I decided on the title of my next and most likely my last book a long time ago (”Who Is Yoga?” November 26, 2008). I am far from satisfied with its progress, which is almost painfully slow, but it is moving along nonetheless. Every once in a while, I add a few pieces to it. Some of these pieces are new, but some are pretty old. Still, the end is nowhere in sight. Not yet. Enlightenment is not for the impatient, to be sure. But I just made an important step toward shaping the book in my own mind: I decided on the image to grace its cover. And it is my totem (“The Cockroach Totem,” September 13, 2014). I went to the World Wide Web, searched for images of the intrepid insect, and selected a realistic rendering of it rather than a photograph. Having copied it, I placed it on the cover page of my book in the making. And I am happy to report that it feels just right. So, who is yoga? It is the animal in us, of course. Our most gentle teacher and guide. It may sound strange or perhaps even ridiculous that the cover image makes me so happy, but it surely does. Every single selection from my book of books sprang to life once the cover image was decided upon. Bingo!

Addendum I (January 11, 2016)

It has been a bit more than a year, and these words now strike me as a bit premature, but the book about yoga is uppermost in my mind at this time. Now it has a subtitle that is very to my liking (“The Will to Ignorance,” December 5, 2015). And it has a preliminary preface that may well remain unchanged in the final version of the book (“The Preliminary Preface,” December 20, 2015). All that is missing at this stage is the proof, as it were. The proof I have in mind boils down to abandoning all thought whenever I so please. Now I can master it pretty well, but I am still not fully comfortable with my grip on thought. I am closest to complete and total thoughtlessness when I am walking far from the crowds, but I hope to be able to reach it under any and all circumstances. And I believe I can master it within a few short months. Enough, though. The book is always in my sight.

Addendum II (July 15, 2016)

My book about yoga has been on the World Wide Web for close to six months already. Since early February, it has been available in Portable Document Format on my Ca’ Bon Gallery website (www.cabongallery.org). And for free. Interestingly, the cockroach on the book’s cover does not appear in the images associated with my name on Google. Not yet, at least. Apparently, it is too uncouth for the highbrow browser. The very punch of my mighty totem is thereby lost, I must complain. I cannot but hope that this omission will be taken care of in the fullness of time, for the intrepid insect is very much a part of me the last few years. Well, it is me myself. And the cover image of my book about yoga says it all. In my mind, this is the most important book I have ever put together, and I cannot imagine this assessment of mine ever changing in the future. Books are history for me by now, or so I sincerely hope.

Addendum III (August 27, 2016)

At long last, the cockroach on the cover of my book about yoga has started appearing among the images associated with my name on Google. The last few days, it pops up ever more often. Phew! The image is most dear to me, indeed. On top of everything I have already written about it, it has a hidden purpose, as it were. I sincerely hope that it will scare away the silly crowds in search of easy and enjoyable yoga. “Yuck,” they will grimace at first sight of the cockroach, “this ain’t for me!” My book is not meant for yoga aficionados of this ilk, to be sure. Instead, it is meant for the few and far between.

Addendum IV (May 3, 2017)

Well, well. The totem from the front cover of my book about yoga disappeared from the World Wide Web only a few months after it had appeared. Having made quite a few attempts to find it the last few months, I must report its mysterious disappearance by way of yet another addendum. Obviously enough, someone or other must have found the image offensive. One way or another, that someone has also managed to make it inaccessible to searches on the web. My totem thus remains hidden from view. Not to worry, though. My book about yoga is as accessible as ever, and its cover image is still gracing it to this day. Those who are offended by it are sure to find the rest of the book equally as offensive, anyhow. Farewell, farewell!