The Empty Vessel

Meanderings of a mind with vacancies. . .

Yup, the empty vessel. A symbol of the state of mind that East and South Asian inspired meditators want to attain. Looking at the blog lately, sometimes it feels like I have accidentally attained that state of mind myself. As I sit with the computer, great ideas simply do not fly out of the fingers. Not to worry, I can feel something welling up as I type this, at this very moment. Pray to all the universal forces of good that I am not channeling the recently departed William F. Buckley. However, I could live with channeling his language skills, provided I don’t get the British Public School accent in the bargain. No I don’t think it is a dead editor’s voice, so I will allow myself to continue. . .

I am trying in my addled little brain to decide if I can identify an observable difference between the symptoms of mild depression and Nirvana, Samadhi, or some other religiously sanctioned enlightened state or dead musician. As I recall, both usually involve celibacy and not doing much else either. So, if I observe these behaviors in a friend or acquaintance, what conclusion do I come to? What do I do about it? Do I send them to the Doctor or to Nepal? Maybe I should just take them out for pizza and beer. That goes well with every mood.

Now back to the mundane.

We are seeing our first installment of spring continue. I took a 15 mile bike ride Friday. T-shirt weather. I rode on the American River trail from near our place out to Jim’s Bridge. I couldn’t good pictures of the areas where I rode, but this guy’s video can give you an idea of what some parts of the trail are like, if you happen to be a really wobbly bike rider. I find some humor in the video, especially the several near spills. Anyway, it's some guy in a beard riding on the bike trail. Viewing this video will provide you with a Being John Malkovich experience. This is not a precise virtual experience, since everything is a lot greener in the spring. Nature works backwards here, where every fall the vegetation comes to life until it dies in the late spring. Go figure.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.