Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Road Trip! (1.19.12)

[W]e live in tents, not houses, for spiritually we are always on the move. We are on a journey through the inward space of the heart, a journey not measured by the hours of our watch or the days of the calendar, for it is a journey out of time and into eternity. --Kallistos Ware

Got sort of sidetracked yesterday. UF was speaking of the joy that accompanies movement of any kind, which reminds me of the sacred Road Trip. Back in my college days -- which, lucky for me, lasted until I was 32 -- we would load up the car with a few cases of beer, get on the road, and take off for parts unknown. It seems to me that it was the movement we craved. It didn't matter where we ended up, so long as we ended up intoxicated.

Which, when you think about it, is another kind of "movement," from one state of mind to another. From my first taste of satan's balm at the age of 17, I well remember this sensation of psychic movement. Technically speaking, I never really cared for being intoxicated. Rather, I enjoyed the movement there. Once you were there, the movement was over. Which is also why I shunned hard liquor: too fast.

I remember back when I was a film student, we talked about the idea that there were two archetypal American characters, one of whom put down roots, the other of whom just kept on a-movin'. That was one of the great things about America, the mobility. America is all about mobility of various kinds -- not just social and economic, but intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual as well. It's why it is difficult for some of us to join a religious institution, because we gots to keep rollin'.

Reminds me of Bob Dylan, and his "never ending tour." Why does he stay on the road forever, when he could live in a palace anywhere on earth and spend all day having money fights with his grandchildren? Because he's the driftin' kind. For him, paradise is apparently a tour bus to nowhere, staring out the window with the scenery flying past.

I'm no big fan of Jack Kerouac, but I just googled him for a quote, since his On the Road has become the archetype -- albeit an adolescent one -- for the peculiarly American joy of sheer movement:

"What is the feeling when you're driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? -- it's the too huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”

“We were all delighted, we all realized we were leaving confusion and nonsense behind and performing our one and noble function of the time, move.”

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”

I remember Seinfeld touching on this in one of his routines. His hobby is driving. Why? Because you can be outside and inside at the same time. Plus, you can be sitting down and moving at the same time.

I agree. Although I am now more of an extreme indoorsman, my favorite exterior hobby might well be driving my car through the canyon roads with the CD player blasting. It seems to me that this activity is a sort of miracle, and yet, it's so common that people don't seem to fully appreciate it. Flying through space with Sun Ra in your ears, playing for you from saturn via his cosmic funkmanship? Remarkable.

I think "progressives" must confuse the road trip with politics. That is, at the end of the day, despite all of the frenetic movement, the progressive still hasn't gotten anywhere. Indeed, that is the whole point of the road trip -- to go from somewhere to nowhere, just for the thrill of it. But in order to do this, you must have maps and boundaries; in other words, to go off the map, you must first have one. The drifters need the settlers, and vice versa. They are a function of one another.

But look at the Obama cultists, a disproportionate number of whom are the young and stupid. Why? Because they want change, AKA movement. They didn't vote for a president, but for a driver for the road trip. Meanwhile, Obama has apparently sobered up since November 4. That's not when the road trip started -- that's when it ended, which his passengers are slowly beginning to realize. If this is a road trip, it's a trip back to the Clinton '90s, a bridge to the twentieth century.

Now, there are two kinds of spirituality that mirror the drifter and settler, which you might say reflect the "static" and "dynamic" aspects of God. The further east you go -- psychospiritually speaking -- the more you see the divine stasis, the eternal rest, the unmoved mover, the idea of entering nirvana, which literally means to "extinguish the light." But the same holds for Christianity, in that Eastern Orthodoxy prides itself on the fact that it hasn't changed since the time of the apostles. For them, the Catholics are the Protestants.

