"Intentional Community" is still just utopia?
BeiYin
> Dan: I don't know anything about it. And my life feels no less rich for not
> knowing.
BeiYin: Not wanting to know, gives one the necessary stability to stay
where one is. In case some information are coming near to oneself
which are unknown or don't fit into one's established system, then
everybody is using individual ways to avoid these information by not
listening, misunderstanding, criticizing, hiding oneself or
escaping...
A good example is what happened yesterday at FalconBlanco:
During and after lunch we were talking.
Joel: Do you know the movie 'Star Wars'?
BeiYin: I know something about it but haven't seen it. Why do you ask?
Joe: Because it is a great movie.
BeiYin: Why do you think it is a great movie?
Joe: Because it had a lot of success.
BeiYin: That's the reason why it is great? I would assume that the
movie was successful because somebody spent a lot of money and the
specialists pushed the right buttons. It is in the first place to make
money. If they spend two million Dollars, then they can expect to earn
ten million, if they spend ten million, then probably will make one
hundred million and it will be a 'great' movie. The recipes are well
known: War, violence, crime, sex, mixed with some humor and a little
wisdom, then if the whole mixture is spectacular enough, it will be
successful. One can be pretty sure, if something is successful in this
society then the level will be pretty low.
Joe: But there are art works like VanGogh, that many people like and
they are good.
Betsy: Perhaps what becomes popular as good artwork is because within
the artwork there is a space created which allows many possibilities
for interpretation.
BeiYin: Why do they like these specific pieces of art? Probably
because the artists are famous, accepted and well established. Really
to appreciate art one has to be an artist. People are using art as
decoration because it is the fashion in this moment or they buy art as
a representation, the most expensive serves best...
Betsy: I agree that this must be the main reason that certain pieces
of art become popular, people collect it to impress others with their
good taste. I can see the same with movies, people talk about what
they've seen and even memorize parts of the movie, a whole lot of
energy goes into it, to impress others with what they know about it.
David: But people put something on the wall they like, even it is not
expensive.
InkyPinkie: Yes, one can get a lot of nice pin up girls out of one
Playboy or Penthouse.
Joe: Most people like Shakespear and he is good.
BeiYin: How many of those people who like Shakespear are understanding
what he was expressing with his writings? Shakespear is famous, well
established as part of the culture. Why people go into the theater to
watch Shakespear? Probably because it is a social happening where
people meet and show themselves, Shakespear as a background makes them
feel good.
Joe: This is a cynical view, I don't like it.
BeiYin: It is not cynical, it is realistic.
Joe: Then I prefer to stay in my illusion and you keep your cynical
view.
BeiYin: That you will do anyway because you want to keep what you
have, a strong defense system. Can't you see this?
The header of FalconBlanco is: Relating to Life - Art of Living. But
to be able to relate creatively one has to be an artist. There are
very very few artists and even less artists of life.
David: An artist also has to make money, he must eat and take care of
his family.
BeiYin: One is an artist because one needs to express oneself out of
an inner urge, this has nothing to do with money. When the motivation
of an artist is to make money then he/she is off and what he/she is
producing is not art. If the artist is already famous, he will sell
and people will not distinguish that his production is just a
repetition.
Art can only be seen by an artist. Probably one can only be open and
relate to life if one is an artist of life.
Betsy: I don't see that an artist has to 'make money', but there are
the basic survival needs of food, clothing and shelter. If one is
practicing 'relating to life - Art of living', then I can see that one
must be an artist. Also then the reason for one's doing can't be money
focused or it will create a type of decision-making channel or
dependency based on getting it which will ruin the art. Seems to be
difficult to put into practice.
David: But still the artist has to eat and earn money.
BeiYin: Then he/she looks better for another means to make money and
leaves his art as a hobby. Self expression is connected with one's
growing process and this can't happen easily, especially if there is
so much dependency on outer circumstances and programmed conditions.
