Armchair Zen

I caught myself just now, having lost sight of my light, my zen.

I looked at another blog and was envious. The writer so prolific and skilled, 900 followers, comments and compliments enough to make one blush.  (Thomas Ross’s onlyhereonlynow, to be precise).

The thoughts crossed my mind, raced through before I could catch them like startled sheep gushing through the gap in the fence. The advice from WordPress about how to increase hits to my blog. My temptation to follow other blogs only for the selfish purpose of hoping others would see mine. (Okay, not so true. I follow blogs, presently a total of two to be honest, because I genuinely like the content or people, they seem to fit my Armchair Zen)

This is not about me. No, really. As sort of crazy and hypocritical as it seems with “I”, “me” and “mine” in the sentences.

The purpose of Armchair Zen, the blog, is to seek to help others to find the path. Not to erect a tollbooth at the entrance. Not to have followers, that may be lost on the trail without me, to boost my ego. Not for social contact.

In a strange way, not blogging, almost seems as if it should be the goal. How can I profess that others should disconnect from all the manufactured connectedness of our modern world, all the noise which fills our minds and distracts us from connecting with true self?

That’s why, in spite of advice that About should tell readers about ME, the About at this blogsite lists a number of tenets and goals of ACZ. That’s why, in spite of the fact that I own the domain Armchairzen.com, there is not a lot of effort put into exposing ACZ to “the world” or increasing readership and followship.

I like to perceive myself as akin to a lighthouse. For those that draw near I hope to show them some light so they may set their own course and avoid dashing themselves on the same rocks I have. Lighthouse does not leave the shore and go look for ships to warn.

A short look around this sparsely populated site and you will see there is no daily blog activity. Sometimes posts are one per month. One month I posted nothing at all. Sorry to tell you readers (if any), but there are things more important and pressing. I trust you guys are grownups and have no shortage of blogs to read, and can carry on without me.

When I do post something, I hope it is something of some value, however small, that holds true to the goal of helping others to seek the path, and is not something contrived, nor simply words to fill a page.

The trail beckons

Perhaps that flies in the face of conventional wisdom of the modern blogger.

Then again, the power of true Armchair Zen is not conventional. If it was, we’d all be using it and therefore ACZ would be pointless. While blogging is thoroughly modern, the wisdom of zen teachers and other sages is as old as language.

A very valuable and very few actual events and other forms of inspirations have lead me to the entrance of the path.

I’m not blazing a trail, not your wilderness guide, not the cartographer.

Just pointing out the trail marker signs.

Be at peace,

Paz