The Dizzy, "Stillpoint of the Turning World," Speaketh:
Well, I had something to repost to you, from an LJ friend, but she took it down. pffft. It was about death, the universe and all that. But, I do have the latest Tao: Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles. I love Taoism, but sometimes it is like the sound of one hemisphere clapping. It is fine to be aesthetic about reality, but there are good reasons to fight to survive, as well. And all that. In Western society, the minute you even CONSIDER that you are nothing but a paltry lotus, floating down the yin-yang, there will be wolves at your throat, of the primate persuasion, but also the other kinds. Don't get me started about cats. And dogs who act like cats.
That's odd - I just now was reading about Taos, NM. Is it a sign? They are selling cheap land nearby, in Colorado.
Oh! I like Chinese! They've got Maoism and Taoism and chop-suey ice-cream tacos!
Today's Tao basically says, give it up. Stop doing things. What's the point? (I think this was also a major propaganda tool of Mao, yo?) Anyway, I saw a trailer for a Ben Stiller movie, where he decides to do nothing. Then he gets the hot young chicks, or something. This seems similar to his, "While We're Young," wherein he hangs with 20-somethings and gets a hot young chick. Is this why he makes movies? So he can kiss actresses? I can't stand Ben Stiller - but I guess I can, because I end up liking his movies, despite the fact that he's in them. "While We're Young," was pretty good.
Anyway, it has been my experience that if you do nothing, you eventually get into a lot of trouble - from the wolves. I am perfectly aware that, here I am, just watching movies, and so I feel a great deal of dread hanging over my head. But, actually, it's coming from inside my head, because I have had some serious health/brain problems lately. So, I have no choice except to do nothing, and watch as the zombies approach.
Here's something I learnt from a movie: If a capable wolf decides to strike on on his own, then the pack goes after him and kills him, for the better good of the pack. That's asswards back. That's why they're still brutes. Because of society. Every time I see animal behaviour, I see psychopaths - and vice versa.
After the trailer, came the real movie, "A Serious Man." This was a good but mildly irritating movie, especially because the first ten minutes was something that had nothing to do with the movie - in subtitles! It was about 100% Jewish, but set in the Midwest. It reminded me of all the Jewish people who were once a part of my life, but somehow disappeared. It also referred me back to the dysfunctional Jewish family in, "Taking Woodstock," a movie I loved. It reminded me of other movies where the central character is somewhat dry, and bad things happen to him/her. In this case, the, "Book of Job," was an obvious inspiration.
What I liked about this movie was the "misanthropy" that some critics disliked: It showed how, when you just live your life, in a movie or a mould, and basically stand still, the universe will shift under your feet, and bad things will happen to you. People will turn on you. It will seem like a completely different reality coming at you, where everyone has gone mad - yet they are insinuating or hoping or charging that, no, YOU are the mad one. When I try to navigate the kitchen in my illness, trying to consider all the tiny noises I am not supposed to make, and what loud banging or stomping will next be coming from below - keeping me from writing again...
I think that this is worse than a movie - it is a nightmare demanding me to do nothing. And the guy downstairs is only the full representation of how American society has gone full-metal-jacket mad, and set itself against me, for no sane reason. And, if I am not careful, my head can spin, and reality becomes like a wall of voodoo, overwhelming me, insisting that I black out. This is what the real world is like - like my illness. And, the critics described, "A Serious Man," as being both unsettling and delightful, "kind of like the unreal experience someone has just before they get their next migraine."
Stand still, and the whole world starts spinning around you, like a pack of jackels.
And so: "When the truth is shown, to be lies..." It is only the Rubics Cube, or combination lock of the universe, all turned into some unfamiliar configuration. You are locked out. Twisted. The only answer is love, because all is madness. So, at the end of this movie, they took the easy way out, and simply closed the movie by showing how powerful the universe is, compared to our ephemeral whimperings. The truth has been turned to lies. The X-ray scan suggests cancer. The son is caught in the sights of a devastating tornado.
Although this was a cheap ending to the movie, I think it did say that MONEY, on which two characters has been somewhat obsessing, was completely irrelevant, after all is said and done. And that was a message from Jews, to Jews. Well, what was another movie which ended in a similar, cheap way out? Life of Brian! Funny how these two movies are related, largely in their display of human stupidities.
