"There are no spirits or gods in the cat, don't look for them, Shed. A cat is the picture of the eternal machinery, like the sea. You don't pet the sea because it's pretty, but you pet a cat-why?-ONLY BECAUSE HE'LL LET YOU. And a cat never knows fear-finally- he only winds up into the spring of the sea and the rock, and even in a death-fight he does not think of anything but the majesty of darkness." - Charles Bukowski
Perhaps that last bit is why cats were deemed evil in some places during the Middle Ages. Cats know their place in the Universe, they walk with confident ease, making self-doubt ridden humans feel too much like prey.
Perhaps this sense of the "majesty of darkness" is part of what makes "Vincent" in th 1987 TV program "Beauty and the Beast" so compelling. In Mr. Perlman's portrayal of him we can see the duality of the uncertain, uncomfortable human and the majestic, certain, graceful, but often merciless beast.
A cat, an apex predator, more secure in that role, especially as a protector of what is his, than any human could ever be.
Yet, he has all those human frailties we are all faced with - he knows fear, knows the feeling of longing to belong, but feeling that he does not, knows a fear of a part of himself that seems alien to the rest of humanity, but is it really? Isn't it only a matter of degree?
In every human heart is the instinct to protect that which we love from harm, and that which we need to survive from being lost. The major difference is that humans think we need to temper this instinct, and are apologetic about it, at least most of the time.
Cats have no such self-doubts. They know what they are, they accept the gifts of their strength and grace, and protect what is theirs with compelling ferocity.
It is to Mr. Perlman's and the show's writers great credit that we could see this conflict in Vincent's character. After all, he is a symbol for what is ultimately a very human struggle: how to learn to love and accept all of ourselves. Vincent makes definite progress in this area, but, like most of us, never fully achieves that acceptance of his more instinctual nature.
This question of the duality of his nature has been discussed quite often in fan fiction, and often is handled very well, giving us even more to ponder about the nature of what it really means to be "human."
Showing posts with label humanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humanity. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Friday, November 13, 2015
Rambling Thoughts On A Friday The 13th Evening...
So much tragedy everywhere on this all too tiny planet we call home. So much of this tragedy made by our own greed and unwillingness to listen or even try to understand one another.
The events in Paris call forth loving messages of sympathy from many, dredge up bitter anger from some who feel their own tragedies are ignored. The loss of ANY life is tragic. Perhaps places like Paris get more notice because they are more present in the Western mind, more real, more recent. It is unfortunate, but often true. That does not mean we don't care about the losses in Syria, Iraq, Iran, any place plagued by unrest and war. What does happen is that we become fatigued by so much information about tragedy in those places, and alas, we begin to EXPECT tragedy in those places.
The atrocities committed during any war or any terrorist act ANYWHERE are deplorable, and injure mankind.
Donne said it best:
" No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in makind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
We are all of us part of the same whole. Some people really don't want to believe that, but it's true. We are ONE race, the HUMAN race, and whether we like it or not, we're stuck with each other.
Those who would claim the Christian faith must remember that our Founder told us as much. We have been instructed by Jesus Himself:
"Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
-from the Book Of Common Prayer, 1979, Holy Eucharist Rite I, page 324. Quote is from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter22, verses 37-40
I find it continually baffling that so many of those who profess to be Christians forget these two commandments. Assuredly, they ARE difficult. To love God so profoundly is beyond the grasp of most of us, and as to loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, well, first we have to love ourselves, and most of us truly do not. We operate quite often out of our insecurities, our deep knowledge and fear and hate of our own faults. Many times, we ENVY our neighbors, who to US seem to have it together far better than WE do, when in reality, they are JUST as insecure as we are.
It is well past time to start looking beyond our own hurts and insecurities, and seeing the wounded people that we ALL are, it is well past time to look with compassion, not pity, but in recognition of the hurts of others in light of our own hurts.
