This hike involved quite a lot of paved roads, but I was pleasantly surprised with the scenery and seclusion. Check out the pics below. Note: If you click on the first picture, it will enlarge and you can view the whole slideshow (at least in the Chrome browser).
I had the urge to jump down and follow the creek instead of the trail
Hard to believe that's 900 years old, when the world was flat
A mountain road. That's the end of the dirt trails
Mountain-top cemetery. Not too creepy.
Bamboo decorating the road-side
This village might as well be 900 years old, too
Never seen the river from this lofty angle
Loftier still
The loftiest. My favorite spot o' the morn' for sure.
A secluded temple complex that served as a much needed rest area
Proper entrance to the temple (I came up through the back via mountain)
Curving back around the mount to my starting point
Lower view of the dam
And, we're back
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Do you think of yourself as a poet, that kind of wordsmith who can transmit beauty the way a 5th year frat boy transmits STDs? I don't. At least not while speaking. Speaking's never been my strong suit, but occasionally words seem to dangle off of my fingertips and find their way through the keys and onto the computer screen like meandering ants to an open jar of jam, impossibly making it to that sweet slice of heaven without getting squashed by a hidden and malevolent force in the universe.
Too often our society makes us feel like we're nothing more than worker drones (to continue with the ant metaphor, this time flipping it on its head). Poetry and art are not worth pursuing unless we are exemplary individuals, folks with unordinary lives, aliens of the "regular" world. To this, thankfully, Ray Bradbury would respectfully disagree. It is precisely the "regular" world where our beauty comes from. In Zen in the Art of Writing, he writes:
Oh, it's limping crude hard work for many, with language in their way. But I have heard farmers tell about their very first wheat crop on their first farm after moving from another state, and if it wasn't Robert Frost talking, it was his cousin, five times removed. I have heard locomotive engineers talk about America in the tones of Thomas Wolfe who rode our country with his style as they ride it in their steel. I have heard mothers tell of the long night with their firstborn when they were afraid that they and the baby might die. And I have heard my grandmother speak of her first ball when she was seventeen. And they were all, when their souls grew warm, poets.
It's refreshing to hear, rather spiritual, adding credence to the title of the book that this is excerpted from. Zen. If we cannot find beauty in our daily lives, if we cannot find art and poetry in each moment, then what lives are we choosing for ourselves? If we can only have fun during our week-long August vacation, then let us put in our two weeks notice, turn the page and find a new life waiting patiently for us there with a welcoming smile on its face, with open arms, eyes glittering fantastically, and hands full of party favors and discoveries.
There are a few ways you can be a hero and support AJ. Free things are: try Audible or AmazonPrime for 30 days, link us to a social network like Twitter, Facebook or Reddit, or download and rate the podcast in iTunes. If you have a little spare money you can send a Paypal donation to ajsnookauthor@gmail.com, buy one of AJ's Kindle eBooks, or buy anything on Amazon by going through the Amazon links on the site. Thanks so much for your support, AJ
A student of mine gave an anti-skin cancer presentation today. The motivation behind the assignment was rooted in our study of the the French Enlightenment. They were to start a movement based on the ideas of either Rousseau (man is born free in nature and it is civilization corrupts him), Locke (man can thrive in society as long as he is granted the right to life, liberty and property), or Hobbes (man is inherently bad and needs to form a social contract with government in order to keep him in check).
Although it's my philosophy as a teacher to try to let kids make up their own minds, in this instance I couldn't help but let my bias steer the students to either a Rousseauian or Lockeian perspective. Many did.
The student who presented on anti-skin cancer shared this anti-smoking ad as an example of how his movement's ad campaign might look. I thought it was very moving and a symbol of how idyllic we can be in mind, but how hypocritical we can be in body, action or practice.
This led me to ask a few questions: "What happens to us as we grow up that makes us change into people so far from our childhood ideals?" followed by "Is this change gradual, unnoticeable?" then "Is this change a product of the grind our institutions put us through?" and "If so, then what would a world with another path to choose from look like?"
I can see in my mind's eye a world that still has cities for rat racers and career climbers, yes, but also for artists and intellectuals, spaces dedicated to progress and the exchange of ideas. But I can also see spaces with sustainable forest villages of 150 people or less. I can see houseboat harbors filled with fishing families. I can see more mountain cabins and man-made desert caves that run on the sun.
