From:
slider@anashram.org
crsds states...
no one is an outsider here no matter how out of it
they be. we are connected, although some of us
have cut off our connection by being stupid.
You can't fool life, you just can't. It is set-up
that you have to play the game. You can't really
cheat for very long before the bottom drops out.
Ask every homeless person where they went wrong.
If you stay (don't commit suicide that is) you wind
up playing the game. Rich, poor, stupid, smart, big,
little, dumb, old, can you win? Ha ha. Turn the
wheel and see. Wonder and wander, nothing is for sure.
### - the 'outsider' is real enough heh...
and exists in many forms, most of which are kinda screwed up by dint of
the way the ended up as outsiders, e.g., many are (like thang for
instance) 'born' outsiders; people who, for one reason or another, just
can't fit in/belong, and/or never did and thus have something very
'different' about them, but we wont consider those because they didn't run
the gauntlet of having to 'get out' and/or having ended up out because of
the path (which more usually involves obtaining a directed education) they took...
cc, for example, touches on this (acquired state of being) when he
describes those who've broken their chains but are still in the world;
they're here but no longer 'belong' because the usual concerns of people
no longer concern them... (which i consider a pretty good/very-apt
description btw)
great artists and writers also often achieve this state of being by dint
of their pursuits; a process of observation that results in a distinct
sense of aloofness & alienation from the rest of society... to the point,
for example, that many artists, still seeking sex, eventually became
completely incapable of sustaining normal relationships and thus had to
resort to shagging their models heh (most of which were ladies of the
streets anyhoo...)
you are correct though in the sense that there's nowhere to go for the outsider, he cannot any longer belong or fit in and yet is still alive in
the world, a world that 'now' seems/appears to be totally insane, if not completely inane in the extreme! and he either leaves (moves on) or
chooses to remain albeit now only living 'beside' the insane nightmare
that is the world! (or wallyworld as i call it, smile...)
true writers, under such circumstances, now have something to genuinely
write about! and artists something to paint! the fucked up world at large becomes their primary inspiration! their message always the same! that in 'that' sense there IS only the one glaring truth which ordinary people
appear to be completely unaware of! (ref. that george orwell quote that
you liked so much, and his observations of the daily world etc in which
people are basically all asleep!)
cc went one step farther, for instance, and suggested that just breaking
one's chains isn't enough, that perforce one must also become: a seer!
(i.e., something more than just a genuine writer/poet/artist etc etc...) something arthur rimbaud 'also' suggested/affirmed by literally
downing-tools at the ripe old age of 19! ("..i've seen enough, i've done enough; the vision can now be found on 'any' street corner!" --rimbaud)
and who then spent the remaining 19 years of his life (died at age 38 i
mean) literally putting into practice what he'd learned was
required/needed to be done!
that becoming writers, poets & artists (a high enough/lauded station in society) isn't enough! that's there's an even farther step to take! -
rimbaud, amongst other things & adventures for example, after downing
tools + scorning art etc altogether; traveled deeper into the heart of
darkness (unexplored africa) than any white man ever before him, but he
never wrote again!
am aware of only 2 types of outsider that actually 'make the grade': the
ones with no appreciable intellectual ability to begin with who then turn
into the grinning-idiot type (heh), who appear to then lose their rational
mind altogether but still actually know what they're doing on that other level... and the other one's who did have/got some kinda intellectual
training, and thus manage to retain 'some' of that ability to varying
degrees 'after' taking that farther step...
(me? am definitely the grinning idiot type lol) ;)
***
"Life goes on much the same. In the face of terrifying dangers and
golden political opportunities, people just keep-on keeping-on in a
sort of twilight sleep in which they're conscious of nothing but the daily-round of work, family life, darts at the pub, exercising the
dog, bringing home the supper, beer, etc, etc."
--George Orwell - 1940's London during the blitz
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)