Hello and welcome to this audio cast of ‘becoming a refugee in the time of covid’. My name is guy duperreault from Oaxaca México. Today I share with you what started out as an epistle to my dead father. The 6th one since I started writing to my dead father two years ago on the day of the dead here in Oaxaca.
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Although I started this one with clear intention rooted in past epistles, my experience of writing this one quickly went sideways. It has become a something, not really a letter and not really an essay. It is fully awash in synchronicities, some of medium significance and others astonishing. And the more I wrote, the more significant the synchronicities became until I faced the reality that this wannabe epistle had become a singular expression of an elaborate multiplicity of interdependent synchronicities, an embodiment, perhaps, of what Gautama Buddha calls ‘dependent co-arising’.
At some point in the craziness of what I was experiencing I asked my body for direction on this epistle: do I claw it back from a chronicle of chronic synchronicity or not. ‘Continue,’ was the direction I was given. Then even later, I asked the book of changes, the I Ching, about changing course. ‘Continue as you were,’ was the unambiguous answer. So, this began in mid-October and now it is past mid-November. During the writing I was directed to update a significant essay from 2022, called Q: 'I agree that [yogic calmness] is important, so how do we account for all the yoga teachers who fly Ukraine flags and require masks in their studios?' — Audio: A: Yoga as Drug.’ And that became a huge edit with its own plethora of new synchronicities that wound up weaving themselves into this Dear Claude Epistle #6, A Difunto Padre, to a dead father.
In this epistle the synchronicities wove in the US Presidential election, Clif High’s knights fighting giant snails, venom poisoned wells, the roots of progressive liberalism in marxism, an elaboration of how ‘abundance becomes humility’ and even the thorny issue of how do we know that what we see or think as true or perhaps even being truth is valid? It has come to me that this philosophical or spiritual sumo is actual yoga, the questing and questioning of truth in our experience in contrast to the ideas of our experience. And even as I write this, on the 19th of November, it came to me last night to watch James Lindsay look at Hegel’s dialectical arguments regarding the contrasting of experience and the idea of ideal as the means of moving our limited human understanding towards ultimate truth.
Eventually my body directed me to break this into ‘episodes’ because of length. Hard to imagine, perhaps, given the length of this one that there are more to follow! My intention is to finish the next one, or maybe two, at intervals of one week at a time going forward.
In the post with this audio I include some of the important links and the link to the written form of this essay for those who would like to read it or to read along with it. And for those who like music, I include the links to the playlists. And finally the link to the talking videos is included as well.
So, now welcome to episode one of my 6th epistle to Claude, my dead father.
Text of the essay:
If you would prefer, listen on Soundcloud.
For all the links and graphics, go to text of essay.
Playlists
Spotify
YouTube Music
YouTube Talk
Important Links and Referenced Graphics/Memes
![Q: 'I agree that [yogic calmness] is important, so how do we account for all the yoga teachers who fly Ukraine flags and require masks in their studios?' — Audio](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-video.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fvideo_upload%2Fpost%2F151307402%2F6ff5e93c-9396-4d86-97c2-56d33c091334%2Ftranscoded-1730953510.png)
I Ching Casting Result: 55 ‘Abundance’ ☳ above chên / the arousing, thunder ☲ below li / the clinging, fire becomes 15 ’Humility’. ☷ above k’un / the receptive, earth ☶ below kên / keeping still, mountain Abundance Becomes Humility
Request for Help
In July of 2024 I had unexpected pacemaker surgery that cleaned out my savings.
I requested donations to help me through the pinch. I anticipate that my immediate threat of insolvency will be cleared before the end of the year.
If you have come to this essay before January 1, 2025, and you are in position to help and would like to, you can check out the details of that in the link in the post. Once my yoga based trauma recovery centre is given the green light with confirmation of my residency, I anticipate the need for immediate financial help will disappear. As the situation changes I will update my requirements. At this time, I’m about 1/3 of what I anticipate is required. So if you are curious and would like to help me, please consider my request for donations and give an amount, if you are called to do so, that gives you joy. I appreciate and am grateful for you giving me your consideration.
🙏 If this Montaignesque epistle-essay gave you some pleasure, and/or an ‘aha’ benefit, become a paid subscriber,
Or click on the coffee to buy me a coffee.
Thank you. 🙏
I give my deep appreciation to you for sharing your valuable, perhaps even precious, time with me.
All The Best With What Is Changing. Everything Changes! With Peace, Respect, Love And Exuberant Joy.
🙏❤️🧘♂️☯️🧘♂️❤️🙏
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