Wednesday 1 September 2010

In This Harsh World Draw Thy Breath in Pain, To Tell My Story.

It doesn't matter what the story is, or seems to be. It doesn't matter how to-the-point it is. It doesn't matter if the story is about a long, well-disciplined and arduous journey, full of self-revelation, full of rising consciousness from one plane to the next highest, and higher still; for all states are one, all revelations just the energy of thought, emotion and body, and all disciplines equal, whether they seem available to the clever and energetic few or not. It doesn't matter if the story is one of a great seeing all at once, a spontaneous energetic shift of perception, the knife cutting all the fibers of the rope instantaneously rather than one hard-won fiber at a time.

Existence is existence, no matter what its face or quality. That which is, is, no matter what it seems to be. The story, whatever it is, however it is interpreted, is the same as every other story; all apparent beings are equal; and all space and the effluvia that populates it are a seamless whole. Beliefs, beauty, appearances, evil, the universe, and all infinite parallel universes are as nonexistent as a mathematical point, yet occupy all infinite imagined space; it is here, and not; it is now, and never. Identity and ego are endlessly diverting window dressings. Taking the story seriously is icing on the cake. The apparent universe and its inhabitants, the universe and its unlimited possibilities, and the mysteries of the composition of matter are simply not important, although miraculous and manifested for the mere hell and heaven of it all.

Perhaps it all seems very important. Perhaps the goals of life lived are the focus. Perhaps cultivating compassion and tolerance, or rooting out evil and suffering seems to be the most important thing. But no matter how truthful the latest truth seems to be, and no matter how clear the meaning of existence has become, it is and has become that way to something that judges these things. There is just truth, and existence, unjudged. It is that way whether you want it or not, and whether you have apprehended it or not. The wanting, the truth, the being and the comprehension are not what you seek. What you seek is much simpler and pared down than that. It is this, all around you, you, here, now, just as it is.


Brainstorm is perhaps my favourite movie - certainly my favourite for watching unbelievably late at night, in some very reduced state of mind. It has a fantastic premise - experiences are recorded direct from people's brains, and when played back, you can have the same experience that person recorded. It is terribly revealing of some of our assumptions about life and death, personal experience and perception. The leading researcher of this project (played with chain-smoking relish by Louise Fletcher) has a fatal heart attack near the recording device and has the presence of mind to stick the recorder on her head, managing to record her death experience. This clip is that tape - and the end is fascinating; is there really a heaven? Are those images just her dying brain's last electrical sputterings? The ego involved so heavily in the story, and so fearful of its own demise, needs a little hope now and then; here it is, provided by the imagination of Bruce Joel Rubin (who also gave us Ghost). It's freaky! Enjoy.

28 comments:

Bernard said...

"terribly revealing of some of our assumptions about life and death" :-)
Indeed it is, with the little angels
floating together in the cosmic void. Isn't this lovely ?

Bernard

No One In Particular said...

Hey Bernard, yah, and pretty innovative effects for 1983!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful words there, Hoosier! No, nothing else matters. Things are so much simpler when you can stop and realize that, like you always say, it is what it is. No more, no less. Bingo!

Great post, NOIP! :)

No One In Particular said...

Hey Mike, y'all ah sooo suh-weet.

Admin said...

I am holding onto a concept of feeling this is perfectly expressed. I love holding concepts, while they last. It seems so EPIC (as my friend would say) Ahh the beauty of it while it lasts.

No One In Particular said...

EPIC describes the whole thing pretty well.

Bernard said...

The pretty innovative and psychedelic effects were more impressive yet in 1969, in 2001 A Space Odyssey by "Master" Kubrick (a 3-years' work)...

Bernard

Burghard Lehmann said...

Hi Suzanne,

Sorry to bother you some more about your Shakespearean quotes. But I'd like to know, is your current title a complete quote by Shakespeare or is two or more put together, rather like your pictures?

I like your text very much and as far as the picture is concerned, I found it quite startling how different the mode is compared to the last two. As if you wanted to show the flipside to happy holiday families. Well done! It makes my life as lifelong bachelor seem worth while after all!

All the best
Burghard :-)

Burghard Lehmann said...

Sorry, I meant of course the two pictures before the last, Lolita maskerading as Groucho Marx. ;-)

Burghard :-)

No One In Particular said...

Hi Burghard, it's a complete quote, always is, plucked sometime from adjacent lines but always from the same speech. And thanks for the comments on the pictures. Personally I think they're extremely hit-and-miss.

Anonymous said...

Hello Suzanne, neat stuff you have on this site. I think you've had a few 'BrainStorms' yourself when writing about this stuff. Like what you're doing with the movie clips, the critiquing and all that.
Yes, Christopher Walken, with that unique and strange speech rhythm. I've liked him since 'The Deer Hunter' and 'The Dead Zone'. But, this movie 'Brainstorm', I've yet to check out. So, thanks for this! :)
Cheers, Suki

No One In Particular said...

