An Alien Poking His Head Back on his own city of Paris

When I started this public journal a few years ago, I just wanted to casually share what’s going on without overthinking it, without wondering if anyone would read it or why, and without trying to be good at writing or look good.

It was really like I would write in my private journal, but I’d share it here, like a message in a bottle.

So here I am again, the same way, writing for writing.

I’m in Paris, seated at the terrace of Café de Flore, Boulevard St Germain. It is noon and beautiful summer weather warms me nicely. I feel there isn’t a single Parisian in the whole place apart from the bored-looking but caring waiters.

I wonder why I chose to sit here, feeling like an alien French person seated among Chinese, Middle Eastern, and all kinds of tourists. I left France as a resident 19 years ago, which also makes me a tourist here despite the fact that I lived here for twenty years.

I remember the smell of Paris; it feels less polluted today than it did when I lived here.

An alien in Paris.

I actually feel like an alien everywhere now; it doesn’t matter where I go. I have spent so much time in what some call the “spiritual world” that this is where I am from, really. It reminds me of this first drawing. It is from French astronomer Camille Flammarion's 1888 book L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire, published in Paris.

I started drawing again recently and would like to draw it very differently to represent how I feel. Here, the man exploring has his whole body on Earth and his head in the spiritual world. I feel as if I have my whole self in the spiritual world and sometimes come back to look, poking my head back on Earth, in the “reality” of the material.

I would draw it opposite, with the man entirely outside and just poking a glance back at Earth. I will give it a try and draw that.

I started meditating an hour or more a day again on the impulse of my friend Simon, who is also a Goenka Vipassana “old” student and motivated me to start again just by meditating with me as we spent a few days together.

I really like this photo; it looks like a ghost is coming out from my feathers on the wall as we meditate.

I finally deeply connected my past meditation experiences, especially the 10-day silent retreats, with what I learned in the jungle. I will write more about that tomorrow.

Wishing us peace and harmony.