

GOLDY HERMITAGE

11 /DECEMBER / 2015

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