It’s fun to revisit old 5WP’s in these compilations. Some of them far back enough that I’ve forgotten that I made them!
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1/14
present is time right now
Decades ago, I watched Mike Ditka spout “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift—that’s why they call it the Present.” I usually quote it ironically, but I can’t deny that it stuck.
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1/16
one glance aged the strainer
One afternoon, I looked at our metal kitchen strainer and realized that it had been thoroughly beat up over its years of service. I never noticed the kinks and divots in the frame, and I’m back to being blind to it. The power of the thing overwhelms the thing of the thing.
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1/19
lost long blame empty vessel
interstellar crime missing alien gem
phenomenal floating history endless wish
More fun with the pointed brush cursive and the Artstack Poetry Haul challenges. Between February (italics) and January (pointed brush) it seems that it takes about two weeks of practice to get confident in running a new script on the 5WPs.
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1/21
bright flashes through plastic slats
Las Vegas lights up with illegal fireworks on July 4th and New Years Eve. This 5WP was surprisingly tricky. I tried a few arrangements that fell flat, including this one. It was rescued by my old axiom “when in doubt, add noise” with the wash lines for slats.
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sing this pen on page
time passing in this book
I finished another notebook on 1/24/2025 (started 10/14/2024).Turns out that bound composition books are not fun to graph on, especially at the end when everything feels wrinkled.One day I’ll find at good use for the ones still at home. Until then, I’m sticking to spiral notebooks for quickly graphed 5WPs.
For this psuedo-triptych, I included the back page of the journal where I had started practicing with the brush around November. I’m really happy with the refinement that happened over three weeks of daily practice.
It wasn’t fun to start with the pointed brush, so it’s a nice reminder to get uncomfortable because that’s where the new growth is hiding.
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I am finally finishing my Alphabet Magic series. The sketches were completed in 2023, but the publishing of those sketches and photos has dragged on (the calligraphy detour didn’t help!)
Last week, I made a big push to edit the images. I had been annoyed by the Windows photo editor but I’m super happy after using GIMP (which I learned due to the calligraphy detour.) Plus these posts pair great with new and ancient drafts of those Penny Delight poem-proses.
It’s awesome to close out a long unfinished project. I am a firm believer in just pushing stuff out there. In the process of publishing, synchronicity swoops in and creates connections that can’t be planned in advance.
Keep exploring and cya next time!
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PS-The Wisdom Books, Robert Alter
As part of my wisdom kick, I picked up a copy of Robert Alter’s translation of Job, Proverbs, and Qoholet (Ecclesiastes).
Job is an enigma. A good dude gets crushed, argues about whether he deserved it, and God pops in to yell at everybody.
In a world with a human-ish diety, it reads weird. This book makes more sense for an atheist. We might have some agency, but we’re buffeted by the whims of grand forces beyond our control—society, fate, nature. We don’t matter. We’re fleas on the tiger, hopefully it takes us to a good place, but there ain’t no guarantees.
Arguing about fault is fruitless. The competing monologues between Job and his accusers are just Tweet-storms between opponents talking past each other.
I respect canon and the filter of time. Anything from the ancients that made it to the present must have something worth reading, even if I reserve the right to pick and chose what to believe from the good book. One day, I should read the rest of the Bible without god. I wonder if I will enjoy it more.
Robert Alter’s introduction and commentary helps make sense of an otherwise befuddling text. I really enjoy his opinions on the development of the text. It’s hard to kick the reflexive perspective of hardcore divine inspiration, so it’s nice to have someone say, “yeah the text is corrupt here.” The confusion isn’t all on me as a puny reader. At a practical level, the formatting (using the main text over footnotes on the same page) is superb, the information is always immediately at hand.
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Unlike Job, Proverbs did not hold up, in spite of fond memories reading this book many times as a kid.
It did not utterly bore me as the “Wisdom of Solomon” (all sizzle and no steak), but there was more noise to signal than I had remembered. The memorable images are still there (the lazy man rolling back and forth on his bed like a door), but I had forgotten all the chaff that came with this book. It burns pages selling the beauties of wisdom. Bro, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t already buy in!
This time, I was struck by it’s optimism—do good and good stuff will happen. Maybe that was a better fit three decades ago, with America as the global hegemon and an apparently principled Christian conservatism on the rise. But such sunny optimism doesn’t feel right in the wake of two failed wars, a mismanaged epidemic, bipartisan ineptitude in federal power, and the flagrant cruelty of the evangelical church.
I suspect the reception of these ancient works are intimately tied to current events. Maybe I’ll find more resonance in old testament prophets, demanding repentance and a return to righteousness….maybe Proverb’s calls to wisdom weren’t misplaced after all.
