The Monthly Salon: September
Come and join the conversation
We’re enjoying an Indian Summer here in Galway county, and I’ve been wandering my land with the camera to prove it. It shouldn’t be 22 degrees in September, but nobody’s complaining. As you can see, the garden is behaving as if it’s June. I’d like to take credit for this riot of colour, and for the herb garden and the bursting polytunnel, but credit where it’s due: it’s all my wife’s work. I’m too busy sitting in front of this keyboard.
But it’s your turn to do some typing now. The Abbey’s monthly salon is your opportunity to choose a topic of conversation and engage each other in it. So please do dive in, especially if you don’t usually comment here. I like to keep things fresh. Talk about anything you want and let’s see what happens.
Before I go, a quick reminder that I have some speaking events coming up in the next month, including my forthcoming American road trip, which is one reason I am in front of this keyboard so much right now. In date order:
I’ll be in Dublin in ten days, to speak at the conference of Orthodox Fellowship Ireland.
I’ll be talking about resisting the Machine in Birmingham, Alabama.
I’ll be in conversation with Rod Dreher about my Christian journey and his new book, in the same place the next day.
I’ll be talking about Christianity and nature in Buffalo, NY.
I’ll be giving the Erasmus Lecture in New York City, where I’ll be arguing the case against ‘Christian civilisation.’
Some of those need to be booked in advance: click on the links to find out. Perhaps I’ll see some of you there.
With that: over to you!
This is the summer I’ve had to let go of preconceptions of what the weather should be. In my state (Idaho), for two and a half months we have been on fire to a degree no one has ever seen or has been previously recorded. More 100+ (F) days than ever recorded, with plenty more in the high 90’s, accompanied by smoke-choked air that fell mostly in the ‘Dangerous’ category on the online weather apps ‘wheel of how bad it is to breathe’. This produced spectacular sunsets most evenings if the sun could poke out under the smoke clouds, but standing outside to watch these sunsets was deemed ‘dangerous’. I worked out in my permaculture yard 4-6 hours a day, my lungs ached and decided I had no choice but to roll with ‘what is’. This decision opened my senses up to the deeper needs of the Land I tend. The trees and plants routinely asked me to hose the ash and particulate matter off of them in the early morning, which became sacred time. The beauty of the flowers and food became more bittersweet for me than I could have ever imagined, and neighbors came and sat in the gardens in the evenings, sharing theirs likewise. The conversation always seemed to drift back to recognizing yet again the only control we seem to have in life is how we react to what ‘is’. I stopped whining about what was being ‘missed’ based on the previous 70 summers in this life. Last week this all changed in less than 24 hours. One day was 98 with choking smoke, the next was 64, with the wind blowing the smoke somewhere else, and then a bit of rain attempted to gain momentum. Several more cloudy days, with cooler temperatures that let all the doors and windows be flung open…thunderstorms built and poured from the Heavens. The mood of ecstasy in the gardens was deafening. Today is sunny and headed to 74. The thin layer of dirt and ash that covers the man-made surfaces is drying under the sun, and that’s okay. It washes in to the soil and informs the network of information and Life that underpins all above. I am again reminded the Earth is 4.3 billion years old and cooperatively knows exactly how to take care of itself. Fire and Water bring purification. This summer of Fire has had its way on my Soul.
I've really been enjoying Ted Gioia's work of late, particularly some of his posts about AI. Worth checking out "The Honest Broker" on Substack if any of you haven't yet. Paul, I imagine you already read him, but if not, I highly recommend.
Separately, I went to a concert (more like a small show, the venue was in a little theater in Evanston, IL and held maybe 100 people) last Tuesday, and it's the first time I've seen live music in a little while. It was incredibly refreshing, and in the time of algorithm-driven, curated music, it felt a little countercultural to watch someone create and perform on stage with just a guitar.