tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89558965554944564622024-03-12T19:10:26.122-04:00The Trouble with WisdomAuthor Thomas Henry Pope Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-89817725424278469312016-12-04T23:23:00.001-05:002016-12-05T01:08:51.379-05:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: xx-large;"><b>LOON</b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Chilly arms. I swim for warmth in the bed. Sheets a little rough from being clean.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We all used to sleep in this space, the Boys’ Cabin, a hundred yards through the Adirondack woods from the main house. A tent made of rough boards, really—roof, half-walls all around with rafters and studs showing, and the rest is screens to keep the mosquitoes from draining my blood. They’re buzzing as the sun comes up, smelling me, hoping to get a drink before the heat of the day makes t</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hem grumpy. I smell, too. Pine sap and mildewed blankets. The air infused with forest and the little pillow of cedar needles my mother made. I’m done with Teddy Bears.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My brothers have rooms now, because they ‘deserve privacy,’ whatever that is. Brand new rooms, additions off one end of the cabin, with doors and windows and cubbies for special things. But they still have to walk by my bed to pee off the porch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The scratch of a crow’s wings on the air. A woodpecker hammers out of sight. And there’s the song that vibrates my bones: the loon calling. I throw off the blankets and run barefoot to the screen door. He’s coasting on water flat as glass. His echo comes back off the hills across the lake. Then he dives, teaching me that perfection is fragile.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">©
2016 Thomas Henry Pope</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">(Photos from the web, unattributed)</span></div>
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Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-30810322769683093382013-10-05T17:15:00.002-04:002013-10-05T17:27:47.871-04:00Vacuum, Tides and Cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHiYdoBu3LC_IQ1DkSEYDNO6Jn_GX0Ad20XB3N9oDo0DpLcgPlQIYRPssZNzfEze0r0zjn3uBOy_qFbG4wPtgKAAGncgWVuTuJYobNpJ9elQoPQwpWkklgpgEN0-EgQ21Um1C97RwuMJs/s1600/LongCoveSunset2:small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHiYdoBu3LC_IQ1DkSEYDNO6Jn_GX0Ad20XB3N9oDo0DpLcgPlQIYRPssZNzfEze0r0zjn3uBOy_qFbG4wPtgKAAGncgWVuTuJYobNpJ9elQoPQwpWkklgpgEN0-EgQ21Um1C97RwuMJs/s320/LongCoveSunset2:small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The
drive behind most every author who picks up a pen is the desire—some say the
compulsion—to communicate, the greatest of human skills. While the origin of
this force is the subject of debate, everyone who has tried to write a polished
piece testifies to the baffling difficulty of the task. I call it “Milking the
Sky;” there is nothing there and hands won’t work, in any case. Still, a source
of nourishment must be brought into being.</div>
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The
beginner has the right to feel forces are arrayed against her. In addition to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the complexities of the craft and
navigating the current tenor of thought in the market, she faces the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <b>Force of the Vacuum</b></i>: no one knows that
she has the ache to write; no one cares—except a spouse or mother, who love the
idiosyncrasy as part of the person; no one congratulates her; the path of
acquisition of these skills is elusive; the good fortune of “hitting the right
time” is unknowable; and examples of excellent writing not finding a public
voice abound. It is enough to make anyone retire before reaching any goal.</div>
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When work, voice and timing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> yield publication, the vacuum
subsides in reverse proportion to success. In particular, if one’s work
receives little due, the vacuum can press forward in a more toxic form—“I’m still
unknown, undercompensated, and unappreciated.” This sucks away the passion for
launching another project, even when the published work or the unwritten one
deserve a place at the writers’ banquet. Untold numbers of writers find themselves
beached after mild success.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiC_4x0NfwBJzAudmOF6X16s6uX6-ULr30aL8Xhn_78cSE7RmGhIUte9MZ48_zbFp1kon0Ktv51Y1yQK7TciZgHjx1-eGG1WMpeLJ-u8xSTR8oLlEwWfwVCFrA6r82RjF9OXuIrECcNpQ/s1600/LagoonMouthColors2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiC_4x0NfwBJzAudmOF6X16s6uX6-ULr30aL8Xhn_78cSE7RmGhIUte9MZ48_zbFp1kon0Ktv51Y1yQK7TciZgHjx1-eGG1WMpeLJ-u8xSTR8oLlEwWfwVCFrA6r82RjF9OXuIrECcNpQ/s320/LagoonMouthColors2.jpg" width="320" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
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Which image brings us to the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <b>Force of Tides</b></i>. In place of the vacuum,
the established author’s next projects must ride the ebb and flow of conditions
beyond his control: the depth and quality of inspiration; the excellence of the
work; the expectations of readers for a repeat or a risk; the timing of other
works that may compare and steal thunder; the economy; technological changes
(“the Talkies” crushed the careers of some silent film star, because viewers
didn’t like the sound of their voice); the financial condition of the
publishing house; the politics of editorial staff and owners. </div>
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In the face of each of these highs
and lows, the established writer must find inspiration to work now that the
original desire to communicate may feel largely hijacked by less meaningful
players. Most writers suffer some defeats. Though the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b>Force of the Vacuum </b>has</i> been vanquished, the agony of tides continues. The
best and most confident continue to write. Some turn to selling real estate.</div>
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At last, a few fortunate writers
succeed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> remember to write from