~
Ecclesiastes is beautiful.
I never noticed this before, maybe because this book demands that you age into its reading.
Robert Alter’s prose certainly helps, as well as the formatting of the page as a true prose essay. However, I checked my King James Bible and noticed that it read great as well, even though the copy was chopped into verses and was full of anachronisms breaking up the flow.
Growing up, I primarily read Proverbs. That might be right for a young mind, keeping them on the search for wisdom and avoiding laziness. But after hitting a certain place, it’s impossible to avoid the bigger things in the world. It’s not so sunny out there.
If wisdom is the way, how do we explain this insanity?
Strangely enough, the gentle hedonism of this book is one way through. Pursue the wisdom, but don’t expect it to work out. Enjoy the fruits of your labor if it comes, but don’t kick yourself if it don’t.
Years after reading the bible, I did not expect to have a fully aesthetic moment in reading this book. Other parts of the Bible must hit such heights. Maybe the Sermon in the Mount. Is it hiding in the minor prophets?
Time to start digging.
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PPS—Nothing deep here, just messing around with the banjo and recording it for giggles (January 13).
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PPPS-Pointed Brush Progress (February)
At the start of the year, I went through all my scripts and put them in a book (black ink). After January, I ran the pointed brush to see how it improved (red ink).
I don’t think the printed text improved much, but that’s because I got totally sidetracked into the cursive, which I adore. I don’t think my pointed brush cursive here was the best, but I guess it’s good to have an “average” example.
That said, there is no greater feeling of flow than graphing with the brush pen while feeling the “edge”.
I have a weird work schedule so I sleep in my own bedroom. When my mother in law stayed with us, I moved a mattress into this loft with half of the kids’ books. It’s so cozy that I’m still here.
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One summer morning in 2021, we played in the five-foot side yard, hiding from the sun’s brutal light.
We just bounced a red ball back and forth.
He stood in the middle to intercept the ball. She threw it over and around her brother. I just tried to keep it from devolving into pure pandemonium.
In that moment, I realized this was a once in a lifetime event. It was so out of normal, this wasn’t going to be repeated.
Before end of the year, I pushed out a few 5WP’s there were trapped in my phone. And starting with the new year, I’ve jumped into the “Poetry Haul” challenge by ARTSTACK.
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1/7
dawn flickers through stucco tracts
Morning sun is always inspiring, even through banal suburban neighborhoods on the way to work.
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1/8
divine subconscious confirmation bias machine
Using the I Ching and Tarot, I occasionally indulge in randomness for self insight, even though I don’t subscribe to new age woo. I treat these practices as public-domain versions of Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s “Oblique Strategies“.
Even without the woo, divination must be treated with the proper respect. Consulting the unpredictable is a powerful way to recontextualize the moment. It’s also the perfect way to tell yourself whatever you subconsciously wanted to hear, a dangerous game.
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1/9
gently ready to explode anytime
As far as I know, I’m well liked as a Project Manager. If that is true, it’s because I try to be gentle and kind with my consultants. On the other hand, I also make it clear that we have standards which need to be met.
It’s a weird dichotomy, partly from my own personality. I’m really nice until I suddenly flip out. That second part ain’t great, but I’ve been getting better at avoiding rabid foaming mouth moments as I continue to grow up.
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1/10
parenting is slowly letting go, first yourself, then the child
I’m certain older parents have a more perceptive opinion of this wild aspect of being human. But this is what I got as a dad of two kiddos.
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1/11
acrimony broken phones shattered hearts
lingering silence chill moonlight pearl
greatest time lost through memory
Artstack started posting a poetry challenge sharing ten words for a week. Add five extra words and we got a triptych of 5WPs!
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With my recent focus on dip pen copperplate and straight brush calligraphy, the Pilot Parallels have been neglected.
I could feel the rust in my fingers while running these Foundational Hand letters. But I’m super happy with how the brush has progressed, so I guess it was a worthy tradeoff.
I’ve kept my interest in calligraphy so far by keeping things fresh. Normally, I don’t have a ton of patience for refinement. Maybe one day I’ll hyper-focus on greatness at one detail. In the meantime, I’m happy with getting pretty good at something before tackling another challenge.
Cya next time!
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PS—Scratch 3.0, MIT Lifelong Kindergarten Lab, 2019
My friend’s boy was taking a class in Scratch. I thought, this might be interesting. And a weekend in 2021 disappeared.
Scratch is a magnificent simple block programming system designed for kids. It was easy to jump into and my daughter and I were having fun drawing and programming a sprawling game with multiple minigames.
