Walking down E 4th Street, through second-hand smoke outside the Hell's Angels quarters, I remembered the lingering and unbearable odor of burnt flesh and architecture in the aftermath of 9/11. As I came up on Philip Glass' home, I wondered if he was home composing a tribute or score in memory of the devastation and unrelenting flux of life we endured that day. I imagined Chuck Close's painting of Glass, with a straightforward expression illustrated in thousands of individual forms coming together and conveying a bigger whole. I pictured him with his eyes half-mast and diamond mind deep in practice, perhaps playing the Metta Sutta for piano;
"This is what should be done
By those who are skilled in goodness,
And who know the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: in gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong,
omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short
or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born—
May all beings be at ease!…"
—from the Buddha's words on Lovingkindness (Metta Sutta)