passion, giving up caring about the<b style="font-style: italic;"> Force of Tides</b>. Their work may or may not draw readers, but they have vanquished the
forces that have killed most others. At this time, some write their best work.</div>
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And you thought writing was a piece
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Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-56579704485669308992013-07-11T01:10:00.000-04:002013-07-11T01:10:14.940-04:00The Novel as Performance Art: An Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Novels share qualities of performance art and still photography. The performance aspect is the language and story sliding into the reader’s eyes and mind. The best work flows without interruption, directly becoming image, emotion and experience. And when read aloud, it sounds good to both the ear and the heart.</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like photography, writing stays forever linked to a page to be scrutinized by readers, writers and reviewers. Each word choice, each sentence, plot point and line of dialog sits in the form the writer produced it . . . which is to say, one word and sentence at a time.</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, though much of the world’s great art leaps—or seems to leap—into being spontaneously, it is the rare novel that is not the work of many years labor. At its best, a book is a long string of static symbols on a page that magically becomes a vivid presentation of life.</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The journey of my novel </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Trouble with Wisdom</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> confirms this. Born in the mind almost of-a-piece in April 2001, years of writing and research followed. Some of that research was geographical, cultural and literary. The more important work occurred internally, learning to feel and grasp the wild ride Zhampa DiOrio and his fellow travelers make (internally and externally) as they travel through an unraveled world.</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A novel’s highest use comes from publication and getting there is often a long journey. </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Trouble with Wisdom</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">’s path to publication has involved many drafts and countless rejections by agents and publishers. In 2009, it entered the fray self-published as a Hand to Hand experiment, which you can read about elsewhere on this site. Two years ago an editor helped raise the story from its shallow water grave, instilled this author in the craft and persisted with him until an integrated narrative emerged.</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That manuscript found an agent in March 2013 and, as of this writing, it is being read by editors in seven of the great New York publishing houses. Though the pleasure of writing is getting the story down, married to craft, every writer longs to get the book into the hands of editors. It is the greatest opportunity, the bar for which she strives. And as of this writing, I count myself blessed to be in this place.</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-16906840443380745352013-07-11T01:08:00.000-04:002013-10-05T17:19:18.341-04:00Starting Over<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Starting over comes with laughter and hope. It comes </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from</span></i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> laughter and hope. This insight arises in me from my daily activity as a writer, where the sport is little more than redoing what was an earlier attempt to communicate. Dreams of perfection must be checked at the door.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like any sport--be it soccer where we must head or kick the spinning ball to another player or into the net, or archery where the wind, the light, the tension of the bow string and the release effect the flight--the activity of writing is joining in the moment with the muse. . . and accepting the results. </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The source of the muse has never been established. It can be engaged but not known. It feels too vast and bright to come from inside, yet it is too personal for it to reside in the ethers or under the control of another (presumed) entity. So without knowing the mechanics we come each day to the 'dock' ready to jump in. We come naked. Confidence, laughter and carelessness are great friends.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Only when the piece has been thoroughly worked can we begin to have skill with its intent and nuance. This is true in the first chapter of a novel or--if we shrink the project down to an essay or a letter--in the first paragraph. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Trouble with Wisdom</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> had many drafts, each an excursion coming to know the characters and their routes through challenges. And when it was all done, completely understood, it was time to begin with the first line, the first paragraph and scene. Never mind that I had rewritten it fifty times already, now I had to start again, because the first words are the connection to the world.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The antidote to thinking that our work is good and cannot be easily improved is to realize that it is nothing more than words, words that come from the muse. So let go and feel the novel that you know so well. How will it begin? What or who will speak first and how will those words land with the reader? </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It turns out Zhampa's entrance had to wait for several pages. First the Dorjay and the Purbha had to be born in the reader's mind. The young lama had to feel the heft of the gold, had to peel back the brocade and see a thousand years of history gleaming in his hand. He had to pocket them and promise to return them. He had to disappear into the mountains of Tibet.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The opening? "At first light, Selpo Rinpoche woke to the roar of his monastery's warning gong." Ah! The months of work to arrive at such a simple thing--a person, a place, an occurrence, a time and something driving all of them; a warning gong.</span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I laugh with relief. The manuscript is now in the hands of publishing houses in New York. And I will need to laugh again when a publisher says, "Yes, we'll take it on, but it will need a little work." Later, I will need to roll in humor when the editor says, "Let's start at the beginning and make it good."</span></i></div>
