introduction to Musings from Between the Lines: irreverently reverent
Essays, poems and more, navigating the pathways of daily life and the long-range journeying . . .
introduction:
Musings from Between the Lines aims to assist readers with finding a deeper place of consciousness with an ability to transcend dualisms, have a greater sense of life-purpose and a caring for all sentient beings and the journeying which has, no matter what your personal path, only one path ⸻ Earth.
Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is a verbiage experiencer, in other words, he’s into etymology, writes about his experiences and to encourage people to learn from direct experiences, not just head knowledge. He is a writer, editor, and small press publisher. Mankh travels a holistic mystic Kaballah-rooted pathway staying in touch with Turtle Island and the cycles of the Seasons; that pathway is also nurtured by mystical alchemy, tantra yoga, and a fondness for East Asian art forms including the art of living as espoused by the Tao Te Ching (Thou Dei Jinn) and I Ching (Ye Jinn).
Except when Mankh is already working on a project he doesn't plan to write, rather live fully and attend to the matters of the moments and let the Musings come to him. For more than 23 years with that process, 17 books have been written (some are small chapbooks), around 135 essays, and poems including haiku whose numbers are not kept track of, plus a current weekly podcast Get Lit With Literature. The numbers themselves aren't meant to impress rather to show that the writings are an ongoing flow of conversations with the Musings, myself, the reader, the world. One of the aims when committing to the writing journey was to reflect the everyday flow of life along with the truths that don't go away, such as: Earth, Water, Wind/Air, and Fire.
From the Tao: "Cut doors and windows into four walls to make a room, but it is the empty space between them that makes it useful." The feelings and ideas for the writings typically come from the 'empty spaces' . . . like messages slid under the door of rational linear thinking or a summer breeze through a window-screen, akin to the oft-mentioned zone just before sleep when one is not thinking so much, neither asleep nor capable of doing much of anything. Or they can come in sharply, like the alarm clock in the middle of a dream.
Often the writings explore the limitations of enforced institutions and social structures with the aim of helping people to free themselves from those limitations. Much of navigating the daily info-laden corporate monotheistic news world is about filtering and choosing what's between the lines. The word-root of “rule” is “reg-, move or direct in a straight line, rule.” This is the very aim of empires, to keep you in line and rule over you, while they hoard the loot; “class” is the key dividing line of the social-status, while nationalism, dependency on authority figures, and separation from receiving direct Spiritual and Earth energies are enforced subtly by educational books, religious books, and scripted corporate media, or by force via rules found in so-called legal books, or by brute force ― those are some of the tactics of 'the powers that do too much' that Mankh's writings tend to rail against while also singing an epic of peace and of the celebrations of everyday common experiences with childlike wonder and the vigilance of a Robin atop her nest.
And there's much more at Mankh's literary and publishing website, Allbook Books: www.allbook-books.com