--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson wrote: > > Yesterday I read your chapter called "Fun" from Road Trip Mind - felt more Energy than I had with any of the other chapters - felt at peace, felt like many of the disappointments from my TM days evaporated. Felt sort of like the Universe was having a totally content day through me. It was as near to total fulfillment as I have ever had. Got up off the couch after a while, went to see my daughter who had just gotten back from a church field trip to North Carolina - she, her mom and I spent the evening making and eating brownies, watching Dr. Who and the Big Bang Theory. As I left to come back home, I felt as good as I have ever felt. This isn't really conveying the real experience, but that's as close as I can come.
It's *never* conveying the real experience, but it's what we can do. Thanks for trying. FYI, I do not include you as one of the people who never really talks about your own experiences. I've thought that some of your stories -- including the ones about your family and your experiences at MUM -- have been among the best ever posted here. I guess I posted what I did today because I was missing Curtis, and some other people who, in the past, have "raised the bar" of what posting on this forum can be. Their stories were always "in the moment," and they were almost told *for the joy of telling a good story*, not to curry favor or impress anyone. Compare and contrast to some here whose whole *lives* seem to be about trying to impress people, while never having left their apartments to have any adventures or experiences to report *on*. It's like a riff on that olde "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" routine. The FFL equivalent seems to be "Those who have experiences, share them; those who never have, try to fake them." We all intuitively know which is which. > -------------------------------------------- > On Wed, 1/22/14, TurquoiseB turquoiseb@... wrote: > > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Reversing The Flow -- Writing AS Spiritual Experience > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > Date: Wednesday, January 22, 2014, 8:21 AM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Â > > > > > > > > > > > Since no one followed up on this > post, I guess I will, and comment a bit on why I suspect > they didn't. It's all about "content." > > If you worked in the world of Internet, you'd probably > have caught wind of a major debate/discussion that's > been taking place there. Many are concerned over statistics > that show that the websites that get the most > "hits" are all about either searching for Other > People's Content (Google, Yahoo, Baidu, Wikipedia) or > "aggregating" Other > People's Content (Upworthy, Jezebel, > Reddit, Digg). Since the name of the game in making money > from the Web is number of hits, and since the world really > doesn't need more search engines, this means that most > of the "creative" energy of developers tends to > get channeled into sites that actually display no > creativity. All that they do is aggregate facts, gossip, and > news factoids about celebrities or those who want to take > advantage of this fascination with the ephemeral to become > celebrities and regurgitate it. The only real > "creativity" displayed by these sites is in their > Subject lines, which are carefully crafted to entice people > to click on them and thus register another "hit." > > > Suffice it to say that there is a "class war" > going on between these "content disseminators" and > the people who actually WRITE (or produce music or video), > and thus become "content creators." To be honest, > there are some sites like Huffpost, Salon, Slate, and a few > others that *do* provide a forum for content creators and > pay them for it, but all you have to do is look at the > degradation of Huffpost over the last couple of years to > realize that their content articles are now the minority of > what they post, and the fluff articles with snappy Subject > lines are now the majority. And because these sites are > *businesses*, and trying to make money, it is likely that > this business model will prevail -- after all, you don't > have to pay anybody much of anything to redistribute an > article, and you *do* have to pay someone to create original > content. > > I'm rapping about this because I think there is a > parallel to this phenomenon on Internet talk forums. Perhaps > it's because people have had their attention spans > shortened from reading so much fluff, perhaps it's > because they are just caught in their own narcissistic > business model and trolling for as many "hits" as > they can rack up, and possibly it's because they really > can't think of anything original and creative to say. > Whatever the reason, there is a strong lack of any *original > content* on these forums. They consist primarily -- like the > more mainstream content aggregator sites -- of people > reposting something they found elsewhere, then arguing about > it. > > Nowhere do you see this more than in the so-called > "spiritual" talk forums. Pay attention sometime, > and see for yourself whether I'm correct about this. > *Most* of what you read on such forums consists of stories > about spiritual teachers or "saints" that in many > cases the person writing *never even met*, or regurgitated > writings from so-called "scriptures" or books > written about (rarely by) these other teachers. Occasionally > someone posts a "personal experience story," but > even then the events being written about tend to be set far > in the past -- people write about some great experience they > supposedly had twenty or thirty years ago around some > supposedly charismatic teacher. > > But almost no one writes about the spiritual experiences > they have on a daily basis. > > Go figure. It's almost as if most of the people writing > to these forums don't *HAVE* any here-and-now, > in-the-present spiritual experiences. Almost as if. > > Why I wrote the post this one is a followup to is that I was > trying to rap about the "high" that you can get > from writing creatively, and in a spiritual context. I was > hoping to maybe inspire others on FFL to do a bit more of > that kind of writing, if they had it in them. The lack of > response would seem to indicate that -- sadly -- most folks > here *don't* have it in them. > > So I'll try again, as is my wont in a bit more > in-your-face manner. :-) > > What's up with having paid your "spiritual > dues" for twenty to forty years and *having nothing to > say about your everyday spiritual life*? Doesn't that > strike you as more than a little SAD? Is the only source of > inspiration in your life stories from 20-30 years ago, or > stories that you read in some scripture or book about > someone you never even *met*? > > As for *arguing* about these things, give me a break. How > can anyone consider someone who never *met* a certain > spiritual teacher "authoritative" about what he or > she taught? That's like believing you can look something > up on Wikipedia and be an "expert" about it. > Similarly, how can anyone criticize the few here who *do* > write creatively about their own experiences from time to > time when *they never have*. > > The *priorities* on these spiritual forums sometimes dismay > me. People who tend to be narcissistic and wordy and who > post a lot get considered to be "authorities," > when in reality many of them never met the spiritual > teachers they're supposedly authorities about. Some of > them have never had any significant spiritual experiences > *of their own*, and are posing authoritatively about things > they've only heard about or read about. Go figure. > > Me, I'd rather read about people's first-hand > experiences. It's not necessary to > "understand" these experiences, or even to have > theories about what they were and what caused them -- the > writing process is, after all, an avenue for trying to > figure these things out for oneself. > > But the *lack* of such writing -- and yes, here on Fairfield > Life -- strikes me as being a strong parallel to the larger > Internet phenomenon of "content disseminators" vs. > true "content creators." When posters go years and > even decades without being able to write even a single post > about their own spiritual experiences, I am tempted to > believe that they *haven't ever had any*. > > But I could be wrong about this. If I am, don't try to > argue with me with more stuck-in-your-head intellectualisms. > That doesn't "prove" shit. If you want to > prove me wrong, all you have to do is write about a few of > your recent personal, subjective spiritual experiences and > post them to this forum. If you can't, I don't see > how you can possibly have a problem with me and other people > assuming you don't have any. > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "TurquoiseB" > wrote: > > > > Since Michael got me thinking about the writing thang > again, I thought > > I'd try to start a thread *about* writing, and hope > that it doesn't > > devolve into mere ankle-biting. > > > > Writing is a Class I narcotic. > > > > If you can get into the flow of it, it's a more > powerful high than any > > street drug you can name. I've tried many of them > in my day, so I speak > > with some experience on this subject. :-) > > > > And the "high" comes -- at least for me -- > from a phenomenon I call > > "reversing the flow." It's IMO what > artists do that transforms what they > > do from mere doing into art. > > > > Most of our lives we spend "taking in" the > flow of life. We are > > bombarded by so many sights, sounds, and experiences. > They flow > > seemingly from "outside" of us *into* us, > where we process them mentally > > and physically and turn them into our perception of > reality. And we also > > turn them into our philosophy about life, whether we > think of it in > > those terms or not. Each of these experiences *shapes* > us, *colors* us, > > and transforms us in many ways. > > > > And ALL of these experiences are