Aware

I put this blog address as part of my 'About Me' in the Slab/Hull Connection anthology, but I'm still not 100% sure when it's going to be available to the public, or who, indeed, will buy it.

This means that whatever I last put as a blog post may well be the first thing that someone reads by or about me! Scary thought. It feels a little like when I was at school and we were all told that the ICT Admin could peek at whatever we were doing on the screen. Obviously, this was to make sure that we were doing work and not on other things, but if I were to compare the idea, I guess I should make sure that I am writing relevant poetry or observations that tie in with the book.

Edit: Yay, check out the separate pages for different things! I did this straight after writing this post. Now I don't have to worry 'Oh no, this isn't poetry', because it's under the BLOG tag, so people will expect as such.

I am trying to avoid personal things in this blog that aren't to do with poetry and other 'arty' things I get involved in, but since nearly all of my poems are about my own experiences, I think it would be pointless to do it completely. So I apologise in advance if any readers were expecting intellectual, on-topic posts all the time.

I went book shopping today. Hurrah! The first purchase I'm reading is 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead'. If it sounds morbid, I can say it honestly isn't - perhaps even the complete opposite of morbid. The 'Book of the Dead' is an important Buddhist text that highlights many of the teachings and guidance of the religion.
In fact, the most modern and accessible Buddhist-related text is called 'The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying' (by Soygal Rinpoche) and it's been endorsed by people like John Cleese and Joanna Lumley! It's not just for Buddhists, it's for anyone who wants to learn about the history of Buddhism and how meditation works etc. Rinpoche based this book on the original Tibetan, which is admittedly pretty heavy-going, and not very Westernised. You do read it, though, and even if you don't believe in the spiritual side, it is very poetic. And often pretty applicable to modern life, if you know a little about the context it's in.

A short extract:
'One whose mouth has actually tasted molasses,
Does not need others to explain its taste.
But, even learned scholars who have not realised [this single nature of mind] will remain the victims of bewilderment.
For, however learned and knowledgeable in explaining the nine vehicles they may be,
They will be like those who spread fabulous tales of remote [places] they have never seen,
And as far as the attainment of buddhahood is concerned,
They will not approach it, even for an instant'

Is it me, or do you read this and think of the Romantics: Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth? If you ignore the few obscure bits of terminology, it basically says - you can learn all you want, lecture and posture and so on. But until you actually CONNECT with the material, you may as well be reading from rote. I did something similar to this during my Masters course in Memory and Culture. A philosopher explained that there was a difference between memorising and truly understanding. I'll try to find it in my notes, it's pretty interesting.

If anyone wants to know a little more about Buddhist stuff I've mentioned in this post, comment me. I know what I'm like, and I personally hate blogs that bring religion into every topic, especially their own. Yes, I am a Buddhist. No, I don't let it affect and creep into every corner of my life til it defines me. So I'm certainly not going to let it keep popping up in my writing!

Oh - I went off topic. The other books I bought were 'Dexter by Design' by Jeff Lindsay and 'Men from the Boys' by Tony Parsons. Also took a sneezing Bobby (the Degu, see previous post) to the vet, poor little guy.
Films watched: Dirty Dancing & The Princess and the Frog. Began watching Deliverance, but it creeped me out, so I stopped...

I know it's an unusually long post, but I had a lot to cover.

Katie