Review/Perspective: “Eat, Pray, Love”

Straight off, I was not totally impressed with the book. That is not to say I do not share an empathy with the subject matter. I see a lot of myself in the search Elizabeth goes through.

I am all for being open-minded, we will never know everything and there are many who know much more than we do. We do need to let go of all the petty things we cling to, what is really important? If you haven’t figured it out, what’s important to you right now? Nobody is ever fully right or fully wrong, there’s good and bad in everything and sometimes it’s only a matter of how you are looking at things.

I still can’t figure out why the book did not gel with me very well. I have read many self-help, zen, search/journey for the truth books and this one does not particularly stand out for me as one of the top ten. Maybe it’s only because of relevance, but I also feel there was something in the story which just does not click with me. I imagine it would with women, and especially women living in western societies, a whole lot. There may be oceans of relevance and mirrored reflections of thoughts, feelings and experiences.

Given all that, I love the journey itself. The intent behind it, the search for the truth, for something greater and the realisation that it starts with one’s self. Only one’s self, and it can not begin anywhere else. Outside holds no answers if the inside has not been reconciled. Elizabeth’s journey is just one of those journey’s and I can say it is one of many, by countless citizens of earth with varying resources who will suck up meaning from the greatness of mountains to the simplicity of children playing with marbles on a street corner.

The movie is coming out in the last third of this year , and it looks pretty good. I do think Julia Roberts is a great choice to play Elizabeth in the role and I suspect I will feel better about the movie than the book. Which would be the second time for me ( I always thought the Godfather movie trumped the book).

Above all, I love how the book left me with a feeling of confusion within myself, and that is ALWAYS a great place to start. Never doubt that. Go read the book for yourself, and when it comes out, watch the movie. There is a nugget of something great and personal in all of it.

Friend

Where were they when you was walking through the dark path of sorrow and unhealthy self-flagellation for your failures? The ones who laughed with you way back when you were at primary school, at high school and at university. The ones who rode the tide across the happy days, sucking on the smiles.

And now when the darkness has come, after the glory days… when you hit that hard wall of reality and suddenly nobody’s smiling because nobody’s there. Except you, and you’re not smiling either. All you see is this mountain to climb, a long road ahead with little provision. All you have is you.

Does it make you wonder then, that your REAL friends, even those who did help a little, could only go so far… does it not make you wonder at the fabric of your life? Cloth stitched with decision after decision and it’s all up to you. You, alone, can take the action necessary and you alone should accept the consequences, the responsibility. Accept it. Take the first step up that mountain, on that lonely road.  The others, the ‘friends’, will follow you. But you have to lead yourself, and eventually them too, to the sunlit path of smiles and laughter.

You, are ultimately your only friend.

Recognise.

Why the Concept of Vampires are so Intriguing…

The Twilight Series, Blade, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood and a whole host of other new-age vampire manifestations with varying theories on what vampires are, what they can do and what kills them.  But I don’t care about all that. Why do we find them so interesting that we give it all of our attention and warrant throwing all our money at Hollywood to go see them?

I think the main hook is their immortal nature.  We’re drawn to something that is, in effect, infinite.  Granted in our daily lives or even just by thinking we can not fully grasp the concept of infinity, or eternity.  By nature we are finite beings and hence vampires, by subverting this fundamental aspect of humanity, are made far more intriguing as beings we aspire to.  And we DO aspire to them, what after how glamorous they are made to look in modern literature and cinema.

But still, glamour aside, we subconsciously want the infinite and with most people writing off conventional religion and embracing the religion of atheism, vampires are the only somewhat-infinite idols they can turn their attention to.  For the general religious populace, those who believe in God and the hereafter, vampires give us a glimpse of what we want to be… happy in eternity (without all the bloodsucking and free of any need, ofcourse).

I have written before of how vampires also represent our dark side, but I find the philosophy of the creation of these beings in literature intriguing in itself and required another post with anotehr point of view.

All in all, I find the whole business terribly fascinating.  Maybe there’ll be another post soon form another angle.

