T-shirt #250 - Winnie the Pooh and Teaching

T-shirt #250 - Winnie the Pooh & Teaching

-  On Jungian Thought, Poohism, and Teaching

I started this entry back in July, and it's been sitting on my computer ever since. This is why I am in shorts in the pictures.

I love Winnie the Pooh. Disney Pooh. Milne Pooh. Doesn't matter.

I love POOH.

I did discuss this affection some in T-shirt #166.

I feel that Today is somewhat of a milestone as the number 250 has some significance.

So, today, I wish to share a few thoughts on intersections between Jungian thought, Tao te Ching, and Winnie the Pooh.



Somewhat coincidentally but also by design (teleology?), I am teaching the power point in my mythology class tonight that I am shown teaching in these photos.

If you have not read The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, and you have any interest in either Tao te Ching, Winnie the Pooh, or both, then I recommend you read it immediately.

A free PDF version is available FROM THIS LINK.

Today, I wish to share thoughts punctuated by a series of photographs that comprise some of my favorite ideas in the whole world.

The best reaction to all situations is LOVE. But it is so hard to function this way.

It is so much easier to judge and to be angry, frustrated, annoyed, to give into one's stress.

But I keep trying.

If this statement about love as the right reaction to the universe makes you think of "Love is the Answer," then check the video I posted in T-shirt #166.

When I started this entry back in July, this woing toToday,he start text: Apparently, some of my students check this blog to see what I am doing. I really am working when I say I am working. Honest. For the last two days, I have worked on the blog throughout the day because I need to get to work and keep making progress with the work or I will not meet the deadline. The blog can be like a black hole. If I start working on it with the intention to finish it, I can easily get sucked into another universe, and once I emerge, I have not completed nearly enough work.

Things have not changed much since July. I work many hours. I work on the blog off and on throughout the day in an attempt to multi-task, though by nature I am not a multi-tasker.

The blog CAN be like a black hole.

I continue to experiment with how to better manage my time.

Jung came up with the idea of the Collective Unconscious to explain his idea of archetypes. He had no other explanation for the recurring predisposition toward images and image patterns by people with no communication with one another, with cultures that did not have interaction with one another.

George Lucas adapted Jung's Collective Unconscious as the Force in the Star Wars movies.

I like both versions of these ideas.

I believe firmly in the interconnectedness of people and things, of the universe.

WE ARE ALL CONNECTED.

MAGIC SOUND FABRIC - WE ARE ALL CONNECTED

Can we tap into another realm of consciousness with the Collective Unconscious? Through the interconnected fabric of consciousness, can we see the thoughts of others? Can we experience prophecies of the future? Or are the prophecies an overlap? The echoes of other consciousnesses?

ARCHETYPE: an archetype is not an image. It's a pre-disposition to an image. It's a projection of content into an imagined form. It's filled by our consciousness.

Archetypes are "universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious and are the psychic counterpart of instinct. They are autonomous and hidden forms which are transformed once they enter consciousness and are given particular expression by individuals and their cultures. Being unconscious, the existence of archetypes can only be deduced indirectly by examining behavior, images, art, myths, religions, or dreams. They are inherited potentials which are actualized when they enter consciousness as images or manifest in behavior on interaction with the outside world.

"Strictly speaking, Jungian archetypes refer to nuclear underlying forms or the archetypes-as-such from which emerge images and motifs such as the mother, the child, the trickster and the flood amongst others. It is history, culture and personal context that shape these manifest representations giving them their specific content. These images and motifs are more precisely called archetypal images. However it is common for the term archetype to be used interchangeably to refer to both archetypes-as-such and archetypal images" (Jungian Archetypes, Wikipedia, 2013).

The image of Horus is purposeful in the power point as is my inclusion of the Eye of Horus here on the blog.

The Collective Unconscious and its archetypes must be taken on faith. There is no proving their existence through epistemology.

But we can see it working. We can set forth its workings, set forth the evidence and prove its existence like we would prove anything in a court of law. We can observe it to work and presume how it works and why it woeks, much like we feel we understand the migration of birds. Instinct drives us. Instinct drives birds. Instinct and the Collective Unconscious are one.

