Cold Morning with Dogen
Brrrr cold days at Eleusis. Frosty nights and during the day the temperature is not higher than four degrees. I am not really up for a outside job today. Adam is the tough one at the moment and the only one working outside. He is chopping a tree somewhere in the woods.
This morning the day started with David reading out loud the text called Genjo Koan written by Dogen. It is very poetic and full of paradoxes. Adam and I recognised some famous quotes of Dogen. Defenitely something to read again myself. I searched on the internet for Dutch literature about Dogen, but there is not a lot to find. I found a book by Nico Tydemann and that was it. I wonder if it is true that there is hardly any literature about Dogen in Dutch. If someone has a few good book tips please let me know.
Hotter Afternoon With Aphrodite
This afternoon David had suddenly a twinkle in his eyes. “Lets make a fire for Aphrodite”, he said. This last month we have several times worked in the Aphrodite Field, cutting grass and blackthorn. In the middle of the field, from our work in recent weeks, there was a heap of cut blackthorn three meters high. David was definitely talking about a big fire for Aphrodite. Aphrodite the goddess of love and passion deserved a big fire.
One match
So we went to the field. We took our 'burnables' (we collect all the waste paper for lighting goddess fires) to the Aphrodite Field and we searched for dry kindling in the wood. Blackthorn does not burn easily, it does not catch fire until it is a high temperature, so we made a fire with sticks and burnables under one end where the wind would help. David really knows how to make a (big) fire and to control it. He only used one match to start this fire:
She Burns Good
When blackthorn burns... she burns good! The small fire suddenly became a big roll of flames and in no time the fire seemed to be spitting high into the sky! Quite beautiful. Aphrodite seems to be happy with some passion and heat. The fire burnt on for some time consuming all the heap.
Community
When the fire was burning down we sat in the grass while we still could sense the warmth. We did a stone passing. The one who holds the stone shares what is in his heart and then passes the stone on. I realised that over the last couple of weeks I have been feeling at ease with the three of us operating together, familiarly, as this small community. Somehow it is quite organic how we are living together at Eleusis and everybody seems to find his tasks and his daily rhythm.
Replies
Today is also my saint's day - St david - and also the anniversary of the death of my father in 2003. I send him my love.