This is the beginning of the first post. The stage is set, yet not without an inordinate amount of technical fussing and frustration, and I see the inclination toward wanting to create a grand entrance. Tada! Expectations - and possibly yours as much as mine. This *will be* amazing - right. But, as much as I have a vision, it is at heart about my life and for me that is just ordinary. I enjoy musing on my various thoughts and enjoy the process of compiling them into some coherent order and my hope is that for you, the reader, it will be the difference of perspective that provides interest and that my musings may give you something to think about. We are each of us unique and the exploration of our individual perspectives is what provides nutriment for our respective happiness and growth.
Prior to writing, I have been considering the general nature of beginnings and, by default, wandered into musing on the nature of time. When did this post begin? I opened by saying "This is the beginning..." and the tendency is to create, 'this' as a fixed, absolute point. And when did you begin? Can you posit a "this is the 'ME' beginning...?" "This is when I became (began becoming) mature" And now I begin gazing down the rabbit hole of the nature of identity. Who, or what, is this you that began? And when? Time and the sense of self will be two themes that repeatedly present themselves here.
While there is still considerable uncertainty around the structure of this site the general thought is that this blog segment of the site will be the regular heartbeat. There will be a variety of other elements finding their way in. Some of these will be historical digital relics from many years/decades back and some more contemporary.
For now, comments aren’t an option, but I’m toying with the idea of creating a space for questions. It will take me a while to get a fluid feeling for the processes involved in developing the site and a part of this process is the fact that I will be working almost exclusively on my phone—not exactly the easiest format for building a site.
It has been a year since I stepped down as a monastery abbot and the move towards a wandering, homeless lifestyle is what initiated this site. There is a travel section that will have occasional 'went here did that' tales but my hope is that the musing tone predominates. The exploration of the human condition is an incredibly stimulating and rewarding adventure and the monastic form provides an incredibly spacious (esoteric? exotic?) vehicle for that journey.
Life is a singularity but we can conventionally compartmentalise segments and might begin "Once upon a time... In the beginning... there was a monk - sitting with his phone, dictating. His backpack weighs 9.5kg - not counting water - and he has a ferry ticket to the South Island of New Zealand. Shall we begin?