Study of Jung branches off from the standard story-type archetypes, such as child hero, wise old man, or trickster, and informs the archetypes of a man's feminine side (Anima), a woman's masculine side (Animus), and the dark side in us all (the Shadow).

But these "archetypes" do not exist independently of us. We fill them with content from consciousness. We project them onto actual people or actual images in the actual world. The archetype is the pattern, the similarity between different people's dark sides, different child heroes in different stories. But they are all different because we are all different, because different stories are different.

We must remember this.

We must make our own myths.

Everyone has the same questions. What is the meaning of life? What is after death? And everyone must find his or her own answers or live with the uncertainty. But people do not like uncertainty. People like certainty. People do not like long quests. People like short trips and then packing away what is over and done with. But the world, the process of individuation to become a self, is not a short trip.

It's a long trip.

What a long and strange trip it has been and will be.

But we must all make our own journey and find our own answers in what Jung called THE PROCESS OF INDIVIDUATION.

Individuation[edit]

Jung considered individuation, a psychological process of integrating the opposites including the conscious with the unconscious while still maintaining their relative autonomy, necessary for a person to become whole.^[4]

Individuation is a process of transformation whereby the personal and collective unconscious is brought into consciousness (by means of dreams, active imagination or free association to take some examples) to be assimilated into the whole personality. It is a completely natural process necessary for the integration of the psyche to take place.^[38]

Besides achieving physical and mental health,^[38] people who have advanced towards individuation tend to be harmonious, mature and responsible. They embody humane values such as freedom and justice and have a good understanding about the workings of human nature and theuniverse.^[4]

CARL JUNG - INDIVIDUATION - WIKIPEDIA - 2013

Also see INDIVIDUATION just by itself.

Jungian school [edit]

Carl Jung wrote much of his work in German. Difficulties for translation arise because the German word Seele means both psyche and soul. Jung was careful to define what he meant by psyche and by soul.

I have been compelled, in my investigations into the structure of the unconscious, to make a conceptual distinction between soul and psyche. By psyche, I understand the totality of all psychic processes, conscious as well as unconscious. By soul, on the other hand, I understand a clearly demarcated functional complex that can best be described as a "personality". (Jung, 1971: Def. 48 par. 797)

[The translation of the German word Seele presents almost insuperable difficulties on account of the lack of a single English equivalent and because it combines the two words "psyche" and "soul" in a way not altogether familiar to the English reader. For this reason some comment by the Editors will not be out of place.]

[In previous translations, and in this one as well, psyche– for which Jung in the German original uses either Psyche or Seele– has been used with reference to the totality of all psychic processes (cf. Jung, Psychological Types, Def. 48); i.e., it is a comprehensive term. Soul, on the other hand, as used in the technical terminology of analytical psychology, is more restricted in meaning and refers to a "function complex" or partial personality and never to the whole psyche. It is often applied specifically to "anima" and "animus"; e.g., in this connection it is used in the composite word "soul-image" (Seelenbild). This conception of the soul is more primitive than the Christian one with which the reader is likely to be more familiar. In its Christian context it refers to "the transcendental energy in man" and "the spiritual part of man considered in its moral aspect or in relation to God." . . . –Editors.] (Jung, 1968: note 2 par. 9)

PSYCHE WIKIPEDIA 2013

So the goal of Psyche, the word Jung used for "all the psychic processes," in other words, the person, the personality, the self under development, is to find wholeness, balance, to realize the self, the center wholeness in us all.

The self is the end product, the balanced, whole, transformed, transcendent being.

The Buddha.

The gestalt of ultimate apotheosis.

All spirit. One with God.

All of which brings my content sharing to the subject of Winnie the Pooh.

The Winnie the Pooh stories are consciousness at work, the Process of Individuation at work.

The One Hundred Acre woods is the unconscious. Christopher Robin is the psyche under development to become a self. All the characters and elements of his unconscious are the parts of his psyche that must be brought into balance to emerge as a whole and unified self.

Perhaps Pooh is the end result.

Pooh just is.

Pooh is totally a right-brained being.

We are all much too left brained in our society with its rules and prisons.

We all should be more like Pooh.

