Some Changes at Unanswered Question

A new schedule for publication and some random thoughts

A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightening in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream – so is this fleeting world.

The Diamond Sutra mantra, trs Stephen Mitchell

I’m now a bit more than a year into writing my Substack page, Unanswered Question. It really has been one of the joys of my life right now. And. But. With that marker and coming up on my seventy-seventh birthday in a couple of weeks, I’m looking at my various commitments.

Ah life.

Anyway. Needing find the right pace, and to try and set commitments that I can sustain.

So, I have come to the decision I need to adjust my posting schedule. I have for this past year and change posted twice a week here, Mondays free to all, and Thursdays behind the paywall. (Plus another roughly weekly posting over at my Monkey Mind blog at Patheos…)

Starting with this week, I’m dialing my commitment back to once a week. From now on, at least for the foreseeable I intend to post every Monday alternating between free and behind the paywall.

So, today is a free posting. Next Monday will be behind the paywall. And so on…

For those who have been paid subscribers, first thank you so much! I cannot say how grateful I am for your financial contribution. In retirement it actually is useful income.

And, second, I totally understand if you feel my backing off from offering a weekly posting to offering an ever other weekly posting specifically for paid subscribers is not what you’re willing to pay for. I believe unsubscribing is not difficult.

If you wish to continue, believe I can sustain this commitment indefinitely. I also expect to offer additional free postings at least once or twice a month on a random basis.

(Here an additional note to this note: I’m humbled an gratified that among the first responses have been two additional paid subscriptions, one designated “founder.” I know this isn’t how it will work for everyone. But, my goodness. Thank you!)

In other news my new book, Zen at the End of Religion: An Introduction for the Curious, the Skeptical, and the Spiritual but not Religions seems to be selling well, at least as might be defined in our little corner of the publishing world. Among the notices published here and there, Jessica Little at Lion’s Roar offered a pretty good summary:

"In Zen at the End of Religion: An Introduction for the Curious, the Skeptical, and the Spiritual but not Religious (Monkfish), author James Ishmael Ford, a Zen practitioner and retired Unitarian Universalist minister, discusses 'naturalistic perennialism,' that is, heart wisdom that’s common to all of humankind, but that no organized religion has gotten exactly right. Seekers who are looking for universal spiritual truth generally choose a specific path, and Ford recommends Zen. In Zen there is a directness, an intimacy, and a panoply of modern adaptations to choose from. His book explores the teachings, techniques, and koans that are at the heart of a Zen practice, all from the perspective of a seeker of naturalistic perennialism in a post-religious world. 'Our Zen at its best manifests not as any kind of certainty, but as curiosity,' says Ford. 'It shows hesitance in all things. It doesn’t claim to have all the answers. It is open—wildly open.'”

I think the review missed my larger point of uncertainty as Zen’s deeper not knowing, and not simply curiosity as some good. But it was a generous read. And, I’m grateful for the summation. Perhaps its a book for you? Or, maybe for someone you know?

Continuing on the writing front, I have just finished the first draft of what I hope will prove to be my eighth book and at the same time, my first novel. I’ve handed the ms off to my highly literate spouse who has had tons of experience editing, including a number of books, and we’ll see what she thinks.

After her read and a bit of brandishing of that red pencil, I expect I’ll be going on to some serious re-writing. So, while a major marker for me, I’m a fair bit away from trying to convince my publisher it’s just what they need. Oh, it has found a working title. The Priest and the Tea Lady.

These days I find myself thinking of death and rebirth. Sometimes its a metaphor. Sometimes its quite literal.

Friday we spent seven and a half hours in the emergency room at the Panorama City Kaiser medical center, which is in the San Fernando Valley, a part of the great expanse of Los Angeles. Jan & I live with her mother in Tujunga, not far from Panorama City as mom’s live in caregivers. She will turn 98 in July and well, if you live within shouting distance of a hundred, there are physical things wrong with you. In this case, among her ailments is congestive heart failure, and that seven and a half hours was getting her breathing back on track.

And. Then. If that wasn’t enough, this was followed last night by another five hour visit to the same ER over the middle of the night for my spouse’s surprising and prodigious nosebleed. She’s fine, although for the moment she kind of looks like Charlie Chaplin with a blond mustache.

All is well, in that life and death are intimately intertwined sort of way.

And thinking about us, the medium old attending to the very old.

Nothing like seven and a half hours witnessing people in a hospital emergency room to help one contemplate the passingness of things. Probably helped me accept this new rhythm for Unanswered Question.

As the Diamond Sutra sings to us.

A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightening in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream – so is this fleeting world.

The image is a photo the author took in Bhutan a few years past…