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Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-48762682781099036472013-07-11T01:00:00.001-04:002013-10-05T17:19:28.548-04:00Comments on the Book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;">Please add your comments on the story. Click the hot 'Comments' button at the bottom of this posting.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>"This magnificent book is a modern "Homeric epic" written on several levels . . . designs within designs within designs. While it is a highly plausible vision of the post-"Unraveling", it also propels the reader into a deep search for better alternatives."</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>Paul</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>The story draws you in with subtlety and nuance. . . a great mixing of beauty and terror. The humanity and tenderness of the main characters is highlighted and tested by horrible events that unfold as they make their way overland across the world. The book is a quest to follow the open--often broken--heart in a world that has fallen apart. For me, the "unraveling" seems all too possible in our unstable world! It's important to think about what I would sacrifice for the greater good of others. Highly recommended!</i></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>JamesA</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>"I found this book to be heartfelt, well-written, and beautifully drawn. It reminded me of some post-apocalyptical works of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson and Margaret Atwood, and like those books, resonated with plausability, which make the story all the more poignant.I'm a tough and sometimes critical customer, but I thoroughly enjoyed this read."</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>I found this a compelling read, which held my interest on at least three levels. One - a great story: imaginative yet believable, very will written. Two - human values and attitudes: you can't go wrong living your beliefs or by accepting the 'happening' of life. Three - community governance: through interesting stories and situations, we see how some structures work well and some definitely don't.
Should be on the best seller's list! </i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>Hart Jansson</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>I struggled at first to understand the violence in the book, but I began to see Zhampa's struggles as trying to live non-violently in a violent world. As a complex character, he didn't have "the answer" and tried a variety of ways to accomplish this task. That resonated strongly with me, as I feel a similar need - and indeed, believe that is a primary task that all must face if we are not to annihilate ourselves. I really appreciated this facet of the book! </i></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: verdana;"><i>This story describes all of us who share the desire to make sense of and make right this existence. It hit a vein personally for me as I'm sure it will with all readers. Thanks, Tom for putting it in words we can understand.</i></span><br />
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Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-77119433085375699082013-07-11T00:36:00.000-04:002014-05-13T15:22:36.478-04:00The First Page<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> At first light, Selpo Rinpoche woke to the roar of his monastery’s warning gong. Thinking fire, he threw open the shutters and scanned the temple, the library and the labyrinth of monks’ cells until movement outside the walls caught his eye. A monk was running barefoot down the mountain, maroon robes flying, blood staining his trail in the snow.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Later, while doctors tended his wounds in the warmth of the great kitchen, the monk told Rinpoche the Red Army had invaded his monastery over the mountain, corralled monks and villagers in the courtyard and demanded his senior lamas bow down to Mao Tse Tung. When the lamas refused, soldiers shoved pistols into the hands of the novice monks and ordered them to kill their teachers. But in keeping with their vows, t</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; line-height: 32px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">he boys </span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">turned the weapons on themselves. The soldiers emptied their guns into the crowd, then dragged the women and girls to the temple, laid them on their backs under the statue of the Buddha and raped them.</span></span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> All that day Rinpoche walked the halls, rallying monks and laypeople as they passed supplies and relics hand-to-hand out the Eastern Gate to the parade grounds, where porters loaded a caravan of yaks. Close to midnight, he waded through the crowd in the moonlit courtyard and mounted the horse his attendants had packed for his escape south, over the Himalayas.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Reins in hand, he peered through the juniper smoke at the ancient square—the raised plaza where he had learned to debate the fine points of wisdom, the prayer wheels he’d turned as he circumambulated the statuary hall, the banners and gargoyles and, on the roof, the golden Wheel of Peace. He saw, too, tomorrow’s courtyard awash in blood. Centuries of labor and devotion were about to be swept away.</span></span></i></i></span></div>