Pooh is the UNCARVED BLOCK.

The Taoist idea of the Uncarved Block is called P'u. Much like "Pooh."

Coincidence or proof of the Collective Unconscious?

"Things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when simplicity is changed" (Hoff, pg. 10).

The secret of the Uncarved Block? LIFE IS FUN.

Pooh proves that the Pooh Way is the true way when lost in the woods with Rabbit. Rabbit is very left brained. Pooh is not. Pooh finds home when he stops looking for it. It's this counter-intuitive thinking that is endemic of the Uncarved Block.

Just be.

Let the natural forces of the universe guide you.

Be like water.

FLOW.

The Greatest Good is like water... Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

The greatest good is like water

which benefits all life without trying to

It resides in the purest mountain snows

and dwells in the lowest of places

Thus it is like the Tao.

-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

from wikipedia;
Lao Tzu, aka Laozi and many others, was a philosopher of ancient China and is a central figure in Taoism or Daoism. Lao Tzu literally means "Old Master." He is revered simply as a wise man in philosophical forms of Taoism, but revered as a god in religious forms, much like The Buddha is regarded differently by the religious and philosophical schools of Buddhism. According to Chinese tradition, Lao Tzu lived in the 6th century BC and is traditionally regarded as the author of the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching), though its authorship has been debated throughout history.
The above is my own translation of his teaching on water being the greatest good. No, I don't speak any form of Chinese, but from going over many other different interpretations, I believe this is what Lao Tzu was saying;
that we all should strive to be ourselves, without ego getting in the way, to mix among all walks of life both rich and poor, both good and bad (whatever that means) and in between. And that by truly being ourselves, we'll actually be helping everyone around us without even trying (sort of like Forrest Gump.) Perhaps by losing the ego and letting go, we'll allow Spirit to work through us, thus being like the Tao or The Way.

I also believe if you read between the lines in the teachings of Jesus Christ, you'll find a lot of similar themes. Some scholars argue that Jesus appears to have studied Buddhism during his "missing years" between the ages of 20 and 30. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Jason Matthews - 2009

I am of the Pooh way.

The way is of Pooh.

That's a wrap.

Thank you for checking out my blog today. I am here every day, at least for another 115 days.

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 115 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1311.26 - 13:52

T-shirt #246 - The Xavier Institute For Higher Learning - Atomic

T-shirt #246 - The Xavier Institute For Higher Learning - Atomic

I was seized by a powerful urge the other night while in bed reading. Unable to shake this motivation, I had to get up, go to the book case in the picture below, and rummage around in near total darkness for my Penguin edition of Lovecraft's stories. I am not sure what motivated me to do this. I only managed to read two-three pages of the introduction before I fell asleep as I had already been reading for some time. But there I was, past my normal bed time (this was 10-something, after Sunday's The Walking Dead) with Liesel fast asleep, trying to quietly search with very little light for a book that I bought during Liesel and my first trip to Portland in 2009, shortly before we got married.

I have always found Lovecraft rather difficult. I have never really applied myself to reading Lovecraft. I know he's a great writer, a master of the early horror genre, a touchstone for many writers. Partly, this is what motivated my sleep-drugged addled brain to prompt me out of bed to retrieve one of my many Lovecraft books. The book has remained on the night stand, and I am committed to trying again to get through a Lovecraft story. The faulty here is clearly with me and not with Lovecraft.

SIDENOTE: A few days after this incident and after I wrote the previous two paragraphs (as originally this was to be Tuesday's T-shirt), I had a conversation in Fanfare with Josh Hall (who seemed completely unaware of this blog's existence), and he mentioned Lovecraft to me and echoed the same sentiment: he had not read Lovecraft either but is intimately acquainted with him because of his (Josh's) love for games (and stocking of Fanfare's games department). Anyway, weird synchronicity. Did I know when I got out of bed on Sunday that on Thursday someone would connect me with Lovecraft again in another way? Is this part of the Collective Unconscious?

