In high school my English teacher (you remember: the cute one that is now a principal?) taught a class about pluralism. Pluralism (as I remember him teaching it then) is this idea that perception is reality and everyone perceives things differently, so can reality be defined/constant? This is something we've all thought about at one time or another, so I am presenting nothing new, but recently I had to take a hard look at myself.
Remember in Anne Rice's "Queen of the Damned" where spirits were these giant balls of misty energy that spanned hundreds of miles with a concentrated meaty center? After the tornado, I was forced to gather up all of my misty-wide energy and stuff it into the shell of my body. I then turned that body into a fortress and tried to ignore it. In the time since that stupid Spring day I've over-indulged in alcohol, food, and darkness. Any escape I could find, I clutched onto until my fingers bled. As a result, what was already growing stagnant within me even before last Spring became so still, so unforgivingly rigid, that I couldn't even see that I was frozen. My father died and I felt as if I was looking through an opaque glass at myself from another realm. Apathy has been my muse, and I thank her for her service, but I have to break the fucking glass.
Recently, a confrontation/intervention was placed in front of me that I could not ignore. I have always known who I am, so it was really hard to admit that I didn't know who I had become. I had become this insular being without ardor. I had forgotten that what we all are is fluid. We change and evolve and taking a look at who you are is required of you every day.
The only people that remain sane in this world let go of the perception they believe others have of them. They don't let themselves be defined by that perception. Not even the perception that is their own. I've always known this, but recently I've lost sight of where I sit within it. I feel SUCH a kinship to those that are being their genuine selves without definition. What I am now is not who I will be. What I have been is not what I am. I always really liked the lyrics to Incubus' "Make Yourself". The idea of creating your self has always been important to me, but the thing I am grasping now is that you have to do this continuously throughout your existence. It isn't forever that you are, it's forever that you choose to be.
With one swift primal scream I must let that giant all-encompassing spirit take her space again. It cannot be contained within my body. It must pervade everything around me so that I can feel and be felt by others.
We cannot see things as they truly are, or they are what we see and we can't see what anyone else sees. So why construct an image without purpose? If what you're trying to fit within doesn't feel comfortable, get out!
The celebrities that I find interesting usually have zero control over their personae (Courtney Love, Grimes, and Fiona Apple) and don't care. They are raw and real and it inspires me tremendously. I also enjoy when they have TOO much control over their personae (Lady GaGa, Marilyn Manson) because they're taking their art to such an extreme that it becomes an agenda. Grimes IS art and GaGa forces you to confront your own art and both of these images make you look at yourself. The video above makes no sense and that was probably Grimes' unintentional point. She just gathered together people she liked and visual images that intrigued her and she danced. I cried watching this because her weirdness feels so genuine to me.
My next tattoo is:
stop.
making.
sense.
and this to me is my zen. Reminding myself that what I think others think does not matter. Who I am and that I am confrontationally genuine is what is important to me. I want to be a Fiona, a Grimes, a Courtney Love. A brash, bold, ballsy, blunt BITCH. The witch within is emerging from the gristle she's been hiding amidst.