Chasing Your Tail: A Parable on Happiness

There is this very interesting parable I heard recently about ‘Happiness’ and how to attain it.  I had to share it here is because it made so much sense in a very cool way.  So to all those seeking happiness… here goes…

An old cat in an alley comes across a little kitten chasing it’s tail and asks "What the hell are you doing?" The little kitten replies "Well… I’ve been studying Cat Philosophy and I’ve discovered that there are only two things that are important for a cat… one is that Happiness is the most important thing for a cat and two, Happiness is located in a cat’s tail. So what I figured out is that if I keep on chasing my tail when I finally get it I will have a LOT of Happiness.’

The old cat replied "Well I haven’t had the chance to go to Cat Philosophy School, I’ve just wandered around the alley’s most of my life and I’ve come to the same conclusion as you… Happiness is the most important thing for a cat and that happiness is indeed located in my tail. The only difference between you and I is that I’ve discovered that if you go about your business and do the things that are important to you, the things which need to be done… It will follow after you… wherever you go…"

:)

Ramadan in the UK

made the above picture wayyy past my bedtime after Taraweeh prayer

Ramadan in the UK is a bit… different.

After years of idiosyncratic Ramadaan and Eid behaviour being drummed into me with the ritual eventually melding into the deeper meaning of how what we do affects who we are and how it will make who we are even better. South Africa was great with the community around me, it gives one an awesome sense of belonging.

In the UK, specifically here in Epsom, there’s a community as well, albeit a younger, less developed one. So, in essence, it can be a little lonely. Not so many friends… some family is here, but with London’s Transport Network – specifically the Road Network – Traffic is 10 X worse than Johannesburg, just to give you an idea, it’s a bit hard. The Public Transport ROCKS! I mean really… trains, busses and the tube are brilliant… but there are costs involved (temporal and monetary), and it does take its toll… makes you think twice before thinking of going anywhere.

It is a very different experience. It takes Ramadaan and puts a magnifying glass on the experience and focuses it. Ramadaan generally makes you forget the outer world and focus on the inner world inside yourself. Being without the general comfort of the family and friends you’ve come to love and trust at a time like Ramadaan takes the whole inner world thing to another level. You start feeling and thinking things about yourself that wouldn’t happen in any other circumstance.

I believe nothing happens without a reason, and so I must be here for a reason. In this situation, in this place. Yet another journey of self-discovery, and from this experience I’m also beginning to realise the truth in the saying that the Final Frontier won’t be space (What’s out there) but it’s going to be Mind & Soul (What’s in here).

Maybe my answer isn’t out there, it’s in me… and now I’m wondering if I’m asking the right questions.

Technorati Tags: Ramadan, Ramadaan, UK, London, Islam, South Africa, Family, Friends

Nothing Good Happens After Nightfall

I think vampires are a metaphor for our dark side. The darker side of humanity… and if you take into account their habits it all begins to make a little sense. Their thirst for blood mirrors our bad habit of always going after one another’s “blood”. Backbiting, Backstabbing, Violence, Abuse… everytime we put ourselves over others and go a little further with bad intent.. there we have it. We may as well have fangs.

Another aspect is that they only come out at night. I don’t think this is a coincidence. As far as I can see nothing good ever happens after the sun goes down. People end up drunk, spaced out, and most of the time up to no good. There must be a statistic which can prove this point because I have no doubt about it. Again, it makes sense. The dark provides anonymity… people can’t see us, so we let out who we truly are (just like the vampire). If bad intent drives us, that’s exactly what will come out. The anonymity of the dark makes us think that we can’t be held responsible for our actions (because no one knows its us) and we can hide very easily in the dark. Murders, Robberies and all other kinds of shit happens at night.

So there we have it. Vampires are our dark side.

Technorati Tags: Vampire, Philosophy, Life, Darkness

Is Advertising Really Pure Evil?