Just as, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," was crassly and abruptly ended by police cars taking over the m ovie set, "Life of Brian," was hastilly ended by a crucifixion of Brian and friends, but more-so, with an abruptly contrived little ditty, by Eric Idle, called, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." This song turned out to be pure genius, though. It is an example of, "existential transcendentalism," wherein the message is given that we are born from NOTHING, and we go back into NOTHING when we turn to dust. Life is an incalculable bugger. So. Why not? Why not, Always look on the bright side of life?! (LYRICS).
So, that is basically the answer left to us, to Job, to A Serious Man - to Brian - and to my Brain... We are all endangered still-points in a crashing, amoral universe. (And that is why I was going to repost that cosmic convo from a LJ friend, RE: The cheeky transmigration of souls). I also recently watched, Monty Python Live, 2014, ("One Down, Five to Go"). This was a global simulcast. Near the end was the deceased Graham Chapman singing that everyday is Christmas, because it is, "Christmas in Heaven." And, there was an appearance by Stephan Hawking, the disabled physicist, during Eric Idle's singing of the Galaxy Song, wherein he runs another physicist over with his wheelchair. Then, he and his wheelchair float away into a black hole at the center of the cold, crashing universe. (Interestingly, the experience of Woodstock, on LSD, was depicted as a stage at the center of the universe, in the movie, "Taking Woodstock").
Stephen Hawking sings Monty Python's 'Galaxy Song'
The guy in, "A Serious Man," was also a physicist. His specialty was explaining the seemingly berserk paradox - the law - of Schrodinger's Cat. You have heard me speak of this before, many times, (see tags). Well this ultimate uncertainty, which exists at the quantum level, yet everywhere around us, is the fuse that always brings our mortal world - our logic and sense - our sense of truth or reality - to an abrupt - perhaps profane - perhaps cheap, end. It is this fundamental flaw which always collapses this mortal coil - our best-laid-plans - our money like leaves in the wind. We are done for, so why not? Sing! Dance! Love! Do physics!
IMAGINE.
For, you should know by now, that is the root of all that is divine.
"Acts of Random Kindness - an ARK!" - Evan Almighty
Galaxy Song - Monty Python
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough,
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour.
It's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned,
The sun that is the source of all our power.
Now the sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In the outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour,
Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars;
It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side;
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide.
We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point,
We go 'round every two hundred million years;
And our galaxy itself is one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.
Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!
The Meaning of Life - Monty Python
Why are we here , what's life all about ?
Is God really real , or is there some doubt ?
Well tonight we're going to sort it all out
For tonight it's the meaning of life
What's the point of all this hoax ?
Is it the chicken and the egg time , are we just yolks
Ore perhaps we're just one of Gods little jokes
Well ça see'est the meaning of life
Is life just a game where we make up the rules
While we're searching for something to say
Ore are we just simply spiralling coils
Of self-replicating DNA ?
In this life , what is our fate ?
Is there Heaven and Hell ?
Do we reincarnate ?
Is mankind evolving or is it too late ?
Well tonight it's the meaning of life
For millions this life is a sad vale of tears
Sitting round with nothing to say
While scientists say we're just simply spiralling coils
Of self-replicating DNA
So just why , why are we here ?
And just what , what , what , what do we fear ?
Well çe soir , for a chance , it will all be made clear
For this is the meaning of life
-see'est le sens de la vie , this is the meaning of life
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - Monty Python
Cheer up, Brian. You know what they say.
Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad.
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle,
Don't grumble, give a whistle!
And this'll help things turn out for the best
And
Always look on the bright side of life!
Always look on the bright side of life
If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten!
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing,
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle -- that's the thing!
And always look on the bright side of life
Come on!
Always look on the bright side of life
For life is quite absurd,
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow!
Forget about your sin -- give the audience a grin,
Enjoy it, it's the last chance anyhow!
So always look on the bright side of death!
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
Life's a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true,
You'll see it's all a show,
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you!