I like introductions and little essays in books by learned people that will help me to better understand the author's context. The introduction by S.T. Joshi to the Penguin edition (2001) is short but helpful. There's suggested reading lists, voluminous notes, and a smart introduction. Joshi begins his introduction with an observation: "Nietzche said that all philosophy is veiled autobiography, and much the same could be said of literature." I do not agree with this, actually. I am very much in the post-modern mode that authorial intentionality is meaningless to the text. And yet, I am always fascinated by authors and like to learn as much about them as I can--not to inform their texts but simply so I understand each author better as independent of the text. Granted, the Nietzche quote has its validity. I would not claim that an author's life has no impact on his or her writing. That's ridiculous. But knowing an author's life is not a secret key to unlocking the meaning of text. In fact, not knowing anything about an author may actually be better.

I share about Lovecraft and this Nietzche paraphrase because I am engaged in a rather massive autobiography by blog. In some sense, though I have note well explored this theme, a charted course of my process of individuation. Though I would characterize my autobiography process as about my past, present, and future all concurrently in my text. Plenty of analysis and plenty more left to be analyzed. And quite a bit held back as a little too private. And sentence fragments. And yet, even though I prefer my fiction without factoring in the author's life or knowing her intentions, I think Nietzche was right that philosophy comes from the philosopher's experiences. When I write about my mottos and my Rules of Chris, they are deeply rooted in my own life experiences, often as reactions to events or other people's oppressive and invasive opinions.

All of this is part of The Blog Journey. Onward.

THE SCHOOL FOR "GIFTED" STUDENTS

Long before Harry Potter books, there was a Marvel comic book about a school for "gifted students," IE. mutants. I have always loved this idea of the "special school" for "special kids." This motif has been used many times in many stories and is not unique to comic books or the X-Men, even. Nor was J.K. Rowling the first to use the idea of a secret and special school in young adult novels, though she surely created the most popular version of the motif.

My shirt is a classic example of the kinds of products a company can turn out in an attempt to emulate what would have been worn by the students of the actual school. I love this kind of thing.

I chose to do a picture with my "to read" bookcase. That's school like, right?

TODAY'S SOUNDTRACK

I have been listening to Anonymous 4 almost non-stop this week. I am getting a little obsessive about it. Earlier today, I had some running on my iPod in the kitchen and some other stuff running on my computer in my office, so that no matter where I went, I could hear the comforting sounds of Anonymous 4.

Here's just one, short piece.

Peperit virgo, Anonymous 4

WEEKLY COMICS LIST

Originally, I had planned comic book round up of some recent things I have read in today's blog entry, but I am saving these for another day, perhaps (and likely) tomorrow.

Just a few remarks on the weekly list.

First off, notice the smaller back log, which is due to the fact that I have been catching up. For instance, Wonder Woman can be in the main list as I read the three issue that had back logged since last I wrote. The comic takes the last slot as I am still not impressed with it, but it's not backlogged. I was about to read Sheltered and Sex Criminals when I got this batch, so I suspect to be caught up on those by next month.

Fables rides higher than usual because I realize I am much more eager to read it, and if I put it too low, then it gets back logged, and I want to keep up on it as I love it. When last I ranked Fables, it came in at tenth in that week, which has some of the same releases as this week. A jump to fourth for Fables is very significant.
Clone also jumps up higher in the stack as I enjoy it immensely and the last issue left us hanging rather spectacularly.

Like a month ago, Afterlife with Archie takes the top slot. Since it has been OVER a month since the first issue, the week it came out last (1310.09), The Walking Dead claimed the top spot with Afterlife With Archie one slot down. Fantastic Four, which took the top spot a month ago (1310.16), is second, but may fall if the creative team that follows Fraction/Bagley does not match their promise.

COMICS FOR 1311.20

Afterlife With Archie #2
Fantastic Four #014
Daredevil #033
Fables #135
Clone #12
Young Avengers #012
Uncanny X-Men #014
X-Men #007
Avengers AI #006
Avengers #23
The Superior Spider-Man Annual #001
Birds of Prey #25
Cataclysm: Ultimates #001
Red Sonja #5
Thunderbolts #018
Wonder Woman#25

BACK LOG
Indestructible Hulk #015
Secret Avengers # 011
Sheltered #5
Sex Criminals #3

SPECIAL PURCHASES
NOTE: Somehow I missed ordering the Ellis book, not sure how that happened. Fanfare is running a massive clearance sale on books it had in stock, so I snagged this neat book on superheroes as I love that kind of stuff.

