“I've got troubles, and I think maybe you've got troubles. Maybe it'd be better if we just leave each other alone." - The Hustler (1961)
I caught a glance of myself in the mirror: bare naked, a copy of Samuel Beckett in one hand, a smoke in the other hand, light coming in from the wide open window where a tree was being cut, I was waiting for the bath to fill up… had I become a cliche?
Beckett was waiting on Godot, I was waiting on hot water and an epiphany. The psychic woman had told me that I needed to try a White Bath. Gave me all the trappings and told me how to do it.
She was always hanging around. I liked it that way, it helped me to write better. Plus she’d been around. Seen a lot. Everyone should have a few far-out friends anyways.
She’d been “looking at my charts” while I was sleeping and said some prescient things. I don’t believe much in any of these sorts of things, but a bath sounded good when she mentioned one.
The point of a white bath is not to clean in the traditional sense. It’s more about cleaning your mental state and getting rid of troubles. And at that time I’d been feeling troubled. That sort of thinking sneaks in when you’re not steady or when you’re too steady for too long a time. A man’s got to get going and keep going. So I figured it couldn’t hurt to take a bath, at the very least it’d be pleasant.
As of right then I wasn’t thinking of any troubles. I was laughing like a buddhist at the sight of myself in the mirror. And thinking, just plain thinking. I had plenty of time too, the water was hot.
After the bath I felt alright. My skin felt soft and smooth, almost creamy. Like the skin of people who haven’t done any hard work in their lives feels.
Troubles? Yeah I still got troubles. But I try not to trouble about ‘em. Worries? Got those too, but I try not to worry about my worries. I’m just walking down the road I’ve always traveled just the same.
This road I travel is bare naked and it feels like a cliche, yet hardly anyone really travels it. But it’s all unfolding out in front of me. But that’s for me, or for another time, but it isn’t for here and now. But I’ve got troubles and I think maybe you’ve got troubles, maybe you could use a bath?
The White Bath Recipe:
⅓ Bottle of Cowmilk 1 whole can of coconut milk 1 whole can of coconut water About a half a pack of Dead Sea Salt White Flower Petals Add some Florida Water Fill the tub with hot bath water
The way it works is that you think about the things you want to go away. Things you want out of your life, you can think of anything from feelings to obstacles to health problems or anything while you’re in the bath. And you pour water over your head repeatedly as you think of these things. Also while in the bath rub the flowers on you. The more focus, the more effective, so they say.
At the end of the bath you stay in until all of the water has drained and you watch it drain all the way. The idea being that you’re watching as your troubles drain away. Then take the flower petals and toss them into running water. Usually this is done with a river. But a toilet works in the modern world. Again the idea being that you watch the things you just attached your troubles to going away.
No soap. No shampoo. It’s not a normal bath. And you do not dry off. You just put something white on. Like a white bathrobe but anything works. Then, if it works, you ain’t so troubled anymore. If it don’t work, at least your skin will feel soft and creamy, like you haven’t worked a day in your life.