Been in New York, in fact am writing this from JFK airport, while Jason tumbles around the big bean-bag chair in the airport lounge. Tananarive is headed to Florida for a week with her parents. After she gets back, I take off for Norwescon (next week) and two weeks after that, I head to Atlanta and Grand Rapids, Michigan for various business and personal functions. In Atlanta I'll be training with my first karate instructor, Steve Mohammad. Seventy years old now, and still punchin'. Love him to death, and probably the last chance I'll have to really train with him. want to mak the most of it, so I'll be working out a little harder over the next few weeks. ﾠ We were in New York for two things: a celebration of Octavia Butler's work at Medgar Evers college, and a celebration of somebody named Tananarive Due, held at a nice little theater in Harlem, organized by our "Tennyson" editor, Malaika Adero. Room was packed. Sold a lot of books, met some nice people, and heard from several of them how much they loved "Lion's Blood." I'm working on the proposal for the third book in that series, THE BRONZE NILE. For some reason, I want to deal a bit more with contact with India, even though the book deals with the Civil War. I have some loose ends to wrap up: the end of slavery, for instance, and Kai's relationships to Aidan, Babatunde, Lamiya and Nandi. I think I'm going to create a novella that details Kai and Aidan's journey down the Mississippi ("The Bronze Nile") and then weave it into the novel. For some odd reason, I want to re-read "Huckleberry Finn." Wonder why?
Monday, March 30, 2009
In New York
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Why Live?
## I haven't read the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" but I've read an article written by the author, and heard the author, Gary Taubes, interviewed. He sounds like an intelligent man with much to say. I don't argue that there isn't some merit there--I'm saying that, in terms of fat loss, Physics Supercedes Biology. There is nothing simple about the process of weight management, but the simplest is the incontrovertable truth, completely undeniable scientifically, that if you take in fewer calories than you burn up, you lose weight. PERIOD. No argument is possible, because any argument would disagree with or violate the basic laws of physics, laws of conservation of matter and energy. ﾠ Now then...grasp something. My position is that people who are carrying enough additional weight that it would make another human being are dealing with emotional issues more than lifestyle issues. Just a matter of observation and conversations with these folks, over the course of fifty years. The amount of physical and emotional pain, the lack of energy, the discrimination...I'd have to believe that people are much dumber than I believe them to be not to think there is a secondary pay-off, a REASON for the armor. ﾠ Now, then...if I'm right about that, then you're talking about ego survival needs that are huge, and mostly subconscious. What will it do to stay where it is? The process of weight loss ALWAYS involves creating a caloric deficit. As hard as it may be to do this, it is brutally simple. ﾠ And the part of you that wants to keep the weight on has a simple solution: it complicates it all. Rather than look at the physics, let's look at the biology! Fast and slow metabolisms, genetic, food allergies, processed food as opposed to unprocessed...wow! How can we possibly sort through all of this? ﾠ How about the biochemistry of it all? "Good Calories and Bad Calories"--if I can just get the right balance of fats and carbs and proteins, I don't have to reduce the number of calories, I can just... ﾠ How about my social networks! Peer pressure, social obligations, advertising, supersized drinks... How about relationships, horoscopes, the area you live in, your birth order...I've seen all of these factored in. And many of them have merit. And all of them are irrelevant compared to Calories In, Calories Out. You can eat the very worst calories in the world, and if you don't get enough of them, you will lose weight, starve, and die. And you can eat the very "best" calories, and if you eat too many of them, you'll get as big as a house. Until you have dealt with the physics of it, all you are doing is avoiding confrontation with the actual demons driving you. We've all got them, yours just parade in public. "So while the general idea that you need to reduce your input, increase your output, or do both has some merit, it's not that simple." "Has some merit"? You must be kidding. You're saying, in effect, "well, conservation of matter and energy has some merit, but..." No. It is exactly that simple. You cannot find a single animal that can take in fewer calories than it burns up without losing weight. Yes, there are additional levels of complexity--but look at ANY other factor and your efforts will dissolve into a welter of competing opinions. Everything else is insanely more complicated, which is why there is a new diet book published every week. Most of them tries to obscure this truth. And they make hundreds of millions of dollars because people don't want to face this truth. And truth it is. If you disagree, find me a single instance of an animal or human being taking in fewer calories than they burn, and gaining fatty tissue, or even maintaining. Go ahead. Please. A single case. ﾠ You would be making medical and scientific history, friend. Physics supersedes biology. ## Oh! And the Tibetans are great for kids. But I ask Jason if he wants "easy" or "hard" and about half the time he wants "hard." Most bad behavior (in my mind) is an ab-reaction to stress. Teach them to control stress response, and the behavior improves. Learn to manage your breath under stress, and integrate that response to the level of habit, and stress just doesn't hurt you any more. ## Marty S. said: "For instance, lets accept that being overweight will shorten your lifespan. A longer lifespan may not be a goal of every individual. if you live too long the body goes, your partner passes and unless financial success implies Bill Gates type money your money goes. So why would you want to live that long." ## O.K., Marty. In essence, you're asking the most important question a human being can ask: "why should I bother? Why get out of bed at all? What's the point? It all ends in the grave..." ﾠ I think that any thoughtful person has asked themselves these questions, and if you don't find a good answer, why, you do just vegetate or retreat from life. Let me be clearer before I answer. I say that the safest way to approach life, and to access our greatest growth potential, with safety, is to work on all three major aspects of life simultaneously. 1) Body. Feel good in the morning, have enough energy to work all day and party on the weekend, if you look at yourself naked in the mirror, you match your own criteria for an attractive body--you'd want to boff yourself. I guess that means 'a great body" but that's not necessarily an underwear model. 2) A great relationship. Soulmate. Absolutely. 3) Financial success. Enough money to support yourself and two other people, doing something you love doing. Money as a tool, not an obstacle. ## I've never met a single human being who didn't want one of these three. And more than 95% of people want all three. They may not say it directly, but their actions, unguarded complaints, and voiced frustrations say that they are lying--to others, and to themselves. They want these things, they are just afraid that admitting it, or having it, will somehow cause more pain than pleasure. There are no direct words to really answer these questions, but there are experiences that answer them just fine. Life is best lived when it is in alignment with our basic animal drives, our emotional needs, our intellectual bent, and our spiritual growth. The only reason there is any question about any of it, is that many of us are no longer in contact with our animal drives, the most basic level of our existence. People will say: "I'm not motivated! I don't care about anything!" but start choking them, or set their pants on fire, and suddenly they are motivated as hell. THEY THINK TOO MUCH. And their emotions are a tangle that Alexander the Great couldn't un-knot. Any animal has a survival drive, and tries to move away from pain and toward pleasure. In some ways, I consider that the most basic intelligence test: do you hurt? Does your heart hurt? Have you figured out how to spend your precious days doing things that feed your hungers and make your heart happy? Are you surrounded by love? Trying to move away from pain and toward pleasure involves, ultimately, means understanding long-term benefits as opposed to short-term gains. ﾠ Human beings, like other animals, will try to supply themselves with the basic needs: comfort/shelter, food, sex, control of their immediate environment. I've met people who have voluntarily withdrawn from the sexual game, and the healthy ones are the ones who know that they can get well laid whenever they want, but decide to commit themselves to a higher purpose. Or feel that they are beyond that point in their lives: often these are people over sixty, especially those who had long and happy relationships with a spouse who died. I've met some people who seem completely content, never complain, and don't seem to leak energy at all. ﾠ The rest of 'em? They've been hurt, or rejected, or consider themselves failures in the dating/marriage market to the point that intimacy isn't worth the cost. But the vast majority of us want all of these. Let's look at them. 1) Shelter/Comfort? This requires applied energy, which means either building it yourself, or trading for it. In our culture, such trade is in the form of money. Abundant physical energy makes it MUCH easier to earn money. Partnership with a significant other increases security (on average) and resources. Incidentally, the easiest way for a man to improve his attractiveness is to have his own house. 