Hi Suki, Christopher Walken - what a guy! I first saw him in annie Hall, in a small role as Annie's disturbed brother; and boy, is he a talented hoofer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rseCwM9mU

Anonymous said...

Yeah,that's some routine!he's got the moves down pat...very fluid,Fred Astaire like.Definitely a strange bird, ain't he?
Chow for Now - Suki

Tapestry said...

"Nothing exists, despite appearances." Lovely as they may be.
Say no more. Any saying is another appearance. Including this one.

Maury Lee said...

What a great line: "although miraculous and manifested for the mere hell and heaven of it all."

Says a whole infinite world in a few words.

No One In Particular said...

Hi Tapestry...yes.

No One In Particular said...

Hey Maury, high praise. Love your new blogging style by the way; always a sucker for a good story!

Burghard Lehmann said...

Hi Suzanne,

Just wanted to tell you that I yesterday night re-read your current blog. Before that I had a lot of the usual thoughts about my past and felt pretty stuck - as usual. In this mood I fetched the printout I had made of your essay and then it really hit me. Maybe for the first time I well and truly understood the Shakespearean quote and how well it related to your essay and then every word of your text made absolute sense and was so vivid!

Thank you very much for your effort and, as they say, keep up the good work!

All the best
Burghard :-)

libramoon said...

relayering

Estrella's hips gypsy flash
in undulation dance
a wand of grace.
Swirl crimson silk, bright azure,
surety of bend and sway.

Reality blends with disguise.
We ride this carousel,
touch face eternally I/Thou;
always another side.

In all humble complexity,
slowly, deeply,
moving so cautiously; but
I, due, arrive.

Drunk on dawn's cloudy brew.
Cumulative immersion with pollution,
anthropic chemical solution
under which we were formed,
no longer true. Succubine soothed by
fake adrenalin addiction
to television news, what did we choose
to lose?

Because life is its own necessity ...
No, none of it makes any sense to me!
Free of need for meaning,
without valence,
spiraling out toward eternal peace ...

No more credence to believing
a tautology Aristotelian equation --
"We are One".
Who you may be is not for me to say.
I survive in unnoticed crevices,
foraging through what fate throws my way.
Poison salt pours through a desert behind my eyes.
Acid-rain-cleansed.
With fresh perspective, I paint palliative
pastels of night.

Covered in white for her mourning journey,
New Moon howls, less than a crescent
steals a starless sky.
Back and fore ground merge.
Radiated blossoms, over seasons
acclimate, rise.

No One In Particular said...

Thanks Libramoon, postapocalyptic visions have never looked so appealing.

Chana said...

One step beyond, and/or one step removed...:)
First time for me to visit your blog. Someone i once knew said "It is that which you don't allow to happen that keeps you from being free." It seems like you let a lot happen, good for you.
The blog title "Nothing exists, Despite Appearances" can be a an affirmative statement also. Kind of like a Zen box, where the front of the box depends on how your viewing it. Or like the silly little saying, is the glass half empty, or half full.
I have tried the being neutral game, and it never lasts. My point of view comes rushing in and demolishes any neutrality, and so one way to respond is by creating something an expression of the multitude of conundrums that do not exist, but implore me to action, albeit always coming up a bit short of complete satisfaction...which is in truth the only way it could be in an ever changing, and disappearing illusion.
I will find "Brainstorm" and absorb its' rays. Thank you for the tightrope dance!

Chana

No One In Particular said...

Hey Chana, it doesn't matter what the illusion seems to be doing...neutral...firmly in some camp or other...full of vested interests...seemingly detached...it's all the same thing, all "good", all what is. Nothing is ever "wrong".

Anonymous said...

Suzanne, I don't want to assume anything but I want to try and just add a tid bit to yours if it works to chanas.

The point is missed by having any of the positions but rather the one looking or seeing that the positions are there is the thing to see... I know thats still conceptual but the closest to a pointer I could find. It doesn't matter whether we have a particular position but to take note of the one perceiving the mechanism.

Hoping for clarification if there needs to be by the lovely suzie. ;)

No One In Particular said...

Well liberated self, that's as good a way to put it as any. Once we try to describe mere existence or beingness or this endless moment or whatever we're automatically into concepts. Fun trying though.

Amna K said...

You express brilliantly and excellent use of words! Keep writing! :-)

No One In Particular said...

Hey Amna, thanks Sweetie.

Gabriel said...

That made loads more sense like the 7th time round I happened to read this. There is definitely a story of being terribly slow regarding all this coming up here... That time though for some reason the effort to understand had died down and for some reason it actually was understood somewhat more... You really do have a lovely way with words, as has been said on here countless times before.

No One In Particular said...

Hi Gabriel...just concepts, those words...they can't describe direct presence...but fun!