I feel a quickening inside; there is without doubt a power struggle at work in my psyche, soul and body.
Ten years ago a group of structures, complexes, memes, in my mind loosened-up and reorganised themselves. I didn’t plan or ask for this to happen, it just did.
This led to a hugely enjoyable breakthrough in my understanding of 'what the fuck is going on'. For a short, exhilarating time, it felt as if I had gained access to a certain clarity of understanding way beyond anything I had experienced before (except perhaps odd moments with magic mushrooms/LSD).
The clarity started to fade after a year or so and left me to return to the banality of my personality-mind. Unfortunately I've spent much of the last ten years trying to replicate this event with little success.
However, I do have a scribbled-down-on-a-napkin type map, I know dimly where the keys are, I have a hunch of what the next move should be. The trick is working out what to do without trying to do what I’ve done before.
I want to write more about all this. I've hesitated in the past because I'm not sure how to express it all and this has left me worried that others may not understand and I'll end up being laughed at. But fuck all that. I don't have the time for all this narcissism, enough childishness.
Here's a start:
"The range of what we think and do
is limited by what we fail to notice
And because we fail to notice
that we fail to notice
there is little we can do
to change
until we notice
how failing to notice
shapes our thoughts and deeds."
R.D. Laing
"The range of what we think and do
is limited by what we fail to notice
And because we fail to notice
that we fail to notice
there is little we can do
to change
until we notice
how failing to notice
shapes our thoughts and deeds."
R.D. Laing
So my Sister wants a CD by the dreadful Snow Patrol for her birthday. Oh my...I suppose I should really stop playing the wise (ha!) older brother card, I mean she's old enough (40 in two weeks) to choose her own music, sure...but Snow Patrol? Okay, of course I will buy her the wretched CD, but I'll also put together a CD of some fab new tunes for her, including - Lily Allen, The Mountain Goats, in fact, talking of the Goats, take a look at their new video, it's sublime:
So, Umguy in LA passes me the book meme:
One book that changed your life?
Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’. I read this at the right age, 16, and it had an immediate impact. It gave me an urge to explore and a strong sense of the romance of travel. It gave me a love of Jazz; through Kerouac I discovered Charlie Parker and Bebop. In his later books I found Buddhism. Three interests, three passions that have lasted over the decades, thanks Jacky.
One book you have read more than once?
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment’ I’ve read two or three times. It’s a supremely well written book, and surprisingly funny as well. All great books are worth reading twice, at the very least.
One book you would want on a desert island?
It would have to be a book to sustain me on the long days, months and years on my own. Nisargadatta Maharaj’s ‘I am That’ is the clearest exposition of the non-dual perspective I have ever read. Being on a desert island would give me the time and place to really understand and live this book. I would then never be lonely. How could I be when all of That is just what I am (oh go and read the book if you think I’m being obscure.)
One book that made you laugh?
William and the Space Animal
One book that made you cry?
Raymond Carver’s short stories make me cry. His writing is so precise, there is no padding, no flab, every word has meaning. The purity of his writing makes me weep.
One book you wish you had written?
Arthur Rimbaud’s ‘A Season in Hell’. One book I have gone back to again and again and again. Rimbaud was beautiful, wild, heroic, a genius. A young god if there ever was one.
One book you wish had never been written?
The Da Vinchi Code. Don’t get me started
One book you are currently reading?
Justina Robson’s ‘Mappa Mundi’. Justina Robson is my favourite writer so far this year. She’s got me reading SF after a 20 year hiatus. Her heroines are smart, feisty, damaged and immensely cool. Her writing is sharp, intelligent and witty, go read!
One book you've been meaning to read?
Anything by Shakespeare. (yeah, it's shameful I know.)
Now, over to you Hannah and Tim...
One book that changed your life?
Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’. I read this at the right age, 16, and it had an immediate impact. It gave me an urge to explore and a strong sense of the romance of travel. It gave me a love of Jazz; through Kerouac I discovered Charlie Parker and Bebop. In his later books I found Buddhism. Three interests, three passions that have lasted over the decades, thanks Jacky.
One book you have read more than once?
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment’ I’ve read two or three times. It’s a supremely well written book, and surprisingly funny as well. All great books are worth reading twice, at the very least.
One book you would want on a desert island?
It would have to be a book to sustain me on the long days, months and years on my own. Nisargadatta Maharaj’s ‘I am That’ is the clearest exposition of the non-dual perspective I have ever read. Being on a desert island would give me the time and place to really understand and live this book. I would then never be lonely. How could I be when all of That is just what I am (oh go and read the book if you think I’m being obscure.)
One book that made you laugh?
William and the Space Animal
One book that made you cry?
Raymond Carver’s short stories make me cry. His writing is so precise, there is no padding, no flab, every word has meaning. The purity of his writing makes me weep.
One book you wish you had written?
Arthur Rimbaud’s ‘A Season in Hell’. One book I have gone back to again and again and again. Rimbaud was beautiful, wild, heroic, a genius. A young god if there ever was one.
One book you wish had never been written?
The Da Vinchi Code. Don’t get me started
One book you are currently reading?
Justina Robson’s ‘Mappa Mundi’. Justina Robson is my favourite writer so far this year. She’s got me reading SF after a 20 year hiatus. Her heroines are smart, feisty, damaged and immensely cool. Her writing is sharp, intelligent and witty, go read!
One book you've been meaning to read?
Anything by Shakespeare. (yeah, it's shameful I know.)
Now, over to you Hannah and Tim...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)