Book Launch – December 9, 2017

On December 9, 2017 two new books will be released:

The Adventures of Layman P’ang

and

Naked Zen

Boston Treasures

Boston Treasures

Boston is a city of writers, history, sports, special places, revolution, beauty, contradictions, bridges, divisions, schools, innovation, public spaces and pedestrians.  Boston, that city on the harbor, reaching out to the wider world, yet insulated by its protective cape curling the city into its strong arm; Boston, the cradle of Revolution and bastion of conventional values; Boston, progressive in politics, stodgy in personality; Boston, with its Public Garden as a welcome mat to the world and its tightknit social circles that keeps outsiders at bay; Boston, city of Celtic green, Patriot Red, White, and Blue, Red Sox, Bruins black and gold, and flannel everywhere, even in summer; Boston, you shining beacon on a hill of enlightened promise and shadowy narrow streets sprawling out to City Hall Plaza; Boston, you flotilla of brownstones rising from the marsh of Back Bay; Boston you great little city filled with lore, legend, legacy, and the cresting impulse striving for something more.

Daily Obstruction: Post Obstruction?

 

[Dear Reader,

Today marks the one year anniversary since I began “The Daily Obstruction.”  Originally, my goal was to write one obstruction per day for one year.  There have been a few days, here and there, that I skipped due to unfortunate circumstances (such as my appendectomy, my birthday, and, on occasion, laziness or lack of inspiration), but I always made up the lost obstruction the next day.  It has been a pleasure and a challenge and I thank you for reading along.  I hope that these obstructions have. . . I have no idea what I hope they have done for you!  But my next writing project is to be called “Boston Treasures.”  My goal is to post each week one free or low-cost place that I love to visit in and around Boston.  I’ll write more about this tomorrow when the installments begin.  Until then, thanks for letting me get in your way every day.

Best,

Jason]

Post Obstruction?

 

After 365 varieties of obstruction, we ask – obstructions to what?  Commonly an obstruction blocks one’s way to a destination.  We’ve suggested a plethora of ways in which we all obstruct our paths, but were it possible to remove any and all obstructions, what would you see?  To whence would your clear path lead?  What is your ultimate destination?

 

Daily Obstruction: Proof

 

Proof

 

Marriage – the undeniable proof of man’s propensity for obstruction.

 

Daily Obstruction: Miracle Drug

 

Miracle Drug

 

Death is a wonderful elixir. . . and the greatest obstruction.

Daily Obstruction: Seek and You Shall Find

 

Seek and You Shall Find

 

God exists in the in-between.

Daily Obstruction: Crucifix

Crucifix

 

The future and the past both cast a specter upon the present forming the shadow of a cross.

 

Daily Obstruction: Turning Point

 

Turning Point

 

I’ve turned so many corners in my life that I’m back where I began.

Daily Obstruction: Shift

 

Shift

 

I have fled, flourished, floundered, and failed.  Then I was found, fed, fêted, and set free.  Glory be.

 

Daily Obstruction: Thelema

 

Thelema

 

 

Use me as Thou wilt.  I’m yours.

Resistance is folly.

You have broken me.

You have opened me.

You have sounded me.

My will has left me bereft.

Your will is all I have left.

Carry me upon the cosmic current

like so many sparks of light

coalescing in the darkest night.

As you form me, ephemeral though “I” may be,

ʼtis Your energy to fashion as You see fit.

Far be it for the flame to rebuke the fuel.

ʼTis not for the fire to take the wood to task for its use.

ʼTis all that You sustain me now,

dependently arising within a universe that, like a tidal river, ever ebbs and flows.