Avengers: Endless Wartime - by Warren Ellis and Mike McKone and Jason Keith

Superheroes! by Laurence Maslon and Michael Kantor

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR: 119 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1311.22 - 19:38

T-shirt #239 - Superman - Classic Logo

T-shirt #239 - Superman - Classic Logo

Welcome to Comic Book Friday. Though the new comics go out for sale each week on Wednesday, my schedule does not allow me to stop by Fanfare and purchase them until Thursday or Friday of each week, either way I have been consistently sharing my weekly comics lists on Fridays for many weeks in a row. I am not going to count. If you really want a number, check out the Lists-Weekly Comics Stack category. Okay, it's twenty-one weeks.


I bought this shirt a few weeks ago (T-shirt #218). I realized that I did not have a traditional Superman logo T-shirt, and I needed one. I wanted to feature the traditional symbol shirt. But I really do not have new Superman content to share. If interested in past Superman content, I have created a Superman Related category, which, once this shirt joins the group, contains seven posts. However, I will endeavor to share some Superman content, at least in regards to recent Superman comic books.

I am hoping to feel renewed Superman love before my blog is over. I already wrote about the Superman movie (in T-shirt #110), and though not included in the Superman related category, I wrote about the Superman Unchained comic book in past weekly comics roundups. Superman Unchained started out well but did not sustain the punch of the first three issues in the fourth issue (as I reported last week in T-shirt #232). Recently, the other two main Superman books (Action Comics and Superman) have been dreadful.

I am shocked that a comic book company can have a moderately decent blockbuster summer movie and run out issue after issue of total dreck in its wake, when capitalizing on sales should be paramount.

I discuss Superman issues frequently at Fanfare with one of the managers, Bill Artis, who is a HUGE Superman fan. Even he admits that the recent Superman comics have been horribly bad. And then last week Action Comics #25 came out. It was quite refreshing. Though there were some flaws, it was a good story from Superman's earliest years as part of DC's current ZERO YEAR theme. I am hoping this comic signals better Superman content to come.

"Everyone is the age of his/her heart." Guatemalan Proverb

Today, Liesel and I took the puppy for a walk. This is something of a special occasion, though it really should not be. We got on the subject of Jung's Process of Individuation because of some comment Liesel made about people she knows and my recent teaching experiences last week both at University of Phoenix and WMU. I remarked that many people remain stuck in the earliest stages in the Process of Individuation because not everyone lives at a deeper level; a lot of people live a surface existence (though I would suspect that no one reading these sentences fits that description).

Liesel made a very true comment that nailed the issue (as she so often does): "people are afraid to individuate." 

I seized on this remark immediately. As the "Bene Gesserit" said in the book Dune, which I just finished reading, "fear is the mind killer."

Fear shuts down the system. There's no growth in the grip of fear. As I have written before, this blog came to be in the face of fear. My initial dismissal of the idea was based on fear of being labeled narcissistic or overly self-involved. I doubted that people would care, which is a kind of self-immolating fear.

But then my attitude changed after I learned I had cancer, and so I went forward with the blog, dismissing the fear. So what? So what if people labeled me a narcissist or worse? Writing makes me happy. Thus, I realized that writing the blog would make me happy, and so far, it has been a rousing success.

Liesel and I veered into a discussion of conformity next. Why do we live in a world that encourages conformity rather than difference? We assessed that some of those people who are encouraged to chart their own course, to blaze a new trail through new territory, do not have the courage to sustain the new course and surrender to the social pressures to conform. Here's the second part of the fear. A person afraid of being different projects that fear as loathing on to other people for being different. Those so threatened may take an easy route and simply avoid what makes them afraid, but others will actively judge or seek to eradicate the difference. This enforcement of normal is best seen in the microcosm of most pre-college schools, in which conformity is the highest value, and those who are different are bullied into submission. Those trying to be individuals are faced with either being social outcasts on the fringe with the others so bullied (which is often a lonely and solitary place depending how the bullying is perpetrated and if the fringe accepts the bullied one) or the individual tries to conform and fit into the dominant social group. For some, "fitting in" is impossible due to physical appearance or something else that's unalterable. Others simply do not wish to conform and prefer to be outcast, whether they can find other outcasts to form a fringe group or whether they have to go on their own way, alone, it does not matter.

