Yeesh, I don't think any other blog entry has spawned such polarized reactions as my entry trying to celebrate my efforts to sustain and fulfill MY version of living life vs someone else's idea about how to live life. People either read it for what it was, or they read it as a slam against "the mainstream" and just left it at that.
Listen... my post to celebrate and cheer on my efforts to be myself, honor myself, and try to strike a balance in a world full of pressure to conform to a standard, was just THAT... my celebration and cheering on of myself. It wasn't a slam against those of you who CHOOSE to participate in "the mainstream" and it wasn't a slam against those whose dreams happen to coincide with what the mainstream expects of you. That is a lucky and beautiful thing, and if my way of living, or my dreams coincided with the mainstream, I would be delighted.
My angle of distaste was directed toward those who succumb to the pressure to be a cog in the wheel of life, who then bitterly enforce that same defeat upon others; it was also directed toward those who are lucky enough to have their goals and dreams be perfectly in alignment with the mainstream, who then stand in contempt and arrogance over others using smug justifications. THEY are the "walking dead" and those afraid of splashing about in the waters of uncertainty in life. THEY are the zombies who just want to bite you and make you one of them.
So if your dreams align with the mainstream... maybe try to generate some gratitude for that wonderful position you have in life, and try to generate some compassion for those of us who feel a design to do differently.
We are all trying to get to the same places, so don't be a hater, 'k?
Peace.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
My Limbo and Flux You TWO
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7 comments:
The thing is Troy, your comments of those who are "a cog in the wheel of life, who then bitterly enforce that same defeat upon others", and the "walking dead" have a feel of rebellion in them, of giving a finger to a large swath of society.
I myself work in the corporate world - and everyone around me rolls their eyes a lot as I bring humor and my own unique way of living to the office. In fact, I made a conscious choice to go that route because freedom is my primary need and there's far more freedom having money saved up via a job in the corporate world (that isn't too bad and gives me a good freedom anyway) than it is to be rebellious and struggling to be paying the rent.
I too felt like giving the finger to a lot of the world for a long time, resulting in me getting fired from a nice job a number of years ago. Then when I cleaned up all the residual 3rd IM stuff, I realized the best thing is just to be myself, peacefully, without giving the finger to anyone.
Am I really being THAT unclear? Good lord...
I'm not giving "the finger" to the corporate world. My words may have been written with editing and refinement, but they were intended to speak to the reality of pressure upon a lot of us to give up our dreams as a means to make others feel better about giving up on their own. It's also a comment about the self-perpetuating crisis that some of us creative types keep ourselves lock in.
My point: it's all about the balance from either side. My other point: I've had to accept the fact that I am an extremist and continue to improve my balance.
That's that.
Oh, and Carrotwax... I love that you seem to have found that balance. It's inspiring!
You do not have the right to own a car. You do not have the right to be happy. You do not have the right to money, food, sex, drugs, speech, life, death, friends, combat or anything. There is no-one who deserves these things less than you...
Hi Troy, I popped in to see what's happening with you as your list has been so quiet. It is good to catch up with where you are.
I wonder if choosing how to make a living in this world is also a function of our Role? I'm thinking of my kids as examples. Joe is moving up the ladder in the civil service, starting from a lowly position as a computer person. He is also very invoved in meditation, spiritual growth and personal growth through psychotherapy. It seems to me he is somehow able to separate his various interests in a surprsing way. I don't know his role but I'm wondering if he is either a Warrior or Scholar..
My daughter Jenny, on the other hand has lived on minimal income for years while pusuing a career as a potter. finally she got fed up with poverty and tried to come up with an alternate career. She wrote a novel...Still waiting to see if it will be published. Still poor...But I think, true to who she is...Defintely an Artisan...simply must be creating all the time...
Myself I never managed to come up with a career that produced any money.. I am lucky to have an old fashioned husband who is willing to support me. My husband is a Priest who struggled through many years as a minister and is now happy to be retired. he says he honestly can't imagine what other career he might have had except maybe failed actor...I ssupect he migth ahve beena very good actor actually...
But certainly in my family Joe seems to be the only one able to cope in the world of big offices and lots of employees.
anyhow, all the best in your search. Linda.
Although too pretentious, i have to admit CarrotWax is wiser then you cocteaubobo boy..
Troy,
Art:
A primary function of art and thought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit him to stand beyond it in an autonomy of perception and judgment.
Lionel Trilling (1905-75), U.S. critic. Beyond Culture, Preface (1965).
Perhaps some mystics have achieved higher levels of consciousness than Beethoven (perhaps!), but if so, we cannot know of it. Aleister Crowley once astonished everyone by writing that the artist is greater than the mystic, an odd remark from a man who was only a mediocre artist himself (althought a great mystic.) Listening to Ludwig, I have come to understand what Crowley meant. The mystic, unless he or she is also an artist, cannot communicate the higher states of awareness achieved by the fully turned-on brain; but the great artist can. Listening to Beethoven, one shares, somewhat, in his expanded perceptions; and the more one listens, the more one shares. (- Justin Case -)
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