That might not be the right way to create a long term habit, but it got our feet wet.
With our (still incomplete game) I took over the reins of the programming, letting her do the drawings. The next step was to unleash her on the computer, so I borrowed a couple of books for a more structured training that lasted a month before we lost interest.
Inadvertently I had stumbled into “paired programming”, where two programmers share a computer. This novel technique is said to increase collaboration and concentration. For a few weeks, it turned out to be surprisingly effective. We collaborated and learned together, pushing ideas back and forth and a live example of by stumbling through the modern instruction manual—YouTube.
The part that really makes Scratch tick is its social aspect. Given the dark side of Facebook and Twitter (now “X”), it is not something I compliment lightly. Every Scratch program allows you to “see inside” giving you a resource to cut through frustration.
But like many moments in childhood, the early interest faded quickly. We pushed out a couple small games and that was that. The boy is now old enough to play with Scratch, but the little rascal prefers sneaking off to play games.
Still, it’s a great resource, kudos to MIT, even if we haven’t used it to its full potential. Yet.
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PPS—ODDADA, Sven Ahlgrimm, Mathilde Hoffmann, Bastian Clausdorff, 2024
I found out about this game on Friday with this excellent review on Good Game Lobby. Slept on it overnight, and bought it on Saturday. They played it all afternoon. He also played it most of Sunday until we dragged away from the computer to read books.
Obviously, this is “composing” on “easy” mode, but twenty songs in and we’re still having fun with more variety to explore.
The sweet spot for a computer game “enjoyable but not addictive”. I’ve spent too many hours on Civilization which is why I’ve avoided that narcotic after the first version. Hopefully sandbox games like this will find a proper balance.
Six months later, I have to admit that we rarely play this game. There is only so many things to do, and composing music isn’t their thing. That said, he saw me looking up ODDADA on the computer and asked to play it after dinner. So he still likes it.
Still highly recommend.
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PPPS-Practice
1/16
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PPPPS-Happy Trails
In January, the IT pro at SPWD left for an awesome opportunity. She happened to be in town so I ran a card over to her. While graphing it out, I ended up with a second card, which I just gave to the guy who instituted the GIS system at our airport, apparently one of the most sophisticated airport systems in the nation.
Last May, I finally walked the arroyo in the neighborhood. The gravel gully led to this very concrete channel where plants insist on taking root in every available crack. I now regularly stroll thorough this arroyo, feeling the microseasons. It’s my path of centering.
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This afternoon we walked a couple loops around the local elementary school. The second time, boy decided to ride his bike. He swept circles through the parking lot, his teal jacket basking in the golden haze of an almost setting sun.
This is a time of utter chaos that will eventually reach us 2,400 miles out from its epicenter.
But today was a perfect day.
As I’ve matured, I’ve realized that we never get to live our dreams (life is much too mundane for our wild imaginations). That’s OK, this dour realization has freed me to savor such fleeting moments.
With the recent talk about AI, I threw Wednesday’s post into ChatGPT to see what it would suggest. I had tried to craft a decent newsletter, but still felt there was room for improvement on this one.
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I spent the month of April 2021 reading and listening to all the books in the library about the Bhagavad Gita. I thought about doing a series of separate posts, but I’m not sure I have that much to say, so listicle time!
In April 2021, I dedicated the month to reading and listening to every book in the library about the Bhagavad Gita. I thought about writing a series of separate posts, but I wasn’t sure I had enough to say, so here’s a listicle instead!
I’m toying with a cheeky tone. AI made it blandly cheery.
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Let’s start with a free copy, translated by Sir Edwin Arnold. As with all public domain books, the language is dated, but nothing beyond the King James Version of the Bible. It doesn’t come with commentaries, which are essential for understanding what’s going on—especially for us from the West where Hinduism is an exotic oriental religion, but the price is right for a decent introduction to the Gita.
Let’s start with a free version, translated by Sir Edwin Arnold. Like all public domain books, the language is somewhat dated, but it’s no more difficult than the King James Bible. This version doesn’t include commentaries, which are essential for understanding the Gita—especially for those of us from the West, where Hinduism often feels like an exotic, mysterious tradition. Still, for a decent introduction, the price (free) can’t be beat.
Interesting that AI replaced “oriental” with “mysterious”—PC-ness run amok. The use of this inflammatory term was specifically chosen for contrast.
Also, adding “(free)” to the last sentence was just blunt force trauma on the point.
