Year-Long Writer Program: Feb 28

I've decided I'm not going to put "Week #" markings on these--people need to start where they start, and there is an unavoidable amount of repeated material, because we are continually cross-referencing a few basic models.  The problem is that the "truth" (whatever that means) of the path of writing cannot really be put into words.  It can be expressed in directed actions: "Write a story a week" but that is because as you write those stories, you will learn things that cannot really be put into language.
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This week, we're going to explore the interactions of the first three chakras--what is called the "Belly Brain."  We have, in the news, what seems a really choice example of corruption on these three levels.  Survival, sex, power. These get so mixed up, so mashed together. One of my reasons for insisting that one should be able to support oneself (and have practical experience of this) before engaging in sexual relations is that confusion is so damned easy.  So--what happens to someone with a wound in chakra #1?  They perceive the entire world as a threat.  All of their personal relationships will be warped by this, and they stay in a perpetual state of emergency.
What about a wound in #2?  We see obesity, sexual promiscuity, inability to distinguish between sex and love, sexual dysfunction or inability to perform, orgasmic dysfunction...
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Hold on.  Here's another thing to look at.  The ability to have a really good rock-the-socks-off orgasm is based on your ability to let go, to let yourself dissolve.  I've known a number of women who had never achieved orgasm, and it seemed to me that they had problems in "letting go" of other aspects of ego as well.  What are the masculine equivilents?  Not sure, and that might be in a blind spot of mine.  Comments would be welcome.
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What about chakra #3?  Power issues?  Obesity in men seems more likely to result from an injury here.  Men who feel ineffectual, insubstantial, can fall victim to this--they build a fortress that becomes a prison.  but attaching ego to bank accounts can be just as damaging.  A need to control, the use of sex as bargaining chip, the confusion of possessions with self-worth...all of these things come together here.  Damage all three of these, and you probably get a street person.  Damage one of the three badly, and you have someone ripe for a co-dependant relationship.  But most of us have damage on one of these three levels.  If we put the time and effort into healing here, we strengthen our root tremendously.
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So...what stories can arise from the interaction of wounds on these levels? And what lessons can we integrate into those stories?  In fact, who can think of a film that deals with these issues?  Sex and power get nicely mixed up in "Wall Street", although the core theme probably deals with confusion around power and heart chakras.  What are some other films that deal with wounds and issues of sex, power, and survival?

