Wetherby: The Ego's Final Battleground
"The day began in perfect, hard-won Order: the 4:30am rise, the deliberate trek to the Wetherby microcosm, and the execution of the mantra of entrainment at Costa by 6:30am. I was the self-entrained anchor, determined to maintain the same accord as I established on the Camino. This stillness was my work—the final proof that the journey from July’s hangover to September’s Monastery had been successful. But the Ego seeks friction, and the world always obliges? The initial, subtle test was the intrusion of the external world's Umbra—the voice of "everyone" channeled through my nephew, Finley, with the question: "Why don't you get a job?" This simple line was a violation of the Daniel/Finley sanctuary, a reminder that the world defines my Order by income, not by the life-or-death necessity of Accord. I had successfully identified the two faces of the Wetherby Chaos: the aggressive, boundary-violating "Troll," Andy Stoney, to be avoided, and the pa...