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I listened to Jack Hawley’s Bhagavad Gita, A Walkthrough for Westerners which is a translation where the commentary is mixed into the writing, resulting in a version that is three times as long as the original poem. It’s an interesting concept that reminds me of the Living Bible paraphrase of the Bible published in the 1970’s. But I was reading the original at the same time as listening to this book, so it felt strange to have Hawley’s parentheticals inserted into the flow of the text. And it was unsettling to never be sure what was textual and what was explanatory. I don’t think it’s a horrible idea, but I prefer the streamlined punch of the original.
I also listened to Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley. This translation includes commentary woven directly into the text, making it three times as long as the original. While it’s an interesting approach, it reminded me of the Living Bible paraphrase from the 1970s. I read the original at the same time, so it felt strange to have Hawley’s parenthetical explanations inserted into the flow of the text. It was often unclear which parts were textual and which were commentary. While I don’t think this format is terrible, I prefer the streamlined power of the original Gita.
I’ll give it to AI, “woven” is better than “mixed”. I’ll also respect its valiant attempts to avoid starting sentences with conjunctions. I don’t like it myself, but ridding the conjunctions requires structural renovations, not mere massaging. This is not a great paragraph, but AI didn’t make it better.
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I also listened to Ram Dass’s book Paths to God which takes the opposite tack from Jack Hawley. This is a series of lectures nominally around the Gita, but really about Hinduism and spirituality in general. I first came across Ram Dass in the documentary Fierce Grace (as part of a double header with Winged Migration in a movie theater that was about to be demolished). I’ve always been skeptical about white dudes who are into eastern spirituality, but I could sense a good spirit in the film. One interesting aspect of this book is that Ram Dass effortlessly utilizes the language of the 60’s (freak, trip, etc) in a way that makes one understand how that vocabulary came about. Of course it has become a caricature through the intervening decades, but the body of language met a need that was lacking in standard English. In all, I really liked this book.
Next, I listened to Paths to God by Ram Dass, which takes the opposite approach from Hawley. Rather than focusing directly on the Gita, it’s a series of lectures about Hinduism and spirituality in general. I first encountered Ram Dass in the documentary Fierce Grace, which I saw as part of a double feature with Winged Migration in a theater set to be demolished. I’ve always been skeptical of white people exploring Eastern spirituality, but I could sense a genuine spirit in his teachings. One notable aspect of Paths to God is how effortlessly Ram Dass uses 1960s vernacular (terms like “freak” and “trip”), giving insight into how that language came about. While these terms have become caricatures over time, they filled a linguistic gap in standard English. I really enjoyed the book overall.
Another mediocre paragraph that wasn’t vastly improved by AI. I find it annoying that they polish away the personality by smoothing out the language, such as “dudes” into “people”.
Even though some of the suggested revisions are decent, the ultimate weakness of this paragraph is its blandness, and AI only pushes towards further blandness. For example, I should have leaned into the 60’s terminology by closing with “I really dug this book”, not turned “liked” into “enjoyed”.
Many times, it seems that AI is paid by the syllable.
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The library has a straight audiobook reading of the Gita translated by Barbara Stoler-Miller. The reader, Jacob Needleman, has a copy of the audio posted on his own website. The free version online is of inferior audio quality to the version on Overdrive, but it is free.
The library also has an audiobook of the Gita, translated by Barbara Stoler-Miller, read by Jacob Needleman. Needleman also has a version available on his website. The free online version has inferior audio quality compared to the Overdrive version, but it’s still free.
Eknath Easwaran has a popular translation, but he relies a bit too much on sanskrit terms which makes it hard to follow at times.
Eknath Easwaran’s popular translation is another option, though I found it hard to follow at times due to his heavy reliance on Sanskrit terms.
I could take or leave the edits on these two short paragraphs.
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When Love Comes to Light, by Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor is a two part book, with an extended ten chapter commentary of the Gita followed by a translation of the book in the second part. Having read and listened to a few books about the Gita, I’m at that point where I’m no longer a complete stranger to the work, but I am still such a novice I can’t really judge the quality of the commentary. Nothing seems out of line with what other people say about the Gita. One nice feature about this commentary is that it generally follows the flow of the Gita. While the essays don’t shy from pulling quotes from the entire book, the flow of the ten chapters covers the themes in the order that they were presented in the original. As such, it may be a good introduction to the Gita.
When Love Comes to Light by Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor is a two-part book, with a lengthy ten-chapter commentary on the Gita followed by a translation of the text. Having read and listened to several books on the Gita, I now feel like I’m not a complete stranger to it. But I’m still a novice, so I can’t really judge the quality of the commentary. It generally seems in line with what others say about the Gita. One nice feature of this commentary is that it follows the flow of the original text, covering the themes in the same order. As such, it might be a good introduction to the Gita for beginners.
