May
10, 2001.
PART
OF AN ON GOING CONVERSATION
BETWEEN
A FATHER (IN RED)
& A SON (IN BLUE)
(Need you be reminded
where these dialogues actually occur, who the speakers really are,
and what they are in truth talking about.)
______________________
”You should pay more attention
to your Aunt Selma.”
”I try.”
”You should try harder.
Some day she could reward you in a most substantial way.”
”I know, and I do think about
her a lot.”
”But just thinking about her
for a moment when she is not around is not enough; you should in essence,
be-with-her,
giving her your undivided attention.”
“You are right, and I remind
myself of the same thing every day, and tell myself I will see her more
often,
but then -- well, something
always comes up;
you know how life is.”
”Certainly I know-how-life-is,
but you only
have one Aunt Selma, and what
she can potentially
do for you -- nothing
else in life can.”
”I know that too, and I do not
think that any of the little diversions I pursue in life compare with Aunt
Selma,
it is just…well -- when
I get involved in one of them,
I am inclined to forget about
her for a time.”
”Inclined?!”
”All right, I get your point;
I seem to always forget about Aunt
Selma when I am engaged in other matters --
and I have been aware of this,
and have struggled to counteract it by trying to think of her even while
in the middle of some outside activity, but I find it difficult to hold
two different things in mind at the same time.”
”Difficult?!”
“Touche, again, and I
have been wanting to speak to you about this. What is the trick to
being able to
think of two things at once?
I initially assumed that all
that was required was my decision to do it -- but found
that was not so.
Then I decided it was necessary
to have real passion for the items you are trying to hold in mind simultaneously,
(or at the very least, one of
them),
but even though I certainly
enjoy many of the
pastimes I pursue,
and most assuredly do I have
the strongest
positive feelings possible for
Aunt Selma --
the ability to hold two discrete
ideas concurrently continues to elude me.
I want
to remember Aunt Selma, and give her more,
if not the tiger's share of
my conscious attention,
and I truly have a greater love
for her than
anything else in life,
and I know
that she has the power to bestow on me,
benefits unavailable anywhere
else in life -- and yet....
even being fully aware of all
this,
and trying to prepare for it
in advance,
Aunt Selma will instantly slip
from my mind
the very second I reach for
the paper to see what is playing at the movies:
this in spite of the fact that
no movie, or anything else
in life even begins to compare
with my feelings-for,
and interest-in Aunt Selma.
My feelings for her are so decidedly
different from
what I feel for anything else
in life that
they might as well be in another
universe from
everything else in life, (aside
from life itself.)
So you see: it is not necessary
for you to
reprimand me in this matter,
for I do so continually
-- to myself.
I ask you, Pa Pa --
what can be done about this problem that so relentlessly plagues me?”
“You have certainly noted the
negatives,
and apparently diagnosed adequately,
the problem
inherent in attempting to give
constant mental attention to your Aunt Selma, and to in fact,
keep her in your mind at all
times --
simultaneously with what ever
else may be there,
by necessity, or choice,
but ask yourself this un raised
question:
What specifically is it that
bothers you about not being able to remember Aunt Selma constantly?”
”Why: not-being-able-to-remember-her-constantly
--
-- obviously!”
”You’re sure?”
“Well….certainly!
What else could it be?!”
“If not being able to think
of Aunt Selma continually is, ‘The Problem’ -- then what are
its symptoms?”
“Well…the irritation I feel
at not being able to do it.”
“That is not a symptom --
that is the problem,”
and with those nine words
--
-- the boy’s head finally exploded.
J
Those
who call themselves, “asleep”
are
the only humans who suffer from an ill that has no symptoms,
(other
than them calling themselves “asleep”).
Those
who believe themselves to be, “unenlightened”
are
the only humans who face a problem that has no consequences,
(other
than them believing they are “unenlightened”).
How can a person, To-Wealth-&-Privilege-Born
sincerely ponder the last fifty words without soon too,
their skulls split asunder --
to reveal the ultimate wonder.
J
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