THE DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS

May 26, 2013

Vagabond Journey No. 2,001

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The illusion of the good inside ourselves must be wiped out, and the veil, with which self love conceals our moral infirmity, must be torn away.

(Immanuel Kant)

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Hello Sue

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How much of who you think you are are you willing to relinquish? I've observed that the creature who eats, sleeps and walks around inside my skin is often someone I don't want to know. I think I'm a fairly good guy, until I start remembering the stupid and cruel things I've said and done or the intelligent and beneficial things I haven't said and done.

Oh, I can dwell on the good things about me, just as most people do about themselves. But I've also come to realize that those blossoms come from the same meadow as the weeds do.

It is certainly a good thing to respect oneself, but who this self is I am trying to respect has become elusive and enigmatic to me. Knit together, the characteristics, patterns, traits and talents that go to make my person, resemble the skins of the onion, the veils that are covering the naked Salome who doesn't reveal her true selfhood until the veils are off.

The troublesome thing about those veils is that the more we live the more veils we have woven for ourselves and the more we believe the pretensions they display and the less likely we are to peek behind them to see our naked selves.

But to live with our true selves with self respect and no regrets is a strip show, taking off those self made veils, one at a time until we uncover what needs to be cleaned, repaired, focused and saved. Unlike the onion which has no center there is an amazing being behind the veils.

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Dana Bate

Vagabond Journeys

Never Give Up

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ANOTHER ONE THOUSAND TO GO

May 23, 2013

Vagabond Journey no. 2,000

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You have created love in my soul and it has grown to be a mountain.

(John Newbrough)

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Hello Everyone

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I received some very good suggestions about what to do with my 2,000th Vagabond Journey. Some of those thoughts tended to looking at my life with an analytical eye. So I decided to dip into the recent past to see what I had written 4 years ago and trace the changes and improvements, if any, in my basic views and writing ability. So here, unedited, is my blog for May 23, 2009 complete with some excellent comments, two from people who still comment and one from someone I never hear from any more. After it I will make my own comments

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Veritable Values 5/23/09
Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

Voltaire
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Welcome
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People often waste a lot of time criticizing other people for this and that, finding fault and down grading what they do. Why is that? There usually is some low grade reason for it, such as making comparisons, which Shakespeare says are "odorous" or simple prejudice. Other times the reasons are more sinister such as envy, jealousy or hatred.

I used to be a critical, fault finding fellow. I was brought up that way. But, thank heaven, I learned the pointlessness of it. I also learned the detriment to myself of not appreciating what others do, no matter what it is. I learned to enjoy what I see others do and to be grateful. As an actor, I can enjoy great acting when I see it without feeling jealous. Just as I can enjoy a great musician or a great ball player. It seems strange but I can also feel a sense of participation in what they do.

But then it's not strange. Even though the work of some artists is so magical that it seems they came to earth from another planet or as a result of a meteor shower, the fact is they are human beings and thus are doing what a human being is capable of. Those who excel at something are the leaders, teachers and way showers. I may not take the path of the ball player or opera singer but I can see what I am capable of if I did. It is in me because it is human.

As my friend Barry Pearl wrote "One's appreciation, admiration for another's abilities, means that there is a place inside the admirer that has the same ability."

Those who do things that we admire show us that we have the capability to be admired, and those who excel at what they do show us what excellence is and that we are also capable of it, because we, like they, are human.

DB Vagabond Journeys
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Blow some bubbles of joy today.
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Posted by

DBat5/23/2009 12:05:00 AM
Labels:admiration,appreciation,Barry Pearl,excellence,Voltaire

3 comments

: Cathysaid...It's close to impossible NOT to entertain the human desire to be critical. And ppl learn from that too - if no one expressed their critique for what I say and do I'd have no feedback hence no way to calculate if I'm offending someone, being sympathetic, or just wasting time. Your ability to have a critical eye is, to my mind, a talent. May 23, 2009 at 1:21 AM

Bucko (a.k.a., Ken)said...I had to learn to operate in a negative environment when I went into nuclear power. Because our focus is the health and safety of the public, we have 2 second celebrations when things go well, but we focus on what can be improved most of the time, which means you are always finding fault. I find my time away from work I am quieter because I need to think about what I am going to say, and make it positive. It is like having two personalities. May 23, 2009 at 7:14 AM

Arlene (AJ)said...I've always found criticizing anyone only ends friendships without the one realizing that doing this is hurtful to not only them but, you also. I find accepting someone for who they are is the best route to go, I don't have to agree with their stance or thoughts, etc. but I'll listen with respect. Keeps the friendship and door open to my friends and loved ones, to enjoy another day with them.