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Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-13617069254678971422011-02-14T07:17:00.003-05:002013-10-05T17:19:28.543-04:00Hand to hand Books: How It Works<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;"><div style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; width: auto; font: normal normal normal 100%/normal Georgia, serif; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Times;"><div style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; width: auto; font: normal normal normal 100%/normal Georgia, serif; text-align: left; "><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); ">What follows are the notes from inside the frontispiece of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); ">The Trouble with Wisdom</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); ">. Readers are asked to sign the Readers' List (below), which allows subsequent readers to see where the book has traveled. It becomes the story of the book across the six degrees of separation.</span></span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left; "></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">A </span></span></span></span></span></b><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">New Publishing Paradigm</span></span></span></span></span></b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; line-height: 125%; "><b><span style="line-height: 125%; font-variant: small-caps; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">A book sitting on a shelf has lost its voice</span></span></span></span></span></b><b><span style="line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><b><span style="line-height: 125%; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Hand to Hand </span></span></span></span></span></b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">is a grassroots publishing and purchasing innovation that saves resources and money. It asks each reader to pay just $5 to help defray the author’s publishing costs, and to pass the book to another reader who is also willing to support it and </span></span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">pass it on. This ensures its journey from hand to hand and builds community between readers and authors through use of the honor system.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Here's Why:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> 1) </span></span></b><u><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Books</span></span></u><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> are smart technology—portable, durable, tactile and organic. And they carry culture. But when owned, they are relegated to shelves. Earth’s resources and the author’s voice are lost. Hand to Hand Books believes that most readers care for both things. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">2) </span></b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Authors</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> are normally paid between $1 and $2 per copy. To better support the source of the art, a</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">ll Hand to Hand Books income goes directly to the author, who pays all publishing costs. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">3)</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Readers</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> save money by spending only a fraction of the cost of a new book. They also foster community by discussing the book and its reader-distribution plan in person and online.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">To Begin: 1) </span></span></b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Sign in on the facing page to document the book on its journey and </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">2)</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> donate $5 on the website using the Paypal button. Or send a check to Hand to Hand Books, P.O. Box 123, Dorset, VT 05251. If you have comments, please share them on the website.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">To</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-family:Georgia;"><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Continue: </span></span></span></span></span></b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Consider the next reader, and then pass on both the book and the awareness of stewarding it in this paradigm. You can proliferate new seed copies by guiding friends to order them through this website (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Buy Now</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">) or through Hand to Hand Books. Email: h2hbooks@sover.net.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">To End:</span></span></b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> The Readers’ List describes the journey of the book. T</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">o assess the paradigm,</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> Hand to Hand Books requests the final reader (when the copy disintegrates) to detach it and to send it to the above address.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Two Moons:</span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> Donating as soon as this copy comes to you speeds the printing of new copies. And please pass it before two cycles of the moon. To own it conventionally, use "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; ">Buy Now"</span> on the website.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); ">(On the facing page of the frontispiece is the Readers List)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 11.75pt; margin-left: -22.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; "><span> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); "> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; white-space: normal; font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Seed Copy # __________</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; white-space: pre; font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 0.3in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; "><b><i><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:18pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">The Trouble with Wisdom</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; "><b><i><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:11pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></o:p></span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:16pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">Readers List</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; "><i><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">(The Hand to Hand Journey of This