Travelling to Japan is a long and very tedious journey. I have a habit of packing lots of things in my hand luggage to keep me entertained and then only using one of them. As was the case this time when I spent the entire journey reading on my Kindle “Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment” by Robert Wright.
It was a fascinating read and I intend to get the audiobook and listen to it again. In many ways it set the tone for my visit and attempt to try and get further with meditation as I had attempted before. As is usual I did not get as far as I wanted although maybe I got further than I thought I would.
I read (or started to read) a few other books on mediation whilst out there but none of them grasped me as much as Robert Wright’s book – maybe as his focuses a lot on the theory and not so much the practice. Still, I still probably learnt more than I thought I would.
Finally I discovered Alan Watts who died in 1973 aged 58 (just seven years older than I am now). I’m sure I’ve heard him before and I discovered him by accident whilst looking for something else completely different. He seemed to be a complex and engaging character with an interesting background and life. I’ve started listening to some recordings of his lectures. He’s very odd and interestingly described himself as a “philosophical entertainer”. I don’t understand all he says and believe much less but he is very thought provoking.
I am going to start using this blog to start writing more about what I am learning and thinking, happy in the knowledge that it’s public but unlikely to be read by anybody – certainly anybody who knows me.