I’ve got charmers for you to chew on this week. Whether they’re super or so-so, please let me know what you think via twitter at @jamiesmartcom, on my Facebook page here, or in the comment section. At the end, I’ll tell you how you can get one of your #enthusiasms featured in a future edition.
1. A quote that touches me with its poetry
I love this beautiful quote by Sri Nisargardatta Maharaj. He’s the author of the book I Am That (one of the 50 or 60 books on my “up next” reading list that I’ve been packing into boxes this week).
“Actions of the body cannot put any blemishes on the formless, changeless, Pure Consciousness. If you try to paint the sky black, only your hands get dirty.”
2. Possibly my favourite season (in the top 3, anyway)
I love autumn. The leaves, the scent of woodsmoke, the nights drawing in. Magic. I’m packing up my stuff and moving to the countryside for the winter, so here’s a picture of the street outside my flat this week. I also love Chiswick, and don’t plan to be gone too long.
3. A food I love
Bacon. I love bacon. Not every day. Not to excess. But I love it; how it smells, how it tastes, how it looks on my plate next to some sunny side up eggs. I like my bacon to be a little bit rubbery though I know most people prefer it crispy. Anyway, bacon came in for a lot of grief the other week, with the WHO placing it in the same health category as cigarettes (that’s WHO the World Health Organisation rather than the legendary rock band). Here’s a relatively clear-eyed Wired article giving you the straight dope on the bacon / cancer palaver.
4. Possibly my favourite song of all time
I’d had Nick Drake’s music recommended to me many times back in the 1990s. I finally bought an album and wasn’t impressed. A year or two later, I was watching a brilliant BBC document about Drake called A Skin Too Few (he was seriously depressed and took his own life aged 26). They played his music throughout the documentary, and about halfway through I suddenly realised “Oh my god – this is some of the best music I’ve ever heard in my life”. From his gorgeous album Five Leaves Left, here’s the four-minute miracle, Saturday Sun.
5. A sentiment I deeply appreciate (adults only)
Here’s a quick thought from the seminal American rapper Ice-T (this 90-second video has a whole bunch of swearing in it, so don’t watch it if you are easily offended. Unless, of course, you want to be offended, in which case, have at it! www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=mAlzPgXb6rE&app=desktop
That’s it for this week. If you have questions, suggestions or want to let me know what you’re enthusiastic about, just tweet one of yours and put my twitter name @jamiesmartcom and the #Enthusiasms hashtag in there so I can find it. If I’m enthusiastic about something you’re enthusiastic about, it might just get featured in a future TTE.
Big love
Jamie