![\"Homes](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/81\/2017\/07\/Homes-Book-Comapny.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure. It was either 1966 or 1967.<\/p>\n
Considering all the dismal even dire possi\u00adbilities facing a\u00a0High School drop out, I was beyond fortunate to land that job at Holmes Book Company in Oakland.<\/p>\n
It was the last standing of a three-store chain that dated back to the end of the nineteenth\u00a0century. The main store, that last standing, was a big old three story building downtown; at the time I knew it beginning to go ramshackle. I started as a stock clerk, but quickly moved over to the sales floor.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0was located at 274 Fourteenth Street and was established in 1931. The business itself was started in San Francisco in 1894. For some years there would also be a branch in Los Angeles. The great and the literate were habitu\u00e9s of the shops. Carl Sandburg was particularly fond of the Oakland store. Larry McMurtry would write in his memoirs a description. It was \u201ca wonderful large bookshop with a big wraparound balcony devoted to fiction. That balcony, not to mention the Holmes Book Company in general, could always reward as much time as I could give it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I began working there I was advised the shop was haunted. Apparently the spirit had an unfortunate habit of throwing books around. Later I read the store was haunted not by one, but by two ghosts. I have to admit I don\u2019t recall that detail from my own memories. And I never personally encountered either. Although on one occasion when upstairs in the stacks I did find what appeared to be a couple of books that might have been thrown across the room.<\/p>\n
But there were spirits I did encounter in most intimate ways. They were definitely real if not precisely alive. These spirits came sheltered within the covers of books. It was here at Holmes books became major teachers for me. I\u2019d read a lot of science fiction in my youth. Here I began to branch out. People made some suggestions, but mostly I just followed my nose. We had complete borrowing privileges, and I took full advantage of the opportunity.<\/p>\n
One of those intriguing complex memories that continues to haunt me is me devoting some serious time to reading various versions of the Rubaiyat<\/em> of Omar Khayyam. Unfortunately, I did this particular comparative reading during lunch breaks. And for a while my lunch was pretty much every day one of those little packets with crackers and a cheap cheese spread. As a consequence, today I can\u2019t open a copy of the Rubaiyat<\/em> without smelling that processed cheese.<\/p>\nMore importantly, I stumbled upon William James. And then through him John Dewey. I was deeply persuaded by their pragmatic and realistic worldview. I was particularly impressed with that emphasis on naturalism. And starting with them I found the idea that things not only need to be looked at empirically, but to genuinely understand something we needed to add in some form of falsification as we considered it. I continue to consider this critical for anything asserted about the world within which we live.<\/p>\n
Without that ability to posit a way some view of the \u201creal\u201d would be disproved, views are merely views. Interesting, sometimes. But\u2026 With falsification, well, then we actually begin to know things. And with William James I saw how this rigorous investigation could even be applied to one\u2019s religious views.<\/p>\n
More important was how it was reading these pragmatists I first encountered the power of genuinely not knowing as something important, not mere cynicism, but where doubt is meant to be experienced from the top of one\u2019s head right down to the bottom of one\u2019s feet and cutting through everything in between, and how that is the only gate to wisdom. I had my first intimations we only see through that glass, darkly.<\/p>\n
Reading into James and his Varieties of Religious Experience<\/em>, I started calling myself an atheist. But, at the same time I discovered Soern Kirkegaard. I recall a footnote from one of his translators, declaring that he wasn\u2019t that bad a translator \u2013 it was just that the old master never seemed to have rewritten a word. So, it was rough slogging. But, atheist I might have been, I was also fascinated with that old Dane\u2019s \u201cleap of faith,\u201d and what it might mean.<\/p>\nI also discovered two novelists who touched me and deeply. First I read Steinbeck\u2019s Grapes of Wrath<\/em> and then Dostoyevsky\u2019s Crime and Punishment<\/em>. From there I dropped even deeper into life through East of Eden<\/em> and the Brothers Karamozov<\/em>. Words, amazing webs of words. And conveyed by those words so much more. Worlds. New and compelling worlds.<\/p>\nI began to see some direction for my life. It had something to do with the spiritual quest. Beyond that I really wasn\u2019t sure. But, that glimmer, what I\u2019d call today, my first real glimpse of bodhicitta arose out of my reflections on Steinbeck and Dostoyevsky, although probably a bit more through Steinbeck.<\/p>\n
I also stumbled upon Evelyn Underhill. Her wonderful book Mysticism<\/em> put a lot in order for me, and corrected what I have come to feel are errors in William James\u2019 approach to spirituality. I also read Richard Maurice Bucke\u2019s Cosmic Consciousness<\/em>. I began to find some outlines for a spiritual perspective at once large and natural. And, I discovered Paul Tillich, and particularly his The Courage to Be<\/em>, as well as Victor Frankel\u2019s Man\u2019s Search for Meaning<\/em>. When I discovered the Daodejing<\/em>, they gave me way to read it.<\/p>\nAnd fiction. I read what caught my notice. I\u2019d stopped reading science fiction, not with any intention, just stopped finding it calling, and began to look for other ways into understand the human heart. Possibly my most important novelist at this moment in my life was Hermann Hesse. I first read Demian<\/em>, and then worked my way through most of his collected works, pretty much as they were translated into English. I continue to be haunted by Journey to the East<\/em>, feeling it provided a map into the interior in surprisingly helpful ways.<\/p>\nThe book trade was not only my alma mater providing me with a haphazard but ongoing education, it would be my principal way of paying the bills for the next twenty years. During this time I would work primarily as a clerk and general used book buyer. And this is most important. It was working within the book trade where I launched into my true intellectual education. As with most autodidacts, I followed my nose, and learned a great deal about what I was interested in, but very little about anything else.<\/p>\n