And always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the bright side of life
Come on guys, cheer up
Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the bright side of life
Worse things happen at sea you know
Always look on the bright side of life
I mean, what have you got to lose?
you know, you come from nothing
you're going back to nothing
what have you lost? Nothing!
Always look on the bright side of life
Job: "Dear God! What should I do?!"
God: "STOP MAKING SENSE!"
That's odd - I just now was reading about Taos, NM. Is it a sign? They are selling cheap land nearby, in Colorado.
Oh! I like Chinese! They've got Maoism and Taoism and chop-suey ice-cream tacos!
Today's Tao basically says, give it up. Stop doing things. What's the point? (I think this was also a major propaganda tool of Mao, yo?) Anyway, I saw a trailer for a Ben Stiller movie, where he decides to do nothing. Then he gets the hot young chicks, or something. This seems similar to his, "While We're Young," wherein he hangs with 20-somethings and gets a hot young chick. Is this why he makes movies? So he can kiss actresses? I can't stand Ben Stiller - but I guess I can, because I end up liking his movies, despite the fact that he's in them. "While We're Young," was pretty good.
Anyway, it has been my experience that if you do nothing, you eventually get into a lot of trouble - from the wolves. I am perfectly aware that, here I am, just watching movies, and so I feel a great deal of dread hanging over my head. But, actually, it's coming from inside my head, because I have had some serious health/brain problems lately. So, I have no choice except to do nothing, and watch as the zombies approach.
Here's something I learnt from a movie: If a capable wolf decides to strike on on his own, then the pack goes after him and kills him, for the better good of the pack. That's asswards back. That's why they're still brutes. Because of society. Every time I see animal behaviour, I see psychopaths - and vice versa.
After the trailer, came the real movie, "A Serious Man." This was a good but mildly irritating movie, especially because the first ten minutes was something that had nothing to do with the movie - in subtitles! It was about 100% Jewish, but set in the Midwest. It reminded me of all the Jewish people who were once a part of my life, but somehow disappeared. It also referred me back to the dysfunctional Jewish family in, "Taking Woodstock," a movie I loved. It reminded me of other movies where the central character is somewhat dry, and bad things happen to him/her. In this case, the, "Book of Job," was an obvious inspiration.
What I liked about this movie was the "misanthropy" that some critics disliked: It showed how, when you just live your life, in a movie or a mould, and basically stand still, the universe will shift under your feet, and bad things will happen to you. People will turn on you. It will seem like a completely different reality coming at you, where everyone has gone mad - yet they are insinuating or hoping or charging that, no, YOU are the mad one. When I try to navigate the kitchen in my illness, trying to consider all the tiny noises I am not supposed to make, and what loud banging or stomping will next be coming from below - keeping me from writing again...
I think that this is worse than a movie - it is a nightmare demanding me to do nothing. And the guy downstairs is only the full representation of how American society has gone full-metal-jacket mad, and set itself against me, for no sane reason. And, if I am not careful, my head can spin, and reality becomes like a wall of voodoo, overwhelming me, insisting that I black out. This is what the real world is like - like my illness. And, the critics described, "A Serious Man," as being both unsettling and delightful, "kind of like the unreal experience someone has just before they get their next migraine."
Stand still, and the whole world starts spinning around you, like a pack of jackels.
And so: "When the truth is shown, to be lies..." It is only the Rubics Cube, or combination lock of the universe, all turned into some unfamiliar configuration. You are locked out. Twisted. The only answer is love, because all is madness. So, at the end of this movie, they took the easy way out, and simply closed the movie by showing how powerful the universe is, compared to our ephemeral whimperings. The truth has been turned to lies. The X-ray scan suggests cancer. The son is caught in the sights of a devastating tornado.
Although this was a cheap ending to the movie, I think it did say that MONEY, on which two characters has been somewhat obsessing, was completely irrelevant, after all is said and done. And that was a message from Jews, to Jews. Well, what was another movie which ended in a similar, cheap way out? Life of Brian! Funny how these two movies are related, largely in their display of human stupidities.
