There's a couple posts still to come on the changing face of the book, but it's time to talk about objects. 

A big difference in today's bookscape from what went before lies in the material objectiveness of the book itself. Instead of a huge, ornate, unique work of art, a book now can exist solely in electronic form, immaterial in the sense that it's not composed of "matter."

I would suggest that when something is immaterial, non-physical object, it's less likely to be objectified. How appropriate, then, to go visit a touring exhibit of Buddhist relics, where the whole of devotion and spiritual consciousness is focused into pieces of body.

I have a cautionary tale around use of herbs and use/trust of one's own intuition and strength today.

The more I look for synchronicities, the more I see them. I'm sure that's another tendency that's heightened by undertaking a 100-day Gong.

This cautionary herbal tale turns out to be also a tale about trusting your own strength, and about the relationship between process and product that all creative people dance around continually.

So, for 100 days starting December 21st: 
Let's stop chiding ourselves for not getting things done. Let's instead recognize that we're simply highly skilled and drawn to do so many things that we need to get clear, get disciplined.

If I can create the right framework, the true mission statement,  then all my disparate interests and skills will make sense of one another and form the symphony that is my purpose in life waiting to be discovered. 

Creating the framework takes practice, awareness, and unstinting self-honesty. And so join me, if you wish, preparing for the 100-day practice, called the 100-day gong.

I mentioned that I'm gearing up to start another 100-day discipline practice on the Solstice, December 21st, and I'll share much more about that in the next few days. Meanwhile, I've been meditating on the interplay of Yin and Yang a lot--the beautiful symbol, and the many ways it plays out in life and health.

The little white circle in the black, the little circle of black in the white: each extreme contains the seed of its opposite. The utmost expansiveness (yang) is the apex from which contraction starts. The utmost contraction (yin) is the pinch from which expansion opens.

A happy Thanksgiving to everyone! A happy festive season as we move into the northern hemisphere's still, dark point. Time to reflect, to consume this year's harvest, to huddle and cuddle, enjoy one another. Even here, where the sun shines almost every day of the year, the days are short and cold. A touch of frost a couple nights ago, even one or two overcast days.

Gratitude. Thanksgiving. Gratitude (Latin gratitudo) is a state of mind. Thanksgiving is a direct translation of the Latin gratias actio -- action, specifically a performance, enactment, of thanks.

Latin gratias means "thanks," but also it means "grace," in all the multi-splendored nuances of that word. Old-English thanc instead is cognate with "think" -- thanksgiving is an enaction of your state of thoughts.

Giving thanks and feeling gratitude--are they the same for you? This is a tail that can wag the dog--the action can lead to the feeling.

The bees are vanishing. Your organic produce was grown in China downstream of a coal-powered water mill.  Sea otters are found on Alaska beaches dead of canine distemper, spread from Atlantic seals  because the ice cap has melted. That plastic in your water bottle is making fish infertile and giving little boys boobs.

It's called the finite pool of worry.  Or compassion fatigue. Information overload.  I get it in my schedule too--so many things to do, I don't know where to start and end up doing nothing.

That's one of the reasons I love the Origins film and telesummit: the presentation is solutions-oriented and positive.

But that can be overwhelming too. You get the "someday" syndrome, and btw, "someday" isn't on the calendar! "Oh, great idea! Someday I'll build a solar greenhouse." "Oh, when I finish this project I'm totally going to go salvage building materials and make raised beds and domesticate a bunch of quail..."