I don’t know, Gentle Reader, what made me think about this Cuban film today. I reckon, however, it is because I’ve been engaged in a rather thorough going Improvement and Possible Modernization of Actual Self for a long time and I was, in fact, Looking Back on what the State of Me was before this all began. My memory of the film is that as usual, the new and the old move along together and some parts of each get tired and fall away all in a politicized context of NEW vs OLD, or NOW vs THEN. It occurred to me, thinking about this movie, that in the eight and a half years (!!!!!!!!!!!) we’ve been here, I maintained my historical approach of DO and BE also, because you can’t BE accepted or included or whatever unless you DO. If that makes sense. Let’s just say it’s totally exhausting and in fact, impossible. Kind of like having a democracy in a fascist state. In fact, what I think about that approach now is that it rather exactly mimics the process of capitalist colonialization, except you are doing the invading, genocide, institution creating and reality fixing yourself. You believe the invaders (I’m picturing my high school “guidance counselor” here for one) when they tell you it’s their way or else and after all they DO have the weapons, as in, you must compete in the world, you must look outside yourself for every reward- all in a vacuum with no critical thinking of course- and, after all you are probably not Leadership and Success Material anyway because of things that are out of your control, like whether you have two parents at home, what color and sex you are, and stuff like that. So one is constantly striving in an atmosphere that is completely artificial and has nothing to do with what YOU might actually be, and be able to contribute….and there is the distinction, I think. Contribution to
the actual whole as opposed to achievement for you individually. And that would all be fine if the contribution to the whole part of things wasn’t systematically stymied to a very large extent. Because actual change and development across the board are not what are wanted. It is success for a small part of the whole, which is defined quite specifically and these days seems to consist entirely of the acquisition of money.
Someone remarked at the outset that the circumstances of our life here approximated some fairly serious monastic settings, for which experience in deleting DOING people pay big bucks. I see that now, of course, and at long last I am surrendering, completely- or as completely as I can in this moment- to what IS. What IS, of course, is almost completely gravelling at times and has involved the manifestation of all of my deepest fears. One right after another, with traffic jams at times. There really has been, and is, no room for anything other than acceptance and surrender. So now what?
Now what is, in part anyway, seeing things more as they actually are and not as one was told, or what one wanted to believe they were (“family” is a good concept to ponder here). This is not an easy task. It is and has been, also, for me, the laying of my personal foundation in what I have always known to be true: LOVE. For so long I toiled away and lived a kind of double life. Knowing the truth and hoping to find a glimmer of it somewhere while hiding behind the exterior of a workman. Not daring to tell anyone what I actually saw when they walked into a room, or that I heard colors and had moments of divine awareness, happiness, joy. In my private time. Naturally that did not work all that well, even though I thought it did since I was, after all, able to support myself, which I now see of course has been my struggle and preoccupation since about age 10. Those around me convinced me that since I was Lazy, it was important that I rouse myself constantly and go DO THINGS, like clean out the gutters or mend everyone’s clothes. All of which developed good work habits, don’t get me wrong. But I did at last hit the wall, irrevocably and big time, and when that happens and all the things you didn’t want to look at just now, the disappointment and oftentimes rage, the sorrow, anger and fear, all rise up at once? Even when you think you’re all grown up now and that scar really did heal nicely, didn’t it? You got to move.
The move, of course, is one we all dread- at least from what I hear. Because it is a move to not doing, to silence, to feeling what it is you are actually feeling- and that last bit is a real monster as Russell Brand once said so well. And, for extra fun? You get to do that while a bunch of stuff is happening all around you, stimulating all those spots that used to flash messages like EAT ME, DRINK ME, SHOP, RUN, VACUUM TIL YOU DROP. I’m sure you know.
So that is what I’ve been doing, it turns out, for the past couple of years and this last year? has been a real doozy containing as it has the absolute full court press of OH GOD NO, NOT THAT. But running from things is not moving, as it turns out. Moving is often a rather still process although what happens in that stillness seems like pieces of the ground underneath you simply flying away.
At least part of what you come to is this. Yes, awful things happen in life and there is pain. And there is also the pain of others which can be even more difficult to deal with since it tends to elicit a sense of powerlessness that often leads to hitting the metaphorical snooze button. Nevertheless most of the things you fear are in your mind, are about how you think about things and not what they are. (Aside of course from things like “climate change” which is quite scary enough just as it is, and quite overwhelming when you wonder what you can do about it in light of the giant snooze button it has attached). Facing those fears without running or flinching is tremendously difficult, but you can become skilled and able to do it, and as you do, somehow that basic ground of LOVE comes into focus, you see the pattern of life in a large moving sweep rather than an isolated pixel that has your face in it. You are able to stop looking for what’s “wrong” and accepting that it is, as they say, what it is. That what is contains everything, which means there are dynamic possibilities. Then, more fun! because you accept responsibility for yourself and begin to learn how to live with respect for yourself and all your relations. There will be no more acceptance of the basically unacceptable in one’s “controllable” perimeter, aka the brain or some part of it. No more snap-fests that last for days, no blame, no paralysis either which turns out to be one of the best parts….just the exploration of a whole new world, which you loved before and love even more now. Functional expression of that love is what is, now. So even when someone transgresses, it can actually be balanced AT THE TIME, without rancor, and who’da thunk?
Quick notes on magic: I have an almost 30 year old passion flower plant in the middle of the garden area. We noticed this week that there is a long, vining tendril of passion flower growing out of the ground at one window- which had to seed itself somehow and is, in fact, in a direct line of float from original plant to new tendril spot. Beets have sprung up again in the pot they were initially placed in as seedlings, then thought to be discarded since they more or less disappeared in the summer heat and smoke. Something else got planted in the pot, the pot got moved, and now? We have both the something else AND beets. Then there’s the forest of swiss chard that seeded from the OTHER swiss chard that had been there for three years. It stopped being 398 degrees every day and the roses bloomed again, the butterfly bush did its thing and the Rose of Sharon has been extravagant. The mugwort is about to bloom and we have a ton of tomatoes in the back at long last- after a summer’s worth of grumbling from the Partner that he was watering these huge-ass bushes and for what? Well? Cherokee Purple tomatoes at New Year’s is what. We even had another successful solstice non-birthday, with guava bars and arroz con leche as this year’s favored dessert. I also learned that I can, in fact, make a good red chile enchilada sauce- having always favored green up to now- and it’s pretty simple. Add to that the discovery that Meadowsweet, already a favorite herb, as a single tincture applied to inflamed sores of any origin, works like a charm, humans and canines alike. Not bad for a recent trip through Hell, yes?
Blessings and thanks!
Boozilla: learning to fly one room at a time 