Nothing/Everything, cont.
During my coma, man, would I dream! I dreamed I was in the Eaton Centre. When I woke up I had a bad feeling about one nurse ("I watched 2 A Half Men and realized it was all true," he said in real life) and a good feeling about another (she would do anything for this guy — the other nurses, not so much).
In real life I started listening to everything by Led Zeppelin and Jump Back by the Rolling Stones. Life is too short to bear a musical grudge and Jimmy Page and Keith Richards are too good. But I loved reading this.
I also began to pray alot ('cos what else was I gonna do with that time?) and I read Nick Cave The Red Hand Files and I watched Toyah and Robert's Sunday lunch.
Honestly -- I am not at all sure who is more heroic.
6 comments:
New in ongoing series of rock-god-portrait personal pieces from Julian Totino T., first-rate Argentinian cover artist for (while they last) the big two, a few days ago, kind of a nice coincidence I thought: A, B.
Cave is one — of so many! — of those figures of my own ‘era’ whom I’ve never really caught up with. Did a search just now, on assumption that this newsletter/blog’s name refers to one of his songs, and listened to ‘Red Right Hand’ for I guess the first time ever.
I appreciate the brief reflection on church-going posted there last month, though the religion-vs.-spirituality opposition doesn’t do much for me now, really, any more than it ever has.
On your dreaming while under: you’ve mentioned this before, and I am awfully curious to hear more even though dreaming isn’t something I’ve ever given great thought to (or had, I would say, any deeply shaping experience with — dreams throughout my life having only been vague, flickery, unmemorable phenomena).
Nick Cave's music is its own thing -- some people really like it. I'll admit the only thing I have "owened" is I'm Your Fan, and it was John Cale's cover of "Hallelujah" arguably resurrected that song, the one song Leonard wanted to retire (but never took out of circulation -- kd lang later covered it to great acclaim). And I own Wings Of Desire, but you could just as easily cite Wim Wenders or Peter Falk, for that matter.
As for dreams I wanted to warn the kids away from Toronto. I was sure I'd been hit on the head with a spring there, that this spring was thrown into the trunk of a car and I into a van which took me for a slow ride. But I escaped! I got out at a parking lot and just kept walking. Now I was here, wherever "here" might be.
I was delirious. It is just as well I could say nothing -- both kids are living right downtown. The Old Man doesn't need any help looking foolish -- he blogs!
I used to say, "I'm religious, not spiritual," but I have no idea what I meant by that. I was just responding to kids and (what I assumed was) their mushy-gushy My Name Is Earl (or, more recently, The Good Place) approach to matters religious. I would now ask, "Were you loving and kind?" knowing that I have failed on both those counts. And I pray more -- what else am I gonna do?
I associate this ‘religious not spiritual’ flip-around with (the too aptly named?) Phil Christman. Seems certain that it’d have been in cultural play well before he took it up, but he’s the first person I’ve known to adopt it to talk about his life.
Prayer. Yeah, I really would like to hear more from you on this subject, though I guess it’s not clear to me that that’s something you’re winding up for or prepared to do at all. … Anyway, probably need to get a few thoughts of my own posted some way or other.
Re: "the flip-around"I would probably attribute that to Nathan Gilmour of The Christian Humanists -- I am not shy about attribution -- and I expect he would attribute it to somebody else (Walter Brueggemann? Who knows?).
As for prayer (and the Psalms) I suspect it's Annie Dillard who breaks them into two groups: "Help me, help me, help me!" and "Thank you!" Phyllis Tickle has been helpful. I have formed new habits, really.
Props also to CBC Radio who prompted me to add, "How can I best be the person You have created me to be?" (You'll have to ask my neighbors how this is working yourself!)
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