Copy)</span></span></span></span></i><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:18pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">Name</span></span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">City, State (& Country)</span></span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">Date</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.5in; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:9pt;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">1)________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">2)________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">3)________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">4)________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">5)________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">6)________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">8)________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">9)________________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">10)_______________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">11)_______________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">12)_______________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">13)_______________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">14)_______________________________________________________</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: -0.3in; margin-left: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span style="font-variant: small-caps; font-family:Garamond;font-size:10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">A note to the final reader:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">When this copy disintegrates and can no longer be passed on,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">please carefully remove this page and send it to:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">Hand to Hand Books,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">P.O. Box 123, Dorset VT USA 05251</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;font-size:10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">Through this, we can assess the viability of the paradigm.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></b></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 11.75pt; margin-left: -22.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">O</span></span></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 125%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: normal; font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 11.75pt; margin-left: -22.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-family:Garamond;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); ">To</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "> </span></span></span></span></b></p></div></span></div></span>Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-87191430998374751752009-09-23T21:11:00.043-04:002013-07-11T00:43:43.662-04:00Comments on the Book<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></span><br />
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Please add your comments on the story. Click the hot 'Comments' button at the bottom of this posting.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #000099; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><!--StartFragment--></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">"This magnificent book is a modern "Homeric epic" written on several levels . . . designs within designs within designs. While it is a highly plausible vision of the post-"Unraveling", it also propels the reader into a deep search for better alternatives."</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Paul</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-style: normal;"></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">The story draws you in with subtlety and nuance. . . a great mixing of beauty and terror. The humanity and tenderness of the main characters is highlighted and tested by horrible events that unfold as they make their way overland across the world. The book is a quest to follow the open--often broken--heart in a world that has fallen apart. For me, the "unraveling" seems all too possible in our unstable world! It's important to think about what I would sacrifice for the greater good of others. Highly recommended!</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">JamesA</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">"I found this book to be heartfelt, well-written, and beautifully drawn. It reminded me of some post-apocalyptical works of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson and Margaret Atwood, and like those books, resonated with plausability, which make the story all the more poignant.I'm a tough and sometimes critical customer, but I thoroughly enjoyed this read."</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span></span></span><!--EndFragment--></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Matt S.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">"Simply reading the opening paragragh had me fully engaged! Thanks so much for such a special treat. Your language painted powerful images in my mind that I have carried around for days. I can usually anticipate the end of most books by about a third of the way through. This was a delightful surprise."</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">I found this a compelling read, which held my interest on at least three levels. One - a great story: imaginative yet believable, very will written. Two - human values and attitudes: you can't go wrong living your beliefs or by accepting the 'happening' of life. Three - community governance: through interesting stories and situations, we see how some structures work well and some definitely don't.
Should be on the best seller's list! </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Hart Jansson</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">I struggled at first to understand the violence in the book, but I began to see Zhampa's struggles as trying to live non-violently in a violent world. As a complex character, he didn't have "the answer" and tried a variety of ways to accomplish this task. That resonated strongly with me, as I feel a similar need - and indeed, believe that is a primary task that all must face if we are not to annihilate ourselves. I really appreciated this facet of the book! </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Anonymous</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">The story describes all of us who share the desire to make sense of and make right this existence. It hit a vein personally for me as I'm sure it will with all readers. Thanks, Tom, for putting it into words we all can understand.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Stan O</span></span></i></span></div>
Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-17463765494091634912009-08-12T23:36:00.012-04:002011-04-13T20:56:13.071-04:00The Unraveling<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> Investigation shows that humanity is intricately wedded to all of the natural world systems that both science and indigenous knowledge can name. One of the consequences of human success ‘appearing’ to control nature is a blind confidence that systems are stable and that we are up to the task of making the future resemble the present. But systems are always subject to change and our blindness is perpetuated at great cost . . . There is a wind for every house of cards.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">The term ‘unraveling’ is used to convey the spiraling demise of this interconnectedness when it’s complexity reaches a critical mass, with one problem leading to another too quickly to remedy. This spiral can be set off by insignificant events in a little understood corner of the connected world . . . say, a disease that spreads without discernible logic, or the invention of a new weapon, or a drought in the wrong place at the right time, or the collapse of pollenating bee colonies, leading to crop failures, or peak oil, or a national psyche needing to divest itself of a prior humiliation through seizing territory. We can invent viable causes like this all day. But most likely the spiral will begin through some synchronistic confluence of these things—climate events, territorial threats, disease, resource limits. . . History shows that some people push small causes into wider trauma by attributing blame to others for things NO LONGER in control. And why is this world more subject to unraveling than in the past? Because of the sheer global scale of interconnection, with information moving at the speed of light. This means that misunderstanding, deception and prejudice can also move at the speed of light.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">In the Trouble with Wisdom, the causes and stages of the Unraveling are left unspecified, to allow readers to see for themselves the myriad possibilities. There is mention of a previous Globalliance that made incursions onto U.S. soil. And of a new type of weapon that had the nickname of White Lighters. It, too, is left unspecified in its characteristics, and different versions of its results are left to lie unclarified.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">The cause of the ‘unraveling’ is not important. The story is not about those particulars, though some will really want to know what they are. The premise here is that the earth itself is not going to be consumed in fire. The result, though, is that suffering will descend on the unsuspecting many as the gossamer threads that hold normalcy snap. This story begins after that time. . . and examines ‘what then?’</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <!--EndFragment-->Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-71553087847219027052009-08-12T23:33:00.008-04:002009-09-24T07:01:17.047-04:00Hand to Hand Books<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">What good comes of a book residing on a shelf for thirty or a hundred years? Who is served? There are answers, but readers, authors and the earth are not among them. </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">As soon as the manuscript for The Trouble with Wisdom was complete, while reflecting upon the issues of books and publishing described in these posts, this venture came softly into my mind. I realized that by taking the approach of seeking maximum profit for a book—whatever the market will bear—our capitalist model eliminates many excellent possibilities. Let’s examine some corollaries.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">The wish of any writer is to communicate, to be read by as many people as possible. This is in direct conflict with a market that seeks the highest price. In this age of declining library support, the decision to purchase a book falls increasingly on the wealthier among us. (Digital press may come to reach less affluent readers.’)</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">The cost of a book inspires ownership of it. One is a bit reluctant to part with something that costs so much. True, some people lend their books, but generally want them returned. So in the best scenario of capitalist cultures, a book may be read three times. </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">These additional reads do not help the author, considering that she only gets paid once for the original sale and only in the range of $1 to $2.50. Writers routinely don't earn enough royalties to pay back their advances. So our current system pays all the other middle folk completely and tosses crumbs to the writer. It’s upside-down.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Hand to Hand is an attempt to reconfigure the hierarchy. The artist should be compensated the most, so that she can carry on and write more. Particularly if no reader must shell out a substantial sum for a book, what could be wrong with the writer generating $25 (the normal hard-cover cost) from her work for each book? Or $40? Or even $60? This last figure is commensurate with sales of 20 to 30 copies in the existing paradigm and twelve ‘reads’ of The Trouble with Wisdom. The market will still bear on the process; the perfect culling mechanism for mediocre work will be poor sales. But publishers, agents and marketers do not figure in this hierarchy. Editors and printers who contribute actual work toward the art will be paid as always.