The First Emperor understood how important books were. He burned books and buried scholars in order to dominate the country. Every despot since then has known that control of knowledge is control of a nation. But it didn’t work for the First Emperor, and it will never work for any despot. There will always be books- which can be hidden, which need no technology to open, which are not virtual but real objects. Those who use them will not give them up easily.

That is why, even today, books are so revered. Books allow people to think for themselves, allow access to knowledge forgotten or even out of favor with the times. Books allow knowledge to travel over time and distances greater than the author could ever accomplish in person. Most important, books encourage allegiance not to kings, but to the learning of the individual. And that is crucial to Tao. – Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao

“Embrace the present moment as an ever-flowing source of holiness.” –Jean Pierre de Caussade

photo: Jere DeWaters

The Peace of Wild Things
BY WENDELL BERRY

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

…nearly 7 years ago, I was driving to meet a friend for coffee and conversation. My world had seemingly collapsed a few months before and I was heartsick and tired of life.

Then I heard this song. I didn’t know at the time who the “you” was or would be. Someone from the past? future? Was it God?

Perhaps it was all.

And now when I hear it, all I can think of is gratitude and love for my love and companion, Autumn…

Our Deepest Insecurity 

Available at Sherman’s Books, Print Books, Amazon & Apple Books

Praise for Dog or Wolf: To read the poetry of Bill Schulz is, most often, to enter land- and seascapes anew, to be in places—the North Atlantic coast, Italian hillsides, arroyos and dry washes of the Southwest, streets of San Francisco —as interiors, places you could go on your own but never feel and see them the way you do in these seemingly delicate, but always charged, poems.—Bill Burtis, author of Liminal 

I read Dog or Wolf in one sitting, then had to read it again. I still can’t figure out where, in its deceptively delicate brushstrokes— “disappearing/like walks//we’ll never take”—this book generates its raw and galvanic emotion, but fair warning: these beautiful poems have (sharp) teeth.—Marilyn Johnson, author of The Dead Beat, This Book is Overdue, and Lives in Ruins. 

Given that one of Bill Schulz’s keenest subjects is loss—the ongoing subtraction of people we’ve loved, places we’ve lived, moments when life has ensorcelled us—his poems are nonetheless remarkably joyful. And given that a signature feature of his style is a Zen-like kind of exacting minimalism, the poems nevertheless abound with the creatures and charms of the natural world. Reading Schulz is a bit like hiking the narrow road to the deep north with Basho at your left ear and Wallace Stevens at your right. It’s a trip you do not want to miss!— Jim Crenner, author of Drinks at the Stand-up Tragedy Club

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

phillipians 4:4-7