“…the corpus callosum, indeed all neural pathways, either say no (inhibit) or do not say no (decline to inhibit) to every single electrical impulse of our grey matter and our wider nervous systems. Each creative moment since our conception is formed by ‘saying no’ or abstaining from ‘saying no’.”
Suggesting the universe is a mighty overwhelming yes, that we cannot yet fathom.
Hi Caroline, I wanted to say how much I enjoy / appreciate these weekly openings and refreshing insights into actual stuff when it is so hard to write about in words - a friend sent me your chat to Iain so that's how I signed up to this
We have a small tin church we have renovated on Skye ( not that far from Iain McG actually) in Portnalong - if you wanted to stay there as retreat / whatever for free in exchange for possible tai chi lesson ( can discuss) we have space end sept / oct / and nov - the church is on instagram @the_tin_church as am I although I don't post that often - @carolinedearartist (@carolinedearstring)
I am so glad these pieces have meaning for you. And what a kind offer. I plan to see Iain again later this year so I will take a look! Very best wishes from the airport...
I hope you enjoy all the wonders *and* absurdities of The Good ol' U.S. of A. I will always love the place in spite of all the reasons I often don't.
Thank you for your reflections here. Your response to the world has a depth I am still trying to fathom. I want to try to have a better sense of it before I started asking questions, let alone comment on it. But I I thought I would pop up and simply wish you a beautiful time in Ameri-cay.
Thank you Jack. All questions and comments are welcome. I have just landed in Charlotte and must wait 5 hours for my pal to get here from LA, so questions are more than welcome! I had not realised it would be so hot here already!
i'm so pleased to have found your work! Substack is a blessing and a curse: it's wonderful to discover yet another person writing so beautifully and cogently about the work i'm interested in, and also daunting to think about how much catching up i have to do. i'm really looking forward to reading through your back catalogue.
I was going to say I hope you receive a warm welcome, though I would not wish the hot and humid weather upon you! So interested to hear and read your thoughts on the states.
I haven't been for 27 years, but between 1994 and 2000 I was here four times and saw 27 states, maybe 3 months in all. I will be interested to see the country from tomorrow. Right now I am just in an airport concourse writing. All concourses are the same. Looking forward to my friend arriving. It is good to be here again.
Thanks for the mention! The ‘apparent thing-ness of things’ caught my attention this week. It is, I think, one of the greatest cosmic jokes. I laugh a lot at life these days. Cosmic jokes are becoming a thing.
It started some time ago, I forget when, because the apparent time-ness of time is a similar cosmic joke. One day, on a Taoist Meditation retreat with my teacher, I was deep in silent practice with a big group taking it all very seriously, when the brightest, most dynamic tai-yang part of me suddenly noticed the deepest, darkest tai-yin part of me. It was extreme but beautiful, as though they were separate and had never met, but each instantly recognised itself and the unconditional love and trust in its opposite. There was a momentary, astonished pause in the space between the two parts then, with no warning at all, the tai-yang part of me screeched audibly and excitedly in my inner senses ‘oh yee-ha we can have some Real Fun now!’ It dived deep into the cool, calm, yielding waters of tai-yin, sending ripples of excitement spinning wildly in all directions. It was so spontaneous, natural, timeless and funny that I burst out laughing and couldn’t stop giggling for a long time. I tried to giggle quietly, which just seemed to make it louder.
Since that moment there’s been a growing lightness of spirit and increasing access to a kind of steady, inner joy that’s still there in the dark moments. Your writing really resonates with this and is acting as a catalyst. I find that words and memories seem to be bubbling to the surface and tumbling out through me too.
I also had, or may still have, old sketchbooks with the ‘Slade School’ drawing technique made famous by Euan Euglow. We used to call it join the dots! I love the potential of those dots… any dots in fact. The tiniest dot can contain so much potential. Thank you for all the reminders, I’m glad our spirits have consciously connected. I hope you have fun in the States, I once spent a year living there. I’m sure there was a cosmic joke playing out through that too! The locals and I often found each other and our differences very funny indeed.
Thanks for this rich thread. Whereabouts was your Taoist retreat? Greetings from the airport where I must wait 4 more hours and have accidentally spent £71 on data. sigh. Roaming is now off... cosmic jokes and all that.
Hi Caroline, oh gosh, the wrong kind of Roaming can be so expensive! Especially when waiting at airports, where it seems possible to accidentally spend too much on everything. As someone who was brought up to take a packed lunch and bottle of squash everywhere, I’ve had a similar problem in the airside restaurants and cafes when flights and transfers have been delayed. Almost always going to and from tai chi, neigong or meditation retreats. I don’t travel for much else, but those things have taken me to many interesting places in both internal and external worlds.