Again, I connected these discussion ideas to Jung and my own recent teaching. I am still working on what The Blog Journey means. This exercise is surely part of my own Process of Individuation. I am not only assessing the work I have done previously in the Process, but acknowledging the work I have left to do. I am accepting the aspects of my personality that relate to one of the most important things in my life: the world of ideas. As I take this Blog Journey (purposeful capitals as I just made a category and wish to distinguish this idea as a proper name), I can move forward by carrying my past and my present with me. I can revel in nostalgia, but I can also frame the memories and the fondness for things past into whom I want to be now and in the future. Most importantly, I can strive to achieve balance. Deeply rooted in Gnosticism and Buddhism and other ideologies, Jung wrote frequently of dualities: the Shadow and the Ego or the Anima and the Animus. By making conscious that which has been made unconscious, Jung says, is the path of growth for the individual and the achievement of "self," the central and unifying principle of individuation, of life.

I love comic books, but I also love fine art, music, and Asian food. All things in balance. Moderation. Deep breaths. There's the framework. Now, I have a great amount of detail to fill in during the weeks to come (exactly 18 weeks today).

And so, FORWARD.

Thank you for reading.

And now today's feature.

THE WEEKLY COMICS LIST

Last week was a good week for comics and reading comics. With the exception of one comic, the last on the list, I read the entire list of comic books from last week. Unlike last week, I am not working ahead, and so I have not read a single comic from this week's list.

Looking back on the week, there are several excellent comics, but one of the greatest standouts (maybe the greatest) was Detective Comics #25. The Zero Year story of an incident early in the career of Jim  Gordon (and consequently Batman), which supplied him with the idea for the signal light, was deftly written and beautifully illustrated by Jason Fabok. Though I have been critical of the Earth Two comic, last week's issue with a new creative team was very well done, and I felt for the first time in months that it was worth my money. I already mentioned Action Comics. I felt that Uber was a bit of a let down, but Cataclysm was well done, and I liked Captain America very much.




This week, The Walking Dead takes its top spot as usual. Batman earns a higher rank based on the strength of the last issue, which I reviewed in T-shirt #217. Justice League always rates highly, but Cataclysm jumps from tenth last week to fourth this week based on the strength of the last issue, earning a place over The All-New X-Men, which is often in the top group (#16 was second in its week and #17 was fifth).

Lastly, I am excited about the Uber hard cover. I did not order it, but after reading Gillen's description of what it contained in the back matter for last week's issue #7, I had to snag it. Gillen is single-handedly re-kindling my interest in World War Two. I already plan to read one of the books he recommends, and I may need to delve more deeply into his research. In this volume, there are issue notes that Gillen had published online, there is an interview with Gillen (which looks to be at least three dozen pages long), and there's an article originally published at Multiversity about the process and pitfalls of writing fiction about Nazis. There's also more juicy back matter with designs, creator bios, script pages, and more. It is one of the best volumes I have ever seen in what it offers readers to enrich their experience beyond the collection of original issues themselves. I cannot wait to sink in my teeth in an extended reading session.

COMICS FOR 1311.13

Walking Dead #116
Batman #25
Justice League #9
Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #001
The All-New X-Men #018
Thor: God of Thunder #015
The Superior Spider-Man #021
Batgirl #25
Superman/Wonder Woman #2
Nightwing #25
Avengers Arena #017
The Fearless Defenders #011
Suicide Squad #25
World's Finest: Power Girl and Huntress #17
The Shaolin Cowboy #2

BACK LOG
Astro City #6
CodeName Action #3
Wolverine #011
Rocket Girl #2

SPECIAL PURCHASES

Uber - Collected Hardcover Edition Vol. 1
Locus vol. 71 #5

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR: 126 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1311.15 - 19:05

T-shirt #178 - KUDL2009PLAY - Introversion

T-shirt #178 - KUDL2009PLAY - Introversion

I am still in Detroit. Troy, actually. Liesel and I did a lot of driving around Detroit suburbs yesterday. Friday night in Ferndale for dinner. Yesterday, we had lunch in Royal Oak and drove to the Sign of the Beefcarver to get our pictures (see far below). Then after I finished a set of grades, we were off to the Meadowbrook festival site, taking Rochester Road up to stop at an Old Navy enroute. Rochester is cute. Easy in and out at the Laneway Festival.