I needed to take a chainsaw to the original paragraph. AI didn’t go far enough in condensing the text, but it did better than me.
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The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling, by Stephen Cope is a self help book based around the Gita. Like any self help book it is digested in to four digestible “pillars”:
Look to your Dharma
Do it Full Out!
Let Go of the Fruits
Turn it Over to God.
I enjoyed being introduced to the biographies of the great individuals who were discussed in the book, but the criticism on Amazon that the author never dealt with the the conundrum of familial obligations is absolutely on point. The Gita is all about following your duty, which is an easy concept if one has only one single overarching dharma. But what if you have multiple obligations? This book falls short for us normies. I understand why Cope streamlined the biographies to focus on their pursuits of their dharma, but this reduced applicability of these stories for our messy lives. I get that the greats are great because they are different, but if the author doesn’t draw a connection between their lives and our reality, then their biographies become irrelevant. As such, the book is simultaneously too long and too short.
The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling by Stephen Cope is a self-help book based on the Gita. Like any self-help book, it’s broken down into four digestible “pillars”:
Look to your Dharma
Do it Full Out!
Let Go of the Fruits
Turn it Over to God
I enjoyed the biographies of the great individuals discussed in the book. However, an Amazon review’s criticism about Cope’s failure to address the conundrum of familial obligations is spot on. The Gita is all about following your duty, which is an easy concept if you have a single, clear dharma. But what if you have multiple obligations? This book falls short for people who don’t have a singular calling. While I understand why Cope focused on the great figures’ pursuit of their dharma, he doesn’t draw meaningful connections to our more complex, everyday lives. As a result, the book feels both too long and too short.
Another long paragraph that AI slightly tightened when it needed drastic cuts. I’m gonna call this a draw because it misread one of my points. Then again, that’s my fault cause it wasn’t written clearly.
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I read the Stephen Mitchell translation, which is in Modern English. Unfortunately I can’t remember anything about this translation. Stephen Mitchell has translated so many different texts, I’m always a little worried about whether he has the expertise to do it right whenever it comes to a specific book.
I also read Stephen Mitchell’s modern English translation, though I can’t remember much about it. Mitchell has translated so many texts that I sometimes question whether he has the depth of expertise required for specific works like the Gita.
AI was straight up better, but I noticed that my voice is missing. If keeping my voice is important, then I need to tighten up my writing myself.
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I’ve ultimately settled on Laurie Patton’s translation. I enjoy her tight structure, capturing a poetic pithiness of the original that the other translations don’t. I read this after my initial explorations, so having some of the concepts telegraphed is not a problem.
Ultimately, I’ve settled on Laurie Patton’s translation. I appreciate how she captures the original’s poetic essence with tight, concise language that other translations lack. By the time I read this version, I had already explored the Gita’s concepts, so the occasional telegraphing of ideas didn’t bother me.
AI polished too much again. There are slight awkwardness in some of my wording, but nothing I would change in favor of AI. In a shorter paragraph, a little awkwardness is fine.
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Given that I’ve read more about this text than any other text from the last twenty years you could say I dig the book. Its appeal to duty resonates with the cultural Confucianism of my upbringing and my intellect is tickled by the exotic foreign spirituality in the rest of the book.
Given that I’ve studied this text more than any other over the past twenty years, you could say I’m a big fan. The Gita’s emphasis on duty resonates deeply with the Confucian values of my upbringing, while its spiritual insights continue to intrigue my intellect.
AI nuked “exotic” and “foreign“. It really hates toying with otherness.
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Naturally, the Gita has ended up in the top tier of wisdom literature that I would like to revisit for the rest of my life, along with the Daodejing, Analects, Havamal, Zhuangzi, and the book of Ecclesiastes.
Naturally, the Gita has become one of the top texts I’d like to revisit throughout my life, alongside the Daodejing, Analects, Hávamál, Zhuangzi, and the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Hey, AI got the accents for the Havamal!
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In 2023, I briefly messed with ChatGPT. I was underwhelmed. The hallucinations made it useless for research and it short circuited my process when I used it for synonyms (as opposed to using an online thesaurus).
Two years later, I have been stunned at its search improvements (or Google SEO’d blog posts have become that much worse). But this exercise shows that AI isn’t ready as a writing assistant (unless you’re just pushing bland-ass corporate bullshit).
Revisiting ChatGPT after a few years, I was amazed at how much it has improved for research—though I can’t help but wonder if Google SEO-optimized blog posts have just gotten that much worse. However, this exercise demonstrates that AI still isn’t quite ready to be a go-to writing assistant—unless, of course, you’re aiming to produce generic corporate content.