Maybe the same is said of people with a more regular education. I wouldn\u2019t know for sure. I was there about a year. Considering the number of books I read, I was surprised when calculating it all how brief my tenure there had to be. Also, of critical importance in my life while there I established a\u00a0regular Zen practice. I began sitting at the Berkeley Zendo, I think actually just before I got the job, but it was close. When Houn Jiyu Kennett arrived in California I quickly became her student. After a while this would lead me to move to San Francisco and into the temple she established there, and with that leave Holmes.<\/p>\n
The years have passed. So many years. Today, I continue to have fond memories of that year or so. Pivotal moment for me. And the work and more importantly the opportunities to read helped launch me.<\/p>\n
Many bows to the spirits of that place\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019m not sure. It was either 1966 or 1967. Considering all the dismal even dire possi\u00adbilities facing a\u00a0High School drop out, I was beyond fortunate to land that job at Holmes Book Company in Oakland. It was the last standing of a three-store chain that dated back to the end of the nineteenth\u00a0century. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,14,5],"tags":[464,463],"class_list":["post-16787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-literature","category-zen","tag-holmes-book-company","tag-reading-life"],"yoast_head":"\n
Holmes Book Company and the Beginnings of My Reading Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" I'm not sure. It was either 1966 or 1967. Considering all the dismal even dire possi\u00adbilities facing a\u00a0High School drop out, I was beyond\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holmes Book Company and the Beginnings of My Reading Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" I'm not sure. It was either 1966 or 1967. Considering all the dismal even dire possi\u00adbilities facing a\u00a0High School drop out, I was beyond\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-01T08:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-14T18:36:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/81\/2017\/07\/Homes-Book-Comapny.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html\",\"name\":\"Holmes Book Company and the Beginnings of My Reading Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-01T08:00:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-14T18:36:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\" I'm not sure. It was either 1966 or 1967. Considering all the dismal even dire possi\u00adbilities facing a\u00a0High School drop out, I was beyond\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Holmes Book Company and the Beginnings of My Reading Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. He has been authorized as a teacher within two traditional Zen lineages. James has washed dishes, assisted a crab fisherman on the Florida keys, worked in bookstores up and down the California coast, and served as a Unitarian Universalist parish minister. He currently lives with his spouse Jan and her mother in Los Angeles. His next book the Intimate Way of Zen is due from Shambhala Publications in July, 2024.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.emptymoonzen.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Ishmael_Ford\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/author\/jamesford\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Holmes Book Company and the Beginnings of My Reading Life","description":" I'm not sure. It was either 1966 or 1967. Considering all the dismal even dire possi\u00adbilities facing a\u00a0High School drop out, I was beyond","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Holmes Book Company and the Beginnings of My Reading Life","og_description":" I'm not sure. It was either 1966 or 1967. Considering all the dismal even dire possi\u00adbilities facing a\u00a0High School drop out, I was beyond","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html","og_site_name":"Monkey Mind","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029","article_published_time":"2017-08-01T08:00:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-14T18:36:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/81\/2017\/07\/Homes-Book-Comapny.jpg"}],"author":"James Ford","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Ford","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html","name":"Holmes Book Company and the Beginnings of My Reading Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-01T08:00:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-14T18:36:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb"},"description":" I'm not sure. It was either 1966 or 1967. Considering all the dismal even dire possi\u00adbilities facing a\u00a0High School drop out, I was beyond","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2017\/08\/holmes-book-company-beginnings-reading-life.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Holmes Book Company and the Beginnings of My Reading Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/","name":"Monkey Mind","description":"Easily distracted...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb","name":"James Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James Ford"},"description":"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. He has been authorized as a teacher within two traditional Zen lineages. James has washed dishes, assisted a crab fisherman on the Florida keys, worked in bookstores up and down the California coast, and served as a Unitarian Universalist parish minister. He currently lives with his spouse Jan and her mother in Los Angeles. His next book the Intimate Way of Zen is due from Shambhala Publications in July, 2024.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.emptymoonzen.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Ishmael_Ford"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/author\/jamesford"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}