We ended up getting there just in time to see Sigur Rós.

I was hoping that Pavilion seating would be first come/first served, and it was. We showed up at the end of Solange's set and snagged two seats, which would have been perfect if the stupid, bumpkin, uncouth, insensitive, privileged, "I am the center of the universe and I don't give a fuck about you" Detroit "fans" of Sigur Rós did not stand in front of their lovely and comfy seats for the entire show. I tried to release the anger and rage out my pores and not dwell on it. But, really, if I had wanted to stand through the whole concert, I would have moved up front to the standing area!!

Next time, I am not going to be passive, and I will ask these dickheads to sit down. Do I sound bitter? I am mostly over it, but I am still a little bitter. I want to love everyone and suspend judgment, but some people make this so difficult. I want to be a loving, accepting, and easy-going person, free of judgment, and treating others as I want to be treated (BE NICE), and yet I want to sit through my Sigur Rós concert and SEE THE FUCKING STAGE; AND so I have a long way to go to forgive people for being so insensitive because they think they are the center of the universe. Or perhaps they just don't think at all.

Oh yeah. Remember T-shirt #168, and the PLAY & NO PLAY tags on two identical shirts both hanging in my closet? This is the second "PLAY" one and seemed a good way to get into other subjects.

INTROVERTS - INTROVERSION

This is a good place to share a few thoughts on Introversion and introverts.

I shared the video that Liesel had introduced me to in T-shirt #161. You can either dial back and watch the video or search You Tube for Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts, if you want to watch it and have not yet done so. It will take about 20 minutes of your time.

Susan Cain's video is very thought-provoking. As I explained in T-shirt #161, I am more introvert than extravert. ("Extravert is Jung's spelling, and he created the words.) And yet, I am often mistaken for an extravert. I often play the role of the extravert because our society and culture glorifies and enables extraversion while it denigrates, admonishes, and fails to understand introversion. In our culture, there is something wrong with people who want to be alone, who like to read and have quiet time, who need solitude to work on one project at a time, who do not always feel like collaborating or being a team player, who do not spend all their time out and about being social.

Why are introverts so misunderstood? Why are introverts pressured to change their ways? Why are introverts seen as damaged, sad, or in some other way deficient?

Susan Cain makes several astute observations in her video about the importance of introverts and the contributions they have made to the arts, to science, to world cultures.

According to Jung, we all fall on a spectrum. Each of us is some part introvert and some part extravert. We are yin and yang, light and dark. And yet many people want to homogenize. They want pasteurization. Difference is what is interesting. Conformity is not.

Enjoy the wonderful comic reprinted below (and linked) that makes this point more effectively than my rhetoric.

GOOD LINKS

Susan Cain - The Power of Introverts - Cain's main site.

Introversion Cartoon - Link to the comic strip re-published below, without permission but with due credit.

French Fries and Waffles - Link to main site of Luchie's cartoons, artist of the strip below.

INTROVERSION COMIC STRIP

PICTURES FROM THE DETROIT - LANEWAY ADVENTURE - 1309.14

Liesel and I at Laneway Pavilion
shortly before the Sigur Rós performance

Liesel 's "Breaking Bad"
Detroit City shot
Is she scary?
Is she cool?
Scary cool?

Liesel enjoying the melon margarita
at a Cantina in Royal Oak.
We both enjoyed our drinks.

Classic cafeteria style restaurant
on Woodward Ave near Birmingham

Why settle for one Beef Carver sign picture
when one can have two?

Sigur Rós creates the paradigm shift

By the time, I finished this blog, we were back home after a brunch at East Lansing's El Azteco. No pictures.

- chris tower - 1309.15 - 14:43