Just as, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," was crassly and abruptly ended by police cars taking over the m ovie set, "Life of Brian," was hastilly ended by a crucifixion of Brian and friends, but more-so, with an abruptly contrived little ditty, by Eric Idle, called, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." This song turned out to be pure genius, though. It is an example of, "existential transcendentalism," wherein the message is given that we are born from NOTHING, and we go back into NOTHING when we turn to dust. Life is an incalculable bugger. So. Why not? Why not, Always look on the bright side of life?! (LYRICS).
So, that is basically the answer left to us, to Job, to A Serious Man - to Brian - and to my Brain... We are all endangered still-points in a crashing, amoral universe. (And that is why I was going to repost that cosmic convo from a LJ friend, RE: The cheeky transmigration of souls). I also recently watched, Monty Python Live, 2014, ("One Down, Five to Go"). This was a global simulcast. Near the end was the deceased Graham Chapman singing that everyday is Christmas, because it is, "Christmas in Heaven." And, there was an appearance by Stephan Hawking, the disabled physicist, during Eric Idle's singing of the Galaxy Song, wherein he runs another physicist over with his wheelchair. Then, he and his wheelchair float away into a black hole at the center of the cold, crashing universe. (Interestingly, the experience of Woodstock, on LSD, was depicted as a stage at the center of the universe, in the movie, "Taking Woodstock").
Stephen Hawking sings Monty Python's 'Galaxy Song'
The guy in, "A Serious Man," was also a physicist. His specialty was explaining the seemingly berserk paradox - the law - of Schrodinger's Cat. You have heard me speak of this before, many times, (see tags). Well this ultimate uncertainty, which exists at the quantum level, yet everywhere around us, is the fuse that always brings our mortal world - our logic and sense - our sense of truth or reality - to an abrupt - perhaps profane - perhaps cheap, end. It is this fundamental flaw which always collapses this mortal coil - our best-laid-plans - our money like leaves in the wind. We are done for, so why not? Sing! Dance! Love! Do physics!
IMAGINE.
For, you should know by now, that is the root of all that is divine.
"Acts of Random Kindness - an ARK!" - Evan Almighty
Galaxy Song - Monty Python
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough,
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour.
It's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned,
The sun that is the source of all our power.
Now the sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In the outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour,
Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars;
It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side;
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide.
We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point,
We go 'round every two hundred million years;
And our galaxy itself is one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.
Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!
The Meaning of Life - Monty Python
Why are we here , what's life all about ?
Is God really real , or is there some doubt ?
Well tonight we're going to sort it all out
For tonight it's the meaning of life
What's the point of all this hoax ?
Is it the chicken and the egg time , are we just yolks
Ore perhaps we're just one of Gods little jokes
Well ça see'est the meaning of life
Is life just a game where we make up the rules
While we're searching for something to say
Ore are we just simply spiralling coils
Of self-replicating DNA ?
In this life , what is our fate ?
Is there Heaven and Hell ?
Do we reincarnate ?
Is mankind evolving or is it too late ?
Well tonight it's the meaning of life
For millions this life is a sad vale of tears
Sitting round with nothing to say
While scientists say we're just simply spiralling coils
Of self-replicating DNA
So just why , why are we here ?
And just what , what , what , what do we fear ?
Well çe soir , for a chance , it will all be made clear
For this is the meaning of life
-see'est le sens de la vie , this is the meaning of life
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - Monty Python
Cheer up, Brian. You know what they say.
Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad.
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle,
Don't grumble, give a whistle!
And this'll help things turn out for the best
And
Always look on the bright side of life!
Always look on the bright side of life
If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten!
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing,
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle -- that's the thing!
And always look on the bright side of life
Come on!
Always look on the bright side of life
For life is quite absurd,
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow!
Forget about your sin -- give the audience a grin,
Enjoy it, it's the last chance anyhow!
So always look on the bright side of death!
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
Life's a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true,
You'll see it's all a show,
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you!
And always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the bright side of life
Come on guys, cheer up
Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the bright side of life
Worse things happen at sea you know
Always look on the bright side of life
I mean, what have you got to lose?
you know, you come from nothing
you're going back to nothing
what have you lost? Nothing!
Always look on the bright side of life
Job: "Dear God! What should I do?!"
God: "STOP MAKING SENSE!"