More Civilized

　

　

　

Xrod

I was in the middle of putting a blog together on A SAD Man and replied to your email there in that “context”. I titled it: A SAD MAN has arrived. Thanks for your great questions... I do expect you to be in my Toronto Audience when I get to Toronto. I will need you to inspire people to ask questions. Plus, I will have a lovely surprise for you!!!

　


MacD

　

Well that was fascinating! (I just read your latest blog)

I LOVE ANA!!! and I could spend a good deal of time chatting with Dawson about his perceptions. His Jungian references intrigue. I'm taken with her sheer size and strength (steel), fluid lines, firmly planted, and her abundantly reproductive womb-belly, spilling forth the building blocks of society by generation. I love her

　

Jesus is not a fantasy. His actual existence is proven, much in the way we know Julius Caesar existed. Jews accept that Jesus did exist, but they do not believe him to be the Messiah promised by God.

The 'fantasy' is the story men have given to his existence.

　


MacD

oops. Was I sounding authoritative again?


　

Xrod

Yes but, no problem... did not intimidate. I am growing stronger.

There is probably a difference in the “facts “ of Jesus and those of Caesar. As I understand it... the “facts” around Jesus are verbal and those around Caesar are recorded ledgers. Can you point out to me where there are “facts” regarding the existence of Jesus. I would like to read them.


MacD
I am trying to figure out why my writing reads as authoritative….I presume that it does, and it suddenly occurred to me.

For many years I wrote marketing and business plans for a living. One of my early lessons was to remove passive verbs and use action verbs instead. Other lessons were: remove 'I think it is' or 'I believe it is' with simply 'it is'. In later years I would edit the marketing plans of others. At one point Vickers & Benson would send me the draft marketing plans of most of their senior client directors (what???) to be edited. I worked from home here in Niagara doing that for quite a while. It is useful in business to present with confidence, strength and action, as opposed to softness and passivity.

It has remained with me, and now instead of editing out the passive words, I edit them in.

A final thought: can you think of a more useless business than advertising? I am saddened that is where I spent so much time.

　


Xrod
　

Like assumptions... “authoritative” is a dangerous road to travel.

On advertising.. it got Jesus to where he is today. Ya gotta agree... it has been perhaps the most successful advertising (propaganda) campaign in Western history.

I try not to regret where I have been. There is always something positive in it.

　


MacD

Just quickly googled 'evidence that Jesus existed' and was offered a number of sources to explore. It would seem the non-Christian historians of the time recorded a lot of information about him, his following, and his execution. Easy to get to if you are interested.


Xrod
　

Thanks... I know. I do that but, I was more interested in where you got the “Facts” that have so convicted you to believe. With what I have found, I do not believe there are “Facts”.

　

　


MacD

　

I recall a conversation about God and Jesus I had many years ago in a bar. I was disputing various 'facts' offered by this person, and at last, the person asked me when and if I had ever read the Bible.

Good question. I had never really read it. Only knew the stories from Sunday School and church. So I spent a year in the early 70s reading it, and many books for and against Christianity. It was an eye opener.

　


Xrod

Aha...

　


MacD

You are asking me for a specific source? I will offer you several, but I ask you what is the difference between non-Christian historian documentation, and a ledger kept by Romans?

　

PS I am unable to attach files using my new email address, and I'm waiting for the guy to try to fix that. I will write out the web addresses and type them out in an email.

　

　


MacD

google 'Flavius Josephus", a Jewish/Roman historian of the 1st century. I could spend a lot of time doing this my friend!

　


Xrod

My dear friend, please do not let me torture you for my benefit. Cease and desist now. I believe as I believe as I have done some lengthy research on this subject when I was more innocent and stupid and perhaps not always correctly interpreting the words I read, from the lost and found “Gnostic Gospels” and to the many YouTube debates I watched between Anti theists and Christians over the last year and so. “Jesus” may have been picked out of a crowd of wandering medicine men of the day. But all information I came across is so contradictory that it is fallible... highly interpretative and cannot be proven as “fact”. And upon that is based the fable of the Christ Jesus.