We are here to learn how to relate to whatever shows up and this in
the first place to our own reactions. This is the most important and
the most creative work we are doing here at FalconBlanco. The space is
made for this. What we are doing on the practical level, like
recycling or taking care of the place or the animals, gives us the
possibility to relate, respond and react. But if we hide our
reactions, don't allow to express ourselves, then we are not creative,
we are not 'artists of life'.
Betsy: Is there any way to make money which is not a form of
dependency?
BeiYin: The dependency results from one's attitude connected with
one's personality which is bound to a materialistic view. People's
basic structure is still so much hidden, what means unconscious, that
even with the urge to reach spiritually realms, the materialistic
dependency remains, so that people live double-tracked.
Reflecting about my personal situation I must say: I don't know what
I'm still doing here. Why do I talk at all? I just see that there is
no openness, there are no questions, there is nobody who wants to know
something about anything and the least about oneself. David, what do
you think about this?
David: I'm listening.
BeiYin: Well, that's something. Most people don't even listen. The
question is if you are listening because you are interested to
understand or if you are just alert so that your defense system can
work.
Betsy: I'm working on it. I can see that I don't express myself
enough, still I hold back, but I don't want it to be just provocations
and/or auto-pilot reactions.
BeiYin: Your spontaneous reactions are also self expression, you
should allow them to come out. You may dare to do so, take the risk,
here you have the space and the opportunity. Your silence might hurt
more than your provoking reaction and with this you have the chance to
lighten up your background. That's our work, isn't it? In the future
we will need to make this very clear, so that people who come to
FalconBlanco know before hand what they might expect and not be
shocked from the open space and what happened in it, so that they
don't need to leave after a few days, what only creates tension and
unnecessary disturbance for the group.
- - - - - - - - - -
Well, this was our talk at lunch time. Joe left to go to the beach. In
the evening David said that his dog got sick and he must return
immediately to England, so he left to go to the airport with the hope
he would get a last minute flight.
We haven't had any problems with him. He was here now for three weeks
wanting to stay for three months. He worked a lot and was a real help
in cleaning up the place after the forest fire we had. Also he was a
supporting friend when I was nearly killed by the fork lift. He never
expressed himself, (except that he wrote a dozen of Tanka for two
days, then he stopped this) he never showed his feelings or thoughts.
I initiated him into meditation and he was meditating very regularly
twice a day. (I really hope that he will continue with it...)
This morning I saw Joe when he was eating his breakfast. He didn't
answer me when I said hello and good morning. Later he ask me if I
could give him a ride when I would go with the van to Ibiza. It turned
out that he was leaving after only a few days without saying anything
more.
We haven't yet finished to clean up the place and now we are only
three people, but we have to continue with the daily frame work. So it
is pretty clear that we will not finish before the retreat in
September starts. We will need to cancel all or find another way.
We will see...
BeiYin
- -
http://personales.jet.es/falconblanco/
http://terra.es/personal/beiyin/
email: falcon...@jet.es
FalconBlanco
following NGs:
alt.community.intentional,alt.life.itself,alt.meditation,alt.spirituality,alt.consciousness
We think about giving one reward of 200 US$ monthly and 500 US$ for
the best of these selected posts each year.
The best post should be selected by votes of readers and writers in
these NGs.
In case a post is selected written by one of the members of
FalconBlanco, the reward will be given to a place where it is most
needed, which should be suggested as an alternative together with the
vote.
Please give your comments and suggestions.
FalconBlanco
falcon...@jet.es
wrote:
Suggestion for the reward:
Minimum length of the post: 5 lines, maximum 200 lines.
Must be written by the person who is posting. No quotes.
In English.
Must stick to the subject of the NG.
A Web site should be created, where the rewarded posts are collected
and where the votes can be given.
George Ziniewicz
The best thing I've seen in the last 6 months or so is something Betsy contributed w/
Krishnamurti (was it?) but that might be stricken for "quoting"?
OTOH I don't like contest "voting" (too ego-conducive), but I do contribute often (graphics
challenges) for the interaction.
zin
--
3-D graphics shareware & more: http://www.zintel.com