Transience
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi ( So Passes the Glory of the World) A couple of weeks ago I visited the site of Hobart Mills, north of Truckee, CA. I enjoyed the natural beauty of the area but didn’t see a ghost town, or much of anything else to indicate a thriving town of 1,500 people with schools, a hospital, and a lumber mill once existed at this spot. There were two competing memorial stones at the trailhead, one erected by the Clampers , who keep reminding us of who/what has passed: Coincidentally, early that morning, I’d just finished reading Yongey Mingyur Rimpoche’s book about his decision to sneak out of his monastery (he was the abbot) to spend the next four years wandering, penniless and anonymous, in what he considered a “retreat,” to deepen his meditation practice. He was unprepared and almost died in the first month but he considered it a premium learning experience that permanently altered his views of life and eternity. And he kept going. Like most people, ...