Vending Machines

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Dogs Saying Grace

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Fat Puppets

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The Shadow - Carl Jung

“I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me

and what can be the use of him is more than I can see.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

One of the most intriguing aspects of Carl Jung’s psychology is his concept of “The Shadow.” According to Jung, we all have a shadow resulting from over identification with our ego or social mask while neglecting other less favorable aspects of our personalities.  http://ieric2010.hubpages.com/hub/Carl-Jung-and-the-Shadow-An-Introduction

This pesky shadow is huge in spite of the fact that we can go through life completely unaware of the prominent role it plays in our lives. Because most of us excessively focus on the ego, the deeper, neglected aspects of our personality continually sabotage our conscious intentions. Having no place else to go, it projects itself onto other people. The results of this projection can result in a variety of ways, often diametrically opposed, but usually appearing as a strong emotional reaction to anyone or anything, both positive or negative. 

The immediate hatred of a politician speaking on TV is our shadow hard at work as much as falling head over heels in love with some innocent bozo buying a latto at Starbucks.  Both evoke strong emotions, both need serious attention.  We need to ask ourselves why is this person so disturbing to me, driving me?  Until we withdraw these projections and integrate them into our own persona, we will continue to stumble into harmful relationships and situations without a clue why it has happened.

This is a complicated subject requiring more time and space than I have available. I began with Robert Louis Stevenson, I’ll end with Charles Bukowski’s poem The Genius in the Crowd. It is long, not an easy poem to read, but I think Jung would have liked it.:
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THE GENIUS IN THE CROWD

there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average

human being to supply any given army on any given day

and the best at murder are those who preach against it

and the best at hate are those who preach love

and the best at war finally are those who preach peace

those who preach god, need god

those who preach peace do not have peace

those who preach peace do not have love

beware the preachers

beware the knowers

beware those who are always reading books

beware those who either detest poverty

or are proud of it

beware those quick to praise

for they need praise in return

beware those who are quick to censor

they are afraid of what they do not know

beware those who seek constant crowds for

they are nothing alone

beware the average man the average woman

beware their love, their love is average

seeks average

but there is genius in their hatred

there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you

to kill anybody

not wanting solitude

not understanding solitude

they will attempt to destroy anything

that differs from their own

not being able to create art

they will not understand art

they will consider their failure as creators

only as a failure of the world

not being able to love fully

they will believe your love incomplete

and then they will hate you

and their hatred will be perfect

like a shining diamond

http://bukowski.net/

The Genius of Leonard Cohen

I find both Leonard Cohen's lyrics and music hauntingly beautiful. In The Sisters of Mercy, "They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem . . ." It doesn't get any better than that.

The Sisters of Mercy

Suzanne

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The Politician's Wife, A Movie Review

A sense of time and place almost always permeates a movie, and so it is with The Politician's Wife.  Set in London in the mid 1990's, it is both timeless and dated. It reminded me of the great bruhaha surrounding Monica Lewinski and President Clinton. It reminded me of Marianne Gingrich. It reminded me of why we are so disenchanted with Congress. It reminded me of watching the ongoing horror as the GOP eats its own during the excruciating saga otherwise known as the nominating process. Mostly it reminded me why we do not like or trust politicians.

What I found fascinating in this mini series is the juxtaposition of power. We know the plot all too well.  Handsome, powerful politician with a beautiful, loyal, loving wife and two adorable children cheats. The "Other Woman," played by Minnie Driver is young and very sexy.  They always are.

The politician (Trevor Eve) has a lot to loose: his career, his wife, his family, and it appears as if he judges the importance of his losses in that order. Once the cat is out of the bag,  paramount in the politician's mind is that his wife (Juliet Stevenson) appear at his side, hold his hand, kiss his cheek and appear loving and forgiving as the hungry paparazzi attempt to devour them alive. He is such an arrogant prick that he has absolutely no idea what this betrayal has done to her.  The sun rises and sets on him.

One dreadful aide supplies her with audio tapes of phone sex between her husband and his amour. She discovers to her horror that this affair has been going on for over a year. Sycophants don't leave her alone, ever too eager to offer advice, they treat her as if she is not very bright, a puppet who does what she is told to do - for the good of The Party, always for the good of The Party. Reeling with grief, she is almost destroyed by the betrayal, but then things get interesting.   Ever so slowly she begins to assume power, like an innocent puppy morphing into a ferocious pit bull.

I have always loved plots that focus on revenge, I am not good at turning the other cheek. This is why I count Inglorious Bastards as one of my favorite movies.  Perfect revenge requires the elements of surprise, courage, brains, and patience. Sometimes it takes years for circumstances to unfold before that "gotcha" moment. The politician's wife does not disappoint us. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

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Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river

Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river

• Tao
  "the way", "the path". it is often represented by water because water always seeks the path of least resistance, yet is strong enough to demolish even stone when no other recourse is available. everything below flows from this.

Here are 10 guides to the Way. To live them is to follow the Simple Tao, where it is up to us to tell the story, each in our own small way.