On the other extreme, you have all of the Christian movements that have arisen here in the United States. Why? I imagine a big part of it has to do with the idea of movement as it pertains to the American psyche. We will never be a majority Catholic or Orthodox nation for the same reason we reject public transportation. We want to travel about in our own vehicles. Is it possible to do this without being hopelessly heretical and narcissistic, like the new agers and integralists? Is it possible to be an "orthodox drifter?"

As a matter of fact, I think UF does a pretty good job of describing this person in Letter IX, The Hermit. For isn't that what the Hermit is, a religious hobo?

Come to think of it, what's the subtitle of the book? A Journey into Christian Hermeticism.

One of the best known of the Desert Fathers of fourth-century Egypt, St. Sarapion the Sindonite, traveled once on a pilgrimage to Rome. Here he was told of a celebrated recluse, a woman who lived always in one small room, never going out. Skeptical about her way of life -- for he was himself a great wanderer -- Sarapion called on her and asked: "Why are you sitting here?" To this she replied: "I am not sitting, I am on a journey." --Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way

78 comments:

walt said...

Out in the woods
Or in the city
It's all the same to me
When I'm drivin' free, the world's my home
When I'm mobile

Hee, hoo!

-- Who's Next

I'm thinking that the mysterious third, the combination of folks that put down roots and those that keep on a-movin' would be he who can move with "presence."

As you say, the Hermit -- but, ah, updated for 2009.

Anonymous said...

Well, the desire to ramble, to cut the ties that bind - at least the ties that strangle - at root, isn't this an acknowledgment that we are all strangers on this earth? That this material existence as it is presently constituted is not our natural home?

I used to have, still have what was once a rather disturbing recurring dream: I'd be returning to my old childhood house in the late evening. Just as I'm approaching the front door, it dawns on me that I haven't lived here for generations, that it's a completely different house, and that I'm a complete interloper. So I hop aboard a train heading for the city where I seem to remember I have an apartment. But no, as I approach my old apartment, I realize I don't live there either. So I try another former domicile, same results. And so on and so on until I'm feeling as unsubstantial as a wandering ghost.

In the manner of recurring dreams, this one I had for years until I woke up one morning and said to myself, gee, I've had this dream before . . . . many times before. So what the %*@# did it *mean*? And shortly thereafter, sure enough, I run across a passage in some psychology/dream analysis text that described the nature of such "homeless" dreams - it's a "gnostic" dream, the text assured me. A dream that let me know that my true home was Elsewhere and that any attempt on my part to locate permanent security on earth (as presently constituted) was pretty much doomed.

After that, I began enjoying my wandering homelessness in dreams, my transparency.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

From my first taste of satan's balm at the age of 17, I well remember this sensation of psychic movement. Technically speaking, I never really cared for being intoxicated. Rather, I enjoyed the movement there. Once you were there, the movement was over.

This reminds me, perhaps strangely to some, of God's glory.
You can't just set up a permanent camp underneath it, 'cause God's glory is always moving, and we gotta keep sailin' if we wanna stay near it.

I'm not just talkin' about the spiritual "high" of the glory (which some, including myself at one point become addicted to, or rather the feeling it creates) but the main ingredient of it, which is absolute Truth.

The point is, we can't just stop in our spiritual journey (lookin' for that next emotional fix) as Bob explains so well, or we get all moldy in the static.
Or the attempt to keep eternity in time. Ain't gonna happen.

julie said...

"I'm thinking that the mysterious third, the combination of folks that put down roots and those that keep on a-movin' would be he who can move with "presence."'

Or presents, as the case may be...

Anonymous said...

"That's not when the road trip started -- that's when it ended, which his passengers are slowly beginning to realize."

and all ya get is a piddly poster?

walt said...

Julie -

As they say in the military, "Open 'em if ya got 'em!"

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Good point, Will!
We are the aliens here. Which is why it never feels right, I reckon.

Anonymous said...

As an alien I feel like abductin' me some more grog. Not to be
in-toxicated but to be
in-be-briated.

It's spiritual. Not the grog but the spirits.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Indeed, that is the whole point of the road trip -- to go from somewhere to nowhere, just for the thrill of it.

Or somewhere to gnowhere. That's where it's really happenin'.

Anonymous said...

Is it possible to be an "orthodox drifter?"

A man with gno name?

Anonymous said...

For isn't that what the Hermit is, a religious hobo?

Where's my har-monica?

Anonymous said...

>> . . . there were two archetypal American characters, one of whom put down roots, the other of whom just kept on a-movin'<<

The movie Western gunslinger kept on a-moving, had to keep on a'movin. (good examples Shane and The Searchers, among others) The gunslinger did his thing, but could never be allowed into the fold of civilization, even after saving it.

I can see the film gunslinger as the spiritual warrior who leaves the comforts of consensus reality in order to confront the Big Issues, Life, Death, Metaphysical Evil. He lives on the different plane of existence where he must pay attention all the time, where ghosts from the past can kill him at any second, and where he is always aware that even his minor decisions can alter his own destiny and that of his former brethren. He walks the line, puts it all on the line: the way of the spiritual warrior. He had to keep a'moving.

NoMo said...

Yep, definitely just passing through.

Speaking of road trips, beer and aliens...

And finally, the ultimate journey.

A Very Merry Christmas to all!

Anonymous said...

Some Great American Wanderers -

Huck Finn

Daniel Boone

Walt Whitman

Johnny Appleseed

Kerouac

Woody Guthrie

Anonymous said...

"Have gun, will travel."

Hmm.... Julie, should we visualize bowling raccoons packing heat?

julie said...

Sure, we can do that.

Of course, that just makes me think of the scene in the Big L where Walter uses his bowling ball to knock down pinheads.

Let me think on it. It'll be a while before I can share any sketches, though - holidays, family, etc. In fact, I need to quit procrastinating and get to work...

julie said...

Today's Bleat:

"Lincoln-hat Hellclown commands you to drink in the essence of his chakras! Stare, and drink deeply! Deeeeply!"

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

The real liberty of the traveler is that he is required to have little, and thus must by necessity detach himself from material things somewhat. Among other things, it seems like it is part of our otherworldly drive to wander - "the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" - to 'love not the world' by our actions rather than by talking and dreaming. The true master (or mistress as the case may be) of this art is like that nun - she moves by not moving, and wanders by not leaving her room.

With the gunslinger - the spiritual warrior - it seems like there is an alignment of forces around him that innately tunes his life to a different pitch.

In video games, especially RPGS, you come into places that are dangerous and see ordinary people wandering about unharmed. The oddness of this phenomena I've only heard addressed in one game, where a particularly whiny character remarks, "They're targeting us!"

It is as though they seek certain people out, which I suppose is another way we get some inkling that they have wills of their own.

One function, like dear Anthony the Great did, is to make the enemies visible who prey on us, by going to their den and rooting them out into daylight. Sometimes all it takes is to call them by name and they can hide no longer.

Joan of Argghh! said...

I was readying for the New Year by studying up on Vagabondism yesterday. So many options for free travel are open to the traveler who is not in a hurry.

It was quite simple, really, to say that the less your hurry and need for extra comforts, the more free and freely one could travel.

But they all agreed you should bring your gun along.

Anonymous said...

Good post, Bob. I heartily enjoyed it. If it were food, it'd be a steak.

The ideal stance is to combine static and dynamic force.

From a secure base of static force (defined by Aurobindo as the power to remain unruffled in the face of any stimulus positive or negative), we project dynamic force (action).

Static force should be equal or larger than dynamic force to provide a secure base for dynamic force to operate from.

Rndom movement is like whipping a teacup full of water with a fork. It does essentially nothing, according to the Mother.

So, when you move, do so from a position of static unruffled force and do so purposefully.

Yes, I am a didactic pain in the ass but I do happen to be an expert on Aurobindo and the Mother. For that reason I'll call myself "Tamil Nadu". That is my identity.

I know, I know. You hate me and what I say. So be it.

julie said...

"You hate me and what I say. So be it."

No, not at all. What we hate (or rather, find excruciatingly annoying) is the tone - you show up and put yourself in the role of chastising teacher, even while usually engaging in the very behavior you chastise us for. You demand a Master's respect while having done nothing to earn it, so what you get is the opposite. If you were to behave like a normal person instead of an insufferable boar (and no, that's not a typo), you'd probably be treated the same way we treat everyone else. Oh, wait - we already do that.

The only means by which we can know you are your words. Thus far, your words have failed to show you in a particularly positive light. You don't get hugs, kisses and adulation for being pompous.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

You'll actually drive people away from Aurobindo with your know-it-all preachiness.
i.e. you suck.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

If Aurobindo or The Mother came across as pompous as you, they would be as any other unknown in the anals (not a typo) of history, dead and forgotten.
Have you surrounded yourself with a small number of cultists which never grows larger but which feeds your never ending hubris?
Might I suggest any number of 12 step co-dependency meetings as an actual start to your spiritual journey?

Joan of Argghh! said...

Tamil Nadu. I have friends there. And yes, they, too, come across as very presumptive and arrogant. I laugh it off because I realize it is a cultural disconnect, much like Americans can seem to others. But they are convinced of their superiority and I don't deny it to them, because it is harmless to all but themselves.

Are you indeed, from India? Or are you posing as someone from India? Either way, the arrogant angle is very convincing, if ineffective.

Anonymous said...

Let's see, first it was Nagarjuna, now Tamil Nadu, who's next in the pedigreed lineage of self proclaimed, legend-in-their-own-mind spiritual masters?

Van Harvey said...

"I remember Seinfeld touching on this in one of his routines. His hobby is driving. Why? Because you can be outside and inside at the same time. Plus, you can be sitting down and moving at the same time. "

I've never particularly been a Seinfeld fan (I know, I know), but that one is a keeper!

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

I don't like this guy much, but it touches on similar to what Seinfeld was talking about. "Everything is amazing, nobody's happy."

Van Harvey said...

"Which, when you think about it, is another kind of "movement," from one state of mind to another. From my first taste of satan's balm at the age of 17, I well remember this sensation of psychic movement. Technically speaking, I never really cared for being intoxicated. Rather, I enjoyed the movement there. Once you were there, the movement was over. Which is also why I shunned hard liquor: too fast. " and “"Why are you sitting here?" To this she replied: "I am not sitting, I am on a journey." --Kallistos Ware,”

I spent the 80's perpetually on the road with the band... took me almost 10 years to realize that for all the sights I was seeing I was going nowhere - when you realize that all the somewhere’s you’ve been to are taking you nowhere, you realize that you aren’t really moving at all – boooring. Once I realized that that road was getting me nowhere, I found the ultimate vehicle for a true neverending road trip, getting married, settling down and having a family, and ever since I’ve stopped travelling, I've been going gnowhere fffFast!.

Anonymous said...

"cruising and playing the radio
with no particular place to go..."
Chuck B.

Van Harvey said...

tamil flu (not a typo)

Get stuffed.

Van Harvey said...

Skully said "Is it possible to be an "orthodox drifter?"

A man with gno name?"

(Snort!)

Joan of Argghh! said...

Oh, it's forecast to be about 78 degrees here on Christmas Day, so if anyone feels the Spirit is calling them to holy ho-boing, you may want to join the rest of the vagabonds that arrive here to escape Algore's warmening cult.

The pool is lovely this time of year!

Van Harvey said...

Dear Joan:
Rest of Today
Blustery. Occasional freezing rain. Ice accumulation around one tenth of an inch. High in the mid 30s. South wind 15 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Tonight
Occasional freezing rain and rain in the evening...then occasional rain...freezing rain and sleet after midnight. No sleet accumulation. A light glazing expected. Near steady temperature in the mid 30s. South wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.


