In this rip-roaring interview with Mark Reid, we discuss the gentle art of traditional Japanese papermaking, Zen and podcasting, and just a tiny dose of global politics. Mark Reid is an American ex-corporate lawyer who moved to Japan in pursuit of a more ethical lifestyle, having studied philosophy and ethics and been a teacher. He now specialising in the ancient art of making traditional Japanese paper (washi) and podcasting via his channel Zen Sammich.
During the interview, we stumbled over some important learnings:
- Zen must not be confined to monastery retreats. It must be available to all and a key starting point is about living in the present rather than in the past.
- Make love, not war, make paper, and make ethics more popular than populist politics.
- We do well when we don’t dwell on things we regret or have failed. As per the SUMO (shut up, move on) method:
- Shut Up – Try not to ruminate on your inner dialogue
- (Learn from it) It – Not really part of SUMO but implied I’m sure. Without learning from mistakes we are doomed to repeat them.
- Move On – Live in the present with the learnings acquired from the past
Check Mark’s interview out below:
Featured image credit Tomomarusan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons