tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post2776292276993220891..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: Taking a thought for a walkJim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-14929448853188258052009-01-31T18:39:00.000+00:002009-01-31T18:39:00.000+00:00Marcy, glad to be of service.<B>Marcy</B>, glad to be of service.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-67540049544506549122009-01-31T17:35:00.000+00:002009-01-31T17:35:00.000+00:00Ah, validation ...“I've always held the opinion, r...Ah, validation ...<BR/><BR/>“I've always held the opinion, rightly or wrongly, that I am broken. I suspect that's what life does, takes a perfectly healthy psyche and breaks it over time. And we're led to believe that broken things are bad, unnatural. In my experience broken things can usually be adapted to become useful again and serve a different purpose from the one for which they were originally designed. A writer serves a useful purpose. It may not be something everyone does but if there weren't broken people writing then what would the broken people who like to read do?” <BR/><BR/>Thank you, for that.<BR/><BR/>Thoroughly enjoyed this post and look forward to reading more.Marcyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08072534072199418151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-73677582176245649812009-01-23T09:29:00.000+00:002009-01-23T09:29:00.000+00:00Thank you for that, Asimov. As I suggested in the ...Thank you for that, <B>Asimov</B>. As I suggested in the article there are a few ideas floating around and I guess at the end of the day everyone is a little different. 21 days sounds reasonable though.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-34382407633213921722009-01-22T12:52:00.000+00:002009-01-22T12:52:00.000+00:0021 days cycle is what my yoga master follows. His ...21 days cycle is what my yoga master follows. His pacakage is always for 21 days.asimovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06281299146400580083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-39048660481070779112009-01-22T09:59:00.000+00:002009-01-22T09:59:00.000+00:00You're a good egg too, Ken, you know that.And, McG...You're a good egg too, <B>Ken</B>, you know that.<BR/><BR/>And, <B>McGuire</B>, most people know what they feel about things but communicating that is another ballgame entirely. I am taken aback sometimes when I read a few simple words strung together and they make the world a little clearer. I'm even more gobsmacked when I write them.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-5739281111543470742009-01-22T03:23:00.000+00:002009-01-22T03:23:00.000+00:00As ever my replies are littered with erroe. I repl...As ever my replies are littered with erroe. I reply in the same manner I speak. Like a child.<BR/><BR/>Don't get me started on politics. I'm infatuated by it. I'm not overtly a political poet in fact I avoid it. I have a degre in political sciene. Dull, I know. But, in present times, each of us living within a highly sophisticated global infrastructure. I genuonely believe (writng about it or not) we will see some of the most tumultuous conflicts over the next decade the world has seen. I could go on...<BR/><BR/>Back to the writing; words are amazing in the sense of articulating what we think. They are the couriers of our existence. From the most 'inteligent' to the most 'sincere' (my good self) they have a currency which only time can pass on. All it requires is a stranger to read and think/feel, my god, this is the closest thing to the turth I have found! <BR/><BR/>Again, I'll be back, to focus more on the essay.McGuirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095242258892600138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-17093888627008063522009-01-21T21:05:00.000+00:002009-01-21T21:05:00.000+00:00Thanks for the feedback, McGuire. Sorry if I distu...Thanks for the feedback, <B>McGuire</B>. Sorry if I disturbed you. Really that I was talking about here are politics, economics and ecology as subjects for poetry. I've never written a green poem in my puff and I'm not sure I'd know what to put in one. The fact is my wife and I do lead a reasonably green life. I have no doubt we could do better but we're not lackadaisical about it. As for politics and economics I don't understand either of them – and we're talking basic principals here – so I really don't have anything constructive to say about the state of the country or the state of the economy. Beckett was once asked why his writing wasn't more political and his answer was quite simply that his writing didn't take him in that direction. And my answer is the same. It was a great surprise to me when I wrote that little anti-war poem a few weeks back. You made the point well in your comment: "if we remain indifferent without an alternative" – I don't have an alternative and I think moaning for the sake of it isn't the best use of what talent I have. I've started off a blog about political poetry but I'm only two paragraphs into it and I'm struggling already. I'll do something with it one day when my head's a bit clearer.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-28140698890268119372009-01-21T20:48:00.000+00:002009-01-21T20:48:00.000+00:00"No one is interested in jigsaw pieces that they'v..."No one is interested in jigsaw pieces that they've fitted together."<BR/><BR/>I like that as well as much else in this little 'walk'.<BR/><BR/>You are an egg. Thank heavens you are broken. We couldn't have done bugger-all with you if you weren't.