2) Food? Requires money and energy. 3) Sex? Requires having the attractive qualities that hit the hind brain. Some mixture of physical vibrancy, intellectual smarts, emotional warmth, the appearance of fertility or the ability to protect children. Good genetic material. Most mating rituals involve these things. The MAINTENANCE of a relationship requires a subtler, deeper set of skills, although they are associated. Love and sex aren't the same thing, but when you are sexually attracted to someone you love and trust who can ALSO be a good business partner...that person is lifetime partner potential. 4) Control of immediate environment. Money or power come in here. Getting thrown out of your apartment for non-payment is a humiliating experience. Sleeping on the street is no fun. Working at jobs you hate, living in neighborhoods that are unappealing, having to take crap from authority figures...just being able to raise your children as you see fit...all of these things require money and power. ## You're never going to really have "just enough" of anything. You are always going to have either more than you need or less than you need. If one of the simplest principles in life is to avoid pain and seek pleasure (which, to work in the long term, must be modified with other moral and discipline principles) then you want a safety net. You want enough money to help through the hard times. You want a relationship that is so strong and deep that you can, again, get through the hard times. You want a body that is a plus and not a minus in every situation: that can run for a bus, carry a wounded child, dance with a new love, and resistant to illness and disease. ﾠ Since it only takes a couple of hours a week to be in GREAT shape, and the average American watches television for 19 hours, I simply don't believe it is a matter of "no time." And when people talk about all the pain that they feel: loneliness, health, bad backs and joints, ridicule...my entire theory of human life leads me to the conclusion that some part of them NEEDS the weight, and until they come to grips with it, they are going to continue to get non-optimal results. ﾠ Who doesn't want to be beautiful by their own standards? If it is a matter of feeling unsafe when sexually alluring, who wouldn't want to be powerful enough to feel safe enough to be beautiful by their own standards? ﾠ Every baby is born knowing only life, and fighting for each breath. They are intense and ready to live...and babies that don't have that quality are diagnosed as ill, and often die. A person without the drive to be all they can be, now, regardless of what happens tomorrow, has, in my mind, taken so much damage over the years that they have given up. ﾠ When I meet someone who has given up on their childhood dreams, who has forgotten the search for love, who neglects their body, I confess: I assume I am looking at damage. Such a manifestation doesn't match animal behavior, nor does it match the march of human history, nor do I consider it to be in alignment with the spiritual path (except for the voluntary renunciate). Love, health, and striving for a good hunt or harvest are a part of every human culture since the beginning of time. ## And if our love will one day die? If our money means nothing in the grave? If our bodies shrivel up and blow away..? ﾠ What in the world does that have to do with the Now? Now is the only moment that has power, it is the only time we are alive. You are robbing your days of passion and aliveness to worry too much about tomorrow. At the same time, you must think of tomorrow if you would behave appropriately today. That's called being an adult. ﾠ Security and shelter need energy and partnership. They also contribute to resting deeply, and attracting a mate. Physical health and fitness make it easier to work hard and long, increases functional intelligence, and makes it easier to attract a partner (energy is intoxicating!) Love inspires us to believe in ourselves. Sex leads to children, who force us to mature and give us wisdom. Makes us want to provide security and shelter for our families (which needs energy) ﾠ All three of these things interlock. Ultimately, they teach us what we need to learn of this life. Understanding this life helps us to sort through the competing spiritual teachings to find a true Way to deal with our inevitable death. ﾠ Why be the most we can be? Why strive to learn the limits of our existence? Why love, strive, care...since we die? A question as old as humanity. Got no motivation? Have someone stick your head in a swimming pool, and you'll find all the motivation you need. THAT is the truth. The rest is just the damage we accrue as we pass through life, and the chattering in your head. ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ
Your three criteria for being happy/successful are
1) a great body
2) a great relationship
3) Financial success
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
## Great meditation this morning. Clear and strong. Should be a good work day. ## Strange, strange thing. Watched QUANTUM OF SOLACE on DVD yesterday...and liked it quite a bit. I'm wondering about my original reaction. For one thing, the action scenes were far clearer on my 42 inch screen than they were in the original theatrical presentation. The direction was still a little sketchy--there were a couple of times when I just couldn't figure out exactly where everyone was. But the acting was terrific, the writing was better than I remembered it, and...well, it just looked and felt a lot better. A fight scene in an elevator was still absurdly choppy, but another fight scene was among the best in the entire series, and I was dumbfounded that Eon productions would let their director frame and shoot his movie so it would look better on the small screen than it did on the big one. Of course, maybe if you have to choose one or the other, it would make sense to choose the medium that will last decades, not weeks. But clarity is important in 007 action scenes. ﾠ Really, in a number of ways it didn't feel like a "Bond" movie at all...except that it did, in the re-invention sense. I'm more excited about the next movie now. ## "Let The Right One In" is possibly the best vampire movie I've ever seen. This Swedish film about the friendship between two young children in a town where people are being mysteriously slaughtered...well, you don't want to know more than that. Extremely artful and almost dream-like, "Let the Right One In" is genuinely disturbing, and actually engenders the off-kilter emotional responses to vampirism that so many films strive for, and so few achieve. I don' t want to say more about it. See it! ## Adam Crafter quantified the difference between diet, exercise, and diet/exercise quite nicely: ## This is so clear: If you want to lose weight, control both input and output. Anything else is playing a game. ﾠ It is heartbreaking that so many people don't want to hear it. Almost every week, I hear something new about the negative health effects of overweight. And the way society reacts? Frankly, society reacts to overweight the way it reacts to sickness--avoidance, a bit of disgust, a lack of attraction. And we can regret the way we treat the unwell, perhaps, but this is the situation as I see it: there ARE a raft of real-world, non-subjective negative effects, we know it even if some are in denial, and the social reaction is based on this reality. I suspect that we react as if the "disease" is communicable (which it is: habit patterns definitely spread from one friend or member of the family to another). And a relatively small percentage of the American population has a specific attraction to the well-padded, even if we accept it in the people we love. I think fighting against this isn't going to be very productive. If there wasn't a giant amount of research linking obesity to a wide range of life-shortening issues, that might be different. ﾠ Assuming there are no major fear or power issues, the biology/physics of weight loss are simple (if sometimes grueling). And what bothers me is all of the otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people who continue to obscure the realities. Inevitably, people talk about either exercising OR "dieting." Never both at the same time, because once you walk down that road, you meet the truth, and that's something that we, as humans seem to be willing to go to any lengths to avoid. ﾠDiet (lifestyle change)+Exercise+Weight loss Or turbo-charge that: I.F.+ Interval training+Fear Removal exercise=REALLY efficient weight loss. ﾠ ## So far, 90% of the mornings when I do yoga with Jason, his school behavior is perfect. More than if we're just hanging out, and MUCH more than if I am preoccupied in the morning. If the yoga has something to do with it, it might be just teaching him to breathe properly under stress. Or center himself. Or take his bountiful energy and put it into something relatively quiet (I use both ordinary yoga, the Tibetans, and Scott Sonnon's Prasara flows). Or maybe it is just the power of Daddy Time.