Editing isn’t always fun. Especially on the Nth pass through a piece that you desperately need to get out of your life. But hard editing forges a piece that is uniquely yours. AI is no shortcut. Indeed, it’s a detriment, fostering complacency that will further drown your voice in the hurricane of content.
In a couple of years, FOMO will grab me again and I’ll check it out. Until then, the shortcut to better editing remains just taking a damn nap.
Catching up with old Inktober52 challenges from 2024.
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1/20 Inktober 52 (2024), week 22
duck paddling into murky secrets
ducks paddle over dark secrets
I uploaded the one on top, but was not happy with how it looked. I messed around a little in GIMP, adding a duo-tone background and then changing the opacity to multiply. Now I’m really happy with both versions!
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1/23 Inktober 52 (2024), week 27
free to pluck the stars
This was inspired by Ann Collin’s post with collage artist Duane Toops, a beautiful pairing of poetry and collage. Check it out!
Their collaboration was bouncing in my head as I tried to fall back asleep while also mentally imaging the Inktober52 prompt “free”. This line slid into my half asleep mind and I snapped awake.
The original graph was black ink on white paper. In the computer, I inverted the color, pulled “stars” way up into the sky, and added a little brown to emphasize the earthiness of the starting line.
Even though I don’t prefer relying upon the computer, I do it when it makes sense. At the very least, rightsizing the white space around conventional pieces. And sometimes it’s nice to envision a piece and hit it out of the box.
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1/28 Inktober 52 (2023), week 42
plump witches prefer organic children
This one turned out to be wicked hard. Even though I envisioned both of these concepts fairly easily, they both took multiple attempts and I’m not happy with any of them.
Sometimes you just throw your hands up and say “this is all I got with today’s skillz!” And move on.
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1/29 Inktober 52 (2023), week 51
the elf sang soft slow
I’m still figuring out how to use that music nib. This was inspired by a glorious piece by totemspoems on Instagram.
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2/3 Inktober 52 (2021), week 30
ink more black than bile
A lot of times I’m using greys, washes, or watercolor. It was fun to just use a pure black india ink.
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At the start of February, I showed my wife some awesome calligraphraphers on Instagram. She was reasonably nice about my work too =).
But we agreed that the borders was limiting the punch on the 5WPs.
So they’re gone.
As an architect, there are some perks to being married to another architect.
Cya next time!
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PS-Bhagavad Gita
I spent the month of April 2021 reading and listening to all the books in the library about the Bhagavad Gita. I thought about doing a series of separate posts, but I’m not sure I have that much to say, so listicle time!
Let’s start with a free copy, translated by Sir Edwin Arnold. As with all public domain books, the language is dated, but nothing beyond the King James Version of the Bible. It doesn’t come with commentaries, which are essential for understanding what’s going on—especially for us from the West where Hinduism is an exotic oriental religion, but the price is right for a decent introduction to the Gita.
I listened to Jack Hawley’s Bhagavad Gita, A Walkthrough for Westerners which is a translation where the commentary is mixed into the writing, resulting in a version that is three times as long as the original poem. It’s an interesting concept that reminds me of the Living Bible paraphrase of the Bible published in the 1970’s. But I was reading the original at the same time as listening to this book, so it felt strange to have Hawley’s parentheticals inserted into the flow of the text. And it was unsettling to never be sure what was textual and what was explanatory. I don’t think it’s a horrible idea, but I prefer the streamlined punch of the original.
I also listened to Ram Dass’s book Paths to God which takes the opposite tack from Jack Hawley. This is a series of lectures nominally around the Gita, but really about Hinduism and spirituality in general. I first came across Ram Dass in the documentary Fierce Grace (as part of a double header with Winged Migration in a movie theater that was about to be demolished). I’ve always been skeptical about white dudes who are into eastern spirituality, but I could sense a good spirit in the film. One interesting aspect of this book is that Ram Dass effortlessly utilizes the language of the 60’s (freak, trip, etc) in a way that makes one understand how that vocabulary came about. Of course it has become a caricature through the intervening decades, but the body of language met a need that was lacking in standard English. In all, I really liked this book.
The library has a straight audiobook reading of the Gita translated by Barbara Stoler-Miller. The reader, Jacob Needleman, has a copy of the audio posted on his own website. The free version online is of inferior audio quality to the version on Overdrive, but it is free.
Eknath Easwaran has a popular translation, but he relies a bit too much on sanskrit terms which makes it hard to follow at times.