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And so what has become of those four years? I've done a lot of reading and writing since then, many blogs, some stories. I've been published in a local paper. I've also made some interesting paintings, exhibited them and sold a few.

I've lost three friends, one is quoted above, because in spite of the well intentioned but miscalculated urges of two of them I refused to take the path in life they had decided for me. The third lost friend betrayed my friendship and broke my heart.

I had to go from a cane to crutches in order to walk, but by determination have overcome the crutches. I moved from one apartment to another, from despair to hope.

I haven't been on the stage for 12 years, but I look forward to some day, perhaps, going back to it. I accumulated some staggering debts which are being taken care of. I will e solvent by October. Then I can focus on repairing myself and maybe even returning to New York City, my true home.

I still agree with everything I wrote above in '09, and maybe I've added some lightness and humor to my thoughts, and more love I still look for the summit of that mountain and am ready for the next 1,000 journeys.

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Dana Bate

Vagabond Journeys

Never Give Up

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COMPLETE THE JOB

May 15, 2013

Vagabond Journey No. 1,999

The glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read.

(Pliny the Elder)

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Hello Rose

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I once knew a country music singer who said that everyone's life is a song. She meant that a life lived could be told in the music and lyrics of a song, with all its metaphorical lessons and experiences.

Similarly I have said that everyone's life is a book, a story, some longer than others. "We spend our years as a tale that is told." (Psalms 90) I have also written that

"Life is unfinished business." We face our daily tasks with one degree or another of joy, satisfaction, weariness or dread. But hidden between the pages of our experiences, our past, our current affairs and our hopes, plans and worries about the future, is a greater objective which when identified and understood will generate a grander perspective about who we are and what we mean to the world.

The country song, the book, the "tale that is told" are evidences of a life being lived, a manifestation of being. What a wonderful opportunity that realization gives us. We set down not only footprints and trail markers but the actual experience of life in its most graphic form.

But with that opportunity comes a personal obligation to live life in its fullness, to live a complete life, for ourselves and for those whose lives we touch.

My daily tasks need to be done but I believe they are better done with my eye on the biggest objective possible, the book my very existence is writing.

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Dear Reader, according to Google this is my 1,999th blog entry. If my computer keeps working the next one, whenever I post it, will be a landmark for me. I want to make it special. So I'm open to any suggestions you may have for what I should do. You may leave a comment here or email me at dbdacoba@aol.com. I would really like your input. Thank you.

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Dana Bate

Vagabond Journeys

Never Give Up

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A NEW HUMAN

May 12, 2013

Vagabond Journey No. 1,998

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I know how to do anything, I'm a Mom.

(Roseanne Barr)

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Hello to all you mothers

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Last night, at about 1 a.m., I heard a baby crying. It's very rare to hear a baby in this neighborhood. There are a lot of children running around and shouting outside in the afternoon, but the sound of a baby, a brand new human, is an unusual event.

I knew from whence the sound was coming. It was on the other side of my bedroom wall. The folks next door brought the little girl home from the hospital about a week ago. So not only is there a brand new baby but there is also a brand new mommy. Of course, as could be expected, a couple of brand new grandmas showed up to assist in the process of adjustment.

So the little girl. Emmy, set to a good healthy bawling to express her outrage at being taken from the soft security she knew and thrust into an alien world she doesn't understand and in which she is incapable of taking care of herself.

The baby's cry is the language. It's the only way for the infant to communicate that she needs a diaper change, she has a pin sticking into her, she's hungry, needs to burp or just needs some company. So, immediately,, Mom is on the case.

Her crying does not disturb me in the least. In fact I'm happy to hear it. It's good to know there is new life happening right next door to me. Proud parents, fussy grandmas, healthy little girl.

A child is a wondrous thing. Life goes on.

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Dana Bate

Vagabond Journeys

Never Give Up

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THE WANDERER

April 30, 2013


Vagabond Journey No. 1,995



Have no fear of moving into the unknown.

(Pope John Paul II)

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Hello Lily

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I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger;

I can tarry, I can tarry but a night.

Do not detain me, for I am going

To where the fountains are ever flowing;



There the glory is ever shining;

O, my longing heart, my longing heart is there.

Here in this country so dark and dreary,

I long have wandered forlorn and weary:

(Mary Shindler)



Many of the years of my vagabond life I moved, not to go somewhere but to get away from where I was,. It wasn't that I was dissatisfied with where I was but I knew in my heart that it was only temporary. That is a result of my youth when I had to keep moving for financial reasons. There are no roots. I never learned what a home is.