1. Make your goal effortless action
   avoid unnecessary action or action that is not spontaneous.
   
2. Treasure simplicity
   eliminate whatever is unnecessary and artificial and appreciate the simple and the apparently ordinary.
   
3. Cultivate stillness
   only stillness will clear muddy waters and enable you to see the truth.
   
4. Be patient
   can you remain unmoving until the right action arises?
   
5. Be gentle
   love peace and restraint and avoid all unnecessary violence. "do not regard weapons as lovely things for to think them lovely means to delight in them, and to delight in them means to delight in the slaughter of men."
   
6. See beauty
   in the mundane and the normal. Appreciate the beauty around you and in yourself.
   
7. Be true
   dedicate your life only to that which you find beautiful or fascinating, and thus be true to yourself.
   
8. Live in the moment
   feel the hand of time sweeping past second by second.
   
9. Be happy
   to conduct one's life according to the Tao, is to conduct one's life without regrets.
   
10. Be compassionate and honor life
    only those who are compassionate and treasure life in all its forms can show true bravery and acquire true wisdom.

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ipuppet

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The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule says, "If all items are arranged in order of value, 80 percent of the value would come from only 20 percent of the items, while the remaining 20 percent of the value would come from 80 percent of the items." Sometimes it's a little more, sometimes a little less, but 80 percent of the time I think you will find the 80/20 rule is correct.

The 80/20 rule suggests that in a list of ten items, doing two of them will yield most (80 percent) of the value.  Find these two, label them A, get them done.  Leave most of the other eight undone, because the value you'll get from them will be significantly less than that of the two highest-value items.

These examples, drawn from everyday life, should enable you to feel more comfortable about concentrating on high-value tasks, even at the cost of ignoring many lower-value tasks:

80 percent of sales comes from 20 percent of customers
80 percent of production is in 20 percent of the product line
80 percent of sick leave is taken by 20 percent of employees
80 percent of file usage is in 20 percent of files
80 percent of dinners repeat 20 percent of recipes
80 percent of dirt is on 20 percent of highly used floor areas
80 percent of dollars is spent on 20 percent of the expensive meat and grocery items

It is important to remind yourself again and again not to get bogged down on low-value activities but to focus on the 20 percent where the high value is to be found.


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Otis Redding

I love Otis Redding. An amazing talents who died much too young in 1967 when he was only 26. These Arms of Mine is just gorgeous. If you are lucky enough to be in love, listen to the lyrics. If you are not in love, listen to the lyrics and you'll wish you were. 

These Arms of Mine

I've Been Loving You Too Long to Stop Now

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The NFL

What is it about the NFL? To quote a golden oldie, "I don't know why I love you like I do, I don't know why but I do."  It is so macho, those enormous hunks of manhood.  What you see is what you get, and in any given game you get an astonishing display of machismo.

I like the beginning of the games best, when the team runs on to the field from a steamy tunnel, like so many gods, sulfurous apotheosis wearing helmets. Helmets yes, but never long sleeves. Even if it is below zero, those muscles, covered in tattoos, are hanging out for the world to see. A wide variety of hair styles cascade below those helmets: long blonde curls, dreadlocks, tangles, etc. Poor Tom Brady endured so much criticism when he let his hair grow. A friend said she wanted to send him a pair of shears. It was rumored that he had gotten hair plugs during the off season. It was rumored that Gisele was turning him into a girlie man.

Once out of the tunnel, but before the game begins, there is always an intense male bonding ritual. The team assembles and one member, probably the captain, whips his fellow team mates into a frenzy with grunts and groans in a language known only to the chosen few. Jumping up and down as if on pogo sticks, they shout "who, ha, who, ha," waving those heavily muscled arms in the air, declaring both to themselves and to the world at large that they are the greatest. They have worked for months on the practice field, they have studied the tapes, and the opposing team is TOAST. "Who ha who ha".

My hero, Vince Wilfork

Then, and only then, the game begins. With so much testosterone on one field, it is miraculous that anyone survives. They bang into each other like rams, but there is a method to the madness which can all be explained by the x's and o's on the chalk board. It is a giant chess game on steroids. When things are going poorly, the game is a slug fest, one long wrestling match. But when things go well, when the quarterback is in "the zone," when receivers are in the right place at the right time, the game is poetry in motion. I love it and will be very depressed when the season is over. It happens to me every year.

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Short Shots and Camera Angles

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The Eyes of Tammy Faye, A Documentary

I found this documentary to be fascinating on so many levels I hardly know where to begin. Timely, due to the Tim Tibow mania on one hand, and the politically correct mafia removing God from every conceivable public place on the other, we see where our convoluted hysteria over religion took root - the mega churches and televangelists of the '80s. It probably was always there, but television took it to a whole new level, and it was Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye who were the instigators.

I have little good to say about Jim Bakker. The documentary concentrates on Tammy but Jim and Tammy were a team for many years, and it was that team that started as puppeteers and ended with a multimillion dollar Christian TV network and theme park. Jim Bakker was a sleaze bag, there was something oily about him, but I found Tammy Faye to be smart, talented, and very authentic. I loved her.  I did not love the vicious, cut-throat behind the scenes  maneuverings of the evangelists during this period.  These people called themselves Christians???