When Love Comes to Light, by Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor is a two part book, with an extended ten chapter commentary of the Gita followed by a translation of the book in the second part. Having read and listened to a few books about the Gita, I’m at that point where I’m no longer a complete stranger to the work, but I am still such a novice I can’t really judge the quality of the commentary. Nothing seems out of line with what other people say about the Gita. One nice feature about this commentary is that it generally follows the flow of the Gita. While the essays don’t shy from pulling quotes from the entire book, the flow of the ten chapters covers the themes in the order that they were presented in the original. As such, it may be a good introduction to the Gita.
The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling, by Stephen Cope is a self help book based around the Gita. Like any self help book it is digested in to four digestible “pillars”:
Look to your Dharma
Do it Full Out!
Let Go of the Fruits
Turn it Over to God.
I enjoyed being introduced to the biographies of the great individuals who were discussed in the book, but the criticism on Amazon that the author never dealt with the the conundrum of familial obligations is absolutely on point. The Gita is all about following your duty, which is an easy concept if one has only one single overarching dharma. But what if you have multiple obligations? This book falls short for us normies. I understand why Cope streamlined the biographies to focus on their pursuits of their dharma, but this reduced applicability of these stories for our messy lives. I get that the greats are great because they are different, but if the author doesn’t draw a connection between their lives and our reality, then their biographies become irrelevant. As such, the book is simultaneously too long and too short.
I read the Stephen Mitchell translation, which is in Modern English. Unfortunately I can’t remember anything about this translation. Stephen Mitchell has translated so many different texts, I’m always a little worried about whether he has the expertise to do it right whenever it comes to a specific book.
I’ve ultimately settled on Laurie Patton’s translation. I enjoy her tight structure, capturing a poetic pithiness of the original that the other translations don’t. I read this after my initial explorations, so having some of the concepts telegraphed is not a problem.
Given that I’ve read more about this text than any other text from the last twenty years you could say I dig the book. Its appeal to duty resonates with the cultural Confucianism of my upbringing and my intellect is tickled by the exotic foreign spirituality in the rest of the book.
Naturally, the Gita has ended up in the top tier of wisdom literature that I would like to revisit for the rest of my life, along with the Daodejing, Analects, Havamal, Zhuangzi, and the book of Ecclesiastes.
Here are the last couple of Inktober 52’s from 2024 and the first three for the new year.
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12/23 Inktober 52, week 51
realities wrapped in the enigma
I tried going with a square for this is play on “enigma wrapped in a riddle”. The corners felt awkward so I went to the old standby—a big circle.
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12/30 Inktober 52, week 52
zombies cross the finish line
Always a little scary to give up control, letting gravity have a say.
I’m not sure if outlining was better or worse. It makes it a bit cartoonish, less bloody.
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1/4 Inktober 52, week 1
quiet sunrise quells murky shades
The pointed brush and copperplate cursive came together in “sunrise”. I’m unhappy with my dip pen copperplate—it needs a ton more practice to look good for these 5WP’s. But all that December work set me up for pretty good cursive with the pointed brush.
So it worked out after all. Shouldn’t plan too much for these these creative meanderings. Just peek far enough to keep doing.
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1/12 Inktober 52, week 2
perky shrimp pound pearly xylophones
After finding the big concept, one must still wrestle with a bunch of little decisions. It turned out the last slant was best.
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1/18 Inktober 52, week 3
tick tock yesterday transforms tomorrow
I finally learned how to properly spell “tomorrow”.
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I can’t believe we’re 8% through the year!
Cya next time!
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PS—Books that Matter: The Analects of Confucius, Robert Andre LaFleur, Great Courses, 2018
This excellent audio course covered the Analects and its outgrowth in Chinese history. It provides a conceptual framework for reading the text as a series of conversations between the teacher and his students. LaFleur then covers key themes, such as filial piety and remonstrance, and finally closes with a discussion of Confucius’s long legacy in China and East Asia.
After four years, it might be time to revisit this course. Like most Westerners, I have an affinity with quirky individualism of Daoism as a reaction against fundamentalist Christianity. However the ideas centering social relationships and mutual bonds as discussed in this lecture series are attractive, especially as our nation continues to rattle itself apart with irresponsible leaders and citizens.
Beyond these lectures, just finding this course is a reminder of how much info is just out there. Here’s a free 12 hour lecture series! what else is hiding on Overdrive? And the library’s physical stacks? Add Kanopy.com and the publisher’s own streaming service? Finally podcasts and YouTube!
I wonder what Confucius would say about drowning ourselves with information.