O.J. and Michael Jackson: Part 2

O.J.'s "Not guilty" verdict set off quite a ruckus, one which, understandably, hasn't fully died down to this day. Let me make it clear: I believe him to be guilty, but am not certain that I would have returned a different verdict myself. The prosecution didn't prove their case "beyond a reasonable doubt," and Mark Furman perjured himself very conveniently. To this day, I wonder if Johnny Cochran bought him off, paid him to impeach his own evidentiary chain. For someone to state so specifically "I've never used the word 'Nigger' in the last ten years," and then for Cochran to conveniently produce an audiotape in which he says it a dozen times...wow. That Cochran is amazing. Or something else.
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At any rate, I thought it was loathsome indeed that Cochran used the Race card in that trial. Four hundred years of horrific deprevation led to the Civil Rights era, where for the first time mainstream America was forced to admit that there was something terribly wrong. To this date, Conservatives have taken the position that there is nothing wrong "now" (whenever "now" is) and only reluctantly admit that there was EVER anything wrong. Watching people like Dinesh D'Souza claiming that there was never widespread sexual abuse during slavery makes me want to foam at the mouth. Arrgh. So when a genuine miscarriage of justice can be exposed by demonstrating the pervasive influence of racism, and people are forced to see what they don't want to see, it can be beautiful. Or frustrating. The Black community felt so much vendication when the Rodney King beating was captured on video in 1992. "See?" they said. "This is what we've been saying has been happening for the last 400 years." The cops were caught lying about it. Laughing about "big time use of force." And I remember my conservative friends explaining their behavior. "Oh, well, Rodney was much like Conan The Barbarian...the cops were horribly scared...there was more tape that you didn't see, of King thrashing them back, but the Liberal Media won't show it..." and on and on. And the cops, tried by a jury of their peers, got off. And black people went a little nuts.
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I'm going to bring this down to a more personal level, because I've heard lots of people implying that the L.A. riots were some kind of anomoly exclusive to black folks. These people are ignorant of America's history. They haven't researched the times when white people rioted (say...the Draft riots in New York during the Civil War) and seen that when a large group of people feels that they are being screwed over by the forces of the society, they lose faith in that society. Anger is a mask over fear. The explosion of anger you saw during the L.A. riots was actually fear. Stark, raving fear. The reinforced belief that black lives were of less value than white lives. When in 1991 a high school girl named Latasha Harlans was shot in the back of the head by a Korean grocer. The grocer was found guilty, and the judge handed down, as sole punishment, a fine SMALLER THAN THE FINE FOR LITTERING A HIGHWAY. What? Can you even begin to grasp the magnitude of this insult? Either proclaim the grocer innocent, or throw her ass in jail. To say: "oh, you're guilty, and the weirgild, the cost to society of the life you stole is less than the worth of garbage." THAT was the potential energy lurking in the Los Angeles Black community, coiled like a spring. When the Rodney King cops got off, I was in shock. I couldn't believe it. I felt completely, totally betrayed by the system. I felt stabbed, that the country I loved simply did not respect me as it did a person of identical inner characteristics with white skin. And all over the world, throughout all of history, when people have felt in danger, and betrayed by their leaders, they have exploded with fear and violence. And it happened here. Imagine yourself playing poker, and everyone else at the table is consistently getting better hands than you. You perceive that the deck is marked, and everyone else at the table winks at the dealer. Do you continue playing cards? No, you leave the table. What if you can't leave? What if it's the only table you know? Chances are, you kick the table over.
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So when O.J. was declared innocent in 1995, the anger and fear stored up from centuries of Rodney King and Latasha Harlans incidents exploded, and you heard a lot of black folks cheering. Did they really believe him innocent? I don't know. Do white folks really think Elvis is alive? All over the supposedly "Liberal" media, I heard about how there was a huge divide between white and black, that black people thought O.J. was innocent, while whites thought him guilty. Really? In what exact proportions? I never heard any good figures on that. Worse, in NONE of the black media--black newspaper, Jet, Ebony, etc., did I see articles or editorials claiming O.J.'s innocence. I'm not saying such articles didn't exist, only that I looked, and I didn't find them. but white people are, based upon stories in the Mainstream media, convinced that 90% of blacks find O.J. innocent, while 90% of whites find him guilty. Interesting. I wonder what the real numbers are? And in whose interest was it for people to believe those statistics tilted this way or that?
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O.J. was fascinating to us because of his celebrity, and, of course, because he was married to a white woman. There was a queasy undertone to all of the bruhaha--a "see what happens when the color line is crossed?" sense to much of that commentary that I'll never forget. A bit of "O.J. was the best of his kind, so we offered him the greatest gift we could offer--a beautiful white woman. And he betrayed his trust. See what a monster he is? And by extension, all of them might well be?" My god, it was, and continues to be a circus. Well, O.J. is a monster. And there is no slightest excuse for the horror of his deeds. Period. But what CAN be understood is the reactions of people who feel their lives have been a cavalcade of abuse and social denial. And their reactions are the reactions I've seen from whites in similar situations: a petulant "screw you" to " the man" even at the cost of their own sense of ethics. When there is a perception of injustice in the world, human beings go a little Coo-Koo. It's not a black thing, or a white thing. It's a human thing.
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Me? I hate the bastard, and wish someone would shoot him in the street. But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Next: Explaining Michael Jackson

O.J. and Michael Jackson

Speaking of damage to the base chakras...
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The twin cases of O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson fascinate America, partially because of the cult of celebrity, and partially due to racial issues inextricably intertwined with these two men. Let me make it clear: I have an opinion about them, and I might as well put it up front.  In one case it is more than opinion, and in another, it is an opinion regretfully embraced.  Sigh.

Here ‘tis.  Both are guilty, but only O.J. is a monster.  Michael is a sad, sick shell of a human being, abandoned  and used by the very people who should have protected him.  He is ruined now, as the most cursory glance at what one must regretfully define as “his face” would reveal.  More on that later.  The question is: if we apply storytelling techniques to both of these people, what do we make not just of them, but of the world’s reaction to them?

Let’s start with O.J. 

When I first heard of his arrest, my thought was “oh, no…he couldn’t have done that.  He wouldn’t have been stupid enough.”  That was my first thought.  But then, I’ll tell you the moment at which I realized that he was guilty.  It was during the Bronco slo-mo chase down the 405.  He’s on the phone whining “Poor little me” and “I hope my kids remember me from happier days…” with a gun at his head, old buddy Al Cowlings driving him into history (and simultaneously submarining David Hasselhoff’s career.  Seems that the former Baywatch star had bet everything on a pay-per-view musical concert from Munich that just happened to be broadcast the same night.  No one watched…yes, yet another thing to hate O.J. for!)
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At any rate, my spine was crawling.  I got  on the phone and asked several friends the following question: if you loved your ex-wife, and had kids with her, and those kids were upstairs asleep when she was butchered in the driveway with a friend, what is your first thought? 
Invariably, the first thought by four male friends was: Are the kids o.k?  Did the Manson family try to kill them?  Get them to safety!
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O.J has never, ever expressed the slightest concern for the kids.  Almost as if he knew who did it, and had no fear that they might be in jeopardy.  Hmmm
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Years later, I made the acquaintance of a lady in the adult film industry, who was a former girlfriend of Al Cowlings, the gentleman who drove the Bronco.  She told me that the night of the murder he arrived at her house, threw her on the bed and almost broke her in half with his…enthusiasm.  Later, he told her that there was nothing more exciting than cutting a woman’s throat.