still floating around > in our brains > > somewhere, ready to be accessed if we can only find the > key to get back > > into them. For me, one of the mechanisms that provides > that key is > > writing. When I sit down and try to write about a past > spiritual > > experience, often magic happens and it becomes a > present spiritual > > experience. > > > > When you find the key to these formative spiritual > experiences in your > > brain, you can allow them to "come out," and > express themselves in your > > writing. And that process feels very much to me like > "reversing the > > flow." Instead of "taking in" the > experiences the world has presented > > you, you get to "send them out" instead. You > get to feel the same > > energies, but now flowing *from* you back out into the > world they came > > from. It's a real rush. > > > > Trying to capture the elusiveness of a very high > alternate reality state > > of attention in words, it's as if the only way my > brain can accomplish > > that is by putting me *back* into that same alternate > reality state of > > attention. And the wonderful thing is that it's > *still there*. By > > writing about it I can pull that state of attention > into the present, > > "put it on" like a suit of clothes, and > "wear" it again while writing > > the story. > > > > It's just the damndest thing. It's pretty much > my favorite thing these > > days, now that I've kinda weaned myself from > chasing gurus. > > > > One of the most fun things for me, which you don't > get to see often here > > on this forum because I don't post those kinds of > writing here, is to > > write characters. What makes that fun is that I do a > kind of mental > > trick when I do so. I "put on" the character, > assume their identity, and > > "wear" them for the duration of the story or > scene I'm writing. > > > > That's what made the writing of the two scorpion > stories in Road Trip > > Mind so much fun for me. The first one came out fairly > spontaneously, > > during that short "time window" after an > experience where you can still > > remember it clearly. The event in question had been a > particularly > > powerful desert trip with Rama, and I was still reeling > from it, so much > > so that I wasn't sure I still had an "I" > to reel. I had actually made an > > audio tape of some of the things said on that trip, and > after > > transcribing it I knew I wanted to turn it into a > story, but every > > attempt to start writing it failed until I hit upon a > quirky idea. > > > > Why not tell my story from someone else's point of > view? Tell about the > > same events, but "as seen by" someone else. > And so, being me, I chose an > > Anza-Borrego Desert scorpion as my narrator. I tried to > imagine what it > > would be like to be a wise-ass scorpion living in > Carrizo Gorge, and > > "put on" his mindset. Then I managed to > "wear" it while writing the > > story. The whole story, as it turned out, because it > all came out in one > > short burst of binge-writing. And man! was that FUN. > What a high -- > > being not only someone else, but someone not even of > your species. > > > > Unfortunately, both in real life and in my story, the > evening didn't > > turn out so well for my narrator-scorpion. He got > smushed. And on some > > level I missed him, because I'd had so much FUN > being him. Then, years > > later, when I was struggling to find a way to *end* > Road Trip Mind, my > > Native American girlfriend read the first scorpion > story and said, "You > > should write about him again." That idea stuck in > my head, even though I > > had killed him off in the first story. > > > > So I just reincarnated him. The last story in RTM is > written from the > > point of view of his next incarnation. Talk about FUN! > I was sitting > > there in a Santa Fe bar laughing out loud as I got to > be him again, and > > that story just came out, again all in one session of > binge-writing. > > What a high. I think the waitress thought I was high on > something. > > > > And I was. I was high on writing. > > > > Which brings me back to the original subject. *Can* we > think of writing > > not only as a way to capture and convey spiritual > experience to others, > > but as a *spiritual experience in itself*? I think we > can. > > > > Musicians certainly do it. Painters are famous for > doing it. Both sets > > of artists have a long history of talking about the > experience *of* > > composing music, or creating a painting. Well, I'm > just suggesting that > > writers can, too. > > > > Good spiritual writing (and probably good writing, > period) is IMO > > achieved by getting the fuck out of one's own way. > The more *self* > > you've got "in the way" when you reverse > the flow, the less able you are > > to write effectively. To allow the creative flow *to* > flow, you've kinda > > got to drop being a self, and just be. > > > > It sounds like work, but it isn't. It's a real > high. And unlike drugs, > > not only is the first one free, all the subsequent ones > are, too. > > >