When it comes down to the bare bones of the issue, or is it the beating heart, whatever… the main thing is… they want you to buy more stuff. This is a pretty simple concept and it has been said before, blah, blah, blah. The power play comes in at the juncture where what they’re selling coincides with what you need. The thing which tips the power in the advertisers favour is when they convince you that you need something you don’t. This gets more complicated when you take into account wants versus needs.

Further complicating things is context. The context today is we’ve moved far away from worrying about needs. We WANT STUFF. Lots of Stuff. Shiny, pastel-coloured, Curvy Stuff which will make us happy and able to satisfy our every sense and then do it all again. We also want it all NOW. Instantly. None of this patience shit and waiting for things which are ‘worthwhile’… I know what’s worthwhile because I feel it now and I want it right fucking now.

I don’t believe Advertisers have any sway, not really, in terms of ‘Making us buy more stuff’. They are merely the temptation… WE make the choice. It is within us… the choice of wanting stuff we don’t need and also to want it right now. So is advertising pure evil? No. Advertising is just showing us what is within us… in the end WE choose. I would say that advertising is only evil if that is what we see within ourselves. You don’t have to buy the product and even if you do… do you need it right now?

Advertising is just stimulus and we can either react automatically to whatever whims and desires move us or be a little bit more AWARE of what’s happening around us and choose to RESPOND to stimulus in our own best interest.

Advertising is only really effective because we all only operate on auto-pilot, we set ourselves up with bad habits of wanting things we don’t need and things we want right now. So when it finally flashes before our eyes and ears we simply react. And, if we are all operating on auto-pilot, that makes us less human because the real thing which makes us human is our ability to choose.

You can’t blame the stimulus… advertising is not the enemy… you are.

How Israeli’s are ‘Helping’ Iran

Everyone knows that Israel is most definitely NOT a friend of Iran in any way or form.  Given the current circumstances in the country and the media coverage around Iran and Election, in our information age, it goes without say that there would be spin from either side regarding the coverage.

Case in point, from a social media perspective, is the website helpiranelection.com On the website it shows the man behind it all to be “Arik Fraimovich, friendly web-geek.”

and.. here’s the guy’s personal website…

Notice… Israeli Military Consultant… You can’t tell me this doesn’t tarnish the intentions behindthe websites intent on helping the Iranian people. This also makes me question all of the media surrounding this issue. This post is not about standing behind any particular side but it is an attempt to get people to look a bit deeper and bit further than what we get force-fed over News websites and TV journalism.

WE seem to slip back into complacency a lot when we see a lot of our friends following a trend on Twitter or wherever, and quell the urge to question the nature behind the source of all the information.

It’s not a great place to be when people’s rights are curtailed for the benefit of the few, but the lines which are drawn are far from black and white. The shades of grey behind the so-called good intentions of some people need to be made a bit clearer. Because, unfortunately, the one’s with the worst intentions know how to play the system and the shades of grey tend to spiral more toward darkness.

All I’m asking is that you question… question everything, don’t blindly believe.

Technorati Tags: Iran, Israel, Websites, Support

Where Does Passion Come From?

“Every decision you make – every decision – is not a decision about what to do. It’s a decision about Who You Are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do.”
- Neale Donald Walsch

I was just wondering… What makes people move and act towards their goals and aspirations?what drives their motivation to do the things they love?  What makes them love what they’re doing?  And by that I don’t mean their jobs, I mean the things which make them smile and where they lose track of time and place and just… be. 

I’m still trying to figure out what really drives me. I know I like a whole lot of things, but essentially I think I love knowledge and particularly useful knowledge, not trivia or useless knowledge which won’t benefit anyone.  That’s one thing that keeps me going, striving for more and better things.

My question is… where does that come from?  Is it genetic? Do we learn it from our parents, relatives and friends as we’re growing up?  Is it inherent or learned?  Do we just try everythign we can when we’re little in order to stumble across that one thing which makes our hearts sing and suddenly we’re wondering what we were doing with our lives when we could’ve been doing… THIS.

Technorati Tags: Passion, Motivation, Where