That particular retreat was in Neu-Ulm in Germany with Bruce Frantzis. I’ve done many wonderful meditation retreats with him.
Btw Sam Masich has a week’s taijiquan retreat near Winchester (UK) at the very beginning of July this year, in case you’ve not spotted it. There’s a weekend only option.
Ah Carline, listening to your words--indeed letting them flow over me --as I lie flat on my back, spent after hitting “publish” on my own Substack, I’m relishing the idea that there is no “yes.” So much to think about and say but for the moment, word-empty as I am, will make do with a thank you.
I like Carline! Also, there is an edit function in the three dots if you go back to a comment. I often have to do this after later spotting a typo in one of my replies. Those of us used to Insta might not know this luxury of editing comments!
Now that is the handiest bit of advice. How very kind of Substack to allow comment editing. Thank you! I'm imagining you gallivanting (hopefully smoothly) around somewhere here in the western US -- perhaps accompanied by your thought fox. Or maybe a coyote because...local. And a trickster keeps things interesting. Keep your eyes open for pressure canners too... just in case.
Oh gosh, where in the States will you be? I have found you thru Douglas Hines work, and am entranced by what you bring to that conversation. I write and think a lot about Yin in our over-Yanged world, would love to have a cup of tea and a ponder. I’m in the same set of mountains, further north on central Pennsylvania. These are considered the oldest mountains in the world….
We are travelling all over the east central areas. If you go to www.theresaemmerich.com/courses you can see all our dates. Let me know if you are nearby.
Love to read your thoughts ...
“…the corpus callosum, indeed all neural pathways, either say no (inhibit) or do not say no (decline to inhibit) to every single electrical impulse of our grey matter and our wider nervous systems. Each creative moment since our conception is formed by ‘saying no’ or abstaining from ‘saying no’.”
Suggesting the universe is a mighty overwhelming yes, that we cannot yet fathom.
Hi Caroline, I wanted to say how much I enjoy / appreciate these weekly openings and refreshing insights into actual stuff when it is so hard to write about in words - a friend sent me your chat to Iain so that's how I signed up to this
We have a small tin church we have renovated on Skye ( not that far from Iain McG actually) in Portnalong - if you wanted to stay there as retreat / whatever for free in exchange for possible tai chi lesson ( can discuss) we have space end sept / oct / and nov - the church is on instagram @the_tin_church as am I although I don't post that often - @carolinedearartist (@carolinedearstring)
all the best for all your ventures
Caroline
(Caroline Dear ) email is best - carolinekgdear@gmail.com
I am so glad these pieces have meaning for you. And what a kind offer. I plan to see Iain again later this year so I will take a look! Very best wishes from the airport...
Caroline, Wonderfully loaded with lots to ponder. Thank you. D
I love the thought fox.
I love him in retrospect. But at the time, not so much.
Caroline-
I hope you enjoy all the wonders *and* absurdities of The Good ol' U.S. of A. I will always love the place in spite of all the reasons I often don't.
Thank you for your reflections here. Your response to the world has a depth I am still trying to fathom. I want to try to have a better sense of it before I started asking questions, let alone comment on it. But I I thought I would pop up and simply wish you a beautiful time in Ameri-cay.
-Jack
Thank you Jack. All questions and comments are welcome. I have just landed in Charlotte and must wait 5 hours for my pal to get here from LA, so questions are more than welcome! I had not realised it would be so hot here already!
And humid, I imagine.
Not sure yet, still indoors. I shall write my way through exhaustion.
i'm so pleased to have found your work! Substack is a blessing and a curse: it's wonderful to discover yet another person writing so beautifully and cogently about the work i'm interested in, and also daunting to think about how much catching up i have to do. i'm really looking forward to reading through your back catalogue.
Agreed, there is so much good, and so much to catch up with, including yours.
I was going to say I hope you receive a warm welcome, though I would not wish the hot and humid weather upon you! So interested to hear and read your thoughts on the states.
I haven't been for 27 years, but between 1994 and 2000 I was here four times and saw 27 states, maybe 3 months in all. I will be interested to see the country from tomorrow. Right now I am just in an airport concourse writing. All concourses are the same. Looking forward to my friend arriving. It is good to be here again.
Thanks for the mention! The ‘apparent thing-ness of things’ caught my attention this week. It is, I think, one of the greatest cosmic jokes. I laugh a lot at life these days. Cosmic jokes are becoming a thing.
