If you looked at a book, would you notice the trees, rain, sunshine, and clouds in it? The late Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh emphasized the interconnectedness of everything in this world and how deeply objects like a chair or an apple are connected. Hanh coined the term interbeing, which means this because of that. A book is linked to rain and clouds because, without the rain, there would be no trees to produce paper for books. You could take this thought further and think that, without books, there would be no authors like me!
Luckily for the environment and the trees that grow among us, we don’t need paper to read books anymore. Even so, I still read 99 percent of my books in paperback. I like to buy used books. It’s still too satisfying to hold a bound book full of untold mysteries, along with the beauty and feel of an embossed and compelling cover. And don’t forget the papery smell as you turn the feather-light pages.
Hanh considered objects and people, rivers and trees, and everything, including the earth and the stars, to be a miracle of existence, since numerous causes and conditions had to meld perfectly to produce the world and its inhabitants that we know and love. Maybe if humans realized how interconnected we are, we could put aside our partisan disagreements and care for each other and the miracle of life.
And do as Hanh suggests: when you are drinking your favorite roast at Starbucks, sipping Jasmine tea, or, like me, curling a stiff Aviation gin and tonic, remember you’re drinking a cloud!
I finished my third novel, Artlet Abrams and the Ancient Apple Tree! Hooray! I'm recovering from foot surgery. Boo. Look to your inbox for my next newsletter on Monday, August, 17. And remember, if you've read and enjoyed Chorus of Crows, don't forget to tell somebody and leave a review!
"People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?" ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
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