While squaring off against a life-threatening illness five years ago, Barbara Gates decided to pay more attention to where she lived and what was going on around her. The author is cofounder and coeditor of the Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind. In sections titled Running, Stopping, Looking, Seeing and Settling, Gates plunges into an examination of Berkeley, California, going all the way back to the shellmound of Native Americans 5,000 years ago and the geological history of the Bay and the hills. She also probes the history of the house where she's lived for 12 years and the surrounding neighborhood.
This complicated and fascinating process is part of what Wendell Berry meant when he wrote: "My most inspiring thought is that this place, if I am to live well in it, requires and deserves a lifetime of the most careful attention." Buddhist mindfulness practice enables the author to focus on what is unfolding right in front of her. She includes in this exploration of her neighborhood her meetings with a homeless woman, a rat in her house, a raccoon in her yard, a skunk and other wildlife in the area all trying to survive in the face of modern life. This salutary exploration of the soul of a place is quite inspiring.
