3 Questions

I have never been much of a fan of the self-help genre. I view all of that genre as a racket. And, if you are looking for help from someone else and outside sources then is it really self-help? Maybe you find this surprising or maybe you don’t, but I have always found better insight and answers to life’s problems in simple children’s stories.

Take the book above for example, The Three Questions, it is a short, simple, yet profound story that offers more help to a reader’s life than any self-proclaimed expert/self-help author could ever conjure.

This story is simple and powerful. The illustrated book format is aimed at a young audience but its message should be for everyone.

It sets out to answer three questions:

1. When is the best time to do things?
2. Who is the most important one?
3. What is the right thing to do?

I won’t tell anymore as it will ruin the story but if you are interested in it’s message then you should check it out.

Sometimes the answers to questions we have can only be found in our actions.

Until next time, good reading.

 

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Mr. Midnight

I was thinking about duality. Opposites. I was thinking about malevolence and benevolence. I was thinking about clashing dichotomies of character and personality and I wrote this phantasmagorism.  I hope you enjoy.

 

Mr. Midnight

all rosy / all smiles / to her I was an avalanche of night / pitch black soul on a roller coaster / winding her up to see her fall / a malevolent juxtaposition / all of my midnight consuming her shine

 

TF

 

The Imagination of Murakami

The work of Haruki Murakami has been on my reading list for at least a year now and I finally have a copy of one his books. I am excited to read it.

I understand his fiction is full of imagination.

The copy of his work that I have is called The Strange Library. I picked it up at my local library. This copy is interesting because it has the words “for internal use” printed along the front cover and the back cover has the words “property of the reading…” on it despite my local library having possession of it. The front cover is actually the first page of the book with the printed text of the story adorning it along with the chapter number. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this before. The concept of the story fascinates me, a nightmarish library. I’ve never wanted to escape the library so this idea for a story is both odd and brilliant.

I can’t wait to start reading it. If you have any suggestions of any of his other books please tell me below.

Until next time, good reading.

 

Capacity to Stagnate

I was thinking about how some people and some things actually seem to get better with age, and how some people and some things actually get wrecked by time and I wrote this. I hope you enjoy.

 

Capacity to Stagnate

I refuse to give in,

to let go,

accept slow decay.

Forward is where I go.

I reject the capacity to stagnate,

to whither away,

to become broken.

I hold a resolve,

to be more than I am,

more than I was.

I reasonably refuse limits.

I don’t want excuses to take over

where rapture should fly.

TF

 

Of the Light

Paulo Coelho. It is a name you most likely know if you have read The Alchemist. 

If you haven’t read it you should look it up as you might like it.

This is another one of his books but it is not a novel. Warrior of the Light is a book of inspirational quotes if you will. This book is really a companion to The Alchemist. It is not mandatory that you read one before the other however. Consume them however you choose.

Warrior of the Light is filled with passages that invite us to discover the best in ourselves. Some of these lines will have you appreciating more and living more. It is a great book that doesn’t disappoint. Whenever I open the pages it is like lighting a candle in the dark; you are immediately better off.

Here a a few passages I enjoy:

• In order to have faith in his own path, he does not need to prove that someone else’s path is wrong.
• The sword was not made to be used by the mouth.
• A Warrior does not spend his days trying to play the role that others have chosen for him.
• Of all the ways we have found to hurt ourselves, the worst has been through love.
• The the Warrior realizes that these repeated experiences have but one aim: to teach him what he does not want to learn.

Until next time, good reading.

 

King Ego

I have been thinking about the ego and it’s effect on people and society. It’s awful what we do to each other over the ego. Our self-importance is the result of so much death and destruction. Here is something I wrote while thinking about ego.

 

King Ego

The great egotist

Mr. Selfish

Ransacking his memory like a thief

Traveling through the folds of his mind

Emerging empty-handed

No proof of altruism

Void of kindness

A memory stuffed with self-centeredness

No secret compartments of charity

No compassion

Only the cold, dark idea of hegemony.

 

TF

Sh*t Show

Irreverent is a word that comes to mind after reading Charlie LeDuff’s Sh*t Show! The Country is Collpasing and the Ratings are Great.

He is a journalist that doesn’t automatically show respect for the usual things that get respect from people in this country. I like that. For example, he doesn’t bow his head and respect the politicians just because they are our politicians, he doesn’t cow-tail to authority figures, he doesn’t take titles seriously, and he sure doesn’t have love for all of the status-quo. The bottom line is by not conforming he is able to show you a picture of the country that you may not be able to get anywhere else.

I am not going to review the book as there are plenty of reviews already out there. Since I do enjoy quotes and phrases, I will post some of my favorite lines and phrases from the book. LeDuff is a good writer and his ability to blend journalism and memoir gives the reader a behind-the-scenes perspective of the subject he is writing about. Here are some lines I enjoyed:

• skeleton spouses decorated in pearls and hairspray
• teach them to love their enslavement
• procrastinating on my laptop
• it’s still a lack of good jobs, wages are still too low, the cost of health care is growing, and treatment of veterans is abysmal
• Everyone’s got love for the indigenous peoples of America and their plight, until it comes time to pay up. That’s when the red romance gives way to the white realities of power.
• the drug cartel’s director of media relations
• Whenever I travel, I avoid the corridors of power, the clubs of high importance, the restaurants with starched tablecloths. You’ll get no answers to real life there.
• Whistleblowers get crushed. Bureaucrats with tight lips stay employed.
• There were millions to be made off the backs of the ghetto.
• the mega eleventh hour tax cuts – will not be known without the long lens of time

If you are looking for a different and raw lens to view the American circus then this book might be for you. If you are comfortable with your old, white version of information and nothing else, or your young hipster source of information and nothing else then this book will not be for you.

Until next time, good reading.

 

Stealing from Ourselves

 

We are all thieves…stealing from ourselves.

I ask her:

do you wrestle with doubt?

do you contend with demons?

do you run often?

how is your strength?

where is your will?

Because sometimes,

we steal from our own life.

 

TF

 

Trying McKenna

Finally!

I finally have my hands on a Terrence McKenna book. I have heard many clips of his talks and lectures on YouTube but I have never read anything by him. Food of the Gods has been on my “To Read” list for awhile. Now I have my very own copy and I will be reading it as soon as I can.

I am going into this one with an open mind and no spoilers. I know the subject of the book but I have steered clear of reviews on it as I don’t want any outside influence to impact my experience with the content.

There is a quote by Bill Hicks that seems appropriate for me to embark on Food of the Gods.

“If you want to understand a society, take a good look at the drugs it uses. And what can this tell you about American culture? Well, look at the drugs we use. Except for pharmaceutical poison, there are essentially only two drugs that Western civilization tolerates: Caffeine from Monday to Friday to energize you enough to make you a productive member of society, and alcohol from Friday to Monday to keep you too stupid to figure out the prison that you are living in.”   – Bill Hicks

Until next time, good reading.