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> By making books available, bookstores can also enter the action. When The Trouble with Wisdom is sold from a bookstore, the entire (first) sale of $5.00 goes to the store as profit. In this scheme, the store has no financial outlay; it has only offered shelf space. The writer is taking the risk that the purchaser will understand the instructions and pass the book on. . . and that as readers contribute, the account will be balanced. The purchasers and readers, in short, become deputies to help support, market and distribute the book. The Hand to Hand paradigm is betting that they will do it in a way that helps other readers down the line also rise to feel deputized. The real test will be if the third reader contributes and passes the book, because she will know neither the author nor the original purchaser. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Hand to Hand is a system of leasing the book for the sole purpose of taking the story and language into the mind-stream, which is what books are best at. And it is a system of having readers act as stewards of earth’s resources.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Of course as the book moves from hand to hand, the copy will become worn. Some people might feel that they should not have to contribute money for a used book, as they are used to the notion that books handed to them are freebies. The paradigm shift will be underway when we begin to value content more than appearance. </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">In working out this idea, cultivating the natural aspect of interaction with readers has begun to be accomplished through the sign-in page (the Readers List), through the readers becoming marketers and through this web site and its payment option. Many of you will have other and better ideas, and I look forward to them being designed into better systems for books and for every other kind of human endeavor that will thrive in this way in the hope of reinventing our society into a sustainable one.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Readers in totalitarian countries honor printed words in any form. In that spirit, I ask that you take care of the book for others. It is very late in the history of a world perched on</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">the edge of unraveling that we are realizing we can’t just create wealth and ‘stuff’ ad infinitum. The earth IS the bank from which our wealth—real and imagined—is drawn. Money-wealth begins as natural resource, which has never been ours to own. We are transient here. We humans are, at best, guests. The next successful societies will be ones that understand and honor this reality.</span></span></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-35881001184327633982009-08-12T23:30:00.003-04:002011-04-13T20:52:34.565-04:00Violence<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Why is there violence in a book whose characters yearn for non-violence? Well, non-violence is a meaningless term if there is no such thing as violence. One needs something in order to have a ‘non’ of it. The world in which enlightenment occurs is THIS world, not a realm in which the concept and actions of violence do not arise. That would render liberation meaningless. Liberation is a hallmark among progressive stages of clarifying the mind en route to enlightenment. What are clarified are the negative emotions that arise as ego’s response to suffering (8 Types) and change (3 Types.) </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Zhampa’s mission is two-fold: to burn out the consequences of the crime he has committed and to deliver the scepters, an action that he believes will help others. </span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Each of the main characters in the story has taken human life, though each killed with a different motive. Revenge, survival, under orders and for the good of others. Yes, this last is a possibility. Though Gabe’s inner motive is not pristine, his outer actions are good.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The violence in the back story is ripped straight from history books and from the news. The violence during the trip came about as the characters interacted with their world and the kinds of governance that emerge during the rebuilding.</span></span></span></span> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-37769034197648175832009-08-12T23:25:00.002-04:002009-09-10T22:20:40.926-04:00Wisdom<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">If wisdom could be eaten or anchored or purchased and owned, then there would be little trouble, with it. But not only is wisdom hard to come by, it is also hard to transmit. That would be a wise culture’s main task. But if history serves us well, pursuit of wisdom is rare even in times and in places of peace, which themselves are rare and impermanent. The norm is that other quests of the heart and head rush to the fore and the resulting melee—sometimes called ‘life as we know it’—often swamps those who pursue wisdom and the notion of wisdom itself.</span></span></span></span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">So what might wisdom even be? What does the word wisdom mean? We have and use many words as synonyms (we think) of wisdom.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Knowledge, knowing, insight, clarity, brilliance, grasping. . .</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Through this,</span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> the understanding of wisdom is damaged. Why so? Because wisdom is the godhead of all the others, which are diluted by concept, opinion, experience, agenda and ordinary passions, all of which fall under the category of wanting. Wisdom is free of wanting. It is realization of the essence or nature of things. It is the basis of compassion, which is the activity of enlightenment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The layers of wisdom in this story run the gamut from the conventional to the ultimate and even tilt into the manifestation of the nominal. Enjoy the digging.</span></span></span></span> </p> <!--EndFragment-->Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-82629237980277191712009-08-12T23:23:00.008-04:002011-04-13T21:02:00.962-04:00Atonement<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">When an action is undertaken, the trace or seed of it enters the mind stream and its consequences appear when the seed ripens. Furthermore, if, for example, you give yourself permission to kill one mosquito, you will hardly pause when the opportunity arises to kill another. If that is the case, is atonement a fool’s errand? Don’t we just have to wait and endure the consequences later? Is the die cast for both consequences and future behavior? </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Perhaps this discussion is getting ahead of the curve. Many people don’t consider or agree that actions even have consequences. But to counter, as a manifestation of will (mind), whether conscious or not, an action is a cause and all causes have effects. To explain further, the arising in the mind of an intention moves to create an action. Intention causes action. So an action is both an effect and a cause.