It started some time ago, I forget when, because the apparent time-ness of time is a similar cosmic joke. One day, on a Taoist Meditation retreat with my teacher, I was deep in silent practice with a big group taking it all very seriously, when the brightest, most dynamic tai-yang part of me suddenly noticed the deepest, darkest tai-yin part of me. It was extreme but beautiful, as though they were separate and had never met, but each instantly recognised itself and the unconditional love and trust in its opposite. There was a momentary, astonished pause in the space between the two parts then, with no warning at all, the tai-yang part of me screeched audibly and excitedly in my inner senses ‘oh yee-ha we can have some Real Fun now!’ It dived deep into the cool, calm, yielding waters of tai-yin, sending ripples of excitement spinning wildly in all directions. It was so spontaneous, natural, timeless and funny that I burst out laughing and couldn’t stop giggling for a long time. I tried to giggle quietly, which just seemed to make it louder.
Since that moment there’s been a growing lightness of spirit and increasing access to a kind of steady, inner joy that’s still there in the dark moments. Your writing really resonates with this and is acting as a catalyst. I find that words and memories seem to be bubbling to the surface and tumbling out through me too.
I also had, or may still have, old sketchbooks with the ‘Slade School’ drawing technique made famous by Euan Euglow. We used to call it join the dots! I love the potential of those dots… any dots in fact. The tiniest dot can contain so much potential. Thank you for all the reminders, I’m glad our spirits have consciously connected. I hope you have fun in the States, I once spent a year living there. I’m sure there was a cosmic joke playing out through that too! The locals and I often found each other and our differences very funny indeed.
Thanks for this rich thread. Whereabouts was your Taoist retreat? Greetings from the airport where I must wait 4 more hours and have accidentally spent £71 on data. sigh. Roaming is now off... cosmic jokes and all that.
Hi Caroline, oh gosh, the wrong kind of Roaming can be so expensive! Especially when waiting at airports, where it seems possible to accidentally spend too much on everything. As someone who was brought up to take a packed lunch and bottle of squash everywhere, I’ve had a similar problem in the airside restaurants and cafes when flights and transfers have been delayed. Almost always going to and from tai chi, neigong or meditation retreats. I don’t travel for much else, but those things have taken me to many interesting places in both internal and external worlds.
That particular retreat was in Neu-Ulm in Germany with Bruce Frantzis. I’ve done many wonderful meditation retreats with him.
Btw Sam Masich has a week’s taijiquan retreat near Winchester (UK) at the very beginning of July this year, in case you’ve not spotted it. There’s a weekend only option.
Ah Carline, listening to your words--indeed letting them flow over me --as I lie flat on my back, spent after hitting “publish” on my own Substack, I’m relishing the idea that there is no “yes.” So much to think about and say but for the moment, word-empty as I am, will make do with a thank you.
Oops--so fried that I can’t even spell your name... I hope your time in this wild weird land is interesting and kind.
I like Carline! Also, there is an edit function in the three dots if you go back to a comment. I often have to do this after later spotting a typo in one of my replies. Those of us used to Insta might not know this luxury of editing comments!
Now that is the handiest bit of advice. How very kind of Substack to allow comment editing. Thank you! I'm imagining you gallivanting (hopefully smoothly) around somewhere here in the western US -- perhaps accompanied by your thought fox. Or maybe a coyote because...local. And a trickster keeps things interesting. Keep your eyes open for pressure canners too... just in case.
Oh gosh, where in the States will you be? I have found you thru Douglas Hines work, and am entranced by what you bring to that conversation. I write and think a lot about Yin in our over-Yanged world, would love to have a cup of tea and a ponder. I’m in the same set of mountains, further north on central Pennsylvania. These are considered the oldest mountains in the world….
We are travelling all over the east central areas. If you go to www.theresaemmerich.com/courses you can see all our dates. Let me know if you are nearby.
I'm about 2.5 hours away, west of New Tripoli. Are y'all driving from Rutherfordton to New Tripoli? I can offer a nite's lodging.....or two....
My mother's mother's family was Emerick. There are a lot of us in one form or another in these parts.....
Thanks so much. I will check in with Theresa who is driving.
And if that doesn't work, might I have an address for you in New Tripoli? Id love to gift you a copy of my book on Yin....
Wow ❤️
If it doesn't make sense to drive this way, please send me an address in New Tripoli--I'd love to send you a copy of my book on Yin....
Will do. Been a very tight trip so far, things booked up to a year in advance. Sorry we can't drop by.
Understood-- it was a long shot from the git go (as we say in Amurrica)! Hope it's been everything you wanted, you'll be away from the heat now!