To: K-list
Recieved: 2002/03/07 11:18
Subject: [K-list] the rant as an art form
From: Michael Read
On 2002/03/07 11:18, Michael Read posted thus to the K-list:
Thanks for the responses to the recent rant 'did you ever?'.
One gentle person reminded me that God is my Father and
one should always talk nicely about one's Parents.
Thanks for the sweet message.
Another person just hooted in laughter.
Somebody else wondered how I got the camera in their house.
The warning was included because calling god a son of a B*tch
and an asshole is sure to piss somebody off! <grin>
I am sure that there are those who might picture me sitting at the
keyboard,
jaw clenched, eyes bulging, hair in disarray, all the while fiercely
gripping
the edge of my desk as I pour out my bitter angst against an uncaring
universe.
Phew! Nah, I smiled the whole way through. I consider the rant to be a
neglected art form.
A classic rant can be found in the book "The Sayings of Old Ch'eng on
the nature of the original mind" as translated by Mike Dickman.
In the book Old Ch'eng is addressing the monks in a monastery. He tells
them
"Shave-pated monks, you are shutting your own eyes with mud and
complaining you can't see.
...
The fact you do not is simply because of your incessant jabbering to
yourselves and others."
He holds nothing back as in:
""Too weak to see into the original mind and to live on your own
resources, you hide your pettiness and insignificance behind the
castoffs of others: piling up points of view, cultivating their nuances,
differences and convergence's.
What fakes! Because you can amaze idiots with tricks like this, you
imagine yourselves enlightened?
You have seduced yourselves! Your sickness is entirely incurable!"
At the end Old Ch'eng reveals the secret to knowing original mind.
Namely, that there is no secret to knowing original mind.
Though the setting is a monastery and Old Ch'eng appears to be talking
to
the monks, he is really talking about all of humanity. He speaks
straight-out as someone
who has been there and done those things that hold one back. He knows
and has
no fear. He also knows that his words aren't important - "Whatever I
have to say about original mind cannot help you in the slightest except,
perhaps, to push you into looking for it yourselves and coming to see it
face to face, without artifice or reference to outside authority."
He also says - "If you let yourselves be seduced by the words and cheap
illusions of the wise, you are lost."
A good rant can hit hard right at the things kept just below the
surface. Our hopes, fears, dreams, and idiotic musings are all fair game
for a good rant. If the rant causes a strong reaction, then it serves to
point at some area in need of examination. Did it make you angry? If so,
take a look at the source of the anger and thereby let it dissolve. Did
it make you miserable, or happy, or whatever? If so, then maybe you can
take a close look to see what it is that is having these reactions. If
not, then do whatever suits.
Like any artistic medium, a rant is also a form of self expression. When
a painter can really 'see' something in the subject that seeing comes
through on the canvass. The rantor must be open to seeing within himself
the things he rants about. Otherwise, he is just being argumentative.
Old Ch'eng had to at one point in his life see that he was just as
stupid and deluded as the monks he addressed.
The inspiration for 'did you ever?' came from recent readings of the
various lists I belong to, the world news, joyful music, and the
laughter of children.
The feelings in 'did you ever?' came from those times in my 'personal'
drama when I hated God, The Universe and Everything. The feelings we may
have all had at one time or another when we were just plain old pissed
at the unfairness of it all. The times when we delved into a morass of
our own making, full of self pity and selfishness. The times when we
accept all the shittiness of life and learn to laugh at our antics.
No, I did not need to dredge up and relive old feelings of anger and
angst in order to write 'did you ever?'. But without having gone
through those experiences (more often and longer than was enjoyable) the
rant would have no power to evoke reaction. But, no, I didn't write the
rant just to get a reaction. That would be silly!
It was fun in writing and the reactions are delightful, though. Hey, one
might as well have a good time, eh?
loving you - michael
--
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