Tough nut to crack

Somewhere buried in the text of instructions to a cook, Dogen says something to the effect that one should, "Maintain a caring mind." Try that for a few minutes.

What should one do? Damned if I know.

Turn on the 24/7 news and in about thirty seconds I don't care. Put a greasy cheeseburger in front of me with the right combination of condiments and I don't care about my cholesterol level. And I'm supposed to care about the conditions in New Orleans or Darfur or even the inner city?

Maintain a caring mind? Yeah, right. I've got a monkey mind that would rather think about a thousand other things. Heck, when pressed I think about folks I haven't seen in years or folks I just know through odd associations. I fool myself into thinking, "That's a caring mind." I'm thinking about someone else, right?

The other night we were watching "Saving Grace." Maybe you haven't watched the show. Maybe you have. Nothing like a cable show that breaks the language barrier. I went to school back in the dark ages with the guy who is the charcter of the "angel." Leon Rippy. Damn! Do I look that old? He was in the HBO show Deadwood too. Talk about a language barrier! So there I was thinking about being in the mountains of NC almost forty years ago. I was hiking on logging trails and Leon? Well, he was experimenting with facets of his mind. He was more of a friend of a friend. Times change and we all went our different ways.

I wonder if Leon thinks about the mountains? I wonder if he found anything in the mountains? I wonder if he longs for anything? I woncder if he has a caring mind?

Do I really care? Do you really care? I know I fool myself into thinking that I care. Do you?

Git er done.