　


MacD

In my readings long ago, and other readings since, I am content that modern scholars have generally accepted Jesus as an historical figure who existed. The real argument is not if he existed, but if he is the religious figure claimed by Christians and then the church. As soon as the church enters the picture, I bow out. I am sure one could argue and debate ad nauseum.

In my personal and private thoughts, I believe he did exist. I also believe Buddha and Krishna and others existed. They were no different than you or me. I believe in individual and collective consciousness. It may have been that these historical figures were highly 'conscious' people, more aware of other dimensions of life. I don't know. But I believe strongly that there is more, I know there is more, but for this there is no proof. And I will never push my belief on anyone.

I will admit that I am somewhat offended when people state the unknown as fact (as in fantasy Jesus) because what do any of us really k-n-o-w? I try not to be judgemental of religious, church going individuals, or outright atheists. To each his own, and I can only follow my own head and heart.

To be honest, your 'voice' is very authoritative and damning when you get onto religion. But mine is as well when I get going on my thoughts about the Catholic church, what I was raised with.

　


Xrod

GREAT!!! Thanks... I will try to not stand on a podium. I do try to speak from my conviction and not authority. I try not to lay my beliefs unto other people but, do not hesitate to say what I feel. I also grew up in the “Christian” church and have been fighting that indoctrination in my psyche for more than fifty years and doing so passionately through my art. I attack myself through aggressive analysis and I put it out on my blog for anyone who chooses to see or follow... about 16,000 to date. I take my cues from modern evidence in human behaviour and transfer it to the past... greed, wars, cheating, fabrications, killing, poverty, hunger... love, generosity, compassion, hope, benevolence, humanitarianism ... it is all there, as it seems has always been... the pattern in a constant circle of repetition. If I lie today, I lied yesterday. What is that expression... “If one does the same thing over and over and expects different results then that is a sign of insanity”.

So, with that premise we are a MAD, MAD world. The evidence is clear. And I am pissed off at it because, I see no way out of this mess, except to walk away from it and return to the forest. But, I cannot leave the mess, so I am damned to be a contrarian... right or wrong... to intellectually fumble my way along with the hope that I will at least become a little wise and leave some progressive fragments in the genetic bank of humanity.

　

　

The conversation between Xrod and MacD has ended.

Along the road somewhere a time ago I sketched some little scenes with oil sticks. It seems appropriate at this juncture to send some along to you, with a few relevant insightful quotes from a Canadian journalist on a prominent celebrity, accused of sexual abuse and the inspiration for A SAD MAN sculpture.

 

　

I had a bit of an identity crises throughout the night following my email debates with MacD.

What is it that I am troubled with and “damning” of now that I have my new found conviction on the evolution of life and social structures. I have come a long way. Now that I ‘know’, I cannot keep whining about these things. And beside, I am running out of original images … ha! More precisely, they are all my past images… before I was ‘enlightened‘. A paradigm shift is now necessary. A SAD MAN, coincidently might be the dividing line. But, some old fears hang around. I fear showing him, afraid of social condemnation. And I believe galleries will not want to show it. Whatever, I will pursue it and will at least present him here in my blog, where I can hide away, so to speak. But, always open to invitations.

The first quote, which I have repeated before, from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams: “We ought not die before we have explained ourselves to everyone”

The second quote is from Rick Salutin…in Toronto, is a Canadian novelist, playwright, journalist, and critic


“It’s a question of how much of the mix is unsavoury and how unsavoury it is. It can help to acknowledge the rancid parts, to “own” them, as shrinks say, so you can see they’re a part of you, but not all — there’s admirable stuff too: conscience, empathy, etc. But if those ugly elements stay hidden, sometimes even to yourself, they may grow in the dark like mushrooms. Then if they gradually emerge into the light, it can devastate everyone.

It helps if you have friends to reveal yourself to… And the more you conceal, the less you trust anyone professing friendship because they bought into your imposture. Once the hidden comes to light, everything that came before can get reconfigured”.
I love that simple, universal truth, which humanity has a difficult time accepting. But, there are big big deceptions in the world of politics and their incumbent social structures, which are not so simple or painless to unravel or confess . For me however, it had been a simple confession with little risk, so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selamat tinggal                              Rod                      rod_malay@hotmail.com