Please refer to my previous sugestion for tamil flu.

;-)

Joan of Argghh! said...

Van, I'm sure Robin is just sooo impressed with that mid-30's temp thing.

:o)

Anonymous said...

Julie: "The only means by which we can know you are your words. Thus far, your words have failed to show you in a particularly positive light. You don't get hugs, kisses and adulation for being pompous."

If only you applied that logic to Bob in his pompous attitude towards Ray, maybe you'd have some credibility, but clearly you endorse your own regardless of principle, so how do you afford principles?

Another Anon... but you can't seriously expect respect when this community has clearly shown little regard for such, especially with opposing ideas.

I once corrected Bob on Aristotle--because what he said was blatantly wrong-- and the community's response was excuses and semantics. Well that unfortunately wasn't a very appropriate response, and it showed that the community takes any negation as if it's a personal insult, while claiming to seek the truth and having an open mind. But an open mind doesn't say, "Ok I was still sort'a right because..." it says, "I was wrong, and I need to correct that."

The problem isn't that your new regular Anon was offensive(you would have taken offense regardless of tone) it's more so that you're unwilling to take critiques... and don't bullshit too much about how to be civil, I've read too much of what goes on here to be convinced that Bob or any of you are capable of civility. That's probably why I've only posted 3 times, despite my own observation of what I believe to be false directions.

Anonymous said...

Zoltan lives!

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Well, the question of whether we're capable of incivility or not has been answered!

That study returned an unsurprising result.

...

Pedants will be pedants. Ray, you the man!

julie said...

I'm gonna post a little hypothetical scenario:

You're ambling down the road, bag over your head for security's sake, looking for a place to anonymously hang out and chat. You come across a place that appears quirky at best: wild animals digging into the trash, decorations that appear to have been liberated from a bowling alley circa 1960, and a cluster of obvious regulars (i.e. people who appear to like the proprietor, in spite of the mouthy bird on his shoulder and the scruffy raccoon that can often be seen chugging beer and playing with firearms in a decidedly unsafe manner) who have a habit of lobbing water balloons and drinking suspiciously frothy beverages.

You say to yourself, "hmm. That guy with the bird, he occasionally has some good points but he's kind of a jerk. I should march in and tell him how to behave on his own property. After all, he's being really mean and constantly mocking that nerdy guy who keeps coming back of his own volition to tell all these nutjobs that he's not convinced by anything they have to say about the cosmos."

And so, full of self-righteousness and good intentions, you march right in and give a good old-fashioned finger-wagging (all this while wearing a paper bag over your head). Presumably in hopes of shaming this bunch into being "nice," taking away Dupree's guns, and making sure the place is up to all the latest safety codes, with extra padding so nobody accidentally gets a splinter. Much less hit in the face by a flying water balloon.

Good luck with that, champ.

Anonymous said...

Raccoons are wonderful creatures
Raccoons are wonderful things!
Their heads are stuck in the dust bin
Their tails are covered in rings.

They're trouncy, flouncy, insousiancy,
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!
But the most wonderful thing about 'coons is
living for the next pun!

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

It's the cosmic dustbin. As the great Scatman said:

"The things that you call dead / have yet to have a chance to be born"

Anonymous said...

Bob left me with strict instructions never to allow strangers to correct us about Aristotle, only Just Thomism.

walt said...

Re: Ray, "O Pompous Bob" must have been channeling Karlfried Graf Durkheim:

"Merciless to ourselves and unsparing to others -- as the love that bears witness to a higher law commands us."

julie said...

hehehe - oh, I get it, anonymous - it's time for the Airing of Grievances!

Well, why didntcha say so?

When it comes to the Feats of Strength, though, my money's on Dupree. Rumor has it he can do 1000 push-ups balanced only on his pointer finger. There's a reason nobody messes with the Cuz.

Joan of Argghh! said...

Walt, we could sing, "O pompous Bob" to the tune of, "O Christmas Tree."

But I've already done my musical bit for the day as Tigger...

:o)

walt said...

Joan -

I'll bet Julie is in her musical playroom working out the details right now!

This will be HUGE!

julie said...

O, Pompous Bob, O, Pompous Bob,
with mind of stone unchanging

O, Pompous Bob, O, Pompous Bob,
with mind of stone unchanging

He will not heed our sage advice;
his mocking words are just not nice!

O, Pompous Bob, O, Pompous Bob,
with mind of stone unchanging

Hmm. Needs more zing.

Joan of Argghh! said...

Julie,

Laughing the rings offa muh tail!

O Pompous Bob
Our Cosmic Cog
Indulgent and forebearing

O Pompous Bob
This is your blog
Our allegiances foreswearing

You never chide
You've farmed that out
To other 'kits
Who've yet to sprout

We live for you
Or not, it's true
O Pompous Bob, Dear Leader.

walt said...

Well, it's tough to rhyme not capable of civility...

But keep trying!

Joan of Argghh! said...

Gah! What an earworm!

Anonymous said...

"You say to yourself, "hmm. That guy with the bird, he occasionally has some good points but he's kind of a jerk. I should march in and tell him how to behave on his own property. After all, he's being really mean and constantly mocking that nerdy guy who keeps coming back of his own volition to tell all these nutjobs that he's not convinced by anything they have to say about the cosmos."

That wasn't my argument Julie(it's easy to beat straw men).

What I'm saying is you say you don't listen to people, and then when you don't you say it's their fault, but it wouldn't matter how they acted, you'd say it's their fault. You'd be insulted no matter how they acted, and it's not the first time.

Quit trying to pass off your sensitivity and insecurity as if others are being offensive. They're not. And there you did it again.

Anonymous said...

And I didn't say anything about correcting how you behave, I was merely pointing out that no matter how this group of self-proclaimed open-minded people will totally transform into attack mode whenever their beliefs are questioned, no matter how they are questioned.

I really didn't get what Dupree was referring to, I don't recall referring to Thomism.

julie said...

"it's easy to beat straw men"

Yep, and vastly entertaining.

Anonymous said...

Why because you don't have any real argument against what I said? Ok then. Don't try to get in quick jabs that end up just backfiring. Think before you post. Jeez.

Joan of Argghh! said...

I really didn't get what Dupree was referring to, I don't recall referring to Thomism.

See, that's the problem with not using your real name. If there's more than one anon, merry mahem happens and ALL the anons get batted about while the ONLY anon keeps playing the field of confusion.

And we are nothing if not entertaining hosts who will play along with the disenfranchised.

Until someone shows up with beer. Or music. Or both.

Anonymous said...

Well, the comments that my tone and content are arrogant and pompous have hit the mark. I feel sheepish, unworthy.

I want to hang out and offer what I know. What is the utility of knowing something if you can't share it? I have put in staggering hours of work accumulating and trying to put wisdom into practice; it is inconvievable to me that the results of that labor should be untransmittable to others.

I take in alot of input from here. I learn from everyone here. From Will I learn, from Van I learn. Especially from Julie I learn.

I was a Democrat, but voted for McCain. Why? Bob's message on the left has sunk in. I soak in information from others like a sponge, and put it into practice were needed.

So, I just wanted a two way street. Recieve, then offer. But it hasn't worked out right, I guess because of my approach. Have I allowed my ego to drive the bus?

What does my ego want? To be recognized as a source of valuable information? I need to let go of that want. What would I be if I knew nothing? I would still be me. I would be O.K. I need to let go of my attachment about influencing other people.