It is the same with people. I have no friends from my boyhood or teen age years. My only friend left over from my 20's is Charles, but even with him we were out of contact with each other for about 25 years. I have no friends in this dreary town. I wrote somewhere that I've lost more friends than I ever had. I have managed, in one way or another, to alienate a few of the friends I had. Some have turned cold before they ever became friends. I have moved away from some, others have moved away from me.



So why am I adrift, forlorn and weary, solitary in my ways, apt to pick up and disappear down some road to shining fountains that I think must be there, somewhere? I don't know where they are or where I'm going. I can only say in general where I will stop, if I ever do. There will be space and water, water with waves. I wish to own a tree, and a cat to climb it, and a dog to watch the cat climbing, and young people, and a commerce of ideas.



I can visualize such a place, but can I visualize remaining there? Wherever I am it seems that in my heart I am still a pilgrim and a stranger. A wanderer. A vagabond.

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Dana Bate

Vagabond Journeys

Never Give Up

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GET IN THE LIGHT

April 29, 2013


Vagabond Journey No. 1,994



We can readily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

(Plato)

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Hello Arlene

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The realities of life happen in the broad daylight, and that's why most people don't notice them. A lot of attention has been paid to the victims of the Boston bombings who need artificial limbs as a result. But how many of those people will not be able to afford them.



One evening in New York City a man entered the subway car sitting on a wheelchair. He had no legs. He didn't say a word, he didn't need to. He merely passed through the car with a cup in his hand and people gave him money. When he passed me I put a dollar in his cup. Two words passed between us. I said "Nam?" and he said Yup." Why was that man begging?



Then there's the irony of the homeless. I remember a woman who said she wanted to give her leftover Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless but she didn't know where they live.



Again in New York there was an outdoor book store in Columbus Circle. It was run by the homeless. I bought a few books from them. They were polite, orderly and looked out for each other's books. One day the police came and took them all away. A wealthy and therefore powerful woman had complained about homeless people living in her neighborhood.



The number of children who die everyday in Africa is appalling. The list of wrongs goes on and on and yet it goes unnoticed by all except a few. Politicians, governments, news media, church leaders are the ones who should be shining the bright lights on the world,s problems but they don't because they are afraid..



Churches that should mobilize people to confront and solve the obvious but overlooked circumstances of real life are cloistered in dogmas. The media spends a lot of time worrying about their popularity, telling a lot of stories that look good and asking stupid questions like "What went through your mind?" Congress wastes our money arguing about unimportant things because none of them have the guts to step outside of the party line and face facts.



Go live on the street Senator and see how many peopled don't notice you, pass you buy or cross the street to avoid you. Make friends with the other smelly homeless guys and learn the ropes. And if the police come to take you in, do what they say and don't argue. I've been homeless and I've been a beggar. I know what I'm talking about.

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Dana Bate

Vagabond Journeys

Never give up.

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STEP ON A BETTER SCALE

April 27, 2013


Vagabond Journey No. 1,993



Man's greatness lies in the power of his thought.

(Blaise Pascal)

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Hello Beth

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Watch out, now, it's evaluation time, judgement day. It's time to measure yourself against the perfect person you want to be. Are you as pretty as your sister? Are you stronger than the bully in the playground? Are you smarter than the geek in the horn rim glasses at school? When you step on the scale do you like the number that comes up? No, to all of the above? Well, shame on you.



Shame on you? Nonsense. Shakespeare wrote "Comparisons are odorous." I have worked with better actors, heard better musicians, seen better paintings, red better stories and had conversations with very intelligent and knowledgeable people. None of those experiences has robbed me of a single element of my worth. I've learned things from the actors, the painters and the people I've talked with.



There are some positive thinking experts who are vendors of good advice, but they will tell you that if you want to lose weight think "thin" and if you want to have more money think"wealth." If you want to be better looking think"beautiful." And so on and on. But it's the wrong road. It puts you into a contest between who you want to be and who you think you are. Take a U turn. Comparisons, disappointment, self doubt, self criticism and self condemnation are the poisonous fruits of trying to be someone else.. The antidote is self evaluation.



The objective of trying to improve yourself is not to become a better human being but to be a better and happier you. To do that means to identify and hold in your thoughts the special qualities, the benefits and blessing you provide for yourself and the world, to really understand how valuable you are to yourself. Measure yourself on a scale of personal worth. You will be surprised at what happens.

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Dana Bate

Vagabond Journeys

Never give up

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