Road to Elsewhere, Excerpt #26: The Jesus Color-Wheel

Another sign that God is merciful: S/he didn't smite me in Jardin du Luxembourg.

MY ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS IN PARIS were all self-imposed, and thus rather an adventure, steeling my resolve without any real risk that I might go hungry or spend a night with rain clouds as my duvet.

I did spend money on books, including George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, which I picked at a used-book shop near the Jardin du Luxembourg; it flattered me to think that Orwell had anticipated my destinations and material state, four decades previously. Even though, by definition, I was actually “up and in” in Paris, and would be so in London, soon enough. 

But having little enough money, as a 22-year old, I could particularly relate to this bit of Orwellian dialogue:

“‘It seems to me that when you take a man’s money away he’s fit for nothing from that moment.’

‘No, not necessarily. If you set yourself to it, you can live the same life, rich or poor. You can still keep on with your books and your ideas. You just got to say to yourself, ‘I’m a free man in here‘‘—he tapped his forehe…