Hey Jay thank you. I am really enjoying your writing, currently, Notes on A Fight. D said he'd just met up with you. It seems we Substack people actually also exist in real life. Who knew?
That's a good way to put it. Felt exactly like that the second time I met Dougald. Not sure whether I can 100% rely on this feeling being 'from outside' , as it could be a mirroring function of my own default Dorset overfamiliarity with people, but still. Ça marche.
So good to have your voice on here, Caro! Having been a beneficiary of your gift for thinking-together-through-writing-to-each-other over the years, I look forward to being able to share that with others. And definitely high time for you to show up in writing on your own terms and see what you want to say!
Thank you for this. I was directed here by Paul Kingsnorth and The Dark Mountain work that you were part of making. I am grateful for this chance to read more from your perspective and in something closer to “real time”. Best regards, Patrick
I stumbled in here somehow without quite knowing where I was or how I got here, and then -- boom -- there's a tiny picture of Dougald Hine (henceforth simply Dougald, the dark stranger). Sorry about the "boom". I hope it wasn't too loud!
Anyway, Yay! This is the serendipitous Substack of none other than Caro, who took Dougald on a rough trip through potholes in an amazing place to meet an astonishing man! Yay! https://dougald.substack.com/p/side-quest-completed
Well, you are welcome here! I just walked the dark stranger to Queen St station after a remarkable Sunday morning hour-long breakfast with friends in an All Bar One in Glasgow which felt more like church - or perhaps rather more like the very early house churches of the first centuries AD - than a posh fry up in a chain boozer. It appears they are not mutually exclusive.
It turns out many contrasting paradoxical things are not mutually exclusive. Looks like you are writing about that too. Yay, indeed.
Feb 12, 2023·edited Feb 12, 2023Liked by Caroline Ross
Well, Caro, I'm not able to write about this very rambunctious marriage of "opposites" near as fast as they giddily announce themselves to me on any given morning or afternoon. If I open my fridge, some come spilling out. If I comb or brush my hair, they fall out like dandruff. If someone sends me a package it is so stuffed with them that they spring out like a Jack-in-the-box. You should see me sneezing!
So, yeah, church in a pub or bar easily and totally graspable to me. But if you and the dark stranger were with me I'd be hallucinating stained glass windows which are really giant sequoias. Or something like that. Only it wouldn't be an hallucination because the sequoias in my heart are very real and they are made of stained glass. I think of our dark stranger and the light pours in!
Great minds... I bought that Bulgarian album for showing at the arts cinema I ran before a film. It's a classic! I can't remember which film I played it before but I had several 4AD albums.
Thank you for your open-hearted and inspiring words. So good to hear them spoken in your voice as well as written.
I came across you only yesterday, though I think we have a mutual taiji friend called Sam Masich who had mentioned you to me a while ago when he was staying with us at our home in Wiltshire, on the very edge of the New Forest. Probably something about the way I vanished early each morning with the dogs and a hammock and came back with photos of forest textures, stories of puddle-gazing and videos of spontaneous qigong under the vast canopy of ancient trees. I too am a taiji and qigong player, meditator and teacher of many years journeying. Also an artist in transition, between 35 years of very commercial illustration and writing for children but now tentatively approaching the moment to share my authentic truths, with paint and brushes and words, or whatever comes out of the environments I inhabit.
I am already really looking forward to your book and to hearing more about your world.
Hi Caroline! Delighted to stumble across you here. Looking forward to still being able to see what you're up to despite my largely having dropped off the IG.
I've recently read both of Iain McGilchrist's books - explaining how I came across you, talking to him on YouTube (and now here). I've taken to whimsically calling myself a Stealth Staoic, having followed Taoist thought for 30+ yrs, in the last ten yrs it segued into a daily practice (just preceding practicing Stoic thought too, making for an interesting & (mostly) complementary blending). Like you, I have trouble with the 'S' word. Talking to Iain McGilchrist, your insights about lived Tao was the first online that echoed some of my own modest (non-martial arts) experience & understanding of Tao. For me, it's mostly been felt, rather than telt (an old Cornish expression, I believe). Thank you, Caroline. I shall enjoy exploring your Uncivil Savant site, I'm sure.
Hey Jay thank you. I am really enjoying your writing, currently, Notes on A Fight. D said he'd just met up with you. It seems we Substack people actually also exist in real life. Who knew?
