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Monday, April 18, 2011
Shirley, You Jest
I taped Shirley MacLaine's appearance on Oprah and watched it this weekend, and I have to say, I still admire this pioneer and status-quo-renegade. Shirley is 77. Her new book is I'm Over All That. I may have to get it, it sounds entertaining (I've read most of her books.... you're all shocked, I'm sure). I have genuine affection and admiration for her, and for what I've learned from what she's shared so bravely in her books.
She talked to Oprah about what we're all going through, our perception of what's happening. Things feel speeded up, and how we need to start figuring out who we are. On a very basic level as well as a global one. My interpretation of that: stop focusing on belonging to groups, take off the masks, and start realizing who we are. Our world is being dragged kicking and screaming toward tolerance of our differences, because we can't get away from them. Our Global Community status is making intolerance harder. She mentioned that it's a really important time to know who we are. I couldn't agree more. I see people mostly preoccupied with who and what they aren't (that's a good definition of politics and families).
But she also talked about UFO's she sees from her home in New Mexico. She was serious. Not joking. And I respect her honesty and candor and bravery. I always get uncomfortable with topics like this, because I can't find what to do with this belief. It's like trying to keep a sweater you love from unraveling. Don't touch those threads, or it'll all unravel...
Even Shirley said they could be clouds that she was seeing. I can't actually say what she saw was either, which means it could be one or both. I don't have an investment in proving or disproving her, because this belief doesn't touch areas that comfort or threaten me.
I feel the pull of emptiness sometimes. I remember how fun it was to believe in things that underscored the magic and mystery of life. I miss that. The alchemical moments are a bit fewer and farther between now, probably because I don't tend to meet them half way with my willingness as often.
After watching Shirley, it made me want to invest more time believing. More time reaching out with my willingness, not being too closed off. But it still has to have practical application for me. It has to relate to who I am.
Which... is kinda what Shirley was saying in a way... it's really important that we all know who we are. Separate ourselves from the roles we play... mother, father, sister, brother, good christian, salesman of the year, class clown, gay, straight, manager, model employee, artist, punk rocker... none of those things define a person's core. Yet I see people give over to them 150% ... they become them... they serve the roles they play instead of their roles serving them.
Last night, I had a dream, where I was asking Shirley why people believe what they believe. And she told me that a bus driver believes whatever it is that makes him feel comforted and better about his role in the world (the bus driver looked like Kevin James, for some reason). And in the dream, I felt some understanding about beliefs and how we choose them. The same goes, whether you're a bus driver or a KKK member. Beliefs are tied to the way we choose to see the world. Eventually we wear the beliefs so long we become them.
Believing in things I can't prove DOES have practical application in my life. I am a believer. I don't discount anything just because I can't prove it. "Lack of proof... isn't proof either." But I'm starting to see that psychological and emotional comfort are key. Beliefs are comforting. Even the choice to believe in nothing is still a belief chosen because it comforts. Shirley is comforted by the idea that clouds might be UFO's. She could be as right as I am wrong. And the moment this impacts my life, and makes a positive difference, I will open the gates of resistance and absorb that belief.
I don't know who the Cloud UFO's are. Until I do... I am just going to figure out who I am. But frankly I'm a bit tired of being preoccupied by the details of our busy and adventurous lives. My eyes may scan the clouds with more willingness more often. And I will continue to believe that it's possible to live in a world where people invest more in who they are than in the roles they play.
~Shephard :)
Labels: Of Mice and Mondays
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