Pause. That's what today is for me -- a pause in two weeks of intense activity -- meditative and tumultuous hours birthing, chastizing, wrenching forth beautiful cathedrals of Javascript code.

But today is a break in the activity. The email inbox is mercifully empty, and so today is a day of reading -- both catching up on the latest news from the internet, as well as plunging into Thomas Merton's spiritual autobiography.

Working in a startup is a bit like monastic life. Or so I'd imagine. You rise in the morning and begin your austere work. At times you are absorbed in deep contemplation. And so your work continues through the day and into the evening. Then retire for bed. Day follows day, your life consisting of rising, work, followed by sleep, a cycle which, if unpredictable in some ways, is nevertheless consistent in the intensity of the work. Brother John, contemplative in the Order of Bytes.

As I say, I've been reading Merton, and a half-dozen other spiritual books from Amazon. My soul has been feeling a bit numb lately, when I've felt it at all, and so these books are helping me to remember that it's there.