I made it to Crystal Mountain but now I have to take a break. This is a long, slow journey. I feel sorry for the porters, to whom Matthiessen is so condescending. Some gems along the way though.

"'All the way to Heaven is Heaven,' Saint Catherine said, and that is the very breath of Zen, which does not elevate divinity above the common miracles of every day. ... In the United States, before spiritualist foolishness at the end of the last century confused mysticism with 'the occult' and tarnished both, William James wrote a master work of metaphysics, Emerson spoke of 'the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal One ...' ; Melville referred to 'that profound silence, that only voice of God'; Walt Whitman celebrated the most ancient secret, that no God could be found 'more divine than yourself.' And then, almost everywhere, a clear and subtle illumination that lent magnificence to life and peace to death was overwhelmed in the hard glare of technology. Yet that light is always present, like the stars of noon. Man must perceive it if he is to transcend his fear of meaningless(ness), for no amount of 'progress' can take its place. We have outsmarted ourselves, like greedy monkeys, and now we are full of dread." (Oct.9)

"Such unusual gifts [as levitation], whether cultivated or not, may deflect the aspirant from his path to true mystical experience of God, and have never been highly regarded by great teachers; one of the four cardinal sins in the monastic order of the Buddha--after unchastity, theft, and killing, was laying claim to miraculous powers." (Oct25)

I started reading this (I think rereading) for Kristen M.'s March Magics event, but I was not enjoying it. Terry Pratchett's style does not always work for me.

I read about half of this, then skimmed the remaining advice. The author's life is too different from mine, I had a hard time relating.

Just too silly and unbelievable for me. The language was nothing distinctive, and utterly wrong for an actual 12th century account. The author would have done better to omit the framing device of this being a found manuscript -- or else make some attempt to write in a medieval style. The love interest also seemed to come out of nowhere. Even the poppets bugged me - did people actually make and sell such things at the time? Anyway, I wanted to like it, because I'm always up for a fairytale backstory, but it was not for me.