I might not have taken that seriously, except that a few months later, I read an article that another adult film actress said that Al Cowlings told HER that the infamous “bloody glove” that didn’t fit O.J. belonged to him.
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So there it is.  For years I’ve carried this knowledge in my head and my heart.  I know what happened that night, but it’s all heresay, and inadmissible in a court of law.  Feh.  So two murderers are walking around, and will probably never be brought to justice.  It nauseates me, but there it is.

More tomorrow…

The Oscars

In a few hours after I write this, the Oscars will be broadcast. One question on Oscar-Watchers' lips is: who will win Best Actor? And Jamie Foxx is the front-runner, possibly the first time I've seen a black actor as front-runner in a film where he deserves to win. Oh, Denzel SHOULD have been for "Hurricane," or "Malcom X," but wasn't. It got embarassing--the Oscars are seen in more homes around the world than almost any other show. To admit that in all their history, only one non-Caucasian ever won a best Actor or Actress award was to admit that there was something odd going on in our supposedly egalitarian society.
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Could it be that only Caucasians can act? Nah. Maybe Hollywood is so racist that the craft guilds will only vote for "one of their own." Could that be it? Well, having traveled the country, I can tell you with no hesitation that Southern California is one of the least-racist parts of America. so whatever was going on, it wasn't a problem exclusive to Hollywood.
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For the record, I'm willing to take the position that the awards given out are more-or-less fair. In other words, a good actor loses over and over again, and the Academy tries to give them props with an award in another year, even if that film is weaker. Thus, Denzel gets the award for "Training Day" that he should have gotten for "Hurricane." The political shit-storm that swirled around him when people began to complain that Rubin Carter might have been guilty was considered (by some) racist, but things evened out when Russell Crowe's "A Beautiful Mind" failed to garner an Oscar because of rumors that the titular mathematician had uttered racist slurs. Both charges have nothing to do with the performances of the respective actors. But Will Smith's nomination for "Ali"? Well, in a weak year, maybe. Halle Berry's win for "Monster's Ball"? Separate from social context, this was a terrific performance in an unconvincing film. Add social context, and you have a powerful performance in a LOATHSOME film. Casting P. Diddy as her doomed husband made a subtle point that would only have been improved had they cast O.J.
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So Denzel won for "Training Day", as he did for "Glory". And Halle won for "Monster's Ball." The nasty side of my personality notes that the Black man wins for films in which he dies. And the black woman wins for a film chiefly notable for her being sexually available to a White man--again, at a time when sexually explicit scenes with non-Caucasian males are non-existant. am I being paranoid?
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Let's say that Jamie Foxx wins for "Ray." Does this mean things have changed massively? Well, yes and no. It is evidence that things are slowly changing. Black folks like to say nothing has changed, and white folks like to say that everything is just fine. The truth, of course, is somewhere between the two. Ray is a fabulous movie with a fabulous performance. He is certainly presented as a sexual being, although there is no actual nookie on-screen. I takes what I can gets, so I tended to treat "Ray" as a success and a positive sign. But how many Iconic black figures like Ray Charles are there for actors to mine? He was beloved, possibly the single most important musical performer of the 20th Century (Frank Sinatra once said that Ray Charles was the only genius in the business.) He was blind, which made him less threatening. And, of course, he died just before the film opened. So what is a black actor to do? Find another iconic, genius-level, disabled, recently-deceased performer to play? And do we have a break in the "Denzel" pattern, or an extension of it? Dead is dead, after all.
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Remember Barnes' rule of black men in SF/Action films: a black man will be too young, too old, too gay, too fat, or too dead to reproduce. That is changing, to the degree that films like "Deep Blue Sea" actually play with the audience's expectations. But you have to ask why it became a cliche in the first place. To the degree that my friends used to ask, when they knew I was going to see a science fiction film: "how'd they kill the brother this time?" And there are people out there who wonder why there are so few black SF writers? It boggles my mind that there are any at all.
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If Jamie Foxx wins, it will be a good thing. But I'm looking for the day that a black man can win an Oscar for a performance in which he is a powerful, sexual, mythic being who survives the movie. Or a black woman can win one without going down on Billy Bob Thornton.

Sexual energy

We've been talking about sex,  and this is a subject that people are pretty shy about.  But sexuality is second-chakra stuff, second only to core survival in the ability to raise your energy.  A kink in this chakra can cause ghastly damage.  Rape, abuse, premature sexual experience, sexual guilt, etc.--all can cripple your energy.  If we are going to be fully alive and aware, the proper use of this energy is critical.
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I thought I would ask you guys what exactly sexuality is to you?  To begin to define the arena. There is so much here, including questions of when sex is and is not appropriate.  Was sex appropriate between a President and an intern?  Between strangers?  Between children?  I think that we all have our rules, and it's important to have those rules operating at conscious levels.
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For me, sex is appropriate between adults (those who support themselves) when there is genuine honesty about what the reciprocal obligations and communications.  Both people must understand what sex means to the other.  For instance, there are many people for whom sex means love.  No matter what they say, no matter what the context, if you have sex with them, they think it means "I love you."  And you had bettter understand that, or you are going to run into real problems.
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For me, sex is communication, entertainment, stress relief, spiritual connection, comfort, intellectual adventure, and physical art form.  I (almost) never had sex with anyone I wouldn't have been willing to take a call from at 3 in the morning if they were in trouble.  I always tried to treat my partners as I would want someone to treat my sister, my mother, or my daughter.  And I've made mistakes. There were times I wound up in bed with someone who was more damaged than I anticipated, and the results were pretty gruesome.  But with perhaps one exception, I am still on friendly terms with every lady with whom I've shared intimacy, and treasure about 98% of my memories.

