The Zen Of 21

When you meet a master swordsman,
show him your sword.
When you meet a man who is not a poet,
do not show him your poem.
Lin-Chi

When the pupil is ready to learn, a teacher will appear 
Hsin Hsin Ming

Are you ready to expand your horizons beyond those of the immediate sphere of Patrick Thornhart - while still wishing to remain within his universe? Yes, through his tutelage, many of us have met Yeats, and we’ve become familiar with the haunting Celt-inspired melody that airs whenever Patrick is with his true love Margaret Saybrooke. But by now, you realize you are ready for more enlightenment...for more ways to absorb yourself, and to be absorbed, into the Patrick Thornhart nexus.

There are, fortunately, any number of ways to do this; myriad paths may lead to Patrick. The challenge is to recognize them - and instead of tying yourself to only the tried and true, venture into uncharted territory. Even though your exposure to the immediate Patrick Thornhart may of necessity be bound by the confines of time and space, there are no limits to the associations your imagination can draw to enable you to bring Patrick into every facet of your existence.

However young,
The seeker who sets out upon the way
Shines bright over the world
The Buddha

There is really no obvious place to begin - anything may speak to you of other aspects of Patrick’s essence, if it has meaning for you. But perhaps we can narrow the possibilities down to a few, beginning with this one.

Return to the dawning of time, and then come forward just a little, to the days when the legends that have come down to us from the land we know now as Ireland were still true... to the time when the mighty and magical Tuatha dé Danann, the most renowned of the succession of anient Ireland’s conquerors, reigned over the land... Unfortunately (or, depending on your point of view, maybe you think it was fortunate), even the superhuman Tuatha eventually suffered defeat - at the hands of the Gaelic people, led by the Sons of Mil, the Milesians - in their turn... The Tuatha then retired to the sidhe, the prehistoric burial mounds that were, until the last century, thought to be gateways to the "Other-world" (but even now, who’s to say that they’re not?)...

Tir na nÓg, the Land of Youth, a blessed place where men and women are always beautiful, and where the Tuatha live on forever. When you look at and listen to Patrick, the gods who lived and loved so long ago might well be making another appearance. Yes, there is definitely a connection, at least for me: it’s for each of us alone to decide these things for ourselves.

We’re the mystery of the lake when the water’s still.
We’re the laughter in the twilight,
You can hear behind the hill.
We’ll stay around to watch you laugh,
Destroy yourselves for fun.
But, you won’t see us,
We’ve grown sideways to the sun.

The obstacle is the path
Zen Proverb

The classic recording, The Book of Invasions, by the Irish group Horslips, from which the verse above is taken, presents this tale of the Tuatha in accessible musical form. The following lyrics from the same source could remind you of a sensitive soul such as Patrick, who has had much trouble, who has had to move on all alone at times in his life, but who, we hope, will not always be "moving on and all alone," for it is not only the truth in this mere one of our lives to live - it is the truth in all of our many, many lives that have been lived, and that will be lived, again and again: We are all connected.

Been so long away from home,
I’ve almost made this place my own.
Now it seems I’ll soon be gone,
Moving on and all alone.
Trouble, trouble,
I try to chase trouble but it’s chasing me.
Trouble., trouble
Trouble with a capital T

The world is ruled by letting things take their course.
Lao-Tzu

Question: What does this mean? Who knows? And what difference does it make? The following information might enlighten you . . . if it doesn't, something else may.