ﾠ
"I have different set points at different action vs. eating combos:
If I'm lazing about, and not IFing I can get near 260lbs. (historically)
Just hard exercise, normal diet: 230ish.
Just IF, no exercise 225.
IF, some exercise 210
IF, hard exercise 190 and possibly below."
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Name of graphic technique
## I'm taking off for New York in a couple of days. T and I will be at an event honoring Octavia Butler at Medgar Evers College this weekend. You can learn more at: Tananarivedue.blogspot.com ## I got REALLY sore doing KB juggling stuff once I took the sets up to 60 seconds, and the recovery time down to 30 seconds. Then I combined the juggling with the "DOE Man-Maker" protocol (the one I call a "Fat Ripper.") Basically, in the "Man-Maker" you do a set of swings or snatches, jog lightly for 30-60 seconds, then another set of swings or snatches. Amazing exercise, one used by counter-terrorism guys in the Department of Energy. Anyway, when I did those with the juggling in place of the swings, I felt a LOT less sore, but was actually doing more work. I think that the mechanical flushing of toxins really helps there. I was using a treadmill set to "20 Minutes Easy" between sets. In fact, I shared the exercise time with Tananarive. I'd spend a minute on the treadmill while she is doing KB, then jump off and juggle while T hits the track. ﾠ Now, if you've never seen KB juggling, don't worry, I'm not using three huge weights and tossing them around like tennis balls. But you know what? I would bet you that warriors used to do just exactly that. What an insane test of coordination, muscular endurance and explosive power that would be. Yow. ﾠ But I do use a standard 1-pood (36 lbs.) and flip and catch, pass between legs, pull-catch-squat moves, part of the "H2H" system by Jeff Martone. And that is a hell of a workout, let me tell you. Using the "Fat Ripper" technique, I'm also training running as well. A damned good movement, in some ways the core of all athletic motion. And having a five year old who loves running, I think that it would be cool to stay ahead of him for as long as possible. He's fast, though. It won't be long. ## I'm testing creating hyperlinks. If the following doesn't work, can anyone tell me how to do this? ﾠ href=”http://lifewrite.com” >Route 101 ﾠ
Monday, March 23, 2009
Fear of dying on a treadmill
Will Smith on the Laws of Success http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pke9gEZfJXk The most interesting quote: "the only thing different about me is that I'm not afraid of dying on a treadmill." ﾠ Remember Arnold Swarzenegger's laws of personal success? 1) Have clearer goals than anyone else 2) Believe in yourself more than anyone else. 3) Work harder than anyone else. ﾠ## One way or another, I have heard the same words from so many different directions, whenever I run into people who have built companies, changed public opinion, conquered adversity, transformed their lives, built empires of art or science. Not "talent" or "luck" or even "intelligence." But laserlike, monomaniacal focus. And in my mind, the only thing it is safe to focus on that way, if you want to have a life in this world, is balance. Even focusing on God can lead to isolation and inability to function for family or society, lead to self-righteous prejudice and an acceptance of suffering in others. Seen too much of that. ﾠ Never met Smith, but know people who know him (somewhat) and he did walk past me at the Image Awards. Wish my aura reading had been up to snuff. My guess is that it would be as clear as I imagine Bruce Lee's was. Actually...more. Lee was off balance. At his level of physical energy, Lee should have been living in a monastery somewhere, instead of living the movie-star life, with all of the negatives that that implies. "I'm not afraid to die on a treadmill." That is a level of clarity that most human beings can only marvel at. And anyone with that kind of clarity will produce results others consider magical. ## Smith's clarity recalls the passage at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita, where Arjuna is guilty that he may be about to cause the death of his cousins and brothers and friends, by commensing a great battle. One interpretation is rather literal, that in life there are obligations, and we must address them regardless of the temporary pain: we all have our position in life, and must fulfill it. ﾠ That's interesting...the interp I prefer goes for an inner meaning, that there is an enormous Parts Party going on, and Arjuna has to be above the screaming and the blood--because it all symbolizes his own aspects, especially those that cling to life, and keep him from reaching his full development as a spiritual being. ﾠ I remember I used to run on the track at Pepperdine University. At around a mile and a half, my body would give me all kinds of "you're about to die" symptoms. Because my doctor had said I was perfectly healthy, I decided to ignore those feelings. In fact, my attitude was: "if I'd die running, I'd probably die later today anyway. If I die, let me die living my life on my terms." And what do you know? At about 2.5 miles, after several minutes of suffering...the pain went away. And I got into a new groove, second wind. And as days went past, although the barrier was always there, it grew thinner and thinner, with less and less suffering...until one day it was just voices and phantom aches that never really manifested at all. That was great. I loved it. Never really went above running five miles three times a week, but that was all I needed, and it powered every other aspect of my life. ﾠ Not afraid to die on a treadmill. Not afraid to be laughed at. Not afraid to be first. Not afraid to exceed society''s expectations. Not afraid to speak an unpopular truth. Not afraid to have faith in things for which I have little or no logical proof. You gotta learn to trust your hunches. And what mine tell me is that most of the voices saying "stop!" are lying to us, when going forward represents growth and strength. But damn, those voices can be convincing.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Music help needed
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4069064985/
There is a piece of classical music playing under the commercial for "South Park." I need to identify the selection. Can anyone out there help me?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Gita and Synechoche
More in the "Gita: ﾠ "Spiritual progress consists not in actually achieving anything, but in simply removing the distrotions that obscure the nature of reality." ﾠ This was a comment by one of Paramahansa Yogananda's students, remembering the Master's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. For what it is worth, this aligns beautifully with my own sense of it (which is very different from my thoughts, or research on the subject.) Basically, over the course of my life I've had enough moments of clarity to be able to define a direction. Those sacred texts that align with that direction, I pay attention to. For instance, the red text in a King James Bible (the actual words of Christ) pretty much line up. Some of his apostles...not so much. ﾠ But the question of clarity is an important one. This is central to the value of meditation, but also for a need to have nearby "targets" to focus upon. What can I look at TODAY, RIGHT NOW, that will tell me if I am heading in the right direction, or if I am still and quiet, that my internal world is not roiled by my outer goals and circumstances. I have found that if I concentrate on all three aspects of my life, defining them as health/fitness, relationship/spirit, and career/mind, that I have never gone wrong. That every time I have backslid or created havoc in my life, I have ignored one of these three. I can speak for no one else, but this path works perfectly for me: to study sacred texts, and words of wisdom that have sustained people over the centuries, and see which of them will keep me going right down the middle. And this is the course that I can coach others along. There are beyond a doubt other, better paths...but I am a householder, and this is the best Way I know of. ## Watched Charlie Kaufmann (Writer: "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind")'s directorial debut, ﾠSYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK. Now, Synecdoche is a term that means a small symbol representing a larger whole, and the plot deals with a neurotic playwright (boy, could I see Woody Allen in the role!) who, over the course of decades, tries to create a play that represents every event in his entire life, and a set that represents the entirety of New York. Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, I think that Synecdoche is a flawed masterpiece, a work of almost staggering ambition, and a humbling experience. Kaufmann is just absurdly brilliant, in a manner suggestive of the best of Ellison or Vonnegut. He may have overreached with this piece, but I was just blown away. ##
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Recap