That's a good way to put it. Felt exactly like that the second time I met Dougald. Not sure whether I can 100% rely on this feeling being 'from outside' , as it could be a mirroring function of my own default Dorset overfamiliarity with people, but still. Ça marche.
So good to have your voice on here, Caro! Having been a beneficiary of your gift for thinking-together-through-writing-to-each-other over the years, I look forward to being able to share that with others. And definitely high time for you to show up in writing on your own terms and see what you want to say!
Thanks so much Dougald, especially for the encouragement to write publicly. And fear not, the emails are still essential; psyche fika.
So happy to see you here Caro. ❤️
Thank you for this. I was directed here by Paul Kingsnorth and The Dark Mountain work that you were part of making. I am grateful for this chance to read more from your perspective and in something closer to “real time”. Best regards, Patrick
I stumbled in here somehow without quite knowing where I was or how I got here, and then -- boom -- there's a tiny picture of Dougald Hine (henceforth simply Dougald, the dark stranger). Sorry about the "boom". I hope it wasn't too loud!
Anyway, Yay! This is the serendipitous Substack of none other than Caro, who took Dougald on a rough trip through potholes in an amazing place to meet an astonishing man! Yay! https://dougald.substack.com/p/side-quest-completed
Well, you are welcome here! I just walked the dark stranger to Queen St station after a remarkable Sunday morning hour-long breakfast with friends in an All Bar One in Glasgow which felt more like church - or perhaps rather more like the very early house churches of the first centuries AD - than a posh fry up in a chain boozer. It appears they are not mutually exclusive.
It turns out many contrasting paradoxical things are not mutually exclusive. Looks like you are writing about that too. Yay, indeed.
Well, Caro, I'm not able to write about this very rambunctious marriage of "opposites" near as fast as they giddily announce themselves to me on any given morning or afternoon. If I open my fridge, some come spilling out. If I comb or brush my hair, they fall out like dandruff. If someone sends me a package it is so stuffed with them that they spring out like a Jack-in-the-box. You should see me sneezing!
So, yeah, church in a pub or bar easily and totally graspable to me. But if you and the dark stranger were with me I'd be hallucinating stained glass windows which are really giant sequoias. Or something like that. Only it wouldn't be an hallucination because the sequoias in my heart are very real and they are made of stained glass. I think of our dark stranger and the light pours in!
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Great minds... I bought that Bulgarian album for showing at the arts cinema I ran before a film. It's a classic! I can't remember which film I played it before but I had several 4AD albums.
Thank you for your open-hearted and inspiring words. So good to hear them spoken in your voice as well as written.
I came across you only yesterday, though I think we have a mutual taiji friend called Sam Masich who had mentioned you to me a while ago when he was staying with us at our home in Wiltshire, on the very edge of the New Forest. Probably something about the way I vanished early each morning with the dogs and a hammock and came back with photos of forest textures, stories of puddle-gazing and videos of spontaneous qigong under the vast canopy of ancient trees. I too am a taiji and qigong player, meditator and teacher of many years journeying. Also an artist in transition, between 35 years of very commercial illustration and writing for children but now tentatively approaching the moment to share my authentic truths, with paint and brushes and words, or whatever comes out of the environments I inhabit.
I am already really looking forward to your book and to hearing more about your world.
Sam is a dear friend and T'ai Chi brother. Good to meet you on here, and welcome! The first book should be out in June.
Hi Caroline! Delighted to stumble across you here. Looking forward to still being able to see what you're up to despite my largely having dropped off the IG.
I've recently read both of Iain McGilchrist's books - explaining how I came across you, talking to him on YouTube (and now here). I've taken to whimsically calling myself a Stealth Staoic, having followed Taoist thought for 30+ yrs, in the last ten yrs it segued into a daily practice (just preceding practicing Stoic thought too, making for an interesting & (mostly) complementary blending). Like you, I have trouble with the 'S' word. Talking to Iain McGilchrist, your insights about lived Tao was the first online that echoed some of my own modest (non-martial arts) experience & understanding of Tao. For me, it's mostly been felt, rather than telt (an old Cornish expression, I believe). Thank you, Caroline. I shall enjoy exploring your Uncivil Savant site, I'm sure.
Thank you so much Caro for the wonderful sinews of Wells Cathedral. Brings to mind dragons and mushrooms.
Yes, Ashley! Pleurotus Ostreatus, particularly.