People Who Get It

These are some of the people who get it in my book and some short reasons I think why. I may not agree with their stances, their views, but in my book, they warrant recognition. Some are imaginary (film characters), others are dead, but I speak of all of them as if they were real and alive. In his book 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', Robert Pirsig describes quality as 'something you can't altogether define, yet you know it when you see it'. The following are those folks who have this sort of quality, in my book.

Alice B. Toklas - In the 1920s, she founded 'Shakespeare and Company', a bookstore located on the Left Bank, Paris. Her store was frequented by expats such as William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway. Her critical insight was sought by many of these famous authors before they published some of their most noteworthy books. Together with Gertrude Stein, another one who gotit in my book, she coached Hemingway on women characters in his novels and helped him develop his lasting aesthetic 'less is more'.

H. Rider Haggard - In the early twentieth century, when men were cautioned to not use wormwood sticks to beat their wives (but by all means, use anything else), this writer published 'She', a novel featuring 'Ayesha', a mythical, powerful goddess figure who held sway over an entire people. Men trembled at her beauty and sheer presence. Haggard combined adventure and pulp fiction with a whopping female hero that had Sigmund Freud recommending the novel to his analyst buddies.

Mr. Stone in the movie 'The Family Stone'. Embodying the western liberal tradition, this is a man who exhibits Virtue, yet is human and has character flaws. He's a tolerant, open minded human being who proves to be an excellent father and husband.
Wes Anderson - His movies Rushmore and the Royal Tennenbaums prove to be some of the best, honest character studies ever put to film. In Rushmore, he captures the promise of youth and the longing of unrequited love. In the Royal Tennenbaums, he shows how families are made up of individuals, each with their own unique identity and their ability to overcome their egos in order to coalesce with a group of people who happen to be 'closely related'.

Stanley Kubrick - In 2001 A Space Odyssey, we are treated to two hours plus of film with less than a 1/2 hour of music and dialogue combined. Kubrick masterfully translates Arthur C. Clarke's masterpiece onto the big screen with mesmerizing results. Before he passed, Kubrick made 'Eyes Wide Shut', largely panned by critics and filmgoers alike, yet in it he showed the tenuous quality of marraige and the frailty of men and women alike.

Icelanders - inhabitants all have Viking blood coursing through their veins and they produce rockstars with names such as 'Bjork' and 'Sigur Ros'. Night reigns much of the year, and the northern lights are especially visible in their part of the world. Being hyperborean, they have a mythical quality to them, in my humble view.

Pythagoras and the Neopythagoreans - Pythagoras, besides making famous contributions to mathematics, developed a mystical philosophy that espoused harmony and simplicity. His followers first were subjected to five years of silence - no talking. They were held to a strict vegetarian diet and were mysteriously cautioned to avoid beans. After five years, they became 'acoustimikoi', the basic followers who were allowed to hear Pythagoras' lectures, him behind a veil. From these, after more time, some were chosen to receive the most secret teachings from the Master and were allowed 'inside the veil' during lectures. These were called 'mathematikoi'. Pythagoras had been initiated by Egyptian priests into their mysteries at Heliopolis, and it was this gnosis he transferred to his followers.

The Cathars in the south of France, turn of the thirteenth century - Gnostic heretics who observed that the true assessment of day to day life with all it's accompanying horrors and cruelties pointed to the fact the Universe may not be governed by One, True, Benevolent God. They developed an experential spirituality that included an at best incompetent, at worst malevelont creator god who trapped the sparks of divine fire (our pre-existent souls) in foul flesh. The True, Loving God was One who reigned in the stars beyond, and all souls would eventually transcend the fallen evil and material world for the spiritual world in the heavens they called the 'Pleroma' - the blessed Union of souls. The Cathars were massacred by the combined temporal power of France and ecclesiastical authority of Rome. It was from this crusade the famous phrase 'Kill them all - God will know His own', was uttered by a most well meaning warrior bishop, I'm sure.

Christopher Hitchens, author 'God is not Great' - This should be required reading for all people who call themselves 'religious'. Hitchens points out many of the irrational, horrible deeds that have been perpetrated by the 'religious', right up to the present day. Although in my view, Hitchens becomes just as dogmatic as those he criticizes by embracing SCIENCE as the future saviour of mankind, a view I wholeheartedly disagree with, he offers some sobering tidbits and food for thought that should leave any thinking spiritual person with the humble knowledge they should be more humane, more apologetic and certainly more rational and tolerant when it comes to their worldview.

Carl Gustav Jung, psychoanalyst - Being a student of Freud, Jung became particularly interested in the mystery of the unconscious - a dark, universal and personal shared realm where repressed instincts and desires existed. Breaking from his teacher over the theory of complexes, Jung brought gnosticism into his psychology and developed his theory of 'archetypes', recurring symbols and images such as the 'wise old man', and the 'crone', and found that these along with many other unconscious symbols transcended 'race', culture, and time. Though Jung was impacted greatly by religion, philosophy, and spirituality, he adamantly remained in his area of expertise, psychoanalysis, and only considered the psychological aspects of these subjects that informed him throughout his lifetime.

Immanuel Kant, Enlightenment philosopher - considered to be the father of continental philosophy, Kant never travelled more than 30 miles outside his native Konigsberg. Criticized heavily and later for his ethical system, to me, his real contribution was in the sphere of epistemology. Kant found that all people necessarily view the world through 'categories' such as 'time' and 'space', and as such, being obviously mortal, were limited in what they could know. In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant outlined the difference between knowledge and belief, and developed a scepticism that would set the tone for the rest of modern philosophy.

Marc Chagall, painter - Informed by the Bible, Chagall found that in the Biblical Universe, men could float through the ether willy-nilly, defying gravity and the laws of physics. Chagall's use of color and whimsical flight of fancy motifs (men and women in loving embraces, floating over houses and livestock), animals floating through the air with smiles on their faces, and so on, are a reminder that religion need not be taken so literally and seriously all the time and that the line between the profane and the Divine is not that thick of a line afterall. Interestingly, Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, put together a wonderful book of Chagall's works in the eighties which included personal interviews with Chagall and his wife.