The Shadow
I keep getting this sneaking suspicion that bad is good. May be that’s easy to say from the relative isolation of high atop my rusty tower here in the mutant forest, but it seems true. So much good comes from bad that how can bad be bad?
Of course too much bad is not a good thing. But too much good is not a good thing either, so that doesn’t prove anything. An example would be a goody two-shoes. Nobody likes someone who is too good. They’re annoying as heck. One good shoe and one bad shoe is just about right.
One of my multitudinous and sadly disappointed spiritual gurus used to be fond of saying, “The wound is the resource.” The thing that attracted me to her in the first place was that she was not all sweetness and light. She had no interest in bringing on the new millenium when everything will be perfect all the time. To her, evil was just another part of what is, and not something to be wiped off the face of the earth.
Poor evil.
Seems like the part of us that is most interested in perfection and immortality is the ego section. The soul or spirit ain’t quite so picky. Spirituality that is all about making everything perfect is the ego talking, as far as I can tell. Spirituality in service to ego, oh yay.
The worst of all bads is death. Yet without death everything would suck. In fact there wouldn’t be anything at all, since death is what we live on. I can’t believe there are people who want humans to live forever. Bummer dude.
Shit,
LWIII
well, you certainly can’t know love without loss, or joy without sorrow, or they would just be states or normalcy – the “good” would lose its sweetness, of that I am certain.
Some spirituality serves the ego, and some is the quest to lose the ego — which is egotistical in itself. Oh! The dilemma! Somewhere out there, there is a way to lose the self, and it’s about as spiritual as us humans can get: it’s called serving others. Serving with love and compassion and not being afraid of looking like an ass – or worse! Being vulnerable.
Being vulnerable is the key to being spiritual, I think, and the key to becoming as human as is humanly possible. We are all of us God’s babies.
Thank you so much Cheryl, for contributing your wisdom and wonderful heart to my words.
Serve on,
LWIII
hard to be vulnerable if you live forever… hard to be anything if everything is light
maybe the real poise of thought here is impermanence… without it, would we ever savour the caress of loves first kiss?
we have to believe everything will end before we relish in the -now- and savour every sight, sound, smell, touch… every drip of wonder from our daily cup
is ‘bad’ everything impermanent? is evil the movement of change?
ripped from our homes in the middle of the night and stuffed into prisons, staved of every comfort… is evil this action? or is evil the belief in comforts?
can humanity be saved by finally believing in impermanence and letting this belief embrace us into peace…?
Kafka said the meaning of life is that it ends, and I think he may have something there. I don’t know what evil is, Azyh. One day I’ll think somethng is evil and the next day it turns out that was the best thing that could have happened.
I do know I hate pain, both in me and other people, but that may just be a personal preference.
Not sure I think humanity needs to be saved. All we need is to survive and all will be well (after our normal hellish stuff in between).
xoxo!
Thank you for your drip of wonder Azyh, as ever, your cup is overflowin. I’m just glad to get dripped on. Hopeing to see you at DD in Novermber!
Have you ever read The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera? One of my faves. Read it in college and again between babies at some point. But the story twisted light and dark, good and bad. I cried when the dog died, but when the person died (sorry, it’s been too long for me to remember who died… i mean… i didn’t want to ruin it for those who haven’t read it… heehee) I didn’t feel a thing. Perfect writing that makes you question if bad really is bad. Excellent post, as always, my friend.
See ya on Twitter,
PoeticLotion
Thanks Laurie. I’ve never read that book but may have to give it a whirl. Don’t read much contemporary fiction because it almost always makes me feel like it was written by a creative writing professor.
Thanks for the post!
xoxo
Is it bad to have been written by a creative writing prof? Just curious. At least they spell correctly. =D
Just seems stilted and formulaic, as if they’re all writing from the same instruction booklet. Hard to describe. Just seems like a modern esthetic that I don’t like. Maybe I’m full of it, but that’s how I describe it…creative writing writing.
I’m of the school of thought that creative writing isn’t that great of a subject. Writers should be reading great writing and developing their writing by writing, not having somebody telling them how to write. Teaching writing is a scam. Oh…that’s too harsh. Like anything instruction is good… to a point.
Spelling is the least of our worries. The spell robots can handle that.
Heard a saying once *Sorry, My bad*. Made me giggle..I’m bad and good in equal measure I think..Why are humans flawed…Your posting is making me think muchly…,Obviously not busy enough…
Bad can be loveable at times, can’t it..
I think, a piece of work, that makes a reader think, is a fine piece of work indeed!!
Unruly Truly x
Humans aren’t flawed, the idea that we’re supposed to be perfect is what’s flawed. We’re just a perfect soup of assholes and angels, by my lights.
So glad you liked that post, TBD. So did you play the Mighty Mouse song in my mouse post? Man I love that.
I get what your saying about creative writing writing. And i agree to an extent. Writing is a talent, after all. Or at least, *I* think it is. People can learn how to write, (via writing teachers), and yet, you can tell that they don’t have that talent. You can get all the learnin’ and have all the skills, but without the talent, it means zilch.
I still loved The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
It’s not so much the talent thing for me, Laurie, as it is they become creativity robots, their talents have all been directed in a certain way so they all sound so ultra-creative it makes me barf. What I want in a writer can’t be taught, and it’s not talent, it’s her actual voice, the one that God gave her in her heart. Untalented people speaking authentically are a lot more readable to me than an enormous talent being all creative like they taught him in creativity class.
I still need to get that book. Thanks so much, Laurie!