I have read, studied and practiced so much Mothersriaurobindo in the last 20 years that I can cross-reference any subject to their teachings instantly. Is this achievement of no use altogether? Even if I am an egotist, does not genuine intellectual capital deserve a chance to be put to use?

It is a quandry. I can keep it zipped, or I can offer. Or, learn a new way of offering that is not pompous. One of those roads has to be the right one.

"Tamil Nadu" is not from India.

Anonymous said...

Ray's here!
Wooowhoooo!


RR :-)

Anonymous said...

It's a Festivus miracle!

Anonymous said...

An ode to the Anonies:

Lessons from the heart
not static from the attic
can cheer the felleh in the cellar

James said...

Folks,

We have caught ourselves an imp. He seems to be throwing a lot of smoke around. Nothing substantial. Its amazing how desperately he avoids the light. No identity, kind of like the thing in The Exorcist.
Creepy.

julie said...

Now see, at 3:28 that's a much better approach.

"I have read, studied and practiced so much Mothersriaurobindo in the last 20 years that I can cross-reference any subject to their teachings instantly. Is this achievement of no use altogether?"

Altogether? of course not. But Bob is not a strict devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, no matter how much he respects them. So arguing from a strict Aurobindian perspective will get you precisely nowhere.

Also, coming in with, essentially, a bag over your head and simply saying you have all this experience is worse than useless. You could be literally anybody, and without a name you have no way to back up your statement of experience with a history showing that you actually have such knowledge. We can't even take you at face value, because you have no face.

Your approach has essentially been "I know more than you. Listen to me." That's great if we actually know that you do know more - and that's why I have no problem with Bob making a statement that I would call pompous coming from you. Because I know that he knows and deeply understands this stuff.

If your approach were more like the 3:28 comment, I don't think anyone would be mocking you, because instead of telling us how you think it should be, you're asking for our input and requesting a dialog.

Mizz E said...

Bullseye James!

Van Harvey said...

Joan said "Van, I'm sure Robin is just sooo impressed with that mid-30's temp thing."

Lol. Ya know I was thinking that when I wrote it, sort of playing both sides of the track.

Sort of like if I left my brain in the car and dare complain to my wife about how a set of software requirements were too vague, or maybe that someone didn't document their code very well... and like as not I'll get a non-plussed stare, the kind that feels like an atomic shrink ray, and after a pause she'll say something like

"Remember the sweet old man I was telling you about last week? How nice he and his family and grandkids were when they came to visit? I was with him this afternoon when he died."

I don't complain so much.

Anonymous said...

Easy Rider left its mark on me when I was a high school kid.

I've made several long solo motorcycle trips. All told I've crossed the continent ten times over on a badass Hog with no windshield or saddlebags- sleeping bag and a change of clothes strapped on the fender, ala Captain America.
Heading out on a long trip to nowhere is about as exciting as events get. On a bike trip you get two, maybe three days of hard rock, 'volume turned up to ten' excitement.
Then you hit he wall. Road Blues. What am I doing here? Where am I going? Everywhere is the same as nowhere, and all the anywheres seem the same as here. In the last-how many- days, you haven't spoken to anyone you know, and you haven't traded ten sentences with anyone at all past, "I'll have the fried chicken.",
or
"Nice bike".
"Thanks."
You might want to add temperatures in the fifties, and nothing but rain ahead for the next week or so.
About now, more than anything, you just want to say, "Screw this. I'm going home."
That kind of travel puts you in touch with solitude. Serious solitude. The road blues is the demon at the gates. Once you push past the road blues, and get comfortable with the voices in your head, then you can begin to travel.

JWM

Van Harvey said...

Julie said "...O, Pompous Bob, O, Pompous Bob,
with mind of stone unchanging"

O, Pompous Bob, O, Pompous Baaahhhhhhhhb...
Dupree's sheets need chang-zinggg!

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "And I didn't say anything about correcting how you behave, I was merely pointing out that no matter how this group of self-proclaimed open-minded people will totally transform into attack mode whenever thei..."