I got an email from a friend that referenced Joseph Campbell's influence on George Lucas, and I wrote the following note in return. I thought you might find it interesting, even if it only recaps things I've said before... A.-- ﾠ You've touched on an area I know something about. Joseph Campbell's work did indeed inform George Lucas, but the basic work isn't based on the Hopi any more than it is the African griots, Eskimo shamans, Irish Bards and Hollywood screenwriters he studied for decades before writing his amazing thesis on the "Hero with a thousand faces." It details the underlying story behind all human mythology, the "Hero's Journey." It can be found all over the world, and elements of it can be seen in any story that has any staying power at all. Where did it come from? Well, in essence, it is the core story of human life itself. I've been using it for decades to teach writing to my students, and it's the perfect fiction structure. ﾠ Hon, you feel that you have an important message to get out to people. Fine. What I was trying to convey to you is that there are two basic ways to do this in the form of fiction: 1) Be a world-class expert, so famous that people will read your words even if they are dull. 2) Be a world-class storyteller, so skilled that you suck the reader in with your first line, and keep them reading even if they have no idea who you are, or where you are taking them. ﾠ The entertainment value then becomes the " carrier tone" that conveys your message. The "Hero's Journey" is a great way of understanding what storytelling is, and why it works. There's a whole world of things I know nothing about, darling, but on this subject, after publishing three million words of fiction and teaching thousands of students, I am world class, and I speak with confidence. I'm only talking to you about this stuff 'cause I love you. ﾠ So, then...what is the Hero's Journey? I'll lay it out in ten steps, relating it both to fiction (Star Wars IV, "A New Hope") and real life (trying to learn to ride a bicycle.) The beautiful thing about the HJ is that you can apply it to any problem you have in life. Me personally, I apply it to what I consider the core Intelligence Test in life: how can you 1) have a healthy, sexy body (look great naked!) 2) A terrific, passionate marriage/relationship and deep self-love 3) Make plenty of money doing something you love doing. ﾠ I figure that if you can do all three of these things, you have the foundation of a great life: everything else flows from these. "A" is Star Wars. "B" is a kid wanting to learn to ride a bike. ﾠ So here are the steps of the Hero's Journey. 1) Hero Confronted with a Challenge. a) "Come with me, Luke! Learn the ways of the Force." b) "I want to ride a bike!" 2) Hero Rejects the Challenge a) "I promised Uncle Owen I'd stay for the harvest." b) "I'm scared. I can't" 3) Hero Accepts the Challenge a) Uncle Owen and Aunt Baru killed. "I want to come with you and become a Jedi like my father." b) "I'll try. I want it more than I am afraid of it." 4) The Road of Trials a) Journey to Mos Eisley, Alderan, the Death Star, etc. b) Practice. Falling down, getting up, falling down, getting up... 5) Allies and Powers a) Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Princess Leia, etc. In other words, all of the people who could teach or support Luke. Most specifically, the people who have ALREADY BEEN where Luke needs to go. These are allies. "Powers" are: using a light saber, piloting a starship, developing courage, etc. b) Mommy, daddy, brothers, sisters. Anyone who can already ride a bike, and can offer INFORMED advice. Powers are: balance, confidence, concentration, etc. 6) Confront Evil--Defeat a) The death of Obi-Wan, who was Luke's major role model. b) Falling off the bike into the rose bush. In pursuing any goal, there are points of failure. ANY goal. Get over it. 7) Dark night of the Soul a) During the assault on the Death Star--everyone killed, Luke alone. The computer can't make the shot. b) Screaming and crying. "I can't do it! I'm not big enough! I don't wanna!" 8) Leap of Faith a) "Trust your feelings, Luke" b) "Trust Daddy. I've never lied to you. You can do this!" 9) Confront Evil--victory a) Blows up Death Star. b)Learns to ride! 10) Student becomes the teacher a) Luke awarded medals and applauded by audience. Medals represent meritorious performance worthy of emulation. b) teaching your kid sister to ride! ## If you look at any movie, you'll see aspects of this pattern, because it is the course of human life itself. The only movies books or stories that have no relation to this pattern are totally experimental works that are seen by simply dozens of people. ﾠ If you look into you own life, at anything you've ever gotten good at, you'll see this pattern. If you can build it into your writing, you will instantly increase its readability vastly. If you look at any problem in your life, you can see how you can organize your resources or seek superior role models to improve your results. ﾠ THIS is the gift that Joseph Campbell gave us: he showed us the path of human life. This is genuine wisdom, the elders of every village in the world showing the children how to face their futures with power and courage. I know of no single piece of information that is more important.
###
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sly and Arjuna
I like Shelby Steele's article on "Why Conservatives can't win with minorities." I don't agree with some of his definitions and conclusions, but I'm looking for thoughtful opinions on what I see happening in America. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123716282469235861.html ## This might help answer some questions about whether that picture I linked to of Sylvester Stallone was photoshopped. Here he's getting ready for his new movie "The Expendables." ﾠ http://www.aintitcool.com/node/40413 ﾠ ﾠﾠLord God, Billy Bob. And no, it ain't just chemicals. That, certainly, plus a phenomenal tolerance for pain, real understanding, and a work ethic that would put most pro athletes to shame (according to the boxing coach who worked with him for "Rocky Balboa") ## While I've started watching the political scene over the last few years, I've always been very clear on the fact of my vast and gaping ignorance on many, many particulars. Navigating such treacherous waters on the basic of general principles can seem folly...the only reason I suspect it isn't is my continuing positive results in the three major arenas of my life, regardless of what people howl at me from the sides. One of the things that seems to make sense is to look at principles that crop up again and again over hundreds or thousands of years. When they seem to align with both scientific and spiritual speculations, I take special note. ﾠ I consider such things to be "wisdom" as opposed to "knowledge," and give 'em a higher priority. One such is the concept of multiple personalities. Whether a psychological or spiritual fact or a good way to look at the human spirit, I care not. Is there an "inner child"? Who cares? What matters is whether or not it is a useful construct (which I consider it to be." ﾠ The Ericksonian "Parts Party." Dramatica's theory that a story is an argument in a "story mind," with every character a different aspect of the lead character. The "Internal community" of voices that a hardened criminal hears when he makes decisions. ﾠ And a really, really interesting one from one of the earliest spiritual texts, the Bhagavad Gita. In the beginning of the Gita (which is an expansion of a longer work, the stupendous Mahabarata), Lord Krishna (symbolizing God) and Arjuna (representing the aspiring spiritual warrior) drive in a chariot between two opposing armies. Arjuna is appalled that if the war takes place, his friends and cousins and brothers will die. "It would mean destroying my own kinsmen!" he protests. "How can I commit such a sin?" Ultimately, the decision is made to commence the war. ﾠ Now, there are as many interpretations of this mighty work as there are readers. A reasonably conservative interpretation is that the armies represent the forces of opposition within unenlightened human beings. All the "nafs" (in the sufic interpretation) that put kinks in our psychic wiring, preventing our "kundalini energy" from rising up the neurological wiring until enlightenment is achieved. ﾠ This inner "war" between the aspects of our inner world, the warriors who fight on the inner battlefield, is not the only metaphor, but it is one that has lasted for thousands of years, and from my perspective, is therefore worthy of note. One must also, of course, be careful not to be limited by such a metaphor: otherwise one's entire life can devolve to a series of battles, both within and without. And I suspect that clinging too strongly to such a metaphor can actually increase the chances of war. ﾠ But as a life-long martial artist, it is logical for me to accept that the Warrior is a totally valid archtype: as are the healer, the lover, the teacher. One thing I know is that if your people have anything desired by the outside world, unless they are protected by natural barriers you had better have mighty warriors. If you don't , you get wiped out or your people enslaved. I wish I could see a real exception to this, but I don't. ﾠ Simultaneously, if all you have is this violent energy, you will have nothing ﾠ Well...the spiritual path lies ahead of me. Any of you can note how easily I get distracted from the path. Racial shit does it pretty fast, as does some kinds of gender warfare, class warfare, and so on. Why? Because I cannot retreat from the world. I have to be concerned about money-making, markets, customers, and social conditions affecting them. I care about love and sex and family and the things affecting them. I care about my physical body: fitness, health, longevity, functioning of my faculties and more...and the things that affect them. I am a "householder yogi" and have a completely different set of challenges than a person of my energy and focus who retreats to a cave or a monastery and concentrates twelve hours a day on spiritual growth. ﾠ Can't do that. From my values, that would feel like a cheat: much was given to me, and to empty myself out, I have to give as much back as possible. Anything else feels dishonest. ﾠ One of the things I have to do is make certain that all my sled dogs are pulling in the same direction, or at least pulling with equal strength in balanced, opposite directions. I can move closer to my true self, or sit very quietly and wait for my true self to tip-toe closer. Either works. I choose the more dynamic path. ﾠ And hey...if there's nothing to get out there, if it's all delusion, what the hey? I'll still get as much out of life as anyone ever has. What the hell is there other than spending your time doing what you want to do, surrounded by the people you love, contributing to the causes and people you care about? Being healthy and happy and sensual and creative? Bringing more light into the world than existed on the day of your birth? To me, it's a no-lose proposition. Either way, I win.
