Back to Earth

My favorite zen saying is: "What do you do before satori comes? Chop wood and carry water. What do you do after satori comes? Chop wood and carry water."

Going to London was an enlightenment for me. The paradox about satori is that once it hits you, you are never the same, and yet you need to continue on the same path in the same place as you were before. As you get older, you still hope the world will change, but you know that it won't. What was odd about my trip was that I read three novels by Haruki Murakami while I was there: After Dark, Kafka on the Shore, and Norwegian Wood. At times, as I sat or walked in the park, I almost thought I was in Japan, so great is Hurakami's ability to transfer his reader to another place and another time, maybe even another mentality. Those books, along with my experiences in London, made me feel I should be moving on to something new or perhaps doing things in a different way. It just doesn't seem like nothing should be different. I'm glad I still have the rest of the summer off. I can't realistically retire for another two years, and even then financially (income as well as health insurance-wise) it isn't really something I could easily do.

It just seems like it's time for something different.