My mind is marinated with multiple notions, belief systems, and at this moment, a glimmer of hope and joy. “Rejoice Always” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16. I used to think that the shortest verse in the bible was John 11:35 – “Jesus Wept.” But there is one just as long, and just as vital to the human spirit as tears shed.
It may sound lame to follow up some Christian gratitude (which is already kind of lame) by saying that I just finished a television series. It was John Adams on HBO from 2008. If my memory serves me correctly, I started this show in the summer of 2022. There are seven episodes that are roughly an hour. Frankly, that’s not a whole lot of television over 18 months. Since I watched it on DVD (because I am cool) there was a feature that showed facts about people and the time period, and used it as a learning tool. The show wasn’t fantastic, but I gained something from it (refer to Thessalonians 5:16). I’m glad I watched it. I’m not a huge patriot. And I’ve learned that I’m a “liberal” instead of a leftist, but at the end of the show, it did make me feel like there was a lot sacrificed by its founders so that the fifth generation of my family could bear an artist who can support himself. I just don’t think that the idea of freedom in this country should amount to being able to buy a pack of cigarettes, a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, and to sell your body online for money. Maybe that is all freedom amounts to. But the show makes me want to protect the freedom of speech and fight for our ability to help our weaker divisions remain vital, intelligent, and capable. Also, John Adams was an asshole, but sometimes you have to be one to accomplish momentous things. To quote Margret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.” Last thing – there is a documentary about the historian who wrote the book the show is based on. It wets my eyes that what moves me comes down to a writer sharing stories of life. I want to be by nature, in a field in New England with a typewriter. That is my American Dream.
It is one thing to write a five paragraph essay that has one subject with three examples. It is a different practice to write something roughly five paragraphs, all with different subjects…Moving on then. I think that we are in a Renaissance. I think that people will look back at the 2020’s and say that there was a plethora of (dare I say) quality content being produced. I personally believe the art of film, with the many shows that I personally don’t watch, are making a significant contribution – Breaking Bad, Succession, The Bear, True Detective, The Crown, The Curse, Stranger Things, and all of these shows are written – some of them even based on books! I once heard someone say that it is easy to say that there is a lot of quality content in the present because we don’t have the gift of time to show us all the crap that was made. This is especially true of the 80’s. But film isn’t the only place where there is some creative progress being made. Most of all, I think it is in music. Again, you could say that there is a lot of crap, and it’s all starting to sound like Elliot Smith, and Phoebe Bridgers and Big Thief etc. And then you just have DJs – which aren’t my favorite type of music, but there is a lot being made, and a lot of people like it. There is a lot of good music right now. Examples upon request. My point is just that, I think that there is some good art being made. I think our society (America) values art in a way that it hasn’t always. It has before, of course. The Harlem Renaissance was from the 1920s-30’s and that was at the same time as The Lost Generation. There is good art in every decade, I’m just saying that we should recognize that maybe the role of art is no longer a toilet, because it does comfort us and give us meaning.
“Metamodernism is a way of viewing the world that emphasizes a kind paradigm that consists of a philosophy that includes a family of ideas concerning ontology, epistemology, aesthetics, and ethics.” – Google. For a long time we have been relying on Postmodernism as the basis for the role of art, but I think that now, the paradigm is beginning to shift, and a lot of art – film, writing, etc. is focusing on redeeming qualities of the human condition which many of us are starved for, but may even be beginning to find. Rejoice Always!
And to end on the author. Well, all kinds of stuff maaaaaaan. First off, I will mention that there is something to be said about sticking around in relationships. Primarily…my therapist. I was advised to go to therapy because I think that my blog posts were getting a bit personal, and it was probably better to explore my mother/father complexes privately instead of for the WWW. I’ve never thought therapy is useless. I’ve always found it…therapeutic. However, I used to look through the lens of a very postmodernist perspective that every relationship was a power dynamic. And further, I thought that I was the one in power in these sessions. I would often defer to a Billy Fischer quote, “I like the moment when I break a man’s ego.” And I’d think that I’d broken my therapist’s ego in the fourth week. That I was driving. I’d be explaining all these complexes I had and how they relate to Jung, and Freud, and postmodernism (which I know little about any of those references), and finally – today matter of fact – my psychologist said, yeah, “It’s my job to do that.” So after, well, a long, long time of truly protecting my ego, we are starting to get somewhere and I finally acknowledged, “What you (we) are doing right now, is breaking my ego.” And to be all quite happy, Hemingway said, (ah foohey, old Ernie) “We are all broken. That’s how the light gets in.” I’ll repeat what I’ve said before that I am unsure how the world sees me, and this stems from a skewed perspective of myself, that is very jarred. My body has trauma from a lot of bullshit – that oddly enough, it defends. So, maybe I know that the man in your dreams is not the same man I see in the mirror. Maybe they are the same person, but are seen differently. And maybe they are different people, who are seen the same.
Just to go down to dreamland, there are some dreams where a friend of mine murders people. I don’t know where that psyche exists in waking life, but there must be something said about how the projections of ourselves and others are symbolic of the waking human found in this dimension.
P.S The distinction between Leftist and Liberal is orchestrated by the right and weaponized through social media in order to diminish the strength of democratic progressives. It is also beginning to create a rift between my best friend and me.
P.P.S AI feedback is telling me that since this is “deeply personal” I should start using contextual examples. So, maybe stay tuned and we can see what I’m willing to explore. Or, not hear from me for a year.
Ben Bonkoske 