Definitions for you guys?

The Perfect Human Being

so here we are, slowly moving up the chakras.  Very slowly, because even if I define the seven levels, we have to stop and ask about the interactions of those levels.  In a writing sense, we can use the seven chakras to visualize a "perfect" human being (all seven chakras flowing energy smoothly), then "damage" our character by throwing blocks inone or another chakra.  In other words, a "perfect" human being would be (modified for age):
1) In love with life and unafraid of death
2) Have a powerful sexual drive uncomplicated by guilt, blame, or shame
3) Have a perfect lean hunter-gatherer body, and a level of physicality capable of great athleticism, tremendous energy, and a deep sensuality.  Mistress of her environment: capable of generating enough financial resources to raise a large family.  A tigress in defense of her home, children, or home-land.
4) An open, loving heart capable of deep and lasting commitment to a partner.  In the vast majority of cases, this will eventually manefest in a monogamous lifetime relationship that becomes a spiritual mirror for the journey of life.
5) Capable of honest, open communication.  Fearless self-expression and introspection.  A lifelong thirst for understanding, unending education.  The drive to share and advance knowledge.
6) A keen intellect, capable of synthesizing information from a wide range of sources.  Knows something about everything, and everything about something.  Built-in error checking to assure the accuracy of the reality map.
7) A sense of connectedness to the entire universe.  Perhaps a connection to some religious community--not to be bound by their dogma, but to have a place to contribute energy and aliveness, to help others along the path.  Fearless faith in the divine order.
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I know that these are the goals to which I aspire.  Every day, I compare myself to this model, and attempt to improve by 1%.   I will never balance them perfectly, but sometimes, just for a moment, I glimpse who I really am...what all of us truely are.  And am humbled and exhilarated by that glimpse.

Steve

Seduction

Based upon letters I've recieved, it is clear that the second Chakra stuff can be the biggest trap and landmine in the entire system.  The question of when and how sex is appropriate, what is appropriate to trade or negotiate for it, how to acquire it, what kind of relationships are best to contain that energy...this stuff is essential.  This arena probably triggers more illogical discussions than any other, especially because of the massive guilt associated with it in Christianity (to my knowledge, there is not a single positive reference to sex in the entire New Testament!).  I have friends who were shattered by rape, manipulated by calculated pregnancy, damaged by cheating, feel cast-aside when the interest of the opposite sex wanes. I've had friends go to prison for inappropriate sexual activity, and know sex-industry professionals who are coping with a hellish childhood in the best way they know how.  Lots and lots of different approaches to the same question: how shall I deal with my need for sexual expression?
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I have friends who are therapists (both men and women) and I've heard a similar story.  In session, or in seminars, they will divide the men and women into different groups.  They will then ask the men to list their relationship priorities, and the women to do the same.  INVARIABLY, men list sex as first, second, or third.  INVARIABLY, women list sex as third, fourth, or fifth.  It is this differential in how important men and women think sex is that creates one of the primary bargaining chips in relationships.
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Men have an overwhelming, visually-based need to see naked women, and a variety of them.  I doubt there is any culture, anywhere in the world, where there is a greater demand by women for male strippers than by men for female strippers.  The yellow pages of any city in America will show a hundred  topless strip clubs for every Chippindales.  Any woman who thinks this is purely cultural, or that the demand is there but men won't invest in it, is invited to mortage her house, open a strip club for women, and thereby make her fortune.  What?  No takers?  I thought not.
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When Plato's Retreat opened in New York and (later) Los Angeles, a completely predictable phenomenon happened: This swing club ended up with 98% horny guys, and a few hookers.  Women just didn't show up in significant numbers.  Why?  At least partially because women place relationship dynamics at a higher priority than raw sex.  And part of the reason for that is that almost any woman of child-bearing age knows that she can get laid any day she wants to, if all she is looking for is sex.  In fact, I really believe that the average woman has no real idea of the power she has in that sense, no real grasp of the hunger men feel (and sometimes the resentment) that it is women who, almost invariably, control whether or not there will be sex at the end of the evening.  It takes a PHENOMENALLY attractive man to have the sexual certainty of the AVERAGE woman.  On the other hand, if sex is easy, relationships are hard. 
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Men tend to marry the kinds of women they would want their daughters to grow up to be.  This is a loose rule, but useful to understand what happens.  So men want women to be sexually available, but if they are too available, they  will shuttle the woman into the "whore" category, and never consider her seriously as a life partner.  So we can see the dynamic here:
1) Men and woman both want sex, but men want it a little more (on the average)
2) Men and women have slightly different priorities and rules and drives about when sex is appropriate.
3) Men tend to look for Beauty (whatever that is as a cultural rule), while women tend to look for Power (whatever that is in their culture.)  This makes sense, as men don't have conscious control over their erections.  Our hind-brains just kinda say "Yowsah!" and  we're interested.  Or we're not.  and it's immediate, and evident.  Women seem to take a wider range of considerations into account--perfectly natural, since their reproductive imperatives are very very different.  And I don't think this stuff changes hugely even after women leave the age of reproduction.  this wiring goes deep.
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Is this unfair?  Really?  Let's say that men are less attracted to fat women, and women less attracted to stupid men.  Is it easier to lose weight or improve I.Q.?  What is really unfair here?  For years women have tried to make men feel guilty for not being as attracted to them if they get heavy.  but, guys, tell the truth--how often have you seen girlfriends and even wives turn off sexually when  you are having money problems? 
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What if NONE of this is unfair?  What if these tendencies are just the wiring we come with, and we ignore the implications at our own peril?  I thought that it would be useful to lay out my thoughts on this, and allow you guys to speak of your own experiences and thoughts, and try to lay out (so to speak) the dynamics of ethical seduction, given that sex is one of the most confusing human drives.
I've established my thoughts on the subject. And yours?

