wrathful empathies – An appalachian Saṃsāra

Life is a pilgrimage. Pack only the essentials and start hiking.

Why do humans feel the urge to walk long distances in the act of pilgrimage? What intangible force compels them forward through strange lands, interminable weather, exhaustion and pain? I don’t know exactly but if you don’t feel the urge to make pilgrimage, I feel sorry for you. For the same force that moves the Milky Way across the heavens, should be gently drawing you along in its celestial wake.

Made it under 200 kilometers today. Started in St Jean de Pied a Port France which was 791 kilometers from Santiago. My feet hurt but spirits are good. Stay tuned. Watch my YouTube channel for videos. Its called “Bardo Patrol”.

I like the combination of clock and portal. Time is frozen on the clock face in the picture but the portal is open for transit. You don’t know who just passed through. In fact, I crossed this threshold at the precise time of the hands and quickly turned to snap a picture. It was my first steps of the Camino de Santiago which is as much a spiritual journey as it is a physical transit. I will never be the same person again but the clockface repeats itself over and over as each pilgrim starts their walk. Aren’t we all moving through portals everyday?

Just completed the GR20 which took me across Corsica thru unbelievably beautiful mountains. This morning I am waiting for my train that takes me from Carcassonne to the Spanish border where I will begin the Camino de Santiago

https://play.google.com/music/m/Todssp5io4t6lxdhklar4klo2kq?t=Gone_But_Not_Forgotten_-_Hank_Williams_III

https://images.app.goo.gl/rUcMyxPK4ZjFVfyB6

In 5 days, I leave the mountains for a week long recuperation in Porto Vecchio

I feel like I have stepped into a Lord of the Rings world. The corsican mountains are other worldly. Jagged peaks that retreat behind raging mists. I feel a Corsican rebel character forcing it’s way into my next book. Gotta figure what the link is. Maybe an ancient templar code kept hidden in a rough mountain refuge?

I literally kept the image of John Brennan in my mind when writing the character of  Urizen in my book Wrathful Empathies, The 2nd Raid on Harpers Ferry.

How else do you convince people that an old white guy can be scary, ruthless and capable of cold blooded violence….  Well, it is not a stretch to imagine him in countless chapter scenes acting out the worst amoral orders of the Authority.