Where love rules, there is no will to power,
and where power predominates, love is lacking.
The one is the shadow of the other.
Carl Jung, "On the Psychology of the Unconscious", 1917
Hungry ghost feeding station,
Closed for repairs,
Indefinitely.
Whee!
(c) Francesca Prada 2009
Even the best projects have difficult people, just make sure you're not one of them. Francesca Prada on set 2008
To Be of Use
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
Marge Piercy
without laughter there's no insight and no growth. I've often thought that comedians at the height of their talents are also healers and philosophers. Actors, artists, writers and performers can also be healers and philosophers and in some cases therapists that heal rooms full of people, even if its just for a few hours. Those two hours can be all a person needs to get perspective and be drawn into a greater awareness of the human condition.