Shooting your own toes off

Steve Perry offers this tidbit about the brilliant guy who died young:
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Nah, my friend -- well, at the end, we weren't really friends any more -- was a foot-shooter.

Every time he would start to get ahead of the game, he'd do something that most average joes or janes on the street would look at and shake their heads in wonder -- how come a man that smart could so somthing so dumb?

My buddy wasn't a doctor, but he had some medical knowledge, and he knew that if you had a hereditary risk-fact for something fatal, the best way to give yourself better odds was to elimnate the risk factors you could control.

Smoking, he told me, was very yang.

Yang, I said, is something you can use a lot less of than you already have. He shrugged it off.

He shrugged off a lot of stuff over the years.

I think he thought life's rules didn't apply to him, even though every time he broke one, he got nailed.

It was a waste. A lot of his life was. The man coulda been a contender. He kept blowing his own toes off.
Steve Perry |
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THANK YOU, Steve, for offering this, because it allows us to cut closer to the heart of the issue.  WE ARE EACH JUST EXACTLY INTELLIGENT ENOUGH TO SCREW OURSELVES UP.  I laugh when I hear people suggesting that intelligence gets you into more trouble.  I don't buy that.  It's that people think that intelligence should solve all problems, and when the emotional crap comes boiling to the surface, and people screw themselves over, the usual reasoning is that somehow intelligence makes your life worse.
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Hogwash.  Intelligence is one of the tools in the box.  Knowing how to FOCUS that intelligence is jsut as important, and that is largely controlled by our emotions.  Intelligence CAN influence our emotional states (by selecting targets of focus, for instance) , but rarely does. 
YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT TO FOCUS ON, or your intelligence is a lot like the strength of a Rhino on roller-skates: no traction.  Some of the "smartest" people I know have made TERRIBLE decisions about their health, probably due to that old body-mind split ("I'm not my body") that has destroyed so many. And their emotional life is often not much better.  The question is: how do we calibrate our senses?  How do we set ourselves up so that our intelligence will actually produce love, health, and success?  My answer, the one I am willing to place forward to be questioned, is to blace the concept of BALANCE higher than anything else. 
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Steve's friend clearly did not place balance as one of the highest values.  As a result, his health was less important than his fitness.  His intelligence literally was cancelled out by his emotional "stuff."  If BALANCE is the most important thing, then you must ask yourself how your current beliefs, values, and positive/negative emotional anchors support a balanced life.  If they don't, then you examine them against the model of balance--not against the dysfunctional patterns inherited from parents or suggested by society.  You look at the Hero's Journey to understand the path ahead.  You look at the Chakras to understand the different manefestations of human energy.   This, or an approach like it, I believe to be wisdom.  INTELLIGENCE ISN'T ENOUGH.  By the time you learn the error of your approach, your life is OVER.  You have to learn by other people's mistakes.  Please, please, please (as James Brown used to say) don't think you can think your way out of the existential box.  The instructions for exiting the box are written on the outside of the box.  Listen to the sages of the ages.  The Hero's Journey tells the tale.

