The Monthly Salon: October
Our regular conversation club reconvenes
Hello everyone. I am slowly climbing out of the hole of sickness in which I have been ensconced for a good few weeks now. A combination of a hectic travel schedule, a chest infection and - more significantly - a longer-term exhaustion caused by overwork just came and knocked me onto my back. This is not the first time this has happened this year, and the message is increasingly obvious: do less. A wise Orthodox friend of mine recently explained this instruction to me more simply. ‘If you don’t give God His Sabbath’, she said, ‘he’ll take it from you.’
The Sabbath is an interesting and, for me, under-explored concept. It is mainly under-explored because I have ignored it, despite it being a commandment. Regular rest - demanded by God Himself of His people, mind - combined with regular cycles of debt forgiveness every seven years, which chimes too with the need to keep fields fallow, let their edges run wild … all of this speaks to the need for a cycle of rest, recuperation and work in all of our lives.
Me, I have mainly spent my life focused on the work part. This is a mindset and a pathology: one that is quite deep in Machine culture. Even fasting, even retreating, can become work if you have that mindset: targets to be achieved and ticked off! But life is not a target to be ticked off. At the age of 53, both God and my body appear to be bringing this fact home to me in the only way that makes me listen: by forcing me to finally shut up and stop.
Not that I am can quite stop, of course. Tomorrow night I’m talking in Galway about my new book (come along if you’re around), and in a few weeks I’ll be visiting the UK to do the same in a few places. After that though, I’ll be back here, and my winter will be spent finishing my Book of Wild Saints - steadily, though, and with those Sabbaths properly observed. The Machine will be behind me, and the Abbey will also return more fully. The hope is that my regular Sunday Pilgrimages will get up and running again, amongst other things I would like to do here in the next phase of the Abbey’s life.
One of those other things is the return of our Monthly Salons. Those of you who are new here may not have come across our Salons before, but they are monthly open house posts, in which I invite all and any of my paid subscribers to start a conversation about anything at all. It can be about anything that concerns you. Express an opinion, share a thought, ask a question. Meet other people, have a conversation about anything you like. Don’t mind me: I just open the door.
I retired the salon back in the spring, because the conversations seemed to be waning. I’m giving it another go now, though. Let’s see if enough of you fancy a chat this Halloween week. There’s much in the world to talk about, and you can range as freely as you like. Don’t be shy. The more the merrier, and we’re a friendly bunch here.
Blessings to you all, and don’t forget the Sabbath …
Paul
For anyone interested in engaging in hopeful ways to live in the Machine Age, there is a Doomer Optimism Gathering in Ligonier, PA from Nov 7-8. Speakers will include myself and my wife Ruth Gaskovski, Freya India, Suzy Weiss, Ashely Fitzgerald, Grant Martsolf, Michael Toscano and many more.
"We'll explore the far-reaching effects of technology, the promises and dangers of transhumanism, and the search for meaning in a world increasingly defined by machines. Our discussions will challenge how the Machine influences everything from the structure of families and our relationship with the environment to issues of personal freedom and social inequality, all while celebrating moments of creative rebellion.
Beyond the presentations, panels, open mics, we'll spend time connecting over shared meals and hold lively debates over drinks and more.
This is a small scale event and there are still a few tickets left. Find out more about the event or register here. https://www.savagecollective.org/doomer-optimism-gathering-2
I'm guessing the notion of a 'forced Sabbath' is familiar to many if not most of us. I've been knocked off my feet by various ailments or issues over the years, and always had a difficult time shedding the sense of guilt at being unproductive. Currently, my brother-in-law is recuperating from wrist surgery performed just yesterday, but is determined to do what work he can from his convalescent posture. Propped up in bed, with his right arm braced, extended and elevated, and his laptop in his lap, I told him he looks like the embodiment of a new Zen koan: "This is the sound of one hand typing."