Tuesday 20 September 2011

Persist

So, very busy, thence mostly absent from here. The Autumn sunshine, between rainstorms, is glorious and I feel shut away from it, imprisoned in my office and in my own damaged and armoured heart. Coming here almost makes this feel worse, as I contemplate the creativity and community glimpsed in recent years, but which continue to be only glimpsed. I often want to run from the painful knowledge of their existence, and yet don't: even a glimpse is a lot, if it's a glimpse of hope, if the beauty and the good people are out there somewhere in a mostly terrifying world, and if the not-quite-dead bits of my heart still yearn for them.

Yesterday I met blogger friend Peter Clothier of The Buddha Diaries (he also blogs for the Huffington Post) and his wife, Ellie Blankfort, on holiday in London: writer and artist, and both of them Buddhist practitioners, from Los Angeles. To have encountered such people on line and now met them in person is such a lovely thing, for which I am amazed and grateful.

I think of Peter's most recent book, a collection of essays on sustaining creativity in our crazy, over-busy times, which is beautifully written, full of hard-won experience and gentle Buddhist wisdom. I think of its title, Persist, and tell myself one more time that I will, that we all must, persist as best and as long as we can with the things that matter to us.

5 comments:

Peter Clothier said...

Beautifully written--and a bit heart-wrenching, Jean. It was a joy for us to meet you over lunch. We wish you all good things as you continue to plot for a great future as a writer and photographic artist. And we will stay in touch. And, of course, best thanks for the tribute to, and plug for "Persist"!

marja-leena said...

Jean, thank you for sharing this with such heartfelt words. I recall Peter's posts about their travels to Finland and Russia. His book sounds very appealing to me...

Rouchswalwe said...

I work in windowless office, except for a small patch of sky I can just see through the glass inset in the door if I roll my chair to the left and if I crane my neck to look. A glimpse only. On certain days, I am pained that I am sitting in a box instead of out there! Sometimes I have to force myself to persist. Takes a lot of energy.

Lilian Nattel said...

It's a good title and I am looking forward to reading it.

Parmanu said...

Why do beauty and sadness go together?