Steve

Brainstorming ideas

The best way to come up with a good idea is to come up with a LOT of ideas.  The trick is that most of those ideas will be bad.  And, in fact, it is IMPORTANT that you give yourself permission to generate bad ideas.  This is related to the question of "writer's block," which, as I've said, is a confusion of two different states, the "flow" state and the "editing" state where you are judging the quality of what you have done. 
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A good exercise for this is to come up with a hundred ideas for stories in thirty minutes--with permission for 95% of them to suck rocks.  Just set your timer and go.  You've got like eighteen seconds to write down each idea, so you'll have to just GO.  Don't worry about spelling or grammar, or quality.  Just write them down as fast as you can. 
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The beautiful thing about this exercise is that, in all likelihood, there is no problem in your life that could survive a single day of focused brainstorming.  I can bet that few of you have ever taken an entire day and addressed a particular problem, writing down every aspect of it you can think of, and then every possible answer, every resoruce, every ally, every alternative interpretation.   I'm talking at least eight solid hours of focus on one problem.  It is ASTOUNDING what can be accomplished if  you will take this time.  Try it!
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Remember--the "Lifewriting" approach is to see yourself as a hero in the story of your own life.  Learning to brainstorm in the arena of writing can lead to brainstorming in life itself--and problem-solving on an entirely new level.

Constantine (2005)

Let me say this outright: I'm not a member of the "Keanu Reeves can't act to save his life" gang.  I knida like his laid-back So California style, and his rather loose-limbed athleticism.  So I was looking forward to "Constantine", his tale of a doomed exorcist facing the End of Days.  And it didn't disappoint.  For those who DON'T like his acting style, I think that the film still has its share of pleasures, including a truly terrific vision of Hell, and CGI demons that are actually kinda spooky (even if they doo look a little too much like creatures from the vidgame Silent Hill).  At any rate, Constantine has more than enough bang for the buck, and a guest appearance by Satan himself.  Who can argue with that?  I give it a "B."

There is nothing less common than common sense

Steve Perry offers:
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An old running buddy of mine died recently. Man was the most brilliant and intellectually- intelligent fellow I ever knew. Certified genius, IQ pushing 170, high-level Mensa kinda guy. Married four times, had five grown kids, and in his youth was a champion gymnast. Also a life-long martial artist, worked out all the time. But there was a strong family history of heart disease, and he smoked -- hand-rolled, unfiltered cigarettes, a score or more a day -- and one fine morning not long past, he had a massive heart attack. Fifty-eight years old.

Goes to show you that a high IQ doesn't take the place of common sense ...
Steve Perry
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A friend of mine has a saying: "Human beings are machines designed to succeed."  If that is true, then the real question is: what is your definition of success?  What we are playing with is the question of: "what happens if you live your life in balance?"  It is clear that Steve's friend had fitness down cold.  But fitness and health are two different things.  the disconnect between them is probably attributable to a home environment that stressed "doing" over "being," saying that he was valuable in terms of what he accomplished in the external world.  At a 170 IQ, he HAD to know the risks he was taking.  Now, it's possible that it was a calculated risk: he felt that he had these hereditary tendencies, and figured that he might die early anyway, so why deny himself the pleasure?  We would have to ask him whether he felt the way he died was an optimal expression of his Self.  If so, then he lived his life according to his values, and we can only criticise from an external perspective--which, in an existential sense, is about as pointless as shipping ice to the Arctic.  If he feels he made a mistake, then it would be useful to look more deeply, to speculate on where he got off track.
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There is nothing less common than common sense.  If that were not true, we would not prize it so highly.  "Common sense" comes not just from knowledge in the world, but knowledge of how to apply those understandings to our lives.  We ALL screw up on this count.  I say it's because we are incorrectly calibrated: we are socially programmed to produce, to perform.  Not to evolve--and we are evolving beings.  You have to slow down, to listen to the inner voice. You have to aim at the balanced life: health, family/partnership, career.  ALL THREE.  If you do this, you simply can't go too wrong.
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Mightn't Steve's friend have died anyway?  Or accomplished less than he did in what was doubtless a full and adventurous life?  Possibly.  Each of us must design a life in accordance with our own values and beliefs.  In the end, that is one of the most important things that any of us can do.

Steve

More on Yoga

In Yoga class this morning the humidity was a butt-kicker, and I was seriously tempted to sit down for a while.  But I made a decision: I would find the "edge" of my endurance, and then sort of "skate" across it, if that makes sense.  In other words, I would give myself permission to quit if it got too much, but as long as I could maintain focus on my breathing, it was forward-ho.
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Yoga, a Sanskrit word meaning "to yoke," or "to unite" is a set of disciplines that address the body-mind split in many powerful ways.  Meditation, concentration, physical postures, breath control and so forth are some of the better known ones.  Certainly, the physical postures, "asanas" are the best known form, and contain much of the benifit of the other "branches."  Yoga is particularly good for the back and joints.  Watching Tananarive and Nicki as the practise and find their individual ways to engage with the process has been, and continues to be, a great joy.
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Especially with Nicki, this is just the bomb.  I'd wanted for years to pass on to her some of the understandings I've gained over the years, and because she never really engaged with a physical discipline, it was difficult.  I didn't want her to rebel, so I didn't push her much.  But now she wants to sculpt her body, and there's a Bikram around the corner, and, well...
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I remember driving back from someplace or other, and remembering that we had Yoga in the morning.  We talked about it a bit, and I told her to visualize her third chakra (the hara), and to see what results she might get from thinking into that center below the navel in class the next day.  by making suggestions like this, we are creating a shared vocabulary for concepts that can't quite be put into words.
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There is a truth in the realm of the esoteric: there are things that cannot be taught, cannot be put into words, but can still be learned.  And a teacher can create a context in which a student can learn for herself, and then that teacher can identify a breakthrough moment and say: "that one.  That moment, there." 
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There are so many things that I'm trying to communicate on this blog.  The value of each and every one of you.   the sanity of a balanced life and perspective.  The road to a high-energy creative life.  The path to personal mastery.  NO, I'm not saying I'm a master.  I'm saying that I've identified a path that leads to mastery. 
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And how might Yoga fit into that path?  Integrated into the FIVE MINUTE MIRACLE, one would practise a single asana five times a day--pick your least favorite (standing head to knee pose, for me!).  One would also have goals in all three major areas of life, and visualize your triangle as you perform the pose.  Move your consciousness through the chakras.  About seven breaths, about two minutes.  You've got it!