Every day, I know I fall short of this standard, every day I pray for grace to do better, for strength of will to surpass my own love of the status quo. I see so many obviously trying to do good, to reach out in love. We must all try, and we must shore each other up when the going gets rough. No regard to belief system, or ethnicity, or any difference that truly IS no difference. We are ALL human, we are all on this planet together, and we need each other. ALL of us. For our own sake, we need to remember that.
For those of us who are Christians, we must remember that Jesus basically told us as much in that passage about the Great commandments. We are all children of God, loved by God, and we are responsible TO and FOR each other. I don't think Jesus was making any distinctions about your neighbor's race, or religion, or anything else. Your neighbor. Your fellow human being, that person that maybe you don't really like, but you know what? He's stuck on this planet with you, just the same as you're stuck with him. Really not easy, that "loving your neighbor" stuff. I know. I fail at it every day. Every time someone gets on my very last nerve, or says something completely stupid, racist and hateful in the media. I don't love that particular neighbor very much at that point. Perhaps I need to pray for them instead of call them nasty names in my head. Might be better for me, and it might even improve them. Worth a shot. Tell you what, you pray, or think good thoughts, or whatever your particular belief system asks you to do, for me, and I'll do the same for you. If all of us do it, maybe it really will work, and we really will improve. Even a little bit would be good.
Another quote comes to mind when I think about this planet of ours, and our need to get along on it. This one is from Star Trek. (HEY, I'm a geek girl, remember? I cut my teeth on Star Trek fandom. Don't let that put you off, there's a REASON that show stuck with so many of us for so long.)
"KIRK: Give me your hand. Your hand. (she does) Now feel that. Human flesh against human flesh. We're the same. We share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives. We're tied together beyond any untying. Man or woman, it makes no difference. We're human. We couldn't escape from each other even if we wanted to. That's how you do it, Lieutenant. By remembering who and what you are. A bit of flesh and blood afloat in a universe without end. The only thing that's truly yours is the rest of humanity. That's where our duty lies."
Even if we believe that we do not share the same heritage or history, we really do. We are all the product of living on this planet. Everything that happens on this planet effects everything else on it. We do not really live isolated from one another, as much as we might wish to believe sometimes. We need to remember that we are responsible to one another, and FOR one another.
Sigh. So difficult to do, but so essential. There is no easy answer. Humans are complicated, and we love to complicate things. Doing what sounds simple is the hardest thing of all.
That's about all I have to say on that subject right now.
On to other things:
Today should be a day of happy celebration for a friend of mine. It is the anniversary of her birth. Yet this tragedy in Paris happened, and it has cast a pall on her happiness.
I for one wish to celebrate the fact that she was born, and is still here on this earth. She is a person who has a generous, loving heart and a fast wit, who has suffered many things, and yet still finds joy in life, who shares her light with all of us, even those she's never met face to face. I know she loves me, and I love her like a baby sister, or a niece, someone close and treasured. Even though we have never met in person.
So, I hope that her birthday is still a day of joy for her, a day that she realizes that there are MANY of us out here who are very, very glad she was born, and that she loves us.
Happy birthday , Fi. Be well, and know that you are LOVED.
The events in Paris call forth loving messages of sympathy from many, dredge up bitter anger from some who feel their own tragedies are ignored. The loss of ANY life is tragic. Perhaps places like Paris get more notice because they are more present in the Western mind, more real, more recent. It is unfortunate, but often true. That does not mean we don't care about the losses in Syria, Iraq, Iran, any place plagued by unrest and war. What does happen is that we become fatigued by so much information about tragedy in those places, and alas, we begin to EXPECT tragedy in those places.
The atrocities committed during any war or any terrorist act ANYWHERE are deplorable, and injure mankind.
Donne said it best:
" No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in makind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
We are all of us part of the same whole. Some people really don't want to believe that, but it's true. We are ONE race, the HUMAN race, and whether we like it or not, we're stuck with each other.
