my scattered reading yesterday included Jung on Mandalas, a book by Carl Rogers, who was the mentor of an expressive therapies teacher I had, a book of poems by John Perlman (Legion Their Numbers), and a book on meditation by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, Mindfulness with Breathing. Jung fascinates me, poking around here and there, useful curiosity. Rogers' brings up a political sense to therapy, which accords with the theories of Paulo Freire. and as the focus is on the patient (the correct term is client, but I find that a bit icky). that is, the therapist is not a giver of cures, instead is a tool to help the patient. which is what buddhism does. until a couple years ago I really avoided psychology, for the language just threw me. its terms didn't convey. I grasp it better now, in a poetic way. Perlman brings to mind Christopher Dewdney's Ontario trilogy, with keen sense of nature, but also an edgy precise language. as far as meditation, I need practical advice and how to. buddhism is practical. a great deal of the literature speaks specifically on how to deal with things. Buddhadasa's book, like Larry Rosenberg's fine book (Breath by Breath or something like) is a reading from Anapanasati Sutta, which itself is specific advice from the Buddha. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a practical guide to dealing with death. Beth and I read from it on that West Virginia hillside when we buried her father last fall. it was comforting to read it, and it felt right to do so, tho he wasn't buddhist.