I Know What You Want
With all the rain, it's New Years... I may as well dig into something deep. As you may have noticed, this blog breaks roughly into four areas: film, music, commentary - mostly on media and then there's the more personal stuff, my art, my ideas, philosophy etc. I put all the film stuff on IntoFilm, the music stuff on IntoTune and the opinion driven stuff onto IntoFreeMusic.
OK, well there's another blog I've never mentioned. Don't even bother looking for it because there's almost nothing on it and by the time I finish this post even that will be absorbed. It's based on the title of a book I intend to write so that I can actually profit from some of my writing. Since much of what I write about is the frustration of living in a society where people are directed out of their creativity by a desire to have a decent standard of living, it would be nice to actually profit off my own creative efforts at some point.
The other blog, called Transformationz, discussed a term I'd seen on Roger McNamee's blog. Roger is a very interesting man, made so much money he was able to put together a top-notch band by putting them all on an annual salary, he plays guitar and tours with them for his vacations. He put Elevation Partners together with Bono. High energy, extroverted, very much about contacts and networking, so it was somewhat surprising he would get me thinking about self-awareness. I'm far more introverted than Roger, want a slower pace but I have always been very self aware, or, at least I've tried to be.
You know, making money requires a person to service others in some way. Artists can make money by connecting to themselves, their god and portraying it out into art. But most people learn that if they want a job and a paycheck, they need to focus on other people and what needs to be accomplished by the group. So, there are always these competing needs, and this was the subject of my movie. How does one balance the intrinsic need to understand their life and their thoughts and feelings while still accomplishing useful work and making money?
It's very easy to understand the value of money and things and it's also very easy to forget the value of our spiritual needs.
The other day I asked my teenage son some typical mom question like why did he do or say some particular thing and he gave me the standard answer, that he didn't know. So, I said something like, well, you should know why you do things, you should understand yourself, have some insight, something.
Then a few days later he comes up and asks why he should need this type of understanding. So, I said something like, "Oh nothing big, just happiness. peace of mind, fulfillment... that type of thing." Then we probably had one of our mother-son talks where my daughter tries desperately to join in, but, it's just still over her head. Having a son and a daughter, I do think women come by self awareness more naturally in way. The female hormones are more emotion driven and male ones more motion driven. Plus, women are always dealing with their bodies in a way men don't.
So, I thought our little exchange was just the sweetest, most archetypal thing. God only knows how many of the hundreds of men I've spoken to in the past few years did not have this type of conversation with their own moms. Maybe their moms were too busy washing their dishes and shorts. My kids clean up after themselves and I try to guide them in their lives cause I've come by my self awareness the hard way, the only way, and I'm willing to open up and expose myself and my mistakes and my thoughts and feelings, even the unsavory and unpopular ones.
My kids are already getting quite deep and incredible and grow in their relationship to each other. They've had a lot to deal with in their young lives and I try to demonstrate and impart skills. I have definitely found myself much more attentive to this quality in others. Basically, I'm sick of dealing with immature, dense, clueless people. My son has more maturity and self awareness at 14 than his father has at 55. I know plenty of young people who demonstrate more sensitivity and awareness than older ones.
OK, well there's another blog I've never mentioned. Don't even bother looking for it because there's almost nothing on it and by the time I finish this post even that will be absorbed. It's based on the title of a book I intend to write so that I can actually profit from some of my writing. Since much of what I write about is the frustration of living in a society where people are directed out of their creativity by a desire to have a decent standard of living, it would be nice to actually profit off my own creative efforts at some point.
The other blog, called Transformationz, discussed a term I'd seen on Roger McNamee's blog. Roger is a very interesting man, made so much money he was able to put together a top-notch band by putting them all on an annual salary, he plays guitar and tours with them for his vacations. He put Elevation Partners together with Bono. High energy, extroverted, very much about contacts and networking, so it was somewhat surprising he would get me thinking about self-awareness. I'm far more introverted than Roger, want a slower pace but I have always been very self aware, or, at least I've tried to be.
You know, making money requires a person to service others in some way. Artists can make money by connecting to themselves, their god and portraying it out into art. But most people learn that if they want a job and a paycheck, they need to focus on other people and what needs to be accomplished by the group. So, there are always these competing needs, and this was the subject of my movie. How does one balance the intrinsic need to understand their life and their thoughts and feelings while still accomplishing useful work and making money?
It's very easy to understand the value of money and things and it's also very easy to forget the value of our spiritual needs.
The other day I asked my teenage son some typical mom question like why did he do or say some particular thing and he gave me the standard answer, that he didn't know. So, I said something like, well, you should know why you do things, you should understand yourself, have some insight, something.
Then a few days later he comes up and asks why he should need this type of understanding. So, I said something like, "Oh nothing big, just happiness. peace of mind, fulfillment... that type of thing." Then we probably had one of our mother-son talks where my daughter tries desperately to join in, but, it's just still over her head. Having a son and a daughter, I do think women come by self awareness more naturally in way. The female hormones are more emotion driven and male ones more motion driven. Plus, women are always dealing with their bodies in a way men don't.
So, I thought our little exchange was just the sweetest, most archetypal thing. God only knows how many of the hundreds of men I've spoken to in the past few years did not have this type of conversation with their own moms. Maybe their moms were too busy washing their dishes and shorts. My kids clean up after themselves and I try to guide them in their lives cause I've come by my self awareness the hard way, the only way, and I'm willing to open up and expose myself and my mistakes and my thoughts and feelings, even the unsavory and unpopular ones.
My kids are already getting quite deep and incredible and grow in their relationship to each other. They've had a lot to deal with in their young lives and I try to demonstrate and impart skills. I have definitely found myself much more attentive to this quality in others. Basically, I'm sick of dealing with immature, dense, clueless people. My son has more maturity and self awareness at 14 than his father has at 55. I know plenty of young people who demonstrate more sensitivity and awareness than older ones.
posted by Intervision at 8:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home