(note: the original erasure posting can be found here)
It’s November 1st, 2025 and as you can hear, I’m not at home.
We’ve been traveling for the last couple of weeks in Ecuador. We’re now in the Amazon near Tena in the territory of the Kichwa people (Anaconda Lodge).
I’m reading you this a calm presence posting called erasure. What I’ve just done, or I will do soon, is erase all 81 postings that I have made in French and in English, on this Substack.
I’m starting from scratch, and it feels good.
Let me explain…
When I first launched a calm presence in February of 2024, my intentions were to share my learnings ‘for those in need of a calm presence’. That’s a term that I borrowed from Dharma teacher Catherine Ingram.
And it was successful. People would respond and I would essentially think out loud.
But I’ve come to realize that these essays and opinion pieces - heartfelt as they might be - are snapshots in time that quickly become outdated.
They weren’t meant to be kept, really, but I kept them anyway, because that’s the way we do things.
We don’t throw things out, partially because of vanity, but also to have a trail of one’s work or thinking.
(Mount Cotopaxi, Equador)
A few days ago we were hiking in the Andes and the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of sand mandalas came to mind, so I went to Wikipedia. Sand mandalas are defined as:
the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. Once complete, the sand mandala’s ritualistic dismantling is accompanied by ceremonies and viewings to symbolize Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life.
The transitory nature of material life, which is more or less what a calm presence is about.
This got me thinking : what if ,with all due respect to Tibetan culture and any cultural borrowings, I emulated the creation and the destructive process of sand mandalas with the content and form of a calm presence.
If not emulate, then at least be inspired by this way of creating, knowing that it will be returned to the Earth, so to speak.
And since this is a digital art or digital project, I started thinking about what it meant for all those digits that retain the knowledge somehow, or at least carry it, what happens when they get dispersed?
And so it opened up a whole new world, new way of thinking about writing and dissemination and memory and related issues.
I was inspired by the sand mandala tradition.
I’ll read you a quote of how it’s described:
into flowing water to symbolize the cycle of life and the dissolution of the physical world.
So when the sand is returned, it is through water and then dispersed back into nature. And there’s the healing energy side to things that also interests me and that I will explore further.
I think the idea is when somebody reads a calm presence posting, it is metabolized.
They retain whatever they want to retain. It can be a word or two, a couple of thoughts, and then that’s it. There’s no need to go back to it. After a few weeks of it being present in our lives, it disappears.
And another comes along when it’s relevant and so on and so forth. There isn’t the accumulation, there’s simply an experiencing that goes on as part of day-to-day life.
I like that and I’m going to give it a try.
And if you so wish, you can continue to follow and hear or read these postings, which won’t be much longer than this one today.
And before leaving, I want to thank the 290 subscribers to a calm presence. It’s been good to have the company and the exchange, but I also want to remind you that you’re more than welcome to unsubscribe if you want to take a break. Don’t feel obliged, I won’t be offended.
This is a kind of word-of-mouth activity.
The way that I read and share, I think, is the way I like to work. If something inspires you or motivates you or resonates somehow, I just let that be shared in whichever way you want. Sometimes it’s a story, sometimes it’s an electronic transfer passing on.
This is the first of these new postings, the sand mandela inspired series which will disappear soon.
I wish you all the best.
*
Cover photo of moss at 4100 meters, Quito, Ecuador by Claude Schryer; photo of Mount Cotopaxi by Claude Schryer
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit acalmpresence.substack.com