He also really, really cared about all the students he'd never get to meet: people like yourself who are discovering him after his death. He felt those people were his students and he was speaking to them and for them.

I always felt he was rooting for me - even when I was banging my head against the proverbial wall. He was genuinely interested in every student, and would quickly pick up people's names and make them feel seen. He always spoke from a place of experience, but also encouraged me to see for myself.

Ah, there's so much I could say! He was enormously generous with his time and energy, and was as devoted to being a teacher as he was to being an explorer and trailblazer. He had such warmth, playfulness and humour, but also a serious commitment to integrity and a fearless curiosity about things.

One of my meditation teachers, Leigh Brasington, recommended using the following phrase for mettā practice behind the wheel (or on the saddle): "May you be happy! May you get to your destination safely! May you learn to drive!"

Have you come across the work of Rob Burbea yet? He was my teacher - not well-known before he died in 2020, but increasingly becoming popular with online meditation nerds. The "fading of perception" was the cornerstone of Rob's approach to insight. hermesamara.org/teachings/em...

Love Calvino!

Samuel Beckett - Company
Elizabeth Bishop - "In the Waiting Room"
Sue Hamilton - Early Buddhism: The "I" of the Beholder
Mark Johnston - Surviving Death (particularly Chapter 4 - "What is found at the center?")
Douglas Harding - On Having no Head

Excellent. I cannot recommend the Huntingdon highly enough. It's not just about death either: it's about liberation.

I recently got the big red Princeton complete works and would like to start on the Ethics. Have you found any helpful guides to read alongside it?

The only right answer

Apparently, it's a sign of dementia risk. Doesn't bode well for us Beckettians.

Rather than praising Yao [the ancient Chinese stereotype of saintliness; think: Gandhi] and condemning Jie [the stereotype of evil; think: Hitler], we'd be better off forgetting them both and transforming along our Way."

(trans. Brook Ziporyn)