W. Grey Champion
From the Moleskine
My Moleskine accompanies me everywhere, for the purpose of catching those elusive thoughts that bombard one’s consciousness and may or may not be worthy of elaboration. I have shared these musings on my blog, From the Moleskine, each week for many years. Originally a Google blog, I moved it to this website when my third book was released. In The Weekly will be recent reflections I seek to record and to share with readers. Described here are other headings, also updated weekly.
Dokusan: In Japan, dokusan is a private meeting of a Zen student with his master. For background, readers must see my book, Conjuring Archangel: Chronicle of a Journey on the Path, because the conjuring continues.
In the Courtyard: As my collaborator on the blog, my friend Anna reports under this heading from her frequent forays to the village. We often meet in the courtyard for croissants and hazelnut coffee from the French bakery.
The Carriage Lamp: Evocative of those bygone, romantic days of horses and carriages, Anna and I, Sherlockians both, will on occasion include original poems, either hers or mine. The most recent will be at the top.
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The Weekly
The royal visit
To all those of my compatriots in Great Britain who harbor the opinion that the monarchy is but a costly anachronism, a warning: without the King of England you would be in the same boat with the Americans. And by now you surely recognize that the grass is not greener on this side of the pond. The state visit of Charles III last week has been a delight from first to last. First in the spectacle of a real king beside a wannabe. His address to the Congress was nuanced, tactful, hitting all the right notes in just the proper tone. Here to honor the semi- quincentennial of the erstwhile colony’s bold breakaway from his nation, he was the perfect diplomat. If only he had found a way to exculpate that old sin in recognition of our apparent remorse, but of course not. The speech was positive, emphasizing that we are stronger together, that the defense of democracy lies in the Ukrainian fight against territorial aggression by the Russian bear, not in bludgeoning Iran at great cost and to no avail. There were multiple, bipartisan, standing ovations from the floor.
The King reminded his audience that it was the Magna Carta, signed at Runnymede, that first introduced limits to royal power. To the several modern tyrants now pining after the grandeur of hereditary monarchy, not least the imperialist host of his visit, he might have mentioned Oliver Cromwell, who succeeded in having the first King Charles tried and beheaded, leading the nation into Puritanical oppression until his death. When the Stuart monarchy was restored in 1660, bringing Charles II to the throne, Cromwell’s body was exhumed and hanged posthumously. His head was cut off, and according to one Wikipedia article displayed on the roof of Westminster Hall until 1684. He usurped the king’s power and left only a legacy of horror.
It was the genius, the wisdom, of those Englishmen who came together in 1776 to lead the American colony to independence, realizing that no one person or party should have absolute reign over a nation. Without recourse, the people will turn to violence. As another wise Englishman declared much later, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”
