A title would prevent you from living in the moment of reading my journal unprejudiced. ;)
I'm cleaning out my room because it desperately needs it. I found a book I borrowed from Matt hiding under my bed. Lewis Black's Nothing Sacred which, like his comedy is quite funny but has some serious points. There was a passage I meant to write about when I first read it a month ago. It's about his brother Ron, who died early in his adulthood.
We were intensely close and extremely different. Ron understood that differences between people were something to heal; I thought they were something to make fun of. He knew that life was something to be enjoyed, and I thought it was something to be understood. He was right. He was always right.
I went to see Star Wars with my brother, David, on Saturday. He only lives an hour away (neglecting his fear of the Wilson Bridge which led him to show up two hours early) but we hadn't seen each other since Thanksgiving. We are quite distant and more similar than we'd like.
The ten-minute ride to the theater was mostly silent between us. That's how hard it is for us to talk, we couldn't even fill 20 minutes. I offered to buy him lunch on the way back, trying to have an actual familial relationship, but he declined. While I was driving I put on the Dresden Dolls album and during one of our silences Half-Jack was playing. This is one of those songs where I think to myself "How could anyone not like this song, it's so good." Right on cue, "What is this crap you're listening to these days?"
I thought that maybe the reason I can't relate to my brother is that I can't relate to his musical taste. His musical taste is none; he doesn't listen to music. Every time I've been in his car he's either listening to news, NPR, sports, or Rush Limbaugh (ultra-gag.) I just don't understand someone who doesn't want music in their life.
Originally I meant to write about the " He knew that life was something to be enjoyed, and I thought it was something to be understood" part. I guess I don't have much to say about that. Ron is right, trying to 'understand' life is probably why a lot of very smart people end up going crazy. But I still can't stop myself from trying to figure out what I need in my life to make me happy.
Buddhism teaches that just having an idea of what will make you happy prevents you from realizing happiness. If you say that X will make you happy then not having X right now makes you unhappy. True happiness comes from living right now. Aimlessness is actually the third Door of Liberation. From Thich Nhat Hanh's "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching:"
Does the rose have to do something? No, the purpose of a rose is to be a rose. Your purpose is to be yourself. You don't have to run anywhere to become someone else. You are wonderful just as you are. This teaching of the Buddha allows us to enjoy ourselves, the blue sky, and everything that is refreshing and healing in the present moment.
About Star Wars. I think that the three prequels are basically what you want them to be. If you want to criticize them there are certainly numerous ways to do so. If you want to admire them there are many things to like. Personally I thought it was technically well executed but with boring acting and direction. Since we already know what's going to happen the quality of the movie must be judged by how well it brings us into the moments that occur in this mythology. For me that didn't really happen. I was mentally running down the checklist of things that needed to happen instead of feeling like they were happening in front of me.
We were intensely close and extremely different. Ron understood that differences between people were something to heal; I thought they were something to make fun of. He knew that life was something to be enjoyed, and I thought it was something to be understood. He was right. He was always right.
I went to see Star Wars with my brother, David, on Saturday. He only lives an hour away (neglecting his fear of the Wilson Bridge which led him to show up two hours early) but we hadn't seen each other since Thanksgiving. We are quite distant and more similar than we'd like.
The ten-minute ride to the theater was mostly silent between us. That's how hard it is for us to talk, we couldn't even fill 20 minutes. I offered to buy him lunch on the way back, trying to have an actual familial relationship, but he declined. While I was driving I put on the Dresden Dolls album and during one of our silences Half-Jack was playing. This is one of those songs where I think to myself "How could anyone not like this song, it's so good." Right on cue, "What is this crap you're listening to these days?"
I thought that maybe the reason I can't relate to my brother is that I can't relate to his musical taste. His musical taste is none; he doesn't listen to music. Every time I've been in his car he's either listening to news, NPR, sports, or Rush Limbaugh (ultra-gag.) I just don't understand someone who doesn't want music in their life.
Originally I meant to write about the " He knew that life was something to be enjoyed, and I thought it was something to be understood" part. I guess I don't have much to say about that. Ron is right, trying to 'understand' life is probably why a lot of very smart people end up going crazy. But I still can't stop myself from trying to figure out what I need in my life to make me happy.
Buddhism teaches that just having an idea of what will make you happy prevents you from realizing happiness. If you say that X will make you happy then not having X right now makes you unhappy. True happiness comes from living right now. Aimlessness is actually the third Door of Liberation. From Thich Nhat Hanh's "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching:"
Does the rose have to do something? No, the purpose of a rose is to be a rose. Your purpose is to be yourself. You don't have to run anywhere to become someone else. You are wonderful just as you are. This teaching of the Buddha allows us to enjoy ourselves, the blue sky, and everything that is refreshing and healing in the present moment.
About Star Wars. I think that the three prequels are basically what you want them to be. If you want to criticize them there are certainly numerous ways to do so. If you want to admire them there are many things to like. Personally I thought it was technically well executed but with boring acting and direction. Since we already know what's going to happen the quality of the movie must be judged by how well it brings us into the moments that occur in this mythology. For me that didn't really happen. I was mentally running down the checklist of things that needed to happen instead of feeling like they were happening in front of me.