The Sound of Understanding

Social Standards

Its often been my tremendous delight to come across … expressions of catastrophes and disasters … that is put in terms … that takes the sting out of the event. And that is done … not to diminish the horror of the event taking place … but to put in context as to … the significance of the event. It points back to the qualities … of the viewer … and provides much in the way of information … regarding their personality.

 

For instance … the Bowie knife is referred to in places as the ' Arkansas toothpick ' … no doubt with special reference to the expert handling of the blade by the handler. It reminds me of the time … a friend brought the blade to the office … to show it to me. It felt like … ' my best friend ' … in my view … as I gripped the handle … and experienced the fine craftmanship of the blade. But as I ran a finger over … to test the sharpness … it sliced the skin … and created a spot of blood.

 

Poets bring the most literate view of situations and create quite a social commentary … on situations. From Gilbert O'Sullivan … the line … ' He loved not wisely … but too well ' … will always remain one of my favorites. From Tennessee Williams … in describing his trials … ' I've lost my capacity for surprise.'  And from the Indic folk sayings … ' A man about to lose his head … doesn't worry about his mustache.'

 

Certainly when we come across … a grander scale of disasters … the poetry transcends … the reality … to arrive at the sublime. The Japanese … in a long line of events from the bloody period of the Tokugawa Shogunate … to WWII … Tsunamis … and Nuclear meltdown … created a depiction of life … in ' The Ninja Turtles ' … in which the … revered role of master … was cast as a giant rat … in the subtle reference … to the way … we place our naive trust … in all that is greater than us.

 

In reviewing my notes … and the literature on man's fall … I'm reminded of Lord Byron's comment  … that … ' The path to hell is laid with good intentions.' In the incident with Rodin cutting off the arms of … the statue of Venus de Milo … his comment … ' No one thing is better than all the rest ' … reverberates with an obsessive dismissal of suggestions … as to perfection.  As Shakespeare may have commented … ' Me thinks he doth protest too much.'

 

Which brings me to the curious suggestion I encountered in the study of man's fall … as a matter … not of sin … but of throwing away the whole world … for its imperfections. This is certainly in reference to recent attitudes … but is reflective … of the way … the experiences of yore … may have expressed themselves. It explains … why every write on the restitution and healing of a fall … ends with lines like … ' accepting the world for its imperfections ' … or ' accepting the mortal nature of man.'

 

In my teen years … I encountered a firebrand of a female personality … in my psyche … that I named ' Assyria.' She bore the quality of the perfectionist … that created whole scale dismissal … of perceptions and views … that carried into my personality … and tore at my social nature. I feared for myself … and considered the prospect … that if I stayed with that … I was going to be a social outcast … swearing at everything in the world … with the wrath of vipers.

 

The matter … referred to the issue … of what was … collectively …  viewed as gross inequality … in the dharma … of situations … that I encountered about the world. It wasn't anything coherent … teen idealism is all that I seem to recall … but it was experienced in my passions … with a vehemence … that resembled the honor of knights … in relation to principles … held dearly.

 

I remember being hit with a bright light … before everything went dark. In reviewing the matter … at a later date … I remember my first impression as being … ' the world has changed.' It was no more a matter … of doing one's best … but … what is your best? No more … ' its what passions are ' … but … ' are you sure its passion?' It was … as I affirmed … the attitude of splitting hairs … with issues.

 

Most of all … I recall the wail and moan … of the survivor … in me … yelling at Assyria … and her cronies … about not leaving enough alone … wanting to be perfect … and can't tolerate the slightest stain on a coffee pot … that they figure ought to be entirely spotless. Fortunately … on all these occasions … my mother would chastise these ' nayers ' … these prophets of doom … and let me enjoy the day … and that new cake with ice cream … in peace.

 

I made the comment at my profile … that I continue to be amazed by coincidences. And even as we speak of these issues … news of ISIS … and the options of military responses … are given consideration … by the world's leaders … about Syria and her cronies. No pun intended. I'm telling myself … I know what that is about. But how on earth … will I convince anybody … of the play taking shape in the world … regarding issues … that bear a remarkable semblance … to life in its sacred personal nature … at least the way … I have come to view it?

 

Humanity seeks perfection … and we have all … obviously … taken turns at the wheel … to steer the world's affairs in that direction. To coin a phrase … ' only the juggler knows ' … that is … how he manages … a blade … a flame … and a thorn ball … and keeps them up in the air … without falling. All I find myself … telling any child … whose curiosity is spilling into fear … is to say … ' go to sleep darling … things will look better in the morning.' As Shakespeare might have said … ' the plot thickens.'