01
We don't know what we need to hear until we hear it. We don't know what we need to see until we see it. We don't know what we need to do until we do it. Which puts us at the mercy of the Mystery quite beyond us to lead us, guide us, call us away from what we think we need to hear, what we think we need to see, what we think we need to do into what we need to hear, see, do. We cannot separate what we need to hear from what we want to hear until we hear it. We cannot separate what we need to see from what we want to see until we see it. We cannot separate what we need to do from what we want to do until we do it. What does wanting know? How did wanting get to be the director of the show? We live in bondage to our wants, to our fear, to our anger-- wanting to be free to do what we want, free to give free rein to our fear, free to express/exhibit our anger-- with no idea of what needs to be done with any of these emotions. Desire! Fear! Anger! Run the show. Take those away from us and there is nothing to us. Desire! Fear! Anger! Direct our life and are as close as we can come to being alive. They are substitutes for life, for living, for being alive. They are a waste of life. They close us off from life. They enclose us, encase us, imprison us, in a life that isn't worth living. Creativity and imagination have no place with us. Art and poetry have no chance with us. We live at the mercy of our Desire! Fear! Anger! Hide out in our addictions. Give the Mystery no room to work its magic on us. We do not allow ourselves to hear, see, do anything we haven't already heard, seen, done. And we are careful to hang out with people just like we are, in the grip of, in bondage to, Desire! Fear! Anger! For as long as life shall last.
–0–
02
I catch myself saying things that need to be said/heard in imaginary dialogues with people I will never talk to. These internal dialogues, carried out in my imagination, are the sources of new realizations, insight, enlightenment, awakening, illumination. It is my way of talking to myself, of telling myself what I need to hear, by directing my words to someone else within the confines of my own mind. Sit down and talk to your mother. Tell her what she needed/needs to hear. Responding to everything she says, every question she asks, with what she needed/needs to hear. Or your father. Or your brother. Or your sister. Or your boss. Or ... The conversations will expand your vision, enlarge your world, deepen your awareness, transform your perspective and change your world and your life. And your mother, etc. will finally get to be who they should have been all those years ago.
–0–
03
Hermeneutics is the art of interpretation, the word is from the Greek God Hermes (Roman God Mercury). The Messenger of the Gods (Among other things). Hermeneutics is my shtick (Among other things). Saying what's what and what it means. Getting to the bottom of things. Asking all of the questions that beg to be asked. Saying all of the things that cry out to be said. Getting to the point, and being fine with being beside the point (Because points are everywhere for those with an eye for that kind of thing). Making sense of things, insofar as things can make sense. Finding the right word for what cannot be said-- in light of Heinrich Zimmer's observation that "The most important things cannot be said, and the second-most important things are misunderstood, so the third-most important things are what we talk about (News/weather/sports/opinion/inanity...)-- even though it can only be heard by those who have been waiting to hear what is being said all their life long, and didn't know it until they heard it. Leaving everyone else to wonder, "Why doesn't he talk to us about things we can understand?" Mine is the Umwelt of ambiguity and obscurity, of understatement and overstatement, the world of the Delphic Oracle, opaque and enigmatic where the same thing can be read/understood in different ways. Because the world is such that the same thing can be read/understood in different ways. And how we understand it depends as much on who we are and how we see things as it does on what we are looking at, trying to see. Mine is a work that cannot be done. Mercury is Hermes' other name. Mercury is Quicksilver, slippery, impossible to pick up or pin down, incapable of being hemmed-in or defined, understood, explained. My thing is to get to the bottom of things, without words to say what is there beyond pointing to the truth using art, music, nature and play-- including play-on-words-- as mediums of transmission and comprehension. It is a hoot and a wonder, and I don't know anyone better-suited for the job than I am. I'm delighted to be chosen for the task!
–0–
04
Helen Keller found her life to be exceptionally meaningful and interesting. Meaning is what we make it out to be. What our life means is what it means to us. Helen Keller lived meaningfully. What inhibits/stops us from doing the same thing? We all deal with the same set-up. There is what happens and there is what we think about what happens, and there is what we do about what happens. There is what happens and there is our attitude about what happens, and there is what we do in response to what happens. There is a lot in the category of what happens that we cannot do anything about. We have pretty much complete control in the categories of our attitude about what happens and what we do in response to what happens. That is where we come in. Get to work. Transform the world. By transforming the way we think about the world. Batter up! (See what you can do with this guy's curve ball).
