A True Sabbatical

I have been relatively inactive on the blog as of late. Part of this has to do with the holidays and part of this has to do with the fact that I have been facing a deadline for turning in the final manuscript of the "Socrates in Sichuan" book. Well, that deadline (Jan 1st) has just passed and I got the manuscript turned in, although I think if I had to read it one more time I would scream, or throw up. I still have a bit of work to do on a rather lengthy questioneer I need to complete in conjunction with the book. And I also should probably start work on the index. So it's not like my duties related to the book will cease as of today. But hopefully it will be less intense and I will be able to focus my energy on other things.

What those other things might be, I cannot say. I ran across a headline on the Starbucks website when I logged on the other day at the cafe. I didn't read the story but it was about some graphic artist who said he took every seventh year off. And for some reason that really hit a chord, the idea of just time off without any obligation that it amount to something. I am not sure what is next, but one thing I have been planning is a schedule of travel in conjunction with a book about wisdom in various parts of the world. But then I would have to be in China, India or Greece for a particular purpose, to find some relation between my stay there and the wisdom tradition of that culture. And that is a fundamentally different state of mind to be in than one where the mind can lie fallow and not have to focus on anything in particular. For some reason, perhaps because I feel I have been pretty heavily focused for as long as I can recall, the thought of a true sabbatical is very appealing.