This is the first page of the missing manual, designed to be understood only by those who have no need of it.
Waking up isn’t for everyone.
Dreaming is an anodyne to our nearly inescapable grief.
But if you must awaken, make your bed inside a kettle drum and pray for rain.
When it starts to thunder, climb onto the roof and cling to the lightning rod.
Waking up isn’t for those who are already dead.
You have to start from a position of strength: go fetal.
Every zipper yearns for closure, but it can’t be rushed.
The mountain isn’t going anywhere—stop trying so hard!
Early birds are known only from the fossil record, having met their end in the jaws of nocturnal beasts.
Leave a window open for cat burglars and cats, either of whom might teach you how to travel light.
Waking up isn’t for sleepers.
Eternity can be bribed, though, if you’re subtle about it.
This has so many treasures lodged in it that it would be futile for me to examine them all here. Too much like dissecting the bird in order to attempt to describe its beauty. Suffice to say instead that once again I find myself thanking the universe for Dave Bonta.
And I thank the universe for readers like Clive Hicks-Jenkins! Get comfortable. There will be more of these.
Yes, very clever, Mr. B.
I like these. And they remind me in a subtle, underground sort of way of the sleepers and wakings in “Walden.”
Oh really? It’s been too many years since I’ve read that book…
Ah, it’s a grand re-reader (which I mean as a grand thing to reread and as a thing to be read by–it does have a quality of judging the reader, I think.)
I like this very, very much.
(Also it’s an interesting counterpoint to my first podcast attempt, which is all about morning practices and waking-up rituals.)