Komorebi EOY 2024
Punkin follow-up, 55 Maxims, music and movies and more.
“Komorebi” is a Japanese word that means “sunlight filtered through trees.” This is the End of Year version of a series that contains errata, ephemera, et cetera, and some of my favorite things from 2024. Better in the browser.
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Friends, first of all I want to thank you for subscribing to, reading, interacting with, and sharing Sun Tongue. This tiny publication has been a joy to write. As I’ve slowly started to ship the work, I have experienced the benefits of flow. As they say, the Dead Sea is dead because it has no outlets. All reading and no writing makes me a dull boy and getting to dialogue with you in this space has been good for my soul. So thank you.
Also, if you notice things look a little different around here. I am just now rolling out some new Sun Tongue designs. Hopefully it’s weird enough. I was privileged to work with a talented designer from Moldova and he must have incredible intuition because he perfectly translated the heart of this fairly abstract project into images.
I know many of you were staying awake at night wondering what became of the pumpkin I told you about in my first Komorebi post. It gave us great joy and did not at all feel like a waste to leave our autumn pumpkins on the picnic table so we could watch the squirrels grow fat. We laughed at seeing them poke their heads up from within.
A few weeks ago I was sitting in my barber’s chair in the stall nearest the front door of the barber shop when a homeless man shuffled up to the glass door. He acted as if to come in and then changed his mind and continued out of sight. He had a box cutter in his hand. I told Mike, my barber, what I saw and that I expected the man to come back. I scooted forward in my seat and grabbed the armrests and sort of made my body like a compressed spring. I made a plan to grab the cue stick from the nearby pool table. The man came back a few seconds later and Mike called out, “Nope!” and grabbed the door handle. With one hand holding the door shut, he waved the man away with the other and told him to leave. The man tugged on the door and his face turned a deep shade of red; he made threatening gestures and vibrated with rage. When the man left, Mike locked the door, calmly shook his head and said, “I don’t care, I will kill that [mofo].”
Maybe a week or so later, I was sitting outside my favorite local coffee shop, talking to one of the regulars who goes by the name, “C,” and is around 70 years old though he looks much younger. It was freezing and two little towers of steam were rising from our coffee mugs. My friend, C adheres to some kind of syncretist belief set that I would generally categorize as New Age. He is always telling me about the movements of the stars and the patterns of numbers that he has seen that day and the significance of whatever natural disasters are happening. C lives well below the poverty line and is thin as a rail but he seems quite happy.
Another homeless man came shuffling by us as we talked. I think I nodded at the man but did not otherwise react. I was thinking about what I needed to do that day. C, on the other hand, with complete genuineness, acted as if the man was his beloved friend whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. C jumped up, greeted the man warmly, asked him if he wanted to join us, asked him what coffee order he wanted; he offered a pastry too though the man refused. The man looked confused. I realized I wanted to be treated the way C was treating this man and I want to develop instincts like his.
One of my favorite finds of the year: 55 Maxims of the Christian Life by Father Thomas Hopko.
What it says on the tin. Want to live a good life? Just do this. Normally, I would approach a list like this with the aim to improve it but in this case, I don’t have anything to add or subtract. We actually included a selection of these maxims in our church leader prayer book and I am making a nice print of them to hang up at my office and in my garage. This list reminds me of a season in college when I would lift weights and read from the book of Proverbs every day. Life can be simple.
If you dig it and want a way in, try something like this:
Read this list slowly
Ask the Spirit to highlight one or two of these maxims to you as you read the list again
Do what the maxim says and/or make a plan to change your life in response
Here are the first ten, just to give you a taste:
Be always with Christ and trust God in everything.
Pray as you can, not as you think you must.
Have a keepable rule of prayer done by discipline.
Say the Lord's Prayer several times each day.
Repeat a short prayer when your mind is not occupied.
Make some prostrations when you pray.
Eat good foods in moderation and fast on fasting days.
Practice silence, inner and outer.
Sit in silence 20 to 30 minutes each day.
Do acts of mercy in secret.
Maxim #37 is the one that stands out to me just now: “Flee imagination, fantasy, analysis, figuring things out.” Sometimes we need to let problem solving and optimization and philosophical labors cease and instead pray simple prayers and do the right things we are supposed to do next.
2024 Favorites
Though I read a lot this year, I didn’t read many books that were written this year. The new books I did read, I’d rather address in another format. Hence, I will only share some favorite music, movies, videos, and podcasts from the year.
Podcasts
My favorite podcast discovery of 2024 is called Jesus Speaks Farsi. Every episode features stories of Christian’s suffering persecution and imprisonment, and the advance of the Glad Tidings of Peace in Iran. I recommend going to episode 1 and listening straight through. I was in tears within about 5 minutes of hitting play and yet I come away from every episode feeling encouraged and enlivened. The tone of these conversations is profoundly irenic despite the suffering often described. You can find out more about Elam, the ministry that produces these conversations or just search for Jesus Speak Farsi on any podcast app.
Music
Point / Cloud by David Crowell - A magnificent (classical? jazz?) album that is equal parts intellectually stimulating and relaxing which a favorite combo for me right now.
Imaginary Conversations by Kevin Coleman - Three consecutively longer tracks of American country instrumental music focused on the guitar. I have recently become a little obsessed with cassette tapes and deeply regret missing out on the sale of this album in that format.
Wasteland by Jim Ghedi - Ghedi is a long time favorite of mine. Just the single released so far so this will make it on my 2025 list as well. It’s a doozy, though. British folk artist with a longing heart for some kind of revival of spirit in his homeland.
