Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is hatred of modern civilization.
William Morris

I was talking with somebody a few months ago about work and labour and meditation and self-improvement and aspiration and retirement and a life well lived. We discussed the difficulty of living your life one way while hoping, or worse, expecting your behavior and habits to open a door to living, at a later date, differently.


zazen = seated meditation / the Zen Monastery
bōzu = a monk (sort of)
bozo = a man who is a stupid incompetent fool (sort of)

He mentioned a phenomenon I’ve been unable to find mention of any place else:

Sararimen work their entire lives he said, toiling for some anonymous zaibatsu in the hopes of retiring and joining the Zazen and spending the rest of their days in meditation.

it’s possible it’s not a real thing. I like that about it, the secrecy or the fraud.

There’s already a kind of indistinct sadness to that particular dream but it’s made slightly sadder by the fact that, apparently, it’s very common for these salarymen to get to retirement, sell their posessions, join the monastery and hate it. They last a few days or a few weeks or a few months but sooner or later they take off and are left with less than they started with. 

Not a lot of enlightenment to be found there, really. 

Calling some poor schmuck a bozo because he worked his whole life for a dream he didn’t completely understand feels like a low blow if you ask me.

It’s still kind of funny.
A cautionary tale, too. 
That’s the best kind. 

January 2nd, 2023
Bozo