Buddha in the machine revisited

I’ve never doubted it’s possible to speak of personal things in an impersonal way, though I’m equally sure there are those who can’t tell the difference. Four years ago a cancer scare coincided with looming redundancy at Sheffield Hallam Uni. As always I turned to the pen. I re-read the result yesterday for the first time since 2011, gave a light edit – changed a word here and there, removed a passage of spent vituperation, added a footnote or two on things revealed in the fullness of time – and posted this morning the Buddha in the machine