Those who would claim the Christian faith must remember that our Founder told us as much. We have been instructed by Jesus Himself:
"Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
-from the Book Of Common Prayer, 1979, Holy Eucharist Rite I, page 324. Quote is from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter22, verses 37-40
I find it continually baffling that so many of those who profess to be Christians forget these two commandments. Assuredly, they ARE difficult. To love God so profoundly is beyond the grasp of most of us, and as to loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, well, first we have to love ourselves, and most of us truly do not. We operate quite often out of our insecurities, our deep knowledge and fear and hate of our own faults. Many times, we ENVY our neighbors, who to US seem to have it together far better than WE do, when in reality, they are JUST as insecure as we are.
It is well past time to start looking beyond our own hurts and insecurities, and seeing the wounded people that we ALL are, it is well past time to look with compassion, not pity, but in recognition of the hurts of others in light of our own hurts.
Every day, I know I fall short of this standard, every day I pray for grace to do better, for strength of will to surpass my own love of the status quo. I see so many obviously trying to do good, to reach out in love. We must all try, and we must shore each other up when the going gets rough. No regard to belief system, or ethnicity, or any difference that truly IS no difference. We are ALL human, we are all on this planet together, and we need each other. ALL of us. For our own sake, we need to remember that.
For those of us who are Christians, we must remember that Jesus basically told us as much in that passage about the Great commandments. We are all children of God, loved by God, and we are responsible TO and FOR each other. I don't think Jesus was making any distinctions about your neighbor's race, or religion, or anything else. Your neighbor. Your fellow human being, that person that maybe you don't really like, but you know what? He's stuck on this planet with you, just the same as you're stuck with him. Really not easy, that "loving your neighbor" stuff. I know. I fail at it every day. Every time someone gets on my very last nerve, or says something completely stupid, racist and hateful in the media. I don't love that particular neighbor very much at that point. Perhaps I need to pray for them instead of call them nasty names in my head. Might be better for me, and it might even improve them. Worth a shot. Tell you what, you pray, or think good thoughts, or whatever your particular belief system asks you to do, for me, and I'll do the same for you. If all of us do it, maybe it really will work, and we really will improve. Even a little bit would be good.
Another quote comes to mind when I think about this planet of ours, and our need to get along on it. This one is from Star Trek. (HEY, I'm a geek girl, remember? I cut my teeth on Star Trek fandom. Don't let that put you off, there's a REASON that show stuck with so many of us for so long.)
"KIRK: Give me your hand. Your hand. (she does) Now feel that. Human flesh against human flesh. We're the same. We share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives. We're tied together beyond any untying. Man or woman, it makes no difference. We're human. We couldn't escape from each other even if we wanted to. That's how you do it, Lieutenant. By remembering who and what you are. A bit of flesh and blood afloat in a universe without end. The only thing that's truly yours is the rest of humanity. That's where our duty lies."
Even if we believe that we do not share the same heritage or history, we really do. We are all the product of living on this planet. Everything that happens on this planet effects everything else on it. We do not really live isolated from one another, as much as we might wish to believe sometimes. We need to remember that we are responsible to one another, and FOR one another.
Sigh. So difficult to do, but so essential. There is no easy answer. Humans are complicated, and we love to complicate things. Doing what sounds simple is the hardest thing of all.
That's about all I have to say on that subject right now.
On to other things:
Today should be a day of happy celebration for a friend of mine. It is the anniversary of her birth. Yet this tragedy in Paris happened, and it has cast a pall on her happiness.
I for one wish to celebrate the fact that she was born, and is still here on this earth. She is a person who has a generous, loving heart and a fast wit, who has suffered many things, and yet still finds joy in life, who shares her light with all of us, even those she's never met face to face. I know she loves me, and I love her like a baby sister, or a niece, someone close and treasured. Even though we have never met in person.
So, I hope that her birthday is still a day of joy for her, a day that she realizes that there are MANY of us out here who are very, very glad she was born, and that she loves us.
Happy birthday , Fi. Be well, and know that you are LOVED.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