WORTH protecting left within your culture. How does this relate to the personal daily struggle?
Monday, March 16, 2009
Disgusting
Thank Suzanne for the following link: Raping lesbians to "cure" them in South Africa. Beyond vile. ﾠhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/1...pe-south-africa ## Understand that when I talk about stuff like this, I'm not trying to let the perpetrators off the hook. In fact, I would be happy to shoot the bastards in the head. But I always look at things in the context of "what the hell is going on, and how do we get to health?" From the obsessive perspective of balance, no, I don't blame this on "men" any more than I look at the fact that most of the art, science, and heroism has been done by men and think that there is something wrong with "women." No...my position is that there is something far more insidious and subtle going on. Understand that about me going in. ﾠ So what do I look at when I try to understand something as hideous as the above events 1) "Core Transformation": every action is an attempt to come closer to the divine. OR: an attempt to unite with a loving force, or find a feeling of spiritual/loving connection. 2) The destruction wrought by colonialism, and post-colonial collapse. 3) The belief that our natural state is one of growth, self-discovery, and movement away from pain toward pleasure. ## With individuals, when I try to understand who someone is, I look at the three major aspects of their lives: body, mind/career, relationship/spirituality. Taking the position that any digression from a path of growth and evolution is evidence of damage, and that any act of violence is actually an act of fear, I've been able to psychologically disarm muggers and work with prisoners in the maximum security block. If psychology is quantum sociology, then the same principles should apply to groups. ﾠ Viewed that way we have a culture yanked through thousands of years of technological development in hundreds of years, vast imprintation of negative self-imagery for generations, and tribal boundaries destroyed by lines drawn on maps. In other words, all of the processes that ordinarily take human beings slowly and (relatively) elegantly toward higher levels of social organization torn to hell. I remember being relieved when the Soviet Union fell apart, and violence erupted in former Soviet satellites. Why? Because I was SICK of going to cocktail parties and having white people (yes, mostly conservative) ask me what was wrong with blacks, why couldn't they stop killing each other in Africa, etc. etc. When white people started killing each other in similar ways in Europe, for some odd reason, they stopped asking me those questions. They got it. Oh...this was a HUMAN problem, not a "black" problem. ## I've been distressed by the degree of homophobia in the black community in America, but I feel like I understand it. Consider the popularity of black men dressed as women, black men portrayed as sexless, black women sexually available to white men...all of the imbalance of the natural balance of male and female energy. This creates literal fear, which leads to anger and projection of personal damage onto others. ﾠ Black male fear that they ARE what their surrounding culture implies they are. (All humans do this, of course.) This leads to violence and self-destructive behavior (riots in communities where little of the property is owned by the rioters) on the social level, as well as violence in the home and the personal level. Sex substituted for love, "making money" for running an honest sustainable business. ﾠ ANY time I see behavior that could not be sustained over many generations, I know I'm seeing dysfunction, regardless of how much people scream that individuals have the freedom to do whatever they want. What I see in gay-bashing is terror that the "evil" urges most men feel within their own sexual natures is walking in representative form in the outside world. Destroy the "evil" and you are safe. You prove that you aren't one of them. ﾠ And men who attack and fear lesbians are, in my mind, men who are terribly insecure in themselves, in their sexuality and personhood. To think that a woman would be more attracted to another woman than to them is dangerous to an already fragile ego. In other words, when the world is out of control, when you don't know where you fit, when you are consumed with blind terror that you might be the non-entity that the outside world says you are... ﾠ You fall back on whatever "security" can be found in social norms. Now, this is a form of Conservatism, but I don't mean it in the political sense normally used. More like: "what has worked? What did my grandfathers say and do?" There is security there...but also hideous abuse. ﾠ The men who do these things are, in my mind, too damaged to be re-programmed. Personally, I'd rather they die, and I'd spend my time raising the next generation in a healthier fashion. They have reached the point of the "Internal chorus" singing in their heads telling them what to do and approving of violent actions. There is no known mode of social rehabilitation. ﾠ Do I think that a technique like "Core Transformation" could help them? Sure, but I remember Jerry Pournelle did a qualitative analysis of different therapy techniques when he was in his psychology doctorate program. And the result he got, that I agree with completely, is that there IS NO DIFFERENCE in success rates. The difference is in the personal health of the therapist. In other words, if the therapist has resolved the issues, he or she can help the client resolve them. To put it yet another way, you have to want to grow up to be the therapist, in a manner of speaking. ﾠ How many human beings are evolved enough to look at a man who has raped and/or murdered for the sake of cultural honor and personal fear, and see the love inside them? See what that little boy could have been, if raised by a loving mother and father and community and shown the doorway to excellence and joy, and made to believe that he was one with the force that created the universe? Taught to respect and love all of creation? I would say that most therapists suffer from the Optometrist Syndrome: Most Optometrists wear glasses. Most therapists seem to go into the field to heal themselves. In other words, they start out being MORE screwed up than average. Then they get lost in a maze of competing intellectual theories about how it all fits together. Waking up your kundalini backwards, anyone? ﾠ Crap. So what is to be done? I would say educate the women of the world. Catch the rogue males and isolate or, frankly, exterminate them if necessary. Train little boys with both love and discipline to channel that critical destructive energy into protective and creative channels. Train little girls to respect themselves as keepers of the keys of civilization. ﾠ And acknowledge that we can't help everyone, that some problems take generations to work out. I hate watching it happen, but this shit has been going on since the beginning of our species, and we don't seem to be killing ourselves off. I believe that there is less rape and child abuse than there has been in the past--but we HEAR about it far more. It turns our stomach, and so it should. We must never, ever be satisfied with the current situation. ﾠ And more than anything else, we must root out the pain and fear and anger within ourselves, become as strong and successful as we can be as individuals, because individuals make societies, and societies can change the world. ﾠ
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
A Watched Pot
It seems sometimes that Jason has, say, 100 points of discipline, and as we expect more from him, he has to take some from one area to apply it to another. He still wets his pants a little sometimes, and has problems pushing kids at school. When one gets better, the other will sometimes get worse. So I've trying to spend time with him every morning practicing yoga, teaching him to breathe more deeply and slowly, which is incompatible with flash anger. For the potty, I'm giving him a scale from 1 to 10. 1 is "you just went potty. Your body is empty." And 10 is "you're peeing yourself." The rule is that when you get to "4" it's time to go potty. It seems to me that he doesn't have a sense of urgency about urinating until it's too late. So he gets interested in doing what he's doing at the moment, waits until he's at a "9" and then heads to the bathroom...too late. ﾠ So far, it's working pretty well. Not perfectly, but what is in this world? Pretty darned good is encouraging. ## I do wish that I knew more about economics, to have more of a sense of what is going on. Honestly, I just don't. However, I do know I thought it grotesque when Right-wing pundits were talking about "The Obama Recession" the day after the election. What asses. ## On the other hand, watching the chaos in Liberal talk radio, it is clear that something is wrong, but for the life of me, I can't figure it out. Needless to say, each side tries to interpret the failure of, say, NovaM and the implosion of Air America in a way that makes them look good. Here are some of the things said about it on the Right: 1) It's market driven. No one wants to hear Liberal ideas 2) It's boring--all data, no fun. 3) It's emotion, without logic. 