Steve

1% Rule

I get a lot of mail sent directly to me, from people too shy to post.  One lady is making an heroic effort to cope with a negative life spiral that includes date rape, abandonment issues, serious weight issues, and soul-deep fatigue.  This note is to her, and to all of the rest of you:
Take it slowly.  It took decades to create the mess, it will take months to clear it up.  Perhaps years.  There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel.
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When losing weight, they warn you to drink lots of water, to help flush the toxins your body will release. The same thing is true of emotional toxins.  You've locked them in place for years, because your subconscious mind does everything in its power to protect you from pain.  Bring it back up without proper meditation or journaling work, and you will knock yourself flat on your butt.  This is serious, serious stuff--there is no crash diet for the spirit!  There are, however, lifetime plans.  This blog is about an approach to re-claiming yourself.  It will take time.  Slow down, pace yourself--you're worth it!

Steve

A Human Doing

Spoke with an old friend yesterday.  His wife had to trick him into seeing a doctor, who gave him the news that he was on the edge of a stroke.  This friend is an ultra-hard working, "A"-type person--we all know them.  Both men and women believe that their gender is taught to ignore their own needs, to push themselves to collapse, to put the "job"--whether it be career or family--before their own health and sometimes sanity.  Luckily, my friend has a sneaky, worried wife who took matters in hand--but how many of us take care of ourselves last?
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We are not merely valuable for what we do.  We are valuable in our existance, in our "being"-ness.  And this is one of the hardest things to get people to see.  Hidden behind all of the gender stuff, and the racial stuff, and the political stuff, is the fact that we all get a thousand mesages a day that we don't matter unless we perform. Unless we sacrifice.  And we must, each and every one of us, take responsibility for taking back our souls, for claiming the essential nature of our spirits--which is EXPRESSED in our actions, but not determined by them.
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It is so critical to spend time every day connecting with this vital truth--it is a force within us that can birth infinite energy.  It is the most alive and powerful aspect of our entire.  WE MATTER.  Every single day you need to embrace this truth, to find a way to connect with the sacredness of your existence.  How else can we face our days with courage?  How else can we lift up our loved ones, our mates and children?  Our friends?  How else lift up our communities? 
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Every technique we're talking about on this blog is designed to clear your vision, to put you more in touch with your essential self.  YOU MATTER.  How about a story dealing with someone who puts everyone else first?  The "Women are trained to put their families first" or the "Men are trained to sacrifice everything to support their families" belief/value patterns are quite valuable for the survival of the clan--but we are, I hope, a little beyond that now.  What beliefs might replace those?  And how to emplant those beliefs? Thoughts?

Week #5--Yearlong Writer's program

When Stress becomes strain.  Hans Selye, the man who created the concept of stress, commented before his death that it is not stress that hurts us--it is strain.  In an engineering sense, Stress is pressure per unit area, while strain is deformation per unit length.  In other words, it's not the pressure you're under, it's whether or not you are balanced enough to keep from warping out of "true."  so BALANCE is a key, key aspect of life.
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I determined long ago that the only way to achieve great success in life is to be obsessive. And the ONLY thing I can think of that it is safe to be obsessive about is balance.  Well, I'm sure you can overdo this as well, (think: obsessive-compulsive disorder) but it's still the best choice I know.
There are thousands of wonderful stories to be told about people who lose their balance, and begin to let stress turn to strain.  That strain will always manefest in one of three arenas: their person life, their physical body, or their mental acuity.  This week, write a story that deals with someone at this critical juncture.  Make it funny or horrifying, but try to tell the truth about human beings as you see them.

