Weekly Update #5: Across the Atlantic

In which the author recounts what he's doing in North America

The journey of the next video has begun. I am sitting down to write for the first time in days after a weekend of hyperstimulation. The contrast with my quiet, withdrawn Limerick life has been stark, and it has been delightful.

I forget how social I can be. For so much of my life, my identity has been so much of the reclusive introvert that I keep forgetting how much I relish people and stimulation and being out in the world¹.

My journey across the Atlantic was a trilogy of Shakespeare, Heidegger and CJ the X. My time in Toronto has thus far been an eclectic mix: quiet (and delicious) family dinners, a 10-hour session in the snug of an Irish pub, my first baseball game (with seats I’m sure I’ll never improve upon) and watching a remastered The Empire Strikes Back in an old movie theatre (on a street called Roncesvalles which of course took me back to the first day of Camino and that spot where the legendary Roland was slain).

I am pickled in North America and am grateful for the mundanity of Monday morning and the time to write, drink tea and digest some of it. In the next few days, before heading south to Massachusetts and (hopefully) into the belly of bliss, I’m meeting some YouTubers: over to the CCCRU again to meet some of the good folks there, meeting up with CJ the X again and a special visit from PF Jung (we’ll do a podcast together at the CCCRU on Wednesday).

And then the true work begins. I’m tired, I’m nervous and overfull. I’m also excited, delighted and grateful. This is why we venture off into Chaos: to throw our hearts into the cocktail shaker and hopefully find some intoxicating, delicious beauty emerging.

This Week’s Posts

It’s been a quiet week in comparison to recent ones.

1. The Psychological Roots of Radicalism: Monday saw the conclusion of the arc of reflections I’d been having on radical politics the week before

2. Love After Love by Derek Walcott: Tuesday, we read a beautiful poem shared by Belinda. In all the chaos of prepping for travel and travelling itself, I didn’t get to marinate in this poem at all like I wanted to. I am going to bring it to the meditation retreat with me and give it the time it deserves there. Consequently, we’re going to pass over the poetry club this week and the week after. This week, because of moving and shaking; and next week because I’ll be off the grid in the land of ecstasy (more on that below)

3. Introducing: The Philosopher’s Toolkit: on Thursday, a new series was begun. I am a little giddy with the idea of this new series. The idea of philosophy as a Swiss-army knife feels so right. I have a lot of ideas for how to cultivate this, but I feel this could be a central pillar of The Living Philosophy. I’ve talked about so many things over the years, and this feels like a way of organising it—an encyclopaedia, glossary and personal developmental portfolio for making the most of philosophy and psychology. I have one written for this coming week and many ideas for future weeks.

The Meditation Retreat

Right now, a few words about what I’m doing over here.

The next video, as I’ve mentioned here and there, is about a retreat in Massachusetts. It begins this Friday and ends the Friday after. The content of the meditation is an ancient Buddhist meditation. It’s part of the same tradition as Vipassana (the Theravadin tradition of Buddhism). There’s a whole historical story about the meditation which is a fascinating slice of history I want to write about and I’m excited for how it might bring something to meditation that I feel was missing from my (long extinct) >1000 hours of vipassana practice. That and the tagline for the meditation is “a panic attack for bliss”. You’ll be hearing a whole lot about this in the coming month, but let that give you a glimpse into what’s coming.

It’s something I read a lot about it last year and felt a great hunger to experience it. After a bit of back and forth with the organisation facilitating it (Jhourney), I am going to make an experiential vlog style video of the experience. I’m feeling rather nervous about the whole thing since it’s a whole new style to experiment with but thankfully I’m feeling no pressure from Jhourney, whose main concern has been that my priority is the meditation and not the video. Relaxed by this refreshing kind of concern, I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of it. My plan is to record vlog style journal entries every day and letting the video emerge out of that. Instead of planning the whole thing in advance, I’m letting it unfold and let it become what it wants. That is challenging but playful, so let’s see how it goes.

1. I’m sure, from a Jungian/MBTI perspective, that would be the development of my secondary function Fe (Extraverted Feeling).