Here below is an extract from an email, published with the recipient’s consent, in which I talk about what I see as the contribution the artist gives into society. Not so easy to put into words, which is precisely the point.
Thank you for your thoughts and reasonings. I can sense there is a lot of ideas, feelings, history, (personal and political and geographical) going around for you. You are an artist, I feel that this kind of mix is almost impossible to express in any other way than through bringing out what is inside (within one’s heart) and onto paper – or whatever ones medium happens to be. Poetry does wonders too. Reaching past and through the ‘ordinary mind’ to touch and illicit an unthought out response must surely be yours to engage with, as the artist with the heart and sensibilities of an artist. Seems you don’t actually have a real choice in the matter, any more than I had a choice to be a monk. It’s a vocation, right?

People would often say to me about ‘settling down’. I never have settled down and probably never will. I don’t actually know what that means in practice but I suspect its about staying in one place physically with a steady job and a steady relationship. Society needs us to be steady or is it commerce needs us to be that way, so we can be reliable and consistent consumers. Please don’t do that!
In gassho,
Mugo

After my ‘change of pace’ this past month it has been a bit of a task to ‘get up to speed’ in terms of writing here. Sisyphus and his rock come to mind. Not that writing here is Sisyphean, that’s a task that is both laborious and futile. Very far from it.

It’s my daily intention to write here but while on ‘quiet time’ I purposefully let that intention fade into the background and turn my attention more inward. Once any kind of intention drops away it takes a deliberate effort to get back at it. For example, the intention to sit formal meditation every day can be hijacked; a day or two might pass and not sit because of other pressures on precious time. It might then take months of absence before girding oneself to sit again. Many people ask about this, ‘how can I establish a regular formal meditation practice’?

It’s too easy to say, ‘just do it’ but there are probably reasons why one’s good intentions fade,; priorities change, circumstances change. In my case, as time goes by  I start to wonder if I’ve anything real to write about,  or is it time I gave it a rest? Are there more important things I could be doing with my time? Excuses? Possibly.

In the end, and that’s what I’ve done, one basically just has to put one’s shoulder to the rock even if convinced writing is laborious and futile – Sisyphean! Similarly, perhaps the intention to walk regularly or to take some time to relax is eclipsed by more pressing matters? Walking, relaxing? Futile, laborious?!! Over the next few days, I’ll ponder on transforming one’s intentions into actual practice. Especially around the area of purposefully relaxing, resting, renewing. Having a ‘change of pace.’ I’ve certainly benefited from that.

Sisyphus was doomed to a life of pushing a heavy rock up a hill, then having reached the top of the hill the rock rolls back down again. Constantly. Are we too ultimately doomed to such meaningless toil? Or on the other hand, doomed to endlessly attempting to reach that ever-receding goal; out there ahead of ourselves and our lives? In search of an ideal life or at least better than ‘this’.

I’ll not be writing on the level of; get fit fast, find enlightenment pronto, or even be a nicer happier person. I feel intention/wish lies at the heart of our waking moments as humans, so this will be about deciding to do something then doing it. We would call that ‘grasping the will’, I’d say it’s about making choices and then following through.

Albert Camus, in his 1942 essay The Myth of Sisyphus, saw Sisyphus as personifying the absurdity of human life, but Camus concludes “one must imagine Sisyphus happy” as “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a persons heart.”

Replacing that last sentence to read, ‘Living life itself is enough to fill a person’s heart’, causes Sisyphus, and us, to be happy/content simply to live life.

I love our system of footpaths, spidering across the UK Ordnance Survey maps. I’ve followed many on foot and by pony; uphill, down dale, fells, mountains, marshes, coastal paths, long-distance paths, bridle paths. Walking can be moving meditation, mood-elevating, exciting (memorable moment on Great Gable back in 2016), frightening (also Great Gable 2016!) I could go on and on about entering the great outdoors and staying out for long hours, rain, shine, bitterly cold. Sometimes all at the same time! I’ll not go on though. A short video filmed in a church yard in Wasdale Head after that 2016 walk.

If you are a one who follows paths, don’t want our valuable historic paths to disappear then nip over to the Ramblers website and take a look at your area on the map. It’s easy.

Walkers are being urged to help identify 10,000 miles of historic footpaths that are missing from the map in England and Wales and could be lost forever.

All rights of way must be identified before a government deadline of 2026, after which it will no longer be possible to add old paths to the official record.

The walking group Ramblers is calling on walkers, historians and map enthusiasts to use its new mapping site to identify missing footpaths.

The online tool divides the official map into 150,000 1km squares so users can compare historic and current maps side by side, spot any differences and submit missing paths.

The Guardian, Walkers urged to help save historic footpaths before 2026 deadline