Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Doors of Perception, by Aldous Huxley

I read The Doors of Perception, by Aldous Huxley, a couple years ago. I found out in High School that it was from that book which, Jim Morrison got the name for The Doors. I had been meaning to read it ever since. Much of my life was influenced by the bands I listened to, their lyrics and their lives - choose your music wisely.
I was a huge fan of The Doors until Oliver Stone made the film, which kind of ruined it for me since everyone was into them after that and I hated being a part of the crowd.
The author of The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley, got the title for the book from William Blake, who, btw, is quoted in the beginning of Just J. Different quote though. The one that inspired the title of the Huxley’s book is “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
The one at the beginning of Just J was, “To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.” Which J sort of does . . . by the end of the book.
Anyway this is a passage from The Doors of Perception that stuck with me and I wanted to share. Especially the part about the sea in our veins and the stars as our jewels. It gave me a sense of peace and oneness with the world. Oh, the power of words.

“The sum of evil, Pascal remarked, would be much diminished if men could only learn to sit quietly in their rooms. The contemplative whose perception has been cleansed does not have to stay in his room. He can go about his business, so completely satisfied to see and be a part of the divine Order of Things that will never even be tempted to indulge in what Traherne called ‘the dirty Devices of the world.’ When we feel ourselves to be the sole heirs of the universe, when ‘the sea flows in our veins . . . and the stars are our jewels,’ when all things are perceived as infinite and holy, what motive can we have for covetousness or self-assertion, for the pursuit of power or the drearier forms of pleasure? Contemplatives are not likely to become gamblers, or procurers, or drunkards; do not find it necessary to rob, swindle or grind the faces of the poor. And to these enormous virtues we may add another, though hard to define, is both positive and important. The arhat and the quietist may not practice contemplation in its fullness; but if they practice it at all they may bring back enlightening reports of another, a transcendent country of the mind; and if they practice it in height, they we become conduits through which some beneficent influence can flow out of that other country into a world of darkened selves, chronically dying for lack of it.” – Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception

Talk to Yourself

It's okay if you talk to yourself, as long as you enjoy the company.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Human Evolution?

Only humans have evolved into being self-aware, given the ability to choose our actions using reason and higher emotions such as compassion and love, displaying the ability to show mercy and kindness. Only we are able to laugh, even in the face of tragedy. Okay, well, most humans have evolved into being . . . okay, some human’s have evolved . . . ah forget it.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

I just received my copies of the Swedish version of Chill. They renamed it Hämnden, which means Revenge. Sweet.

Though, it's a good thing it got to be Chill first. Because, revenge is a dish best served cold.:)

Saturday, September 19, 2009

This week’s episode of Supernatural had the demon hunters turning on one another because the horseman War had tricked them into seeing each other as demons.

Nice metaphor.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

8

This is cheating but I read this quote the other day and it stuck with me so I wanted to share it.

"If we could learn to like ourselves, even a little, maybe our cruelties and angers might melt away." - John Steinbeck

7

I saw this show last night, Poetry in Motion 25. There was an interview Charles Bukowski(Barfly). He talked about the guilt and shame that comes with being a writer and giving yourself permission to write. Who are you to fancy yourself a writer? Who are you to think anything you say matters? Who are you? Who is anyone?
He also talked about how he used to write six poems a night. I remember once hearing Lou Reed say that Andy Warhol would make him write something like six songs a days for the Velvet Underground at 'The Factory' in New York. It was a product to be produced and marketed. I think it helped to give the Velvet Underground their raw quality.
Point is if you want to be a writer, write.
It's work.
It's hard work.
This will be my seventh blog entry today.
Then I'm going to work on a short story I'm rewriting.
I used to have a thing above my desk from the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron:
"God, I'll take care of the quantity you take care of the quality."
It's a process.
Everything is process.
Process for progress.
My faith has always helped.
Not that I've been an angel by any stretch of any one's imagination, but I have a very forgiving God.
He only judges me as I judge others and I try to only judge others by the standards they set for those around them. Which really annoys some people I can tell you. People can be judged by anyone standards but their own.
Anyway, I'm a far cry from Lou Reed or Charles Bukowski, and this isn't a song or a poem, but it makes seven posts. And if you can't learn something from the methods of legends, then where can you?

The Endurance,

I watched the documentary, The Endurance, in the summer. It's about an expedition to the Antarctic in 1914. 28 men, under captain Ernest Shackleton. Their ship The Endurance got caught in the ice and had to survive in some of the harshest conditions in the world. And they did. For 22 months. All 28 of them.
The thing that really stuck with me was that the Captain realized that the most important thing was to keep their spirits alive. As the narrator said, and I am paraphrasing here,
“Anyone can survive on the ice as long as their spirits are strong. Once the spirits are broken, they're dead.”
The most important thing is the human spirit. If we have that, and we work together, we can survive anything. We need, and want, little else.
When the spirit is gone, all the riches in the world can’t replace it.
“There was a presence,” Shackleton had said (again paraphrasing), “Like someone else was there with us.”
Keep the spirit alive.
It’s a matter of survival.
I'm so happy that Barack Obama called Kanye West a jackass. No PC BS when someone does something that shows a complete disregard for the feelings of another person who was doing nothing wrong, in anyway, they are being a jackass and it needs to be pointed out to them because clearly they are unaware of it. Or they are just too much of a jackass to care which makes them a even bigger jackass. Maybe the trend will spread and we can point it out to all people who say and do ingnorant things thinking it makes them look clever. We'd be doing them a favour. If we stop them from thinking themselves clever we might force them to actual think.

People who are truily confident don't need to tear others down in order to build themselves up.

Little bit o' tough love. :)
We all fall down.
We don't all have someone to pick us back up.
So walk softly and watch where you're going.

The Window of the Imagination

Our world is a terribly stuffy place without the window of the imagination. Through it we see a broader world that is just outside, ours to experience if we can make our way through the crowd and get past the locked door. Until then we can just look through it, smell the fresh air it brings in with the warm summer breeze; dream of the feel of the dew covered grass beneath our bare feet, the blades tickling us between our toes as we wonder what lies over that distant hill that's covered in purple heather and yellow daisies.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.
When dreamers realize their dreams, doesn’t that make them realists and the cynics who said it couldn’t be done the ones who were sleeping?


Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Life is easier without struggle. But, then again, the gym is easier if you don’t workout.


Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Drugs aren’t the answer unless they come in prescription form. Violence isn’t the answer unless it’s in a war. Oh Lord, I can’t take this hypocrisy anymore.


Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

Friday, September 11, 2009

On 9/11, 2001 the world watched as thousands died. It was horrible. But, not horrible enough to make us want to stop killing one another.

May the troops come home, safely and soon. 

Friday, September 4, 2009

Some days the dream of a just universe is all that allows me to get out of bed in the morning. Other days it’s the smell of bacon. Just depends on the day, really.


Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

It Just Occurred to Me

It just occurred to me how close the words telepathy and empathy are in both sound and meaning. One relaying thoughts the other relaying feelings, gifts that enable you to see the world from another point of view and increase your compassion. Closer still are the words pathetic and apathetic.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.