I can't see why these alternative/intentional communities aren't taking off more than they already are. In general, people seem to be more aware of the ills of the world around them: consumerism as a value structure, superficiality, and a plethora of distractions that add little or no value to our lives. So, does anyone have any clue why more people aren't putting their feet down, shouting "I'm made as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" from the rooftops, and dropping out?
My theory is that unless you get involved in one such communities from a very young age, say late teens to early 20s, your social base, significant other, and family will already be imbedded in a much more established, larger community. And it's hard for many to leave the people they love (and just as hard to convince them to leave with you). I'd love to hear your thoughts on alternative/intentional living, as well as on the change that happens upon reaching adulthood.
There are a few ways you can be a hero and support AJ. Free things are: try Audible or AmazonPrime for 30 days, link us to a social network like Twitter, Facebook or Reddit, or download and rate the podcast in iTunes. If you have a little spare money you can send a Paypal donation to ajsnookauthor@gmail.com, buy one of AJ's Kindle eBooks, or buy anything on Amazon by going through the Amazon links on the site. Thanks so much for your support, AJ
Ever a critique of organized religion (or any rigid institution, for the matter), while simultaneously a staunch spiritualist, Tom Robbins waxes heavy on the matter of religion in one of his more recent books, Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates. Coincidentally, I read said book at the exact time Mr. Robbins released his memoir. As I was reading, as an attempt to both share with you and to preserve exceptional passages for myself, I highlighted much of the book as I poured through its pages. When it was all said and done, I concluded that Fierce Invalids' most riveting selections revolve playfully and gay around six basic categories: 1) Awesome Description 2) Mysticism and Secular Spirituality 3) Society and Freedom 4) Sex 5) Religion
The following is a list of quotes about the fifth category, religion. I hope you find his writing, often the musings of his quirky and wise sideshow of a character, Switters, as enlightening and thought-provoking as I did.
"...a little known scriptural passage recounting the existence of 'neutral angels,' angels who refused to take sides in the Heaven-splitting quarrel between Yahweh and Lucifer, and who chided them both for their intransigence, arrogance, and addiction to power."
"The narrow, no-nonsense skeptic is every bit as naive as the breezy-brained New Age believer."
"Of course [you're no Carlos Castaneda]. You're one of those people who want to go to Heaven without dying. Cowardice in the name of objectivity is fairly characteristic of academics."
"The contemporary U.S. penchant for tracking down one's ethnic identity and then binding oneself to its trappings and traditions, no matter how irrelevant, rather than, say, liberating and transforming oneself by inventing an entirely fresh identity."
"The Devil doesn't make us do anything. The Devil, for example, doesn't make us mean. Rather, when we're mean, we make the Devil. Literally. Our actions create him. Conversely, when we behave with compassion, generosity, and grace, we create God in the world."
"Stability the handiwork of God? You've got to be kidding! If God's aid is stability, then he's a monumental, incompetent failure, the biggest loser of all time. This universe he's credited with creating is dynamic, in almost constant flux. Any stability we might perceive in it on any level is as temporary as it is aberrant. Symbiosis, maybe; even a kind of harmonious interaction, but not stability."
"Why our cosmology is a binary system, as well. God equals one, Satan, zero. Or is it the other way around?"
"In a reality made of language, the people who get to name things have psychological ownership of those things. Couples name their pets and children, Madison Avenue names the products that dominate our desires, theologians name the deities that dominate our spirit -- 'Yahweh' changed to 'Jehovah' changed to plain ol' generic 'God' -- kids name the latest cultural trends or rename old ones to make them theirs...In a way, we're like linguistic wolves, lifting our legs on patches of cultural ground to mark them with verbal urine."
"That's right. I'm on the run from the Killer B's. B for Belief. B for Belonging. The B's that lead to most of the killing in the world."
In reply to, So you do think the Bible a good thing?: "The honey that's dipped from that busy hive can be sweet and nourishing, or it can be hallucinogenic and deadly. All too frequently, the latter is confused with the former."
"To practice a religion can be lovely, to believe in one is almost always disastrous."
"The original teachings of Jesus and Mohammed et al are extreme. If a person can participate in those extreme systems without identifying with the humbug they've spawned, without becoming attached to, say, patriotism or moralistic zeal in the church...then minds might be liberated."
"If women had played an active role in shaping our relationship to God, everything might be different. There might not be a conflict between the Church and Islam. There might not be any Church and Islam. Women wouldn't have seen the need for them."