Liar! DIE! YOU WHINEY PUKE!

Hmm? Did I type that out loud?

(Is there a way to spell 'anonymous' so that it looks like 'whiney emo cutter'? Oh, yeah, of course... 'a n o n y m o u s')

Van Harvey said...

anonymous said "I soak in information from others like a sponge"

What, you haven't heard of Sham-WOW!?

Van Harvey said...

Nooo... there's nothing in my eggnog... why?

NO! don't let the kids sip that!... um... I think I'm catching a cold... that's all.

Joan of Argghh! said...

LOL, Van. I was just typing, "step away from the eggnog."

:o)

Mizz E said...

Shocking. Even I've heard of Sham-WOW. ♫ ♪ ♬ I want em.I need em.Gonna go out and get em.Sham-Wows!♫ ♪ ♬

Better step away from the champagne now.

Rick said...

Dr Seinfeld:
''I think the reason people come to see my show is just really because they want to go out. Then tomorrow when people say, 'Where were you?' they can say, 'Well, I was out.' I think all of life is going out and going back. You get to your job, you want to get home, you get to your home, you want to go out. When you're out you say, 'I gotta get back.' Wherever you are in life, you gotta get the hell out of there.''

Captain Fezziwig said...

Road trip!?

They don't make roads where we're goin'..

Rick said...

“…my favorite exterior hobby might well be driving my car through the canyon roads with the CD player blasting. It seems to me that this activity is a sort of miracle, and yet, it's so common that people don't seem to fully appreciate it.”

Indeed. Friday night was a pretty good snow storm here. Loved driving through it. Was too short. No rush, heat cranked, and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, 2nd movement. Who doesn’t want a rig like Capn Nemo’s?

Anonymous said...

I liked what jwm said about solitude being the "demon at the gates" and once you pushed past the voices in your head, then you could travel.

I don't think I've ever had any serious solitude in my entire life. The voices in my head have never been fully confronted.

How am I to tell my clingy mate, needy coworkers, etc that I need about a month to myself? That's going to be tough but I think I've got to do it.

Why, once Aurobindo spent--no, I'm not going to tell it. There is no need.

Julie, thank you for your kind and thoughtful response to my comment at 3:28. You are a good person, I can tell, and I appreciate you.

I like Van with his eggnog issues (I can just picture the scene-perhaps his mate doesn't approve of him nipping).

I have found my peace this evening. Thank you all for existing.

Tamil Nadu

Anonymous said...

Brown-nosing will get you nowhere. We're a tough crowd.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Merry nogsmas, O coons! May there be nog for all and all for nog!

Also, the Solstice is the cave, the Logos is the light coming from the darkest part of the ages... or, one of my favorite Psalms sez:

"From the womb before the Morning Star have I begotten thee; the Lord has sworn and shall not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

(Ps. CIX)

Anonymous said...

Job 21:29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

Teri said...

Well, I'm here for that quote at the top of the page. I love that.

I do my best thinking in cars. I've had a difficult year. My husband of 37 years died in October. I found out yesterday that someone I trusted should not have been. It was possibly the worst Christmas eve in my life. There's three feet of snow on the ground and I have to dig out daily. I could have taken the easy route and stayed in town. Instead, I drove the 27 miles home. The power was out when I got there, but such is the power of the road that I didn't care. I dug out again and drove to work this morning. The sun came out and it was as though God himself was smiling.

And I love that song by the Who. It's always fit in with those homes on wheels that I tend to live in. I'm taking a break from my trailer to sort out my life. Come spring, I emerge from the cocoon and decide where I go from here. I think I need a few road trips first.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Teri-
Thanks for sharing that. I can't even imagine the pain of loss you are feeling. And yet you still have hope through intense grief, and that encourages me. Especially when you saw God smiling!

You are in my prayers, dear Lady.
God bless you.

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