In this time of quarantine, author and art historian Cornelia Feye discussed in our Author Interview how to look at our time stuck inside in a different way. Cornelia found three parallels of being stuck at home to her time at the Tasahara monastery:
- Like in the monastery, we can’t really go anywhere, see our friends, or dive into outside distractions.
- We are confined to our homes and have to look inward because so many of our distractions are gone. As Cornelia said, “We like to distract ourselves so we don’t have to encounter what’s really there, and by staying still in one place, you kinda have to look at where you are.”
- We can’t look too far ahead. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, so rather than worry about it, focus on the moment and enjoy what is around you.
Having this opportunity to gain new mindfulness, Cornelia suggests that we have to “renegotiate our interaction and our relationship with time because we don’t know what is ahead…can’t really schedule that much, and so we have to look at it much more in a vertical way, all the things that are happening right now in this moment, and instead of floating along and moving along through each moment, we almost have to settle in it, and that includes all the sensations that come in this moment, all of the feelings that may arise, all the thoughts, also all the influences around us from nature, maybe the sounds of the wind, or the sounds of the birds around us, they’re all part of this moment.”
Cornelia’s time at the monastery inspired the setting for her next book, Death of a Zen Master, coming soon. Here is the link for the rest of Cornelia’s written collection. Click here to see the rest of this interview. Be sure to subscribe and click that notification button to stay up to date with all of the upcoming author interviews and videos being released.
Cheers!
-S. Faxon
S. Faxon Productions 