Friday, December 17, 2010

The Slowly Unfolding Orgasm of Existence


We exult in out extraordinarily responsive central nervous system, which we ever seek to amplify through increasing exposure. We live in order to experience life more, and more closely. We soak up experience at every turn. Our bodyminds have evolved to participate fully in the slowly unfolding orgasm of existence. We have created yoga as a toolbox of participation.
matthew remski & scott petrie, yoga 2.0*

...last weekend took my mother to see Black Swan...(both liked it, though I probably would’ve enjoyed certain scenes without knowing mom was watching in the next seat)...(yeah, that one)...(and that one...definitely that one)...I’ve known lotsa dancers, and people who have dance backgrounds and are now yoga teachers...(almost as many as acid heads who are now yoga teachers)...and there are clear parallels between the traditions...as well as glaring differences...in the movie, somebody destroys herself, mind, body, and spirit, in pursuit of an aesthetic ideal...dying for perfection...which might be one of the better reasons to self-destruct, relatively speaking...like Oscar Wilde said...Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour...

...I dunno, though...could be I’m finally coming to a point in my life where I start to see that all as just a lot of depressed romantic overgrown adolescent bullshit...

...not that there’s anything wrong with that...

...it’s cold out...cold enough stuff hurts when I go outside...or maybe I’m just getting old...or maybe both...growing old hurts, but youth, as I remember, can be painful as hell...

...snow’s falling gently outside the cafe window, sticking, first, to cars and benches...now sidewalk and street...not much more than a dusting, really...but enough to make driving ugly...had planned on going from here to run some errands...by car...and go to yoga class...but might be nice to stay put...have some more green tea and watch it fall...

...anyway, to misquote both James Joyce and Grace Slick, I’d rather have perfection die for me...



* this might be the first of possibly a buncha posts kinda sorta maybe having something to do with this book...which I just started.... thanks to Carol, for turning me on to the book with her review at Elephant...

8 comments:

TheRiverWanders said...

Can orgasm be the conclusion of sex *and* existence? La petit et gran mort?

We can't ruin ourselves over anything - even poetry - especially when the too-cold weather stands ready to hurt everyone equally :)

Anonymous said...

So - instead of a comment - since I haven't seen Black Swan and it hasn't started snowing here yet. I wrote:

A City of Air

We live in a city of air.
We build on shaky custard.
We bring our complaints to the wizard, thinking the wizard will. . . what.
We kid.
We browse the manual, thinking we get it.
We believe the chemistry will prevail.

We live in a city of thin air.

Lydia said...

Love the quotes in this post and all your thoughts in between them. Wow, I would be interested in that book just from this one quote alone!
I see Natalie Portman's name in your tags so assume she must star in Black Swan. I admire her and would see it just to see her latest work. Last I saw her in was this tiny little role (in which she shone) in The Darleeling Limited, which, btw, is a fantastic film.

@1/2LifeLinoleum~ Love the poem!

Unknown said...

I wanna see that movie!

Anonymous said...

Yoga 2.0 ?

NAH - you're alright

http://yoga-eu.net/bin/view/Yoga/Yoga2point0

Laura said...

Haven't seen the movie...but yes life hurts, young and old and in the middle too...and life is also quite lovely, joyful and amazing...it is all of this and more (as you well know) I like your imperfect quote..."I'd rather have perfection die for me"...That's the evil that lurks really, the desire for perfection...that continuously transforming myth...when we can learn to drop the myth, the striving, the suffering falls away with it...but it is hard to let go of, very hard. Your instinct to sit and watch the snow...that sounds a lot like letting go, paying attention and dwelling in the moment...(ok maybe that is a form of perfection that isn't so mythical or evil...but it is fleeting and will change!)

earthtoholly said...

I haven't seen the movie, but a relative did, and he liked it a lot...thought Portman should get an Oscar nod, which now seems likely. Argh...at 15 I saw "Candy," with a boy (which was kinda mortifying in itself), only to find out the next morning that my parents had also gone to see it...and found out I had seen it, too. Doubly mortifying. Anyway, I'm now intrigued and reeeally wanna see "Black Swan."

Yes, it is cold enough to hurt, and while this summer I couldn't wait for the cooler temps, I'm finding that I did better getting out to ride in 90+ degrees. Hmmm, I need something in between like...SF weather. Yeah, that's it.

Hmmm, still off the coffee? You deserve superhero status for that, ya know. :o)

bereweber said...

hola Dr. Jay, yet another great post, how do you know ALL those wonderful quotes?

i really really want to see Black Swan, i love Natalie Portman, but more importantly i am a fan of Darren Aronofsky's films!! i've seen π like a 100 times (i own the DVD) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_%28film%29

and i loooove Requiem for a Dream...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_for_a_Dream
talking about obscure stuff that you wouldn't enjoy watching with your mom, huh?

thanks for the little review and the great post, btw my mom's visiting too, but she said she doesn't want to see Black Swan on the big screen 'cause her English is a bit rusty and would like to watch it with subtitles (even if in English) so i hope by the time she leaves town, the movie is still showing on the big screen

Namaste & Merry Christmas Dr. Jay, may Santa bring you lots of good stuff :))