Landslide by Baby Rose - Landslide by Fleetwood Mac is the second fingerstyle guitar song I learned as a kid. Dust in the Wind was the first. This lovely cover by Baby Rose does what all worthy covers should do and makes it something totally unique yet recognizable.
Keeper of the Shepherd by Hannah Frances - This album just slays. It might be my favorite of the year. Incredible guitar compositions with probing searching hopeful mourning songwriting. An album that you want to listen to in its entirety as a complete work of art.
The Rituals of Hildegard Reimagined by Laura Cannell - This one makes the list partly because I told you about Hildegard in my last Komorebi post. Cannell reworks compositions by Hildegard, adds a few original works, and creates an appropriately strange atmosphere.
Landless by Luireach - Enchanting Celtic four-part harmonies with occasional spare instrumentation. Should be enjoyed with a pipe and an Irish whiskey.
Scarlatti: 12 Sonatas by Matteo Mela & Lorenzo Micheli - Sonatas arranged for two guitars.
Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper - Artists and album names are the same. I’ve been in love with African guitar for many years now and my appreciation only grows. Derek Gripper is one of my favorite artists, a South African classical guitarist who plays on this album with Sissoko, a Malian Kora master.
Banjo Mantras by Kendl Winter - A very aptly named album. She has such a lovely touch on the banjo and the compositions have a cooling effect on the mind.
Stained Glass by HolyName - HolyName is one of my favorite bands (thanks, Jason). Worshipcore. In this single they team up with Heal the Hurt.
Exhumed and Waltz of the Flowers by August Burns Red - The newest singles by my favorite band.
When We Were Kings by Stryper - The beloved Christian (one might say very Christian) metal band continues to shred. I hope I can still bring this kind of energy when I’m in my 60s.
Trail of Flowers by Sierra Ferrell - One of the best country albums of the year. I’m no fan of dysfunctional relationships and such but I Can Drive You Crazy just makes me happy: “Ask me on a date and I show up late, I can drive you crazy, yes, I can, Blow out your birthday candles, steal your cake, I can drive you crazy, yes, I can”
100% Sahara Guitar by Etran de L’Aïr - Speaking of my love for African guitar. These guys are some of the OG Tuareg players.
Strings and Sonnets by Phil Keaggy and Malcolm Guite - The world class Christian 9-fingered guitarist with a heart of gold, Phil Keaggy, pairs up with Anglican priest poet forrest spirit of a man, Malcolm Guite, to make this treasure of a musical/poetic experience.
Speak to Me by Julian Lange - Warm, slow guitar-centric jazz.
Kabutomushi by Mei Semones - Experimental jazzy pop with sweet guitar licks and lyrics sung in Japanese and English.
African Yontii by Tidiane Thiam - A Senegalese sahelian guitarist. Also calabash percussion and some electronic sounds.
Acadia by Yasmin Williams - Happy folk fingerstyle guitar.
U prozoru by Slobodan Mandić - Bluesy American-style guitar by a Serbian artist.
Videos
Her Scents of Pu Er - A mesmerizing little documentary about Yu Hui Tseng, the first female tea master in the history of China. “If you are truthful with a Pu Er, I think it tells you lots and lots of stories. If it feels that you are nervous, it will just ‘freeze.’ But if you remain thoughtful and calm you can see everything it’s been through.” PSA: The preceding quote applies to many things other than Pu Er.
Echo - From New Yorker magazine, the story of a teacher who has mastered echolocation and passes it on to other young people. I’ve been meditating on Jesus’ words in Matthew 15:14 and Luke 6:39 and the beautiful inversion of the blind leading the blind demonstrated in this story.
Time Tides - I think about fractals way too much and this piece of art seems to me to capture something about reality. This one made my brain feel like it was hooked up to powered electrodes but in a good way.
LUCID - A music video for the graceful work of Thomas Vanz. “Created by capturing microscopic chemical reactions, inks and fluids.” Puts me in a similar mindspace as Time Tides above.
Cinema
The Bikeriders - I generally like anything Jeff Nichols does. This somewhat cheesy movie reminded me of the kinds of films I grew up watching as a kid. I’m always intrigued by the ways we humans will create communities and aesthetics and ways of life that give us a sense of cohesion and meaning and rhythm. For the viewer who thinks, “how foolish for a bunch of grown men to create this fake community based around motorcycles,” you’d be better served by instead considering the ways you synthesize your own cultural expressions that seem so inevitable and reasonable.
Trap - Josh Hartnett makes a compelling bad guy. Though the protagonist is the villain, I would not place this movie in the line of post-modern deconstructionist stories that make us side with said villain. Shyamalan doesn’t make a terrible movie for no reason. Suspend your disbelief and you have a great thriller.
Bookworm - The director, Ant Timpson, must have an interesting relationship with his father. Bookworm is the older-kid-friendly and redemptive version of the very weird, uncomfortable, not kid-friendly mind-bender, Come to Daddy, by the same writer/director.
Perfect Days - My second favorite movie of the year after Conclave. What a treasure. A Japanese public toilet janitor, played by the wonderful Kôji Yakusho, lives his life. This movie did something profound to me. After I watched it, my awareness was heightened as if I had just been meditating for two hours.
Cheers and blessings to you in 2025.
Found you at last! It's good to have another junction of rabbit trails to meander. Working my way through the music; McConaughey and Khruangbin introduced me to Ali Farka Touré, glad to have more African guitarists in my life.
If you don't already, you oughta try gong fu tea (a.k.a. Eastern brewing). When I submit to the process, I end up present, whether to Jesus or the person I'm with.