Turq, this last suite of about 4 or 5 posts of yours was really good; lots of fine places to head out on conversations, and all equally interesting. There are probably more following but just wanted to make a quick comment. Thanks.
Marek --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > What *is* this tendency to pedestalize the teacher and > > make them "special?" Someone please explain it to me. > > > > It seems to me that it's a little counterproductive to > > the process of realization. If the teacher you admire > > achieved his realization only because he was "special," > > an avatar, then what hope do you have, not *being* an > > avatar yourself? But if the teacher was just an ordinary > > Joe like yourself and realized his enlightenment, then > > you can, too. > > Riffing on something I wrote over coffee again > over dregs of that same cuppa coffee, here's a > little rap about my current fave TV show. Those > of you who are not following it can safely hit > Next now, but if you keep reading I will try my > best not to provide any terrible plot spoilers. > > Why I love JFC ( which some have speculated stands > for Jesus Fucking Christ :-) so much is that IMO > it's not really *about* John. > > It's about the ordinary people who encounter him, > and the extraordinary things that they start notic- > ing in their lives when he shows up. I don't know > where the creators of this series are taking it, > of course, but as of episode 6 (the latest one I've > seen), I'm starting to get an intuition of where > they're going, and I find it exciting. > > What if JFC is not the story of Jesus Fucking Christ, > but of Christ's disciples? They were just ordinary > dysfunctional people as well, into whose lives some- > one wandered. And around this guy they started notic- > ing weird spiritual stuff. It's not a given that the > guy *creates* this weird spiritual stuff like levi- > tation and bringing people back from the dead, but > it sure does seem to be happening. > > The story of JFC that I'm starting to pick up is > that it's really about the different ways that people > who encounter extraordinary phenomena *deal* with > those extraordinary phenomena. > > Where I intuit what Milch has in mind for JFC is > that John will appear in these people's lives for a > short while and then go away. Every episode is titled > something like, "His Visit: Day One," etc. It's a > visit, not an assurance that he'll stick around. I > wouldn't be surprised to find, if the series makes > it to a second season, that John will be written out > of it, leaving his "disciples" on their own. > > This, to me, is a pretty ballsy approach to the age- > old story of spiritual teachers and the relationship > that their followers have with them. It's happened > to *every single seeker who followed a charismatic > spiritual teacher in history* who didn't die before > the teacher did. They encountered someone around whom > extraordinary things began to happen, and had to find > some way to *deal* with these extraordinary phenomena. > And then the teacher goes away, and they *still* have > to deal with the phenomena. > > Did they really happen? There is no concrete evidence > that they did. So far in the series, there is video > evidence that John existed, but no evidence that any > of the phenomena that happened around him existed. So > what are these dysfunctional disciples gonna *do* > with that? > > Will some of them become teachers of The Way Of John, > and evangelize his teachings -- whatever the heck they > were -- to as many people as possible? Will they > recruit other disciples, people who never met the guy > but have been convinced of his specialness, who then > go on to convert even more disciples? (Sound familiar? > Think Saint Paul.) Will they write bhaktied-out tales > about John and his miracles and how special he was, > like the stuff on the Advaita Vedanta Library site > where the excerpt of the bio of Shankara recently > posted here was taken from? Will they write their own > New Testament? > > I don't know. But I really hope not, because as spirit- > ual writing goes, there's more than a little Been There, > Done That in that approach. > > I really hope that David Milch and his team of writers > take it in another direction, and focus on the day-to- > day *ongoing* struggles of these dysfunctional disciples > to try to figure it all out, without ever accomplishing > it. Dennis Potter, who wrote "The Singing Detective," > defined his idea of a good detective story thusly: > "All clues, no solutions." I hope that's where the > writers of JFC are taking this series. I hope he > NEVER "explains things." > > I really *identify* with these dysfunctional disciples. > Duh! I've Been There, Done That. I spent fourteen years > with a guy around whom extraordinary things happened. > And I spent pretty much every minute I *was* around him > trying to come up with a rational explanation for the > irrational, trying to figure out something that possibly > *can't* be figured out. I have spent a great deal of time > ever since *still* trying to figure it out, and failing > miserably. I even wrote a book about my experiences *of* > trying to figure it out, and hopefully avoided the tend- > ency to pedestalize the teacher I studied with and make > him appear more than human. He *was* human, and I find > more inspiration in that than I do in the idea that he > was "more than human." > > Other students I know who also studied with the same > guy have written books that *definitely* pedestalize > him, and portray him as an avatar. They had similar > experiences to mine, but interpreted them completely > differently than I did. So which of us is "right" and > which of us is "wrong?" Is there such a *thing* as > "right" and "wrong" when dealing with the possibility > (*not* in my case the certainty) of enlightenment, or > at least occasional enlightened states of mind? > > Beats the shit outa me. > > I don't know. I'm still trying to figure it out, even > though I know I never will, and don't actually *aspire* > to figure it all out. The "Go figuring" is just fun > for me, something to do to pass the time. > > I'm hoping that a few of the odd cast of characters > who have become in a sense the disciples of John From > Cincinnati will react the same way, and have fun in > coming years (or seasons) trying to figure out the > unfigurable for themselves. That would make it a > *much* more interesting story for me than one with > a pat ending and a simple explanation. >