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PPS-Confucius: And the World He Created, Dan Schulman, 2015
This book was a good rejoinder to the Great Courses lecture series, which had taken a positive spin on the philosophy. This book focused on the real-world history of Confucianism, which was quite detrimental by the end of China’s imperial age.
Such is the fate of any philosophy that becomes calcified. American Christianity’s obsession with being right has created an political religion that has forsaken Jesus’ true core of love. The ineffable concept of the dao became a collection of wild superstitions in religious Taoism. And the vision of a well ordered society metastasized into a harsh top-down hierarchy that perpetuated stagnation and cruelty.
These loose philosophies started out kindly enough but lost their heart as they became systematized. Certainty killed the animating force that gave them life.
An organized religion builds a magnificent intellectual edifice by losing the point. One must always be free to pick what works today and ignores that which is irrelevant to the moment.
For that reason, I suspect Confucianism is making a comeback. With the destruction of the formal, governing, imperial ideology, the writings of Confucius and Mencius are available for a fresh rereading. It took two centuries of chaos in Asia to exorcise the old ghost of Confucianism. Master Kong is free to ascend again.
Schulman notes in his epilogue that we are at a crossroads where Confucius can be used to help form an orderly rich society. Or maybe it becomes the bedrock for a new authoritarianism. Let’s just hope we don’t screw it up as badly as last time.
After the initial post, I thought it might be better with the gingerbread home inverted. But it just looks like a piece of toast.
In the past few months, I’ve gone native with GIMP. Its UI is not as intuitive as what I remember from Photoshop, but I’m able to produce quickly on the program, at least for the limited work that I do with it. I presume going back to Adobe would now involve an uncomfortable learning curve.
And yes, this piece is a reference to Baba Yega’s lovely home.
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12/18 Inktober 52, week 32
fang sour rain eerie sea
This was partly inspired by the Fender logo, but it took a bit of finagling to get something that felt properly fangy. Even then, I had to add a bit of splatter to lock in the effect.
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12/20 Inktober 52, week 30
O blessed and cursed mutation
There is a slight color shift in the four words because I was playing with the gradient effect by touching two Pilot Pens. Maybe I’ll spend a month really playing with that effect. Or maybe I just use watercolors.
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12/21 Inktober 52, week 29
summoned Hellboy to wash dishes
Tried a couple versions of this poem but went with the mental image of Hellboy carefully soaping porcelain teacups. It was fun to learn how to draw an ellipse!
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12/22 Inktober 52, week 25
little folk abduct farm animals
After the time cutting out a pile of A B U D C and T’s from mailers and brochures, I had to show off all five attempts.
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I’m trying to write these in advance, but it’s hard to keep up with the calendar. Time marches inexorably forward.
And commitments invariably multiply.
The doc just prescribed a half hour of aerobics, 5 days a week. It’s going to take every self-help hack I’ve collected over forty-five years to develop a positive mindset about this new 150 minute weekly time suck.
But I’ve been warned that heart drugs mean no more eating grapefruits.
So I must run and jump.
Cya next time!
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PS—Analects of Confucius, translated by Robert Eno, 2015
The internet is a wonderful place.
When the pandemic hit, I finally started reading eastern philosophy. I can’t remember why I started with the Analects, but Robert Eno of the University of Indiana made it easy by freely sharing his translation of Confucius.
The Analects are a mix of history and proverbs, and Eno greatly aids the reader with a two column format that runs the commentary directly adjacent to the text It’s a brilliant layout to insert to add historical context and explain pithy sayings without interrupting the flow of the original.
I also enjoyed that Eno chose not to translate key words, such as ren, junzi, li, and dao. The transliteration allows these words to accrete their own meaning, separate from imperfect English analogues. Over time, these sounds become “real words” as you internalize this technical vocabulary.
In terms of thought, I’m temperamentally conservative so I naturally get along with this book even if the philosophy eventually calcified into an oppressive ideology of empire.
Confucius was merely trying to restore order in a dissolving society. These Analects are a collection of lively sayings, not a systematic philosophy. The flow is accessible, almost haphazard. This was a practical school, exploring the role of ritual, morality, and power in governance. As a bureaucrat, I feel an odd camaraderie with his students, through two and a half millennia from bamboo slats onto a printed PDF.
Even if you’re not a government drone, it’s worth a read. Daoism is more popular in the West, but one’s appreciation of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu will be enriched by better having a conversation with their stuffier sibling, Master Kong.
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PPS—I doubt Confucius was into flow charts, but I think he’d dig this, courtesy of Miep, who shared a flowchart which I loved. I tweaked my version to utilize the shapes that are used at my government job.
