Gray in my lap. Thoughts about Saint Augustine’s Confessions and the harmonica.

That’s two nights in a row I have gotten enough sleep. 

I am doing well.

I was having some pretty vivid dreams last night about music. 

‘We sleep better when alone.’ —Loudon Wainwright III

I am reading thru Saint Augustine’s Confessions right now. It’s been a book on my list of to-read books for over two decades, now. To read is to read is to read is to read. It means to complete it. But anyways, it was on the curriculum at Saint John’s. I read most of it, and it made a big impression on me. I just never completed it. It made me fall in love with religious reading and writing. That’s how I would sum it up, in a nutshell. Religion means to re-link or re-read. Obviously, he has re-read the Bible many times, to get to that level of proficiency with it. He understands it in & out. He quotes it left & right, throughout his book. I really enjoy his book. I really enjoy re-reading something that I Already understand, to meditate over it, in order to more fully understand it. Many might consider this boring, but I consider it pleasant. 

He’s read it so many times, he’s an expert.

I’ve got to consider what the next thing I’m gonna do with my day is going to be. 

Thank you for reading. 

Gray is a good girl; she was sitting in my lap up until then. She’s smart. I love her. 

She knows me and I know her.

She is very patient w/ me.

Thank you very much.

I'm trying to develop a following on here.

Maybe one on Wordpress.

I feel self-conscious about the Wordpress.

Well, Gray just jumped into my lap, again, so what do you want to read about now? My anxiety about dying, my reading, my music? My fiddle? My harmonica?

Okay: let’s write a little bit about the harmonica. 

It is a breathing tool: a tool to help you get in touch with your breathing. To make you conscious about it. To make you intentional and deliberate about it. I gave one to my nieces when they were two. They ought to understand better how to play it by now. I would have been very happy if someone had given me one when I was two. They are very lucky. They got another one when they were four, and a third one when they were seven. They are very lucky. They should be very grateful, appreciative, and thankful. I would have loved to have gotten one as nice as they got when I was two. They should be very thankful. They ought to thank God that they have such a good uncle. Every day ought to be thanksgiving day, for them. 

Lao Tzu said that to force the breath is to overstrain it, but that’s the thing about music: it shouldn't be an overstraining. It’s not supposed to be a forcing. You’re supposed to let it flow. It’s supposed to come Out of you. Harmonica is just putting your Attention on your breath. It’s not forcing it. It’s not even controlling it. It’s letting your Self play the song in question, which You want to play, effortlessly. It’s letting the song come out of You, letting the music come out of You. You wanna play a song? Then let the song come out of You. Music should be effortless. It should be graceful. You let the music come out of You. No one's Forcing anything.

Thank you for reading, today.