2017.08.21 - Fall Rain Retreat (i.e. The Practice of Study)

2017.08.21 - Fall Rain Retreat (i.e. The Practice of Study)

I find it interesting that as Fall approaches I am pulled to the idea of sitting before books and page and taking on the idea of study. Here I am in my 40^th year and I am feeling this urge to do so again. I walk the rows of buildings through the university of this town and feel the surging need to begin educational times. I seem to get this way each year around this time. I guess in many ways it is in my nature to pursue learning. It is something deep within me that keeps me going. I have had a hard few years, and yet this keeps being the way in which I preserve that which is good within my own soul. To enrich the mind, to learn topics, to debate is to enliven the Soul.

I usually title this time as the Seattle Rain Retreat. It stems from old ideas of the Rain Retreats in which the Buddha would collect his Sangha and begin his teachings. At the end of the rainy season they would go out from the "parks" and monasteries in which they collected and learn from the practical experience of everyday interaction of the world. Yet these Rain Retreats would be times in which they would learn, debate and practice their arts. While working through my three encounters with higher education, it seemed that these times and my practice would match this. To call this a Rain Retreat, seems odd, as the Monsoons will soon be over an the dry period of the Fall will begin again. Yet this Autumn contemplation seems to be similar, and is pushing me forward.

The topic of interest these days is Law. It is odd and I am not sure were it is going. It began with conversations and listening to current political affairs. Also a state of personal chaos in the mind and relationships seems to also be leading to study a sense of order and logic in the affairs of man. That on top of looking back at the History of the Americas and of how we got to where we are at. It will be interesting to see where I go from here as I progress down this path...

Beginning with the Federalist Papers as a foundation of the ideas of legal reasoning and about the intention of the framers of this Union. So far it is opening my eyes to the current state of the world. Are we slipping from where we once where? Or are these the growing pains of a larger Republic that technology and communications are pushing forward faster then we can comprehend. In the end, it is definitely a period of strain, unrest and question. We need to look back and present to understand who we really are. We need to look forward and wonder if the natural progression is what we want to be. In the end, we are similar passionate people to those of the past. We are mindful at times, yet harshly forgetful in others. With rational discourse win the day, or the force of wild opinionated passions...

To sit in a cozy cabin, looking out into a ponderosa grove while a stack of new books, fresh bound paper and the crackle of a fireplace, brings a comfort to this practice this year...

I guess I will read on...

-- Ridgewalker