Darkness and light

The end of Daylight Savings Time coincides generally with a real change in the weather in SF from the last gasps of summerlike weather to the definitely cooler and wetter days of fall and winter. The time change also produces a number of pleasant lighting effects, as yesterday evening I gathered with others at St. Gregory's for their Taizé service and the new evening darkness at 5:30 made the candles look just beautiful. The small room we meet in becomes more womb-like and intimate. In the morning, on the other hand, the sky is already indigo just before 6:00 a.m. as I stretch in the street, and sunlight is suddenly blazing as I walk out of the zendo at 7:00. I think this whole Daylight Savings Time program is worthwhile just for these effects, not to mention that extra hour of sleep you get once a year -- an event I missed this year, since I was in Arizona last weekend and they don't do DLT.

Speaking of dawn, the issue at HSZC over when to start the one-day sits has bloomed into a real controversy. The residents have closed ranks behind Y., who becomes the resident practice leader this week, while some members say they'll come sit with me at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. It's a tempest in a teapot, to be sure. But it also demonstrates Y.'s awkwardness in dealing with people and his ignorance of how to lead a group without part of it rebelling.