MsTiara’s Thoughts

I was doing my normal reading of blogs this morning and came across this interesting piece on Jonathan Carroll’s blog:

http://www.jonathancarroll.com/blog1/archiveMain.html

CarrollBlog 12.7

“You Learn Something New Every Day” department:

Few people realize that in the 15th century the Buddha was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. He was officially called Saint Josaphat, a name that’s derived from the word “bodhisattva,” which refers to a deeply compassionate person devoted to becoming an enlightened being. Virtually every element of Josaphat’s life story as reported by the Church is a duplicate of the original legends about the Buddha.

Rob Brezsny

Now how could I resist following up on this one? So, off to Wikipedia I went, where I read the story about Barlaam and Josaphat

Fascinating…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barlaam_and_Josaphat .

I just enjoyed this journal entry from Jonathan Carroll. It stops you and makes you think.

One of those night dreams where you wake up and immediately think what was THAT all about? Where did THAT come from? The surreal mix of the very real, the sort of real, the strange, the impossible, the improbable, and a pinch of sexuality thrown in to the recipe to give it an even odder aroma and taste. When I have dreams like this I try to figure out what was going on there. Next I think don’t be stupid– it doesn’t signify anything. My brain’s just having a yard sale. Then I worry it might mean EVERYTHING and in it somewhere is the solution to all my problems, I just have to decode the dream’s peculiar hieroglyphics. In the end though I give up and mentally toss the whole thing into the back of my mind’s cluttered closet with all the other dust covered dreams that have piled up in there, unsolved, over the years.

Jonathan Carroll

‘Why do people love us? We are always trying to figure that out, but only by using our own point of view. That way is so limited. Sometimes they love us for things we don’t even know about ourselves. For example they love our hands. My *hands*? Why would anyone love my hands? But they’ve got their reasons why. You must accept that and realize the person they know and love is different from the one you know.’

from THE GHOST IN LOVE - Jonathan Carroll

A Jonathan Carroll quote from his new novel (unnamed on his website):

“The thing that kept him standing still was the sudden realization that he felt no curiosity about where she was going now, none. He had not been curious about her life for a long time. What she did with her days, what she thought about things, what mattered or distressed her– he was indifferent. It was ambient sound to him. Granted, some was louder and some softer. Generally though it was mostly background noise, or the soft tune playing in an elevator as you ascend to your floor. Familiar and trivial, the most effect it had was to stay in your mind a few seconds after you left the elevator. Perhaps you whistled some notes of it before moving on to what mattered, but no more. For years she had been one of the most important parts of his life. But in recent times what she did, what she thought, where she went, or what left her lips was like hearing the song ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head’ for the 1,000th time.”

from the new novel

I have been fascinated by the Polyamory blogs that deal so much with something called New Relationship Energy (NRE). NRE is the feeling you get when you first meet someone, that fascination of the person, the need to know what they are thinking and who they are. You learn about their interests and they slowly become yours. You wait with bated breath for the ding of the email and you watch with fascination their movements. They make you smile, everything is special. But, NRE is not something that lasts, no matter how much you love someone, it fades away… In the world we live in today, we don’t like those things that feel familiar anymore, instead of exploring with each other all of a sudden it is boring and sedate and you know longer have those moments of wanting to go out and experience. Then you see someone else and they have new thoughts and we don’t know their patterns and they find you fascinating, so you throw away the old and pick up the new.

I find this sad, true but sad. We live in a world where we have instant gratification and if we make a mistake it is as easy as the back key or the delete button. So, in a relationship as they are surfing through life, if they get bored they just click the channel button or cause drama in the relationship to keep them entertained, at least for a little while.

From Jonathan Carroll’s Blog:

People in Vienna who are blind or sight impaired wear large yellow bands with three black dots arranged in a triangle on their arm to alert others that they are handicapped. Passing one of them today, I thought wouldn’t it be interesting if others wore color coded bands like that for all sorts of “handicaps” or positive qualities. For example, white would mean the person is a son of a bitch– proceed at your own risk. Orange would mean they are a false friend. Black would say this person is fascinating but deeply neurotic, so be careful. Blue with two black circles would mean this guy talks a good game but in truth is a coward. Of course there would be color bands for good qualities too, but wouldn’t it be helpful if you could tell at a glance whether you wanted to have contact with that stranger or not. Yes, it might take some of the mystery out of life but to tell you the truth, I’m exhausted by the mysteries I must confront daily and I assume you are too.

My thoughts:

Now this is a brilliant idea. Can’t you imagine, “this person is F*ing crazy” would it be the color of bright red and green like an animal that is poisonous to eat? The problem with this thought is that what would likely occur is that people would still spend their time and soul on these people. It seems to be human nature to want to try to “fix” that which is broken and it would be like a red flag being waived at most of the population.

A friend asked yesterday if this blog is addressed to anyone in particular? I said yes– it’s a love letter to someone I haven’t met yet. - Taken from Jonathan Carroll’s blog

I fell in love with this quote and I have determined that this is a wonderful way to write a journal.