Moving Right Along

So I heard back from Coffeehouse Press today. Not interested. It’s ok. I really doubted they would take it, but my friend knows someone there, so hey, what the heck!

I am trying to keep myself gathered as I continue to pitch this thing. It’s not easy. The very gesture of sending the proposal out conjures feelings of small-hearted longing. I lose track of what it is I truly want, which is not to be chosen (affirmed, loved, recognized, etc etc), but to tell the story, which I can do anytime, anywhere (here? what am I waiting for?). From the perspective of my Zen practice, this is tricky. I really do need an audience, I do need some support (financial and otherwise), and if I don’t devote myself to the work I want to do, I will be wasting, as Shantideva calls it, this precious human birth.

And yet….sitting around waiting is a waste, indeed.

I recently came across a pretty incredible transcript of Joko’s phone interviews with a student of hers, named Tom L. from Australia.

Here is a little excerpt:

Joko: Oh, yes. Sure. Life is a great teacher. If we pay attention.

Tom: Yeah. I guess you have to pay attention, when it’s hurting a lot.

Joko: That’s the way Zen practice teaches us. To learn from our life. Instead of trying to cover up what’s happening. We have various ways of covering up things, as I’m sure you’re discovering.

Tom: Yeah, exactly. It’s a much wider than I thought. You tend to look at it the other way around, until you start doing this odd practice. And that is, I guess: that it’s somebody’s else’s fault. That cat shouldn’t be sitting there! Or why is he doing this? All this kind of stuff.

 

I love this..such grandiose displacement, even the cat doesn’t belong in its chair.