TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

10:12 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Sage and Mystic

...finding my way back into what was feeling stale and out of focus. thanks to Reb Zalman for inspirational words this morning on listening to music with receptivity as a form of devotion. 'I offer my good feeling, my ears and my heart... that is a point of worship'. Gorgeous. Sometimes I wish I was Jewish. He writes about Jewish renewal in contemporary life, and has a great universalist spiritual sensibility. All that ritual and great storytelling. Missing a sense of inter-connectedness and ritual in this highly individualistic life. Notes to self: make your own rituals, be open and receptive. giggle (lessons from the Dalai Lama) let yourself be joyful and filled with wonder. Go water the plants.

Speaking of which, just got home from the most joyful film I've seen in a long time.

Shortbus preview screening, a kaleidoscope of sexuality and yearning with an incredibly optimistic, exuberant tone for all the highly jaded urban young things out there... and then there was all the sex. I'd rather watch people having fun getting it on than shooting each other or blowing things up. Much more honest. As Baudrillard said, what are you doing after the orgy? Reminder that not everyone is tanned and toned and polished as they appear to be in the usual media stories, although they were all pretty cute in that NY alternative cultures way. Described as 'emotionally challenged' in one review - but hey, aren't we all?Why settle for this inane one dimensional world, when there is so much more to life. Good to see something raw, fun and playful that looks at relationships with humour and unflinching honesty. Go see.

Yes, yes, doing the best I can to be brave. On a daily basis. take risks, emotionally and creatively. it's just. hard. crossing that invisible boundary between people. There's a moment in the film when the highly depressed key narrator talks about how nothing gets in under his skin. Watching it all go by, life behind glass. Inclinations towards clinical depression aside, that's how it feels to me sometimes. Less lately, but the numbness creeps back in now and then. why else would one be driven to such extremes, other than to prove we still exist.
Taking it lightly, give me time.