literature

OF MERTONS AND SCARY FAIRIES

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OF MERTONS AND SCARY FAIRIES

Merton writes to a friend, expressing surprise that his buddy should have found his little fairy chub artwork "scary," plus thanks him for a long, thoughtful response filled with discussion of art, dark nights of the soul, etc.

___________________

My friend,

What a fascinating, self-revelatory, detailed response to my piece! Ty very much for taking time to reply. It is a testament to the power of art that my silly little piece created such feelings and response from you. I must confess that I am surprised to here my little fairy guy called scary. To me he looks and seems so cute. I guess he does have pointed ears, and therefore could be imagined as a wicked little thing... but to me he looks very friendly. Maybe he might be ornery, perhaps.

Those were very interesting thoughts. Dark nights of the soul are rough. I have been through some of those in my life. I went through the death of my mother at an early age, my twenties in which my life did not fit me and my first partnership failed after ten years, an alone decade in which I toyed with being a priest and was not very happy, a happy but struggle filled decade in which my current partner and I have tried to understand and love each other well, despite being comically and amazingly different.

My life is full of balance, peace and rest right now, particularly after a 3-4 year midlife crisis period, where I wrestled with aging, some aging related health issues, some hermit energy vs out in the world stuff, etc. I still backslide into some of my own personal stuff and fears from time to time, but I think I am ready now to finish up the second half of my life, in which I, presumably am an older, peaceful, balanced, ok with himself Merton (who has been through various dark nights of the soul and now is integrated, himself, peaceful etc).

But Mertons are silly, easily upset things (by life, our own musings, movies, tv, almost anything we see or hear) and will probably always have mood swings, rough nights, bad dreams occasionally (and will write long, silly, hopefully interesting essays and art pieces about them, from time to time). So, I am no stranger to long tomes, reacting to art, and all sorts of things I see and hear. I completely identify with that.

And I thank you and am honored that something I created made you think, write, react. Again, its the power of art.

So sorry my little guy was scary for you. I assure you, he is a friendly little guy, at least in my consciousness. Many times, I have little idea of the meaning of certain art pieces. They just pop out of my subconscious and are what they are. I added the little wording later, after having drawn him. He had, for me a friendly, cute, sexy feel when I made him.

I do think he is about, for me at least, acknowledging our sexy, playful side. And maybe his pointed ears are just saying that if we acknowledge eros, play, sex, and don't make such a big deal out of it, and just, at least at times let it be fun and play, others may see this as wicked (and thus the pointed ears?)... but really, no matter what others say, our erotic nature can and should be playful and (at least at times) not always taken sooooooo seriously.

Maybe... if I had to try to interpret him.

Or, maybe he's just a cute little sexy, chubby, pointy eared fairy.

Lol.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Have a great day, and don't worry too much about my little fairy guy. I will tell him to be nice to you! Wink. He's really just flyin' around in my subconscious anyway, and I don't think he will bother you! Wink.

Peace to my friend-
Merton :)
OF MERTONS AND SCARY FAIRIES

Merton writes to a friend, expressing surprise that his buddy should have found his little fairy chub artwork "scary," plus thanks him for a long, thoughtful response filled with discussion of art, dark nights of the soul, etc.
© 2011 - 2024 mertonparrish
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samsarasurfing1's avatar
I'm sorry if I've offended anybody by speaking of Christ. I consider myself both spiritual and religious. To me "religion" is just like saying "school." We have these institutions for a reason. Anytime we wish to pass on our knowledge, teach future generations, we have institutions. If you like lifting weights we have health-clubs. I would not say I like to work out but I'd abolish work-out world, or schools
.
There are many grade-levels of religion that correspond to every age-level. I so wish I could say this to someone like Bill Maher.
I enjoy Bill Maher and feel his pain over less mature religion. I'd tell him, "The god you don't believe in, I don't believe in either buddy!" Everyone is not Billy Graham. Everybody who is "spiritual" is not the same mindset.
If I could meet Maher I'd ask him..."Why do you allow a particular grade-level of religion, mythic-fundamentalism, to define for you what religion is? Are you aware you do this?" Because that's like taking the car-maker who makes cars badly and making that the only example of car-making in the world, totally excluding the fact that there are many and better car-makers out there.

To treat religion like a flatland, equating all levels of spirituality with one despised level (mythic religion) is not just lazy, it's also dishonest. The Dalai Lama is very not like Billy Graham in his worldview. But my brother Bill Maher won't be bothered with discerning all the grade-levels of spiritual consciousness in the real world. The irony is, Maher doesn't really understand evolution. He is being very anti-evolutionary by refusing to recognize the many grades of goodness, degrees of depth-perception, altitudes of awareness, capacities for care, levels of loving,
that make up our world today. It's definitely not a flatland.

Qaddafi would abolish views he does not approve of, but that mentality only hurts the world. We won't get rid of religion any more than we can get rid of school, and age-levels/grade-levels. What we can do is encourage further development, ongoing evolution of consciousness, for as a good soul once observed, "Better to light a candle than curse than darkness."

To me, all people, indeed all sentient beings, are members of the Universal Body of Love I choose to call "Christ," but you may call that embrace whatever you like. I just wish very much the world could have healthy, mature examples of religion and not single out the worst, most cruel version of religion as the only version. Jesus was religious. Gandhi was religious. The Dalai Lama is religious. Mao thought religion was poison. (only sick religion is poison).

There's room for us all. But may we humble ourselves in the knowledge that nobody is brilliant enough to be wrong 100% of the time. The oak is not a crime against the acorn...I wish both Theists and A-theists would remember this and open their hearts and minds to evolution...that would help a suffering world far more than defending the grade-levels we are at and hating all other levels.

Just one man's observations.






:)