Notes from a filmmaker

Just got back from the Arizona Black Film Showcase, held in Phoenix.  Tananarive and I were presenting a workshop on Hollywood, and an award for best Short film.  Great fun, nice people.  Also saw some of my relatives while I was there--that was great, for different reasons.
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One of the best things that happened there was the ability to meet and speak with Reginald Hudlin, the director of "House Party" and one of Eddie Murphy's best films, "Boomerang."  Boomerang, which 100% meets my requirements for the "black leading man" films we've been talking about ("Hitch" only gets 80% there...but close enough), was probably the last gasp of Eddie's career, the last time we saw, or will see, the dangerous, sexy, sleek, predator we fell in love with.  Sigh.  That's another column.  What was great, however, was a talk that Hudlin gave about working in the industry, and his three principles for success;
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1) Don't Suck.   In other words, become excellent in your craft.  This is vital, because if you keep knocking on doors, eventually, you will get the chance to show  your stuff.  When this happens, you'd better have done your homework!
2)  Pick up the Twenty.  The story is this: there are some people so focused on the hundred dollar bill across the street that they don't notice the twenty laying at their feet.  Opportunities are all around you.  Sometimes they don't look like that Grand Slam you dream of, but bunting gets the bases loaded, guys. 
3)  Trouble is opportunity in work clothes.  My 1st wife's brother, Patric, is one of the world's great guys.  His response to trouble is:  "Thank you, God, for another opportunity to find out who I am."  With an attitude like that, you cannot fail in life!

Talent?

I don't believe in it.  What I do believe in is hard work over time, and honesty.  And people capable of both are in short supply.    How many of you are capable of writing a million words, just to get into the game?  How many of you will tell the truth about what turns you on, horrifies you, engages you, amuses you?  In my experience it is far more common to find artists interested in being "clever" than revelatory.  A belief system that will help you: you can run out of clever, but you can never run out of the truth.
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This is what the LIFEWRITING system is set up to do: to get you thinking more deeply than you ever have about who and what you are, what your life has been, how you are responsible for your successes and failures in life.  And to turn that understanding into wisdom.

The Gathering of Allies

Want to know where you will end up in life? Just add up all your friends and divide by the number of friends. You'll be right in the middle of the pack. Want a better destiny? Improve the quality of your associations.
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As cruel as that sounds, it is simply true. You can't rise higher than your reference group. In the industry, this is called "Networking,"and I'm doing it this weekend in Phoenix, at theArizona Black Film Showcase. I'm joining some of the Hollywood glitterati to talk about the industry, geting into it, etc.

But at the same time that I'm lecturing, I'm meeting people, and exchanging cards. Hopefully, some of these contacts will turn into new friends, and new business possibilities. Always a good thing. I am really entering a new phase in my life--the old resources will not help me to a new level.

Time Line Therapy

A guy named Tad James in Hawaii has an outgrowth of NLP called Time Line Therapy, or Time Line goal-setting.  It is a terrific visualization/goal setting technique that dovetails beautifully with what we're talking about here.
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On a very basic level, Time Line goal setting suggests that you can best accomplish your goals when:
1) You have a goal clearly stated, and visualize the last step.
2) Your value hierarchy is aligned with the goal.
3) Your belief systems are aligned with the goal
4) Your positive and negative emotional anchors are aligned with the goal.
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It is SO incredibly easy to get off the path, and often the self-sabotage won't reveal itself until years have passed, and you find yourself floundering and can't figure out what happened.  The most consistent sign that you are "off the path" is a loss of energy.  You just feel drained, dragging from one day to the next.  this is not just a physical thing--it is a sign of being spiritually disconnected, of losing your focus.  You can increase energy INSTANTLY just by re-gaining clarity on what is most important to you in life, embracing your creative destiny.  that psychological/spiritual focus is absolutely precious, and never ever let anyone take that away from you.  In many, many ways the world seems to conspire to drain us. The natural curve of energy--from childhood to old age--peaks at about the age of 20.  But there are other sources of energy, and you should seek them out with great care and persistence.  On the discussion board (you'll find the button to the right) we started a thread about energy, and I'd love for people to post about the things that DRAIN them, and those that lift them up.  Here are ten of my favorite energy boosters, just to make a sixty-second list:
1) drinking water.
2) Naps
3) fresh fruit and vegetable juice smoothy
4) aerobic exercise
5) stretching and alignment
6) proper breathing (THE FIVE MINUTE MIRACLE!)
7) Working on a favorite project
8) hugs
9) sex (!)
10) Dancing.
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That was just a  quick burst of thoughts.  I'd love to hear comments out there--how do you gain and lose energy?  The "time Line" therapy discussed at the beginning are a terrific way to see where you have your brakes on.  Take 'em off--and you'll discover a course of energy you may have completely forgotten.

Sleep and Bikram Yoga

Curious...I've been noticing that I seem to need a little less sleep since I've been practising this stuff.  I've never found anything that reduced my need for sleep.  Without my eight hours, I feel completely trashed.  WITH eight hours, I never get sick.  I've been waking up after about 6-7, feeling "light and cool," my kinesthetic signatures that tell me I'm ready to get out of bed.  Well, I'm going to investigate this a little more carefully.  Both Nicki and Tananarive are involved in practise now, which is a load off my mind...Nicki seems to be finding an aspect of her power that she hadn't claimed before, and I'm delighted!  Let's see what happens...