"Think about it. Would Satan get New Orleans, Bangkok, and the French Riviera and God get Salt Lake City? Satan get ice hockey, God get horseshoes? God get bingo; Satan, stud poker? Satan get LSD; God, Prozac? God get Neil Simon; Satan, Oscar Wilde? Can anyone see Satan taking pirate radio stations and God being happy with the likes of CBS? God getting twin beds; Satan waterbeds; God, Minnie Mouse, John Wayne, and Shirley Temple; Satan, Betty Boop, Peter Lorre, and Mae West; God, Billy Graham; Satan, the Dalai Lama? Would Satan get Harley motorcycles; God, Honda golf carts? Satan get blue jeans and fish-net stockings; God, polyester suits and pantyhose? Satan get electric guitars; God, pipe organs; Satan get Andy Worhol and James Joyce; God, Andrew Wyeth and James Michener; Satan, oriental rugs; God, shag carpeting? Would God settle for cash and let Satan leave town with Mr. Plastic? Would Satan mambo and God waltz? Would Almighty God be that dorky?
"Fundamentalists are the same everywhere, are they not? Their desperate craving for simplicity sure can create complications. And their pitiful longing for certainty sure can make things unsteady."
"I've always assumed that every time a child is born, the Divine reenters the world. That's the meaning of the Christmas story. And every time that child's purity is corrupted by society, that's the meaning of the Crucifixion story. Your man Jesus stands for that child, that pure spirit, and as its surrogate, he's being born and put to death again and again, over and over, every time we inhale and exhale, not just at the vernal equinox and on the twenty-fifth of December."
"It was easy to grow paranoid in the desert. The absence of shadows caused the mind to invent them. History had proven this a hundred times over in a landscape where one man's mirage was another man's divine revelation."
"To the individual heart. The only church that ever was."
Referring to fundamental particles in physics: "Would the presumed interweaving of light and darkness in that minutest of maws give her a clue that God and Satan might be codependent if not indivisible."
"If they believed too adamantly, then sooner or later they would be tempted to lie to protect those beliefs."
"Cowboys were fond of saying, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' It's always broke, and we can never fix it. On the other hand, there's nothing to break, so what is it we imagine we're fixing?"
There are a few ways you can be a hero and support AJ. Free things are: try Audible or AmazonPrime for 30 days, link us to a social network like Twitter, Facebook or Reddit, or download and rate the podcast in iTunes. If you have a little spare money you can send a Paypal donation to ajsnookauthor@gmail.com, buy one of AJ's Kindle eBooks, or buy anything on Amazon by going through the Amazon links on the site. Thanks so much for your support, AJ
Google apparently hasn't gotten their people up through the Higashiyama range yet, but this is an approximation of the route. It took me 3 hours with a few scenery stops and one or two wrong turns when the route meandered through neighborhoods. A great Japan hiking guide can be found here, though there are plenty of nice Kansai hikes that I can tell you about that aren't in there. Get in touch if you want some suggestions.
Taking off. Good timing on my part. I was thankful for the artificial breeze.
Another look to the north
An inscription that I should really get around to translating
A mountain peak, eleveation 2000m
I imagine the marathon monks strolling through here at night, after the hikers have all gone to bed
A look west toward Kyoto city. This road cuts straight through the valley to downtown.
That green fluffy goodness that engorges the heart
Mountain road with few cars in sight
Ah, back in the forest. Haven't seen trees this tall in quite some time.
There's their tops
A green draping awning welcoming me back to civilization
But not too civilized.
There may be houses, but they're not at sea level.
Winding under roads. Bridges swallowed by emerald.
A town of no more than 10 houses.
Up the stairs I go
And down the dirt road.
A new forest says hello.
And the trees smile as I pass.
The Inari gates say that the end is near.
Save the best view for last. Kyoto, you've come a long way, baby.
I smell tourists just over there. But I'm happy to be home.
There are a few ways you can be a hero and support AJ. Free things are: try Audible or AmazonPrime for 30 days, link us to a social network like Twitter, Facebook or Reddit, or download and rate the podcast in iTunes. If you have a little spare money you can send a Paypal donation to ajsnookauthor@gmail.com, buy one of AJ's Kindle eBooks, or buy anything on Amazon by going through the Amazon links on the site. Thanks so much for your support, AJ