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-51486983248398962222009-01-21T18:37:00.000+00:002009-01-21T18:37:00.000+00:00Love this essay Jim. I'll be back to comment an re...Love this essay Jim. I'll be back to comment an reread, one of the best yet. Though tough competition. <BR/><BR/>Few things caught my attention, firstly, the writing and reading, is partly about 'not being alone' about 'reading someone else' all their life philosophy, life speculation, their judgements. Other people are like mirrors, but they are also, other worlds, we want to understand. The affinity I feel for certian writers simply because they write on themes, that my life also seems to follow, is quite amazing, reassuring, and beautiful. <BR/><BR/>I was a bit disturbed by this statement: 'I don't much care about politics or ecology or the state of the economy.' I think this is the worst evil ever. I understand why people are indifferent to politics, largely because politics IS the problem, economics IS the problem. But, if we remain indifferent without an alternative, then we leave the politicians, to dominate our lives, to make us enslaved. In this day and age, we live in a global infrastructure that really could enslave us even more. If we continue to be sheeple, we will be enslaved. I think their will be serious civil crisis in the next few years as we move toward world government. <BR/><BR/>That aside, I love this essay, and that you are broken. I too am broken. Life is about being broken and mending yourself or enduring the madness. Overcoming the breakages. As L. Cohen said: 'There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.'<BR/><BR/>I'll be back.<BR/>Speak soon.McGuirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095242258892600138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-89312867740854599552009-01-21T10:26:00.000+00:002009-01-21T10:26:00.000+00:00Interesting comment, Bobby. It brings to mind some...Interesting comment, <B>Bobby</B>. It brings to mind something about writing that I don't express very often because it sounds egotistical but one of the benefits of writing is that I can get to read something I know will interest me. This is especially true when it comes to my poetry because there is so much poetry out there that I don't like. It's not that it's not well done and all that but so many poets are simply writing about things that don't much interest me. You have no idea how overjoyed I get when I find a poet who hits the nail on the head.<BR/><BR/>Glad I made you think. It means I'm doing my job right.<BR/><BR/>And, <B>Jasko</B>, yes, I also like to listen to other writers talk about their processes. It's not that I think I'm doing anything wrong as such, nor am I looking for validation, but there's more than one way to skin a cat and I do acknowledge that I've turned into a bit of a one trick pony (okay, maybe three or four tricks). That said, and since we're on animal metaphors today, I'm a bit of an old dog and you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-7996280730156221632009-01-20T19:24:00.000+00:002009-01-20T19:24:00.000+00:00Certainly very interesting post Jim, and well writ...Certainly very interesting post Jim, and well written too. I do not know why but I have always enjoyed writers talking about why they wrote, your post tends to belong into that category. I have enjoyed Auster's or Orwell's essays on the subject as well as this post. Like somebody likes chocolate I like to read such a stuff. Cheers!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-11562621225054727762009-01-20T14:20:00.000+00:002009-01-20T14:20:00.000+00:00I've often wondered, what is validation . . . real...I've often wondered, what is validation . . . really? Is it having someone you respect say your writing is good? I once craved validation or acceptance, but now I don't care (for the most part). In college writing classes, my teachers and I didn't see eye to eye. They would often tell me what "good" is supposed to be and what is irrelevant drivel. They were trying to force feed me opinion. So I reject all precepts and eliminate normalcy (whatever that is). <BR/><BR/>In groups and communities of writers, I've never felt welcome, accepted and certainly not validated--mostly because of what I write about--it's not accepted as being popular or normal.<BR/><BR/>I write what I write because it's natural. I cannot force myself to write something unnaturally or that doesn't interest me. I accept myself and my own clichés. Validation is icing on the cake, sometimes too sweet and sometimes uplifting--but not a necessity.<BR/><BR/>One thing crossing my mind now. What I write reflects not what I enjoy reading. I write horror/transgressional fiction, but don't read much of it. I enjoy reading other genres instead. <BR/><BR/>Your articles tend to send me on tangents. Thanks:)Bobby Revellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05225540511858755945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-10990914592804252082009-01-20T05:02:00.000+00:002009-01-20T05:02:00.000+00:00My problem, Art, is that although I'm happy with s...My problem, <B>Art</B>, is that although I'm happy with some aspects of my imperfection I'm not with others. And, yes, there is beauty in imperfection and everything's relative at the end of the day. A sculptor will take a perfectly good lump of rock and hammers lumps off it to make a perfect sculpture but is it still a perfect rock? I'm being my usual facetious self when I ask that of course.<BR/><BR/>I don't believe I was born a poet but I was born with the potential just like a rock can contain many different sculptures but only one ever gets revealled - well that's me. Life chipped away at me and this is what he ended up with, not exactly Rodin's <I>The Thinker</I> but I've learned to live with it.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-64967184293439887812009-01-19T17:02:00.000+00:002009-01-19T17:02:00.000+00:00If life doesn't break your heart open, nothing wil...If life doesn't break your heart open, nothing will. Empathy is a harder road than being aloof.<BR/><BR/>The Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi is about the beauty of imperfection, among other things. It shows up in the use of natural materials, unmachined imperfect uneven natural materials, even broken materials, in assembling everything from a garden to a poem.<BR/><BR/>In this aesthetic assymetry is more pleasing than perfect symmetry. Wabi-sabi acknowledges, and embraces, the truth that nothing in the world can ever be perfect, or not for long.<BR/><BR/>If you're broken, so's everyone else. The real test, then, is who admits to it, or not.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.com