Meditating in a Train

On a sunny morning, I sat near the end of a train to Philadelphia and meditated.  I was sitting on the north side of the train looking across the aisle through the south window.  Eastern Lancaster County farm country spread out in my field of vision framed by the horizontal window and the tall seat backs on the opposite side of the train car.  

In the guided meditation we were told to see life as a river flowing past.  From my framed perspective a very green world flowed past. Sometimes that world was nearly still, as when a field of young corn spread far out from the window with a red barn and white farmhouse a half-mile away at the far end of the field. 

A moment later the train passed between two embankments.  The trees and shrubs near the track were a multi-hued blur of many greens and browns and yellows.  Then the train passed over a bridge and the view was of the tops of trees in the creek valley below.

The view I saw, like a river, was in one way almost eternal.  The passengers on the first trains to Philadelphia from Lancaster more than a century ago saw trees and farm fields and barns and horses and fences spreading on either side of the train. 

And yet, those farmers and horses passed away generations ago. The trees along the tracks and at the edge of the farm fields are different trees than those lining the tracks in the 19th Century.  As with a river, things that appear the same are very different just under the surface.  Since 1994, I have made the trip to and from Philadelphia thousands of times.  Most of that time I would have thought nothing changed along those tracks.  But both the landscape and I have changed over those 30 years. 

As I write, 25,970 days of my life are behind me. The river of life keeps flowing in my life and in the world outside the window. The world changes, I change. My senses only connect with the world and my own physical life in the current moment. All the rest is memory and anticipation.  

I know life can change radically in a moment, and yet as long as I am alive, there will be a continuity, like a river, flowing.  

 

What a Changed Trip Looks Like: A Weekend Car Trip Expands to Include Six Train Trips and a Metro Ride

 

On Memorial Day Weekend, my wife and I were supposed to make a trip to Richmond on Saturday the 25th and return on Sunday the 26th. The occasion was the retirement of my friend Stanley Morton, a Presbyterian Pastor. He will leave his Richmond pulpit next month and return to Lancaster.

Stanley and his wife Terry are Godparents to the three of our six kids and longtime friends.

Trips with me can get complicated and I love the change process. This simple trip became a bit more complicated when my son Nigel came from Minnesota for a visit. He joined us. We stayed with our daughter Lauren who lives in Richmond.  She just had to take out a sleeping mat for Nigel. Then my father-in-law had a medical procedure on Tuesday, the 28th, so my wife decided to stay with him after we left Richmond.  And Nigel decided to stay till the 28th with his sister.

Now the trip got really complicated.  On the morning of Sunday, the 26th, my wife and I left Richmond and drove together to Arlington, Va.  She dropped me at the Metro station and drove north to her dad’s house in Damascus, Md.  Arlington allowed her to take the shortest route north while I continued northeast. I took the Metro to Union Station in DC. When I got there, I looked at taking a MARC local train to Baltimore to save money, but taking a later Amtrak train to Philadelphia was the same price as two trains. So I took Amtrak to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, I took a Keystone train to Lancaster.

 
On the 27th the three of us were in three states: Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

 
On Tuesday the 28th, Nigel took a train to Philadelphia from Virginia, and I met him at 30th St. Station. We took a Keystone train back to Lancaster.  Annalisa drove from Damascus to Lancaster, picked up Prewash from my daughter Kiersten’s house and went home.  She picked up Nigel at the Lancaster train station. I rode home, since I rode to the station.

 
Three people traveling and staying in five states, three long car trips, one Metro ride, two short bike rides and six train rides of 70 miles or more.

That is my kind of changed trip.   

ChatGPT on Scott Perry and January 6

 

Congressman Scott Perry at a "Stop the Steal" Rally

 two days after the  2020 election

I told ChatGPT to write a letter saying what Scott Perry did wrong on January 6, 2021.  The result is below. AI knows Perry supported the insurrection at the Capital.  

--------------

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to address the events of January 6, 2021, and to express my concerns regarding your actions on that day.

As you are aware, January 6th marked a dark moment in American history, as the United States Capitol was stormed by a violent mob. The chaos and destruction that ensued resulted in the loss of lives, injuries, and significant damage to one of the most sacred symbols of our democracy.

While I understand that individuals may have differing perspectives on political issues, what cannot be denied is the responsibility that elected officials bear in upholding the rule of law and protecting the institutions of our democracy. On January 6th, it is my belief that you failed to fulfill this responsibility.

Your decision to object to the certification of electoral votes from certain states, despite there being no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud, contributed to the false narrative that the election was illegitimate. This dangerous rhetoric fueled the anger and frustration of those who ultimately stormed the Capitol, undermining the very foundations of our democratic system.

Furthermore, your failure to swiftly condemn the violence and unequivocally denounce the actions of the rioters further exacerbated the situation. As a leader, it is imperative to speak out against acts of insurrection and uphold the peaceful transition of power, regardless of one's personal political beliefs.

In the aftermath of January 6th, it is crucial for elected officials to reflect on their actions and consider the impact they have on the nation as a whole. Moving forward, I urge you to prioritize the principles of democracy, respect for the rule of law, and the well-being of all Americans in your words and actions.

Actual LOL: "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry

 

"Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry was among the best TV series I have ever watched, and that list includes "The Sopranos," "The Wire," "Band of Brothers,"  and "Game of Thrones" to name a few.  

I recently began reading the novel on which the series is based.  The novel is soooooo funny.  I laughed out loud for real several times and the main characters have not done anything. None of the characters left the bunkhouse except Woodrow Call (played by Tommy Lee Jones in the series). Augustus "Gus" McCrae, (Robert Duvall) the other is the opposite of Call in many ways, but they are friends and in business together for most of their lives.