Back to Tammy: it was her bubbling enthusiasm that drew people to her, she reminded me of Dolly Parton. Of course if one thinks all this Jesus stuff is just so much gobbledegook, you watch with horror as crowds filled up TV studios and later stadiums to hear Jim preach and Tammy sing. I have always admired people with a flare for marketing. You have to give credit where credit is due, the duo knew how to sell a product.  They had a good thing going, but then they became greedy. Jim wanted a Christian theme park to match Disneyland. As excavation began and the park materialized, they realized they were in completely over their heads. Their programs digressed into one long plea for money.

"The higher they climb, the lower they fall" unfolded before our eyes, but Tammy was a fighter, and the remainder of the documentary shows her attempts to pull her life together again. It wasn't easy.  Jim humiliated her, she became addicted to tranquilizers, the marriage broke up and she found herself isolated and penniless. A thread of deep faith weaves its way throughout her life, deep faith along with her ever-present wand of mascara. Guileless, she never wavered from that faith.  She was put to the test throughout her troubled life, but she remained optimistic and in love with The Lord.  How many of us can say that?

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Cavalliero Rusticana

How beautiful.  It is hard not to think of the closing scene from The Godfather, one of the greatest movie scenes ever . . . 

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Another Swimming Update/The twins are at it again

Jan

Anne

My swimming updates have been few and far between. I took three weeks off in December due to an ear infection and the holidays but am back in the pool again (On the road again!) No longer do I wear a skirted matronly suit, I am in a black "training suit." I decided on black so I would look serious. My brave twin, Jan, goes to the pool most days because she never gets cold and she is a better swimmer. The good news is that her free style gets better every day, Jan is like a knife going through warm butter in the water.  Smooth, smooth, smooth with hardly a ripple. As the Buddhists say, "leave no wake." That's Jan. Anne splashes about but she tries. The bad news is that neither one of us can do a flip turn.  For some reason somersaulting off the wall is beyond us.

I am on day four of a "15 day challenge."  Fifteen days straight for half an hour in the pool is my goal.  It is also Jan's goal.  We shall see, I'll let you know.

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Insomnia

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fra Giovanni, 1513 A.D. Letter to a Friend

There is nothing I can give you 

      which you have not

But there is much, very much, that

while I cannot give it, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts

     find rest in today.  Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden

in this present instant.  Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow.

Beyond it, yet within reach, is joy.

There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see,

and to see, we have only to look.

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by

their covering, cast them away as ugly, or heavy, or hard.

Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it

a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.

fra Giovanni, 1513 A.D.

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I'd Rather Be Morose

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Kind, Calm, Clear

All you need to know in 30 seconds:

The Kreutzer Sonata, A Movie Review

The Kreutzer Sonata is a tale of obsession which ends badly. I knew it would, I had read Tolstoy’s novella, a beautifully written story about a man who is driven insane by jealousy. This is a very modern version of the saga, set in Los Angeles, with all the glimmer and glitz of the Beverly Hills lifestyle. “Edgar, a wealthy philanthropist, and Abby, a concert pianist, have a tumultuous affair.They marry, and  predictably,  the bloom falls off the rose. Abby (Elizabeth Rohm of Law and Order fame) is perfect, she could have driven any male to distraction, and Edgar, played by Danny Huston is most convincing as a male on the brink.

 Abby becomes increasingly unhappy. Realizing too late that she gave up a promising career for motherhood, she misses her piano, her music and the companionship of fellow musicians. At the same time Edgar’s jealousy grows more and more out  of control.  Knowing that he is losing her, Edgar arranges a concert of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata for her. Emma was to play the piano and a young, talented violinist would accompany her. Beautiful, almost hypnotic music seeps through every nook and cranny of their large home as they rehearse, and Edgar becomes convinced that the two musicians are practicing more than their sonata.

Although I knew how it would end, I was riveted. There is enough tension, both sexual and emotional to keep all but the faint  of heart watching ‘til the bitter end.T

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A Plethora of Hits

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Taking the Pledge

Minimalism, non-consumerism, zen - the trend towards less commercialism is all over the internet. Or maybe, just maybe I seek it, and the rest of the world is happily spending, buying tons of stuff, maxing out their credit cards.  From the look of our local Target's parking lot yesterday, there appeared to be no lack of hungry customers.

I am taking the pledge that several of my friends have already taken: "buy nothing new for a year." I'm not a purist, if something I dearly love and rely on breaks, I will replace it. It's the accumulated turtlenecks, shoes, workout clothes, etc. that have got to stop.  I don't need a thing.

Yesterday I bought a packet of Renaissance Post Cards and a wicker basket to use as a prop for my puppets. I love them both and am glad I have them, but that's it for me.  Thankfully I have a wonderful Goodwill Shop down the street, and anything is fair play in there.  One  more thing, if I go to Germany this summer I shall undoubtedly buy myself something new, but there are far worse sins.

I will keep you posted and promise I will confess when and if I stumble.





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