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">That is the simplest presentation of the Law of Karma. The effects come after, though for beginners which effect is the result of which action is hard to discern.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Atonement, too, is a mindset. Following this logic, if intention is a cause of action, then taking the mindset of atoning for past actions leads to new kinds of actions, and potentially actions that uncouple the linkage between previous actions and their results, though this clearly is in the realm of spiritual discipline. Deciding not to eat Twinkies does not necessarily purify ones past.</span></span></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-91653612961567356272009-08-12T23:20:00.003-04:002009-09-10T22:28:09.511-04:00Art vs. Business<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">With its penchant for viewing all activity through a monetary (read: the profit) lens, American capitalist culture treats artists as menial workers—like miners, who dig for the important resource, which others sell to make fortunes without personal bodily risk. In fact, the experience of creating something (from nothing) is often described by those so engaged in terms of digging deep into unpleasant (inner) territory and extracting raw material that needs still much work to become valuable. It seems artists accomplish all the labor, and any others in the business are not much more than marketers and critics. This is close to a parasitic relationship. It is particularly painful, when one realizes that the artist is the lowest paid in the chain of wealth for her own product. Just $1 to $2 per book. Publishers, agents, distributors, marketers, and the like make the lion’s share of the money.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Oh, you say, but what about all the luminary artists—the stars—and their extravagant lifestyles? The schizophrenia of capitalism occasionally hands an artist immeasurable success. Though she almost always has something to offer, the relationship between talent and remuneration is rarely one-to-one. All artists have something to offer. This bizarre imbalance demeans the efforts of other artists yet more. And it contributes to the blinding of society to the fallacy of its premises and machinations.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Creativity is the jewel arising from the intelligence of our species. It should be the object of our devotion. A few societies still honor the artist. It used to be and may still be that in Sweden, I think it was, young artists were solicited to audition their work to a national board. And promising artists were given stipends for life. For life! That’s commitment to the arts through supporting artists. Of course, like all human interactions, their system too, is never free from politics, but the cultural vision is more properly directed. This contrasts to the all-or-nothing version of capitalist art that we foster here. In this country, we limit our efforts to subsidizing agribusiness and oil companies. Message: “You are talented if you make money for others.”</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">I remember meeting the mother of a girlfriend when I was starting out as a songwriter, during which she responded to the news of my artistic stirrings with rolled eyes and a cryptic, “Lots of luck.” She did not need to express the hope that her daughter would not proceed in relationship with me. Perhaps if I had said, “I plan to be an international arms dealer,” we could have set a wedding date.</span></span></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-75920732291372319512009-08-12T23:05:00.010-04:002009-09-10T22:29:41.838-04:00Justice<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; white-space: pre;font-family:arial;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Justice is the application of fairness, the integrity in a social order arising from a natural sense of decency. Passions of particular individuals, tribes, races and nations lead them to pull, distort and even dispense with fairness in their approach to governing. Zhampa’s criminal vulnerability sensitizes him to the combination of wisdom and confusion of each of the twenty social groups he encounters.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">What are the signs of true justice and of feigned justice?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div><p></p> <!--EndFragment--> <p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955896555494456462.post-24084577861142434312009-08-12T23:02:00.004-04:002009-09-10T22:32:34.606-04:00Teachers<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-;font-family:Georgia;font-size:16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The presence of a spiritual teacher in Zhampa’s life is not the norm for those of us in the twenty-first century. In fact, we‘re reared to not rely on others with regard to life lessons and, as adults, we pride ourselves on being self-made. A corollary to this in the western mode is that no one really has a grasp of knowledge or wisdom. That all things are relative and that we should seek our solace in the marketplace. Zhampa doesn’t know what to make of the old Tibetan lama Rinpo, or of his magic and commands. And yet the signs he was given as a child and as an adult stir in him the inspiration to give up his private concerns to do one thing to help others before he dies. This is a world of East/West collided sensibilities, a world through which Zhampa pulls a cart. He gives up needing to know the result of his journey before he sets out and in so doing unlocks a pivotal point in his learning.</span></span></span></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Thomas Henry Popehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16555508518090095813noreply@blogger.com0