Someone directed my attention to a piece on blogging by Joan Westenberg. She/they (I'm not sure the preferred pronoun) consistently writes these excellent articles. I agree with her about the annoying trend (I guess it began too long ago to be called a trend) to abandon blogs and spend all of one's time on social media. Although I would want to add a few things.

The Great Way

Hsin-hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind, by Seng-ts'an, Third Chinese Patriarch translated by Richard B. Clarke source: https://www.mendosa.com/way.html

"The Patterning Instinct" by Jeremy Lent, was maybe the best of the books I've been reading lately about our cognitive history and position in reality. Lots of insights into how we got where we are today as a species, speculation upon what could come next, and a recommendation to move beyond the dualistic philosophy that developed from the time of Plato which, he claims, led to our mechanistic interpretation of the universe, to over-exploitation of nature, as well as to our current hyper-capitalism. He suggests that our future, at least one in which we remain recognizably human, may depend upon embracing the insights of systems theory which, he says, align with neo-confucian thought from 12th century China: an understanding that sees the interplay and interconnectedness of all phenomena, rather than their existence in isolation. The last chapter of his book is called "the web of meaning", which is also the title of a more recent book that he has written. I will read that one too. But I'm a slow, minimalistic reader. It will take me a good while to get through Mishra's "The World after Gaza" - which is really excellent, by the way.

America might be the world's bully, but I doubt whether its current administration is capable of taking on many issues at once,. So, despite the fact that the media can be used as a tool to harness our attention with one headline story, while government perpetrates other horrors in the background, I'm not sure that the current story can work so effectively in the Trump administration's interest. Because it is not just the media but the US government that is going to become bogged down in this issue and its repercussions.

Journal

Yesterday, New Years Eve we had a meal with/for the Moldovan workers building our house addition. Lots of meat, which D ordered from a Palestinian restaurant in Ramle since we never touch the stuff + tabouleh and other local salads. The building contractor brought the booze - a bottle of scotch and wines. They seemed to appreciate the occasion and tomorrow they have the day off. Moldovans are mainly Orthodox, but they don't seem to mind celebrating both dates.