Things Are Different At Night

I’m walking down to the ceramics kiln for my 3 am firing shift. In the circle of my headlamp’s light there are all these beautiful white flowers. Wow – how come I didn’t notice them before? And then I realize that I’m seeing large frost crystals balanced on top of bits of grass in the driveway.

My senses are different at night. As I start my shift I’m looking at the kiln thermometer and then my watch to manage the timing for adding firewood. A scientist at work. After several frustrating rounds of watching the temperature drop, I hear my teacher’s voice, saying with a sigh, “How many thousands of years have people been firing ceramics without a thermometer or a watch?” So I then just start listening to the sound of air getting sucked into the firebox and everything starts to relax. I forgot that my senses can work when I need them.

My planning is different. If the goal is to have hundreds, thousands, multitudes of people eating their daily meals off of wood-kiln fired ceramics created by people who know how to use their hara, let’s work backwards. How are we going to do that? Well, it has to be demand driven as people recognize that a peach tastes different, their life feels different, when it is served on a wood-fired plate. How do we help them recognize that? The obvious way is to listen to Honda Roshi’s enjoyment as he eats food from a Chosei-yaki plate. So, how do we broaden that experience? Somehow in the cold night air, I can continue to play this scenario out without getting distracted.

My doubts are different. During the day, any that arise hardly register as things are getting done. But now…are the rafters going to catch fire? What if my doctor is right and we don’t have wide-spread use of a vaccine until late 2021? I don’t think we split enough firewood. Will that person I love really move to Canada if Biden loses?

In our training we work to resolve duality – but that doesn’t mean that the resolution for day and night is dawn or dusk. We have to feel day thoroughly and night thoroughly first. Please help support the training of those working to understand these things. As for that election, it is 3 am now. But I know that daylight is coming.