Hello,

I'm writing from the edge of the woods in New England, where the birds and insects have struck up their usual contrapuntal morning program. It's quite a performance. But it's been a little while since I've written, so let me get right to the news.

Tomorrow I begin as Executive Director of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, which trains caregivers to bring Zen Buddhist principles with unreserved presence to people facing illness, grief, and dying.

As you may know, after a decade as director of Eyebeam, I stepped away a year ago, moved to a home outside the city, and certified in classical homeopathy, opening a small online clinical practice. (The practice continues, it was built small on purpose.)

Those of you who know me from Eyebeam will recognize the shape of this work, even if the setting is new. The job, then as now, is to build a strong structure, a container, that protects and fortifies what happens inside it. At Eyebeam, that meant artists taking real risks with emerging technology. At the Zen Center, it means caregivers learning to stay fully present with what most of us turn away from. Zen practice has been part of my life since I was a teenager, so this is the rare role where the mission and my own history are one and the same. I'm deeply grateful for it.

There's an unseen circle being completed here. Last year I wrote a short newsletter about Issan Dorsey, the Zen teacher who founded the first Buddhist AIDS hospice in San Francisco at the height of the crisis. The biography that prompted it opens with a foreword by one of the Zen Center's co-founders, someone I'll now work alongside, and the Center itself names Dorsey as a key inspiration for its training programs. Sometimes the cosmos pulls us to the exact spot we are meant to be.

Two practical notes: I'll be spending more time in New York, while maintaining our home in New England. Also, this new role brings my year of independent consulting to a close.

I turn fifty at the end of the summer. It feels right that this new decade opens this way.

Thank you for staying connected across all these chapters. If you'd like to learn more about the Center, it's at https://zencare.org. And do hit reply, I'd genuinely love to hear what you're working on.

Until next time,

Roddy

P.S. If you'd like a slightly longer version of the Dorsey story, my newsletter from last year is here: https://ultradilute.substack.com/p/remembering-issan-dorsey-on-world.