I loved the series, but the novel is (so far) funnier and delightful in its descriptions and character development.  

Either video or the book are a can't miss escape from ordinary modern live.

We Are Pack Animals: Train Behavior

 

An Amtrak Keystone train at Lancaster Station       

Since 1994, the Amtrak Keystone trains between Lancaster to Philadelphia have been my primary commute method to work at several jobs and volunteer work after I retired.  Since I travel on trains to other places and in other countries, I have probably taken more than 4,000 train trips in the last two decades.  

Which means I see a lot of passengers on the train and on the platform.  

Watching my fellow passengers for two decades confirmed for me that people are pack animals.  Everywhere. 

Almost anywhere long trains pick up passengers, one or two stairways lead down to the tracks.  At the base of the stairway passengers cluster, even on very long platforms.  If I could take an aerial photo of passengers on a platform it would look like a normal distribution curve--the "pig-in-the-snake" curve  or Bell Curve that describes how members of a population act.

Trains vary in length. But Keystone trains always have five cars unless there is a maintenance problem.  Each car is 85 feet long and seats 82 passengers. When the trains are nearly full people walk to the ends looking for seats.

On a mid-day or late-night train when fewer than 100 passengers ride the train, the middle car will have nearly half the passengers. Those passengers move from being clustered in the middle of the platform to clustering in the middle of the train.

I am aware of this because I have always walked to the end of the train.  I like to read on the train and the car at the far end of the train is most likely to be nearly empty.  

Before Covid, I simply thought of this behavior as what people do. And it was fun to think a statistics teacher could use the train and the platform to illustrate the Bell Curve. 

But since Covid, the pack behavior has some strange dimensions.  I was traveling back and forth to Philadelphia on the train in 2020 when the trains stated running again in July.  We were all masked. There were few passengers. Sometimes a dozen of us would board the train in Lancaster, the busiest station on the line where 200 might board a peak commuter train before Covid.  

Of that dozen passengers, nine would sit in the middle car. I would walk to the end of the train and often have an entire car to myself. 

Since the end of the pandemic, there are still people masking.  Whatever their reason for masking, it would seem they would want to be away from other people. Last week, I boarded a train in Lancaster and walked to the end car. The middle car had one passenger in every seat and two in many others.  I counted four people who were masked out of the 50 passengers.  When I got the the last car, I sat at the end of the car. Only six people sat in that car.  Why would someone wearing a mask sit among 50 passengers instead of six?  

   

Pack behavior pervades life. Soldiers, airline passengers, concert goers, wherever we are we cluster.  The behavior that helped us to survive as hunter gatherers persists on trains, planes and automobiles.

May 9: Soviet Victory and One-Third of My Broken Bones

May is a big day in my life--and for those who still celebrate the victory of the Soviet Union over the Nazis.  While I am happy the Soviets won (and angry that Russia has returned to its Soviet/Tsarist past) for me, May 9 was twice the anniversary of a lot of broken bones and subsequent surgery.  

On May 9, 1945, the Soviet Union announced victory over Nazi Germany. We and the rest of its allies declared victory on May 8, but the Soviets waited until after midnight so they could have a separate date for victory. 

On May 9, 2007, I crashed at 51 mph on Turkey Hill in Lancaster County PA.  A Medevac helicopter flew me to Lancaster General Hospital with ten broken bones, including a smashed 7th vertebra. I had plastic surgery that night to re-attach my forehead. The next day was surgery to scrape out C-7 and replace it with a cadaver bone.  Mike Whittaker got me the Medevac. Without that, who knows. 

Eight days later I walked out of the hospital in a neck and chest brace.  

On May 9, 2020, I had a very low speed bike crash in Philadelphia that splintered my left elbow into twenty pieces. Five days later I had surgery to reassemble my shattered humerus, requiring breaking my forearm in the process.  The next day I walked out of Lancaster General Hospital in a very large cast.  

Today, I did not ride a bicycle.  I know it only happened twice, but I rode yesterday and will probably ride tomorrow. For however many May 9ths I have in my life,I will be a pedestrian.  

On Target Meditation

For several years I have been meditating daily.  Briefly. Just for five or ten minutes, but regularly.  I have a friend who meditates for hours, attending meditation events and meditation retreats. I feel like a grasshopper next to meditation giants like her and her fellow meditation experts. Sam Harris and Yuval Noah Harari are two authors I read who are deeply into meditation.

Listening to a description of a meditation retreat, I realized that my practice is very firmly rooted in the most meditative experience I had prior to actual practice: firing on an Army rifle range. To hit a pop-up target just a foot tall and two feet wide at 50 to 300 meters requires control of body and breathe. Forty shots in less than ten minutes requires that breathe and body stay fully under control as the targets pop and drop.  

During the moment of aiming, exhaling and firing, I do not remember random thoughts popping into my mind, the moment is too intense.  But lying in the dirt waiting to fire during the summer months, many ranges have gnats and flies flitting around the firing positions.  Those gnats are like the random thoughts I have during meditation. I wave them away then ignore them.

Meditation has become such a part of American culture, that people talk about meditation at lunches, dinners, barbecues, just about anywhere.  Just as mentioning motorcycles will lead someone to an accident story (fatal or maiming), mentioning meditation will lead someone to say they can't, often in considerable detail.  I thought the same.  Then I didn't.  

I can say definitively as a motorcyclist who survived a bad crash (not maimed, but two weeks in the hospital being reassembled) that meditation is much safer!! 

Anyone who can fire a weapon and hit a target can meditate, the focus and breathe control are ready for use.