4) Sheer business incompetance ﾠ And on the Left 1) The stations are owned by mega-corporations that skew Right. 2) Even when they win their time slots, pressure groups sabotage their shows, get them removed. 3) Right-wingers are such failures in other mediums that they are defending their radio turf like cornered rats 4) The Right entrenched itself for decades in radio, and now have roots so deep it is hard to compete. ## Now, clearly you have self-congratulatory or blame game explanations going on. But SOMETHING is happening. If I take out the blame, howls of mirth, and self-justifications I might be left with some ideas about how one political tendency denotes a brain that sorts for the visual as opposed to the auditory. I really don't know, but would be interested in seeing some serious, non-politicized speculations. Of course, it could all just be a very temporary statistical blip. But somehow, I don't think so. ## It's pretty clear that I've reached the end of one whole way of being. I really don't seem to be able to make progress in any arena without running into serious, deep-seated emotional obstacles. How interesting. So...I have to assume that the right way to deal with this is to simply be ultra-clean and ultra-responsible in any arena in which there is work that CAN be done. The rest of it is a matter of continuing to center myself and do the very best I can, and assume that the next family of change will be totally out of my conscious control. ﾠ I remember fifteen years ago, living up in Washington, being at the end of my rope. I was broke, alone, and my marriage had just self-destructed. I had no idea what to do, or where to go. And I remember praying for guidance, for any kind of clarity. And I finally said something very much like: "all right, God. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to do everything I can to move forward and stay centered at the same time. I will blame no one for my problems, and take full responsibility for my life. I'm jumping off the cliff, into the cloud. Catch me, God...or, if you won't, let me hit the rocks without knowing they're coming." ﾠ Yeah, I said something very very close to that. Giving up all hope while still working as hard as possible. And out of that, I've built the life of my dreams. ﾠ Things are great now, but I have run into walls as firm as those old ones. They do not confine me in a negative space...sort of a gilded prison, in some ways. But a prison, nonetheless. I have to accept the limitations of conscious action, and grasp that the changes I seek will happen in their own time, in their own ways, and I have to be slightly emotionally disconnected from the process. Hard for me. I want so much to DO IT! But...it doesn't seem to be that kind of party. So: work, meditate, love my family, work out...and turn my back on the bubbling pot from time to time. The soul is shy.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Watchmen (2009)
Well, Alan Moore's "unfilmable" graphic novel has been filmed, and very well, I think, by Zack Snyder. I predict it will make a bare profit in theaters, and then live forever on DVD. And ten years from now, we'll get another version. ﾠ I read the twelve issue limited series when it came out in 1985, and was instantly entranced with this tale, which asked "what would the world be like if superheroes really existed? What would the superheroes themselves really be like?" And Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (writer and artist) answered those questions with a multi-layered alternate-universe story with a great deal of psychological realism and minimalized superhero action. It was a book of thought, with a few outbursts of intense violence. A meditation on identity, politics, existential philosophy, and much more. It was also fiendishly clever, and its clean, classic comic-book graphics (the kind that I love most), made it a meta-comic, a comment on the nature of the readers as well as what they are reading. ﾠ Immediately, scribers like Sam Hamm (who wrote the first Batman movie) tried to turn it into a movie. I read the script, and it sucked, missing almost everything that made the comic work. The truth is that there have been hundreds if not thousands of good, solid comic books over the years--the iconography is established, and "Watchmen" depended upon that shared cultural history for its impact. In comparison, in 1985 there had been maybe two or three decent superhero movies. There was just nothing to draw on. Now, in 2009, there have been maybe twenty superhero movies that are really solid stepping stones to draw from thematically or visually, and a Watchmen movie had a bare chance of navigating the creative waters with success. ﾠ This story, of a group of disbanded superheroes living in a world approaching nuclear armageddon, in a country where Nixon is serving his fifth term, is at its core a murder mystery. Some killed an aging hero named The Comedian, and another hero, the borderline sociopathic Rorschach (the film's best performance) plays detective, trying to bring the hidden "mask killer" to justice, simultaneously realizing that it's all hopeless....the nuclear bombs will be flying soon, and as "Smartest man in the world" Ozymandias says, even big blue walking H-Bomb "Dr. Manhattan" can only stop 99% of the missiles, leaving just enough to destroy all life on Earth. Against armageddon are the sub-Batman "Night Owl" and his crush, "Silk Spectre 2", who was raised to be a superhero by her mom, the original Silk Spectre. These two represent "normal" people at the center of events beyond their control. ﾠ But the death of the Comedian turns out to have ties to the nuclear threat, and in 2.7 hours of often dazzling, occasionally underwhelming filmmaking, their histories and psychologies are stripped bare, and we learn the truth. WOW this was fun, but the "R" rating is seriously earned, both for sex and violence. When Night Owl and Silk Spectre try to get it on in their normal identities, he can't get it up. (She's been Dr. Manhattan's girlfriend...kind of intimidating to follow THAT up! Wonder if Joseph had any performance problems with Mary. After all, her first boyfriend was God...but I digress.) ﾠ After sneaking out to rescue a burning building filled with trapped civilians (superheroes have been outlawed in this world, much as in "The Incredibles," which was basically Pixar's riff on the Watchmen) they have quite the tryst up in the clouds. For fifty years and more, I've been watching the super-powered men and women in tights, and Watchmen gets right into the kinky questions everybody else has always avoided...mating rituals, the emotional scarring, the actual impact of such skill and power on the bodies of their sparring partners...as well as the way the world might have been altered had folks actually donned hoods to fight crime. ﾠ Oh, it's all glorious fun, probably the most literal translation of a book to the screen I've ever seen. The cuts and changes Snyder made I (mostly) approve of, including the notorious Squidless ending. His new ending plays far more elegantly than the one in the original Graphic Novel, which had Moore winking rather frantically at the audience. I also enjoy the way Ozymandias is clearly gay (to the point of hanging with the Village People, in the brilliant opening montage). What a hoot. I had just so much fun. ﾠ BUT...believe this. It is very very R rated. Probably my favorite superhero movie ever. ## WARNING: MILD SAMBO ALERT ﾠ Actually an anti-Sambo alert. One of the changes Snyder made was to remove the home life of the prison psychiatrist who examines Rorschach. In the graphic novel, his encounter with the damaged hero triggers depression and impotence. Now, this guy is the only fleshed out black character in the book...and he is doomed, fat, and impotent to boot. Thanks, guys. ﾠ In fact, the howling of the fanboys about how "realistic" the Watchmen is was, from that vantage point, always bullshit. It was a typical 1985 white fanboy fantasy, in which superheros bound around in tights, and all of them are white as the driven snow. Comic books were mostly still like this back then, and to this day, most dark faces are either members of teams or guests. I remember a major editor for DC telling me that if they changed the race of the character on the cover--nothing else, not artists, not writers, not distributers, not ANYTHING...if they made the cover character white or Asian or an alien, it was cool. But if they put a black man on the cover, sales dropped. But that's just that old desire for our fantasy heros to resemble us as much as possible. Nothing personal. ﾠBut if we're talking about the real world, don't tell me that black people weren't capable enough, or motivated enough, to put on capes and masks and tights. We're just as crazy as anyone else. But just as in its era's comic books, everyone shown in "Watchmen" (in the context of a VERY white New York...except for the prison, of course) in costume is white. Pure fantasy, and the accusation of "realism" automatically stinks to me, but that's just me. ﾠ Anyway, granted that, showing the black shrink unable to make love to his increasingly shrewish wife just struck me as Moore being a typical human being: his color is the only real color in the world. Removing those scenes didn't hurt the movie a bit.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Unfilmable?
