2008.06.11
Henry Miller monologuing about the photos in his bathroom. (Mildly NSFW, though not as bad as the start of Part 2 or parts of Part 3)
(I'm intrigued by the style of decorating, I'm thinking about trying for something vaguely similar in my apartment, filling it with a mix of the visually interesting, the intellectually stimulating, and the personally meaningful. The art and posters I've hung over the years, some of my own photography of friends and places. I guess it might end up a mess but at least it would be my mess.)
In Part 2 he talks about a Buddhist Monk who strives for enlightenment for 15 years, then finally gives up and finds it the first time he sleeps with a woman, a geisha.
The important thing was that he had allowed himself to go to the very end of doubt and despair--had he not this would have never have happened. But he went to the very end of the tunnel and saw the light. This is, of course, something that does not happen to people in psychoanalysis. They may be adapted to our corrupt world when they're finished, but they never reach satori, and they never see things as they really are, in my opinion.The original blog post focused more on focused more on another clip, Miller expressing thoughts on the New York of his youth (I think while in a Hollywood backlot recreation.) The Boingboing post included a comment from the guy who shot the documentary ("Henry Miller Asleep & Awake") 30-odd years ago, Tom Schiller. I don't know what other Henry Miller footage was about, but I think I see elements of this documentary informing Fred Ward's nice performance in "Henry & June", also there's a scene in the movie where Miller is making faces in a mirror that seems to be straight from the first moments of this clip.
Of course there's another aspect to it, and a very wonderful one. It is like William Blake's idea of reaching heaven through hell... It doesn't matter what road you take to reach paradise and besides that even, one might say that paradise is not even just around the corner but right under your nose, if you happen to be lucky and aware enough.
And I think that's the great burden of it, that one should-- accept his doubts completely. As the Buddha once advised. Accept despair, and anguish, and frustration. And see it through, don't go to a doctor, don't go to an analyst above all!
Moving into a small apartment feels like an ecological exercise. I can live on what I've already moved, but more remains to bring over.
article says new iphone ditches "brushed aluminum that takes scratches so easily" - but I kind of like scratched, worn things. wabi-sabi!
I can't even say how much I dig the movie "drumline"- could it be black drum corps tend to use more bass, and white, more ratatat snare?