25 years ago the top three career choices for schoolchildren were
... teacher, doctor and banker. (Don't be too hard on the little ones for wanting to be bankers, this was a time when it was still an honourable profession).
In 2012 the top three career ambitions for children are
... famous, pop star, actor. (Notice that being 'famous' is now a profession in itself)
While there is an inate anthropologically proven tendency in the human spieces to idolise, fame is an invention of the media. Celebrities are mythological creatures, as real as unicorns, against which we judge ourselves. When we see celebrities fall apart, we feel glad to be who we are; when celebrities triumph, we feel that it is possible to 'have it all' and are inspired. We are simply engaged in mental theatre with mythological beasts.
Personally, I lament the fact that our children want to be celebrities and that many don't read books anymore, but
... part of the discipline that we are sharing here together is to exist in the world as it is, so that our finite energies are not diluted with dreams of a utopian world of our own making, but focused like a laser on how we can interact in this actual and real and true social world from our new base in the natural cosmos. So ... lamenting the state of things is no longer an option.
The state of things is the state of things. Accept it. But why accept Acceptance as a philosophy? when it is really a therapy to call upon ... because ... there will be times when we are asked to take a stand ...
Once we have made our homes in another place, our personal obsessions with other people and our tendency to exist through contrast to how others live, will fall away into the black hole of the past.
A word of warning ... when your celebral and emotional coalition is no longer dictated by others you may be considered disturbed, or at best eccentric ...
eccentric is terribly attractive))) isn't it? and don't we believe that too, at least, on the surface? isn't that what all those quirky characters are about in movies and books? but in real life, we shun them, don't we?
ReplyDeletea true short story:
earlier this week while at work a very outgoing man came in. he was all energy but with that not so palatable, i can sell myself, ease. he travels the world making movies. i have his card to prove it. (but i haven't looked yet on-line, not quite caring enough.) he offered my co-worker and i the opportunity to be in the film, or, my god, at least twittered. i said no. no. no way. no thank you. my coworker was stupefied. he took her picture instead. at home i told my children about it, not excitedly, but rather just talk to fill time. my daughter said, a bit of a joke, but a bit of a truth too, you stole my opportunity to be the daughter of someone in film! i laughed. i told her. i am so sorry for your loss, you will never be the daughter of someone in film.
xo
erin