I really like a note that Erich sent me, and wanted to share it. It regards a comment I made about "Religulous." He quotes me: ## I recently watched Bill Maher's "Religulous" and he is certainly ## And he says: ﾠ ﾠ I can't help thinking that Bill Maher would find it a lot harder to Want a real-world example of somebody successful in Hollywood But I can think of two celebrities who do qualify: Mel Gibson, making _The Passion_. Michael Crichton, writing _State of Fear_. Remember the reactions *those* got? Thinking of them, I'm put in mind of three quotes on the difference 1. "Make people think they're thinking, and they'll love you; make 2. "In every period of history, there seem to have been labels that 3. "True dissent doesn't feel like going to school wearing black; it I disagree about Gibson and 'The Passion." He was mostly criticized for using his own money (you NEVER do that!) but Hollywood isn't any more Godless than any other major city I've been to. It certainly has that reputation, but I think that's because its primary industry is a fantasy machine, and some of those fantasies cross some people's lines. But the town is chock-a-block with churches and Temples that are notorious for being the regular worship place for executives and stars all over. Yes, they're more tolerant of atheism than most, but also Buddhism and Scientology. You might say that the search for God is an obsession in Hollywood, even if they end up turning over some odd rocks in the process. ﾠ Crichton? Maybe, but I don't know. I'm not really sure what his social circle was. I did think that "State of Fear" was a bit disingenuous...he very clearly was against the idea of global warming, and thought that the environmental movement was full of whackos (and took great pleasure in killing them painfully). But then in the afterward, he claimed he hadn't made his mind up. That kind of soured the book for me. That just wasn't honest. But... I don't think it cost him dinner invitations. I would bet that he got LOTS of dinner invitations from people who wanted to debate him. That said, I agree with you that "The Passion" was WAY more courageous than Maher's work: Gibson put it on the line for what he believed. ## My neighbor is a Kenyan civil engineer, who has an interesting measurement of the current recession: the number of metric tons, or cubic meters, of trash going into the landfills. Apparently, it's decreased by about 25%. Also, the water has a higher percentage of various toxins, but fewer gallons of water are passing through the system. This suggests that people are taking shorter showers, washing their clothes on the water-saving cycle, etc. And the landfill situation implies that people aren't buying as much, or aren't using as much disposable tableware and paper towels and so forth. Makes sense. ## Well, the "unfilmable" Watchmen opens tomorrow. Currently 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, that number masks the fact that most of the major critics have given it a Thumbs Down. Ouch. Well, I'll see for myself on Saturday. My guess is that Zack Snyder walked an incredibly fine line, wanting to translate this fantastic graphic novel to the screen as faithfully as possible, but trying to avoid being trapped. There is, to my knowledge, no such thing as an utterly faithful adaptation of a literary work to the screen--even when the author himself writes the screenplay. Books and movies are different things, and what works on the page doesn't necessarily work on the screen. Even more, the author himself is a different person when he writes the screenplay, and I would suspect that he will see new and better ways of expressing a thought. Can anyone out there remember a completely, utterly faithful adaptation of a book?
attempting to slay sacred cows.
take on something that was considered a genuinely sacred cow *by his
social peers*.
risking his social status by outraging his social peers? Then it's
not Bill Maher criticizing orthodox organized religion! Maher's
peer group isn't in rural Texas; they're in Hollywood! Do you
really think that making "Religulous" cost Maher anything that he
really wanted? A single dinner invitation? A single job interview?
between easy, safe "sacrilege" and hard, risky sacrilege:
them *really* think, and they'll kill you." --Harlan Ellison
got applied to statements to shoot them down before anyone had a
chance to ask if they were true or not ... We have such labels
today, of course, quite a lot of them, from the all-purpose
'inappropriate' to the dreaded 'divisive.' In any period, it should
be easy to figure out what such labels are, simply by looking at
what people call ideas they disagree with besides untrue. When a
politician says his opponent is mistaken, that's a straightforward
criticism, but when he attacks a statement as 'divisive' or
'racially insensitive' instead of arguing that it's false, we should
start paying attention." --Paul Graham
feels like going to school wearing a clown suit." --Eliezer Yudkowsky
--Erich
###
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
A Meteor Will Hit Your Dog
## ﾠ A letter from one of the 101 Students bears re-posting. All identifying material (possibly including gender) has been removed or altered. ## Dear Steve, I've been trying all day to figure out a polite way to post this to the 101 group, but I think it's the sort of thing that's better kept anonymous. Well, except that I'm sharing it with you and if you can figure out a way to make my crazy useful to others feel free. I've been more or less good, following the program but I'm back to the early phases, doing the fresh fruit/veggies alternate days and the 5T and the 5mm and getting my ducks used to my hiding in their pen for 20 minutes a day of meditation. I've been journaling and dancing and going for long walks under the stars. Great stuff. It's been like an exhilarating upstream swim in cool water at the end of a hot day. So here comes the universe with its special talent for tumbling me back over familiar rocks. I do not get the affection I desire from my husband. Alright, not ideal, but I'm trying to work with what is. So I think I've been making really good strides in holding myself responsible for giving myself the love I need. When I'm feeling hurt and lonely and rejected I think to myself "What do I want from that person, that I feel like they aren't giving to me?" and then I figure out how I can give myself that core experience. I need to love myself until love becomes as fluent to me as my native tongue or any love other people give to me is just going to get lost in translation. I can enjoy my sensuality in my physicality and dance, and cooking and in mindful eating and in gardening and stargazing and giving platonic affection like hugs and kisses and massage to those who are willing to receive it. I give myself my own approval and am honest with myself about what kind of effort I put into something and whether what I say are my priorities are reflected in how I dedicate my time and energy. I'm doing a lot of things right. So I'm feeling really good about this decision to embrace my abstinence with a deep degree of self-sufficiency. But I tell you what, if you think skipping food gives a person an introduction to the voices, try a long sexual fast. I can get myself off, but I can't experience that glorious dance, the push and the pull of a real sexual experience, because I promised monogamy to someone who ain't interested. So I am trying to be good, not just tolerant, but really rising above. So what happens? Men who are not my husband are making themselves all too available. X and I have fooled around off and on, not enough to satisfy me or to freak me out, so his recent friendliness is one of those perennial blooms, but I've got old lovers who haven't touched me in thirteen years writing me with detailed memories of experiences we've had naked together. Now Y who lives in Z and had been nothing but a gentleman while we were hanging with friends every (day of the week) is back in town and trying to get me to go driving with him, alone with him, not this cluster of friends stuff we usually do. And he's got a real pretty rationalization for it, but I can hear it in his voice, he's hoping to do more than just shoot the breeze. And I'm sure he can hear it in my voice that on some level I am all to flushed and eager. I wish I could bottle this and save it for sometime when I am on the market. 'Cause I can't seem to commit myself to fast without a feast showing up at my door. And I know what to do, I'll hang out with Y with friends, but I ain't taking that ride, because I want to go for a ride so bad it makes me shake, and I know better. The thing that makes this your business is that I swear there's a connection between trying to go through something as transformative as the 101 and getting stuck on Pleasure Island as soon as I leave the puppet shop to become a real boy. Sex is my favorite candy and that's what the universe is trying to offer. And if I take it I'll go back to looking into somebody else's eyes begging them to tell me I'm still here. I'm not taking the bait. Out of respect for my highly resistant husband I don't want to post this is in a public forum without anonymity. But I'm sure I'm not the only person whose discovered a lot of temptation on the path. The people I spend time with I can chalk it up to a difference in how I carry myself, but Y has been in Z, he had no way of knowing and he's being much friendlier than when he left, calling me his first night in town and asking me out. The universe conspires at times like these. Having nothing to do with any of that, you say the kindest, sweetest most encouraging things on your message board. I practically glow all day after reading them. Thank you so very much. Love, ### Here's the reason that I posted this. Back when I was promoting Dawn Callan's "Awaken the Warrior Within" workshops, I noticed that if people signed up, they canceled at a bizarrely high rate, and their reasons were simply qualitatively different from the reasons people give for not coming to a dinner party. It was as if their entire universe conspired to keep them away from a transformative experience. The way I put it was "a meteor will hit your dog." ﾠ One of my students is a lady carrying about a hundred extra pounds. She was terribly abused as a child, and this is clearly her subconscious trying to protect her from further pain by obscuring her sexual characteristics. It is safe for her to lose, say, twenty pounds, but anything beyond that triggers her inner alarm buttons. Now this lady is a tiger, and if you put an obstacle in front of her, she'll do her damnest to vault it. So I figured that if she ever got onto a REAL weight loss program (both diet and exercise, slowly reducing calories and ramping up the intensity of the exercise until the desired weight loss is occurring) her subconscious would distract her by throwing career opportunities at her. Travel, authority, creativity, lots of extra money...and all she has to do is ignore her body, and she can have all of it. ﾠ EXPECT THIS TO HAPPEN as you approach any major threshold in your life. Whatever your weakness is, this is what your Ego-self will throw at you to slow you down. ﾠ Now, "B" is trying to create a healthy relationship, a healthy body, a healthy relationship with money. And as she begins to make progress, what happens? Her husband, who mirrored her before her changes began, is disconnected from his own sensuality, and B. is one seriously sensual lady. Old lovers are appearing from her past, offering her sexual goodies, if only she betrays her marriage. ﾠ Totally, 100% predictable. It WILL happen as you grow. Might be disasters, might be blessings. But what all of these things boil down to is temptations to step off the Thousand Mile Road, betray your values, and go after the goodies. Don't take the bait: the instant you do, the goodies will evaporate. You'll look around and realize you don't know where the road is any more, lost in darkness. ﾠ The path, and forward movement along it, is far more important than any specific gain along the way. They are secondary to moving closer and closer to your true self. ﾠ Accept no substitutes.
B.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Square Root Day!
Today is Square Root Day! 3/3/09. Only happens nine times a century. Enjoy! ## I'm juggling enough different projects that I'm definitely in that "low-geared truck climbing a steep grade" place. The voices in my head love pointing out the sports cars zipping past, not bothering to remind me that they aren't carrying the same load. Maybe. ## Only three more days until Watchmen. I've been waiting twenty-three years for this. 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I'm enjoying reading the most negative reviews--don't want to get my hopes up too high. Hell...I even enjoyed the limited motion animated series they put out on iTunes (although I only watched episodes 1-9. I want to forget as much as possible about the end.) And what I've heard about the changes at the end actually make more sense than Alan Moore's original idea. But the Squid sure was purty. I think it was the Watchmen that woke me up to what was actually possible in comic books. And I'm hoping I have a chance to write a graphic novel at some point in the near future. 3# T and I are working on a script. Secret project, but let's just say it was inspired by the Obama Inauguration, and because of her familiarity with the Civil Rights movement, she has to write the first draft. Honest, that's the reason. Really. # "24" is still my favorite show, and last night's 2-hour episode was killer. So this African general storms the White House. I sat back, thinking about the metaphorical, unconscious aspects of that image, and had to laugh. # I wrote something longer about this, but decided against publishing it on el bloggo. The question was one of blacks voting Republican. I think that the only smart thing to do is assume that people vote their own self-interest. I see no reason that more minorities can't be recruited to the Right side of the spectrum, especially considering that almost every successful black person I know personally has MANY Right-leaning attitudes. What Republicans need to ask themselves is why more of them aren't--without the snarky implications that blacks have more tendency to vote by automatic programming than whites have. Historically, conditions that affect us, as blacks, often have more to do with our visual appearance than our education, finances, political leanings or whatever. So there is a tendency to react as a group...because things have affected us as a group. Just keep your eye on that ball, rather than trying to figure out how we're different. And...be as eager as Liberals to jump on racist humor and ideology. Do those two things, and I see no reason at all that Republicans can't appeal to more non-whites. ## Watched "Pineapple Express" the other day. Wow. Pot comedies have come a long way since Cheech 'n Chong. While it was totally aware that people smoke their lives away, it also was quite the little celebration of hemp. I am SO happy that the Obama administration is ending Federal raids on pot co-operatives. That's just nuttiness. ﾠ Cracked me up that Micheal Phelps was more criticized for smoking pot, in someone's home, than he was for DUI. I mean, he wouldn't have been pulled over and tested unless the police detected some erratic driving patterns. So here's a guy under diminished capacity, driving a multi-ton vehicle at speeds sufficient (in all probability) to create lethal impact...actually putting people's lives at stake...and THAT is less problematic than sitting in a party smoking pot. That strikes me as just insane. But I remember a heavy drinker who had an SUV, and laughed that if he got into an accident while driving drunk...he'd win. He'd win. Dear God, what in the hell kind of joke is that? ﾠ I really think that a lot of the anti-pot sentiment is from alcoholics who project their own guilt onto others. I'm happy to think that this madness might end in my lifetime. How many billions of dollars and millions of lives have been damaged by the utterly misguided "War on Drugs"? Ugh.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Today's My Birthday..
And I'm probably going Miniature golfing with the family, and chillin' most of the day. Maybe breakfast. Damn, I survived another year. Who knew?
##
Paul Harvey died yesterday. Maybe Friday. I remember listening to him when I was a little kid. My mom loved him, and I've always respected him as another reasonable voice from a political position I did not share. He always seemed sane, and kind, and wise. I'll miss his voice, I really will. He was one of the last pieces of my childhood left. And he's gone.
Now, he really DOES know the rest of the story. Good day, Paul. I'll miss you.
