the best things in life aren't things
Archive for July, 2008
Talking in circles – Our story
Jul 31st
I have decided I would like to try something new this week. Ok, here’s the plan: I am going to write the beginning of a story here, and whoever is interested will copy my text and add another paragraph (or two!) in the comments section. Then the next person will copy the whole text and add his or her creative touch and so on.
The only rule: let your imagination run wild.
“So. How does it feel?”
“How does what feel?”
“You know to be… Well, to be you.”
“Ummm, It feels very Me..ey. Is that a good response? Is that what you want to hear?”
“Please sir. You agreed to an interview. You know how to cooperate. You know what we want to hear. I’m on a schedule and I would appreciate it if you don’t waste my time.”
“So you want to know how it feels to be me then?”
“Yes.”
“And I can’t just say Meey. Or like me. Or anything like that, right?”
“Correct”
“So you want to know how it feels to be the man who killed his own wife in self-defense? The man who killed his wife because she was threatening him at gunpoint and he‘d just realized after ten years that she‘d gone mad? The man who actually killed his wife and didn’t do a damn thing wrong?”
….
Junk
Jul 30th
People think it’s all about misery and desperation and death and all that shite, which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise we wouldn’t do it. After all, we’re not fucking stupid. At least, we’re not that fucking stupid. Take the best orgasm you ever had, multiply it by a thousand and you’re still nowhere near it. When you’re on junk you have only one worry: scoring. When you’re off it you are suddenly obliged to worry about all sorts of other shite. Got no money: can’t get pished. Got money: drinking too much. Can’t get a bird: no chance of a ride. Got a bird: too much hassle. You have to worry about bills, about food, about some football team that never fucking wins, about human relationships and all the things that really don’t matter when you’ve got a sincere and truthful junk habit.
A tune a day..
Jul 29th
One of Jaques Brel’s undisputed masterpieces, it was first performed at the Olympia in Paris in 1964 and received a three minute standing ovation. It’s Brel’s vision of freedom , the freedom of sailors to sing, dance, eat, carouse, whore and take pride in virility, the joy spoiled only by unfaithful women (who probably have their own vision of freedom).
“Amsterdam is the symbol of the adventure which begins tomorrow which men dream of. It’s kind of a song of virility, in truth.”
You may have heard Mort Shuman, David Bowie, Dave Van Ronk , Robert Cuccioli and countless others sing the English adaptation by Shuman/Blau, but if you haven’t seen Brel present it in French, you’re missing the real thing. Here it is.
Buddhas for Burning
Jul 22nd
I think we have understood that dogmas in a world of constant mutation are necessarily false? And since we know that everything we formulate in words, that is, seen dualistically, is inevitably deformed, we can readily understand that all doctrines, religious, philosophical, scientific, cannot represent more than a reflection of truth.
Men and women who seek doctrines, study them, endeavour to follow them, are impeding their own progress. The Masters, from the Buddha down, in their frequent condemnation of ‘discoursing’ have made that clear, and in declaring that there must be no attachment to, or identification with, the Dharma itself (or any dharma), that even the teaching of the Buddha himself must be discarded, have left no room for doubt on that score.
Doctrines, scriptures, sutras, essays, are not to be regarded as systems to be followed. They merely contribute to understanding. They should be for us a source of stimulation, and nothing more.
We must create each his own dharma, understanding, and may use those of others to help us to that end; they have no other value for us. Adopted, rather than used as a stimulus, they are a hindrance. As the Zen master stated to the monk whom he found studying a sutra, ‘Do not let the sutra upset you – upset the sutra yourself instead.’ Some Masters expressed themselves more forcibly, as when they recommended that Buddhas (statues of) were for burning and on a cold day used one as firewood, and in advising, ‘If you meet the Buddha, turn aside and look the other way.’ Such statements shock the sense of reverence inculcated by the devotional religions, but their meaning, their aim, their importance, are evident.
(© RKP, 1960)
A tune a day..
Jul 22nd
Well I wish I could think of some cliche to mouth
To make our parting seem less sad
But if I told you lies or promised you the moon
The truth would come trickling from